A computer system comprises of a central processing unit, input devices and an output device. Input devices can be the keyboard, mouse, joystick, scanner etc. and the output device can be video monitor, printer etc. Out of all the input and output devices, the monitor, keyboard and mouse are the most commonly used devices. Without these devices one cannot even think of working on a computer. Keyboards are used for giving text commands to the computer and a mouse is used for giving graphical commands. Normally there is only one display and mouse required on any computer but with multiprocessing and multitasking being greatly used this requirement can go further. One would like to have multiple screens connected to his or her computer to view multiple programs simultaneously on different screens. One would like to have more than one mouse connected so that multiple users can give commands at the same time.
In this post I will discuss how to connect and configure multiple display screens and multiple mice on a single computer.
Step1:
Multiple displays
If you have a desktop computer then in order to have multiple displays connected you need to have dual VGA cards installed on it. Conventionally every computer comes with a single VGA adapter slot which supports only one display monitor. This is something which you have to purchase if you wish to have multiple screens on your computer and there can be no software alternative for the same. If you have a laptop then you can easily work on multiple screens because a laptop has its own display panel and it also has a slot for connecting an external VGA display. Once you get the two displays connected, all you need is to go to the ‘Control Panel’ and make the settings for screen sharing. You can have same display on both the screens or if you want you can extend the display on both the monitors. Extending is mostly used in multiple display systems so that you can extend your desktop to two and have different applications open on different display screens.
Step2:
Multiple Mice
By default the operating system supports only one mouse at a time because there is just one mouse pointer on the screen. Even if you have multiple mice, still the pointer will remain one. To have more than one mouse you need some third party application to control the input commands sent by various mice. One of the applications which has proven itself quite handy is TeamPlayer. With this you can configure multiple mice on the same computer. All these mice can be connected by USB hub and can be controlled by different users. This kind of configuration and approach is useful in joint presentations where various users have to control the screen at various times.
It is not only about connecting multiple screens and mice to one computer, you can even use a single screen, keyboard, and mouse on several computers. All you would require will be some special switching devices and software.
