Using Dual LCD Monitors – up to 4 LCD monitors!
Recent reports have showed that the more screen space you have available, the more productive you can become. One way to get more screen space is to add more monitors. Beginning in 2005, I started using four monitors connected to my laptop, and I believe it has truly increased my productivity.
For as long as I’ve owned laptops, I’ve always been connecting external monitors to them. Plugging an external monitor into the back of your laptop is simple, and connecting four monitors to your laptop is easier than you think if you have a second nearby computer, a network, and a neat, inexpensive program called MaxiVista.
MaxiVista provides two specific functions:
1) MaxiVista uses your computer network to allow one to three monitors on a remote computer to act as a remote desktop extension for your main computer. This is how I use MaxiVista most of the time, to extend my laptop to four screens.
2) MaxiVista allows you to use the single keyboard and mouse on your main computer to control both your main computer and a remote computer on your network. I do this sometimes to start downloads on a remote computer without slowing down my main computer (my laptop).
Essentially, here’s how it works: I run a copy of the MaxiVista Server program on my main computer, which is a laptop. At the same time, I run two copies of the MaxiVista Viewer programs on my nearby desktop computer. The MaxiVista server program on my laptop talks with the viewer programs through my computer network, and allows me to use the two monitors connected to my desktop computer as third and fourth monitors for my laptop.
MaxiVista works best when the computers are connected by a wired network, but, I’ve also seen MaxiVista perform well controlling the third and fourth monitors when my laptop was connected via WiFi and not a wired connection.
MaxiVista’s installation instructions may sound daunting, but they’re really not. I’ll give you a simplified overview.
But MaxiVista in my experience works first time, every time. In my case, it had to get through my two software firewalls, my hardware firewall, and then find the laptop on the WiFi network. It did it in a heartbeat.
It’s likely that the producers made the instructions this complicated because they want to cover all the nuances of installation. In my case, the installation steps were this simple:
1) Download and execute the MaxiVista setup program from the MaxiVista website.
2) Start the MaxiVista Server program your main computer. In my case, my main computer is my laptop. Once the MaxiVista server is running, one monitor icon for each remote screen will appear in the task tray.
3) After you have the server portion installed on your main computer, MaxiVista will create one or two viewer programs and place them on your main computer’s desktop. You’ll need to move those MaxiVista viewer programs to the remote computer you want to use it as a virtual monitor. When I installed my recent MaxiVista upgrade, the icons didn’t appear on my desktop, so I had to find the viewer programs on my hard drive. If you can’t find the viewer programs, you can have MaxiVista create new ones. While MaxiVista Server is running, right-click on the MaxiVista server icon in your task tray and select “create MaxiVista viewer.” Repeat this if you have a second MaxiVista server icon in your task tray. Click “Start > My Computer” then navigate to the Windows folder containing your installed version of MaxiVista. By default, the MaxiVista folder is “C:\Program Files\MaxiVista Pro Server”
4) Click the MaxiVista viewer icons on your remote computer to activate the additional “virtual” screens.
5) From the desktop on your main computer, right-click any blank area of the desktop, click “Properties,” then click the “Settings” tab. When your monitor configuration is displayed, just drag them around until they are in the proper order related to each other and you are done.
6) Right-click the MaxiVista tray icons on the primary computer to toggle between using the remote computer’s screens as an extension of your desktop and allowing you to use the primary computer’s keyboard to remote control the remote computer.
Installation of the demo
http://www.maxivista.com/docs3/09/manual.htm#install
Installation of the full version I use:
http://www.maxivista.com/docs3/09/manual.htm#installfull
Remember that you must have a network and a second computer to use MaxiVista. I consider MaxiVista one of the most productive software values I’ve ever purchased at only $30.
-Edited by DME
TimeBoxWidget TimeBoxing
This free Timeboxing widget I wrote can help you become more productive.
“Timeboxing” is a productivity strategy in which we set a commitment time for a task then we do our best to complete the task in the time we have allowed. For example, you may say to yourself, “I know I can finish writing these meeting minutes in 40 minutes, so I’ll assign myself 40 minutes to complete this task.” The Timebox Widget is a countdown timer that helps keep you keep your promise. Some people use egg timers to “box their time,” but the Timebox widget is better and easier.
It’s easy to use the FREE Timebox Widget to become more productive:
- Highlight your commitment time on any screen, then click the [Copy] button to start the countdown timer.
- Need to adjust the time? Click the plus or minus buttons.
- Need to pause? Click the big countdown timer button.
My Timebox Widget has no spyware you can download it for FREE in less than 1 minute from this link:
Timeboxing as a Productivity Strategy
Timeboxing is time management method and a productivity strategy.
We’ve all been there – we have a project or a deadline to meet, and time is running out. Most people have difficulty staying focused on open ended tasks, or they seem overwhelmed if they have a lot of tasks to complete in a day. Timeboxing can help in many of these situations.
If you’ve never heard of it before, don’t worry – you’re not alone. However, timeboxing is quickly becoming more popular with people who need to arrange their time better, as it can be used in a variety of ways. So what exactly is timeboxing?
If you work for someone else, your manager may Timebox for you. In the simplest terms, when your boss says, “Jones, you have 4 hours to finish that report, do the best you can!” He has just, timeboxed for you.
You may already Timebox in your personal life. For example, you may need to buy a gifts for some friends. However, you work during the day, weekends you want to relax, and evening shopping isn’t really for you. But you still need to get that shopping trip completed. So you look at how your time is spent at weekends, and factor in how much time you can allocate realistically to your shopping trip. Then decide what gifts you need to buy beforehand, and what shops you’ll need to go to. You head out to the store at 8pm, knowing that they close at 9pm. Essentially, you’ve boxed your time – you’re going to complete the task by 9pm no matter what it takes – even it it requires compromise.
Timeboxing works by completing any work that you have to the best of your abilities in the agreed timescale – anything you can’t do within that timescale is left incomplete. While this may mean that you have an unfinished task, it’s only unfinished from your original plan – this is because by “timeboxing,” that is, by fitting the task into a specific timeframe, you’ve come up with an alternative version that does what is needed (within the time constraint you set).
Digest Widget – Text to RTF for Sony Reader & Amazon Kindle
DigestWidget is the fastest way to get formatted text into your Sony Reader or Amazon Kindle.
I find myself most often using my eBook reader to read free books and documents from the web that I want to read away from the computer. So, with the DigestWidget, I can either copy the files to a folder and process them as a batch, or if I’m reading something online, I can highlight the text I want to capture and copy it to the clipboard to instantly make a file I can copy to my eBook reader.
- A text digest is ideal for off-line reading of long articles and newsletters you receive by e-mail.
- These digests contain text only and no images.
- Print digests to save paper
- Create and read digests in the best font style and size for your Sony Reader or other device.
Read the digest files on your eBook Reader / Smart Phone / PDA or other portable device
DigestWidget makes text digests from your Windows Clipboard / Outlook e-mail files (.eml) / Text files (.txt) / Saved web pages (.html)
DigestWidget allows you to select one of three font styles and several font sizes. It automatically left and right “justifies” the You can also select the folder where the batch files will be read and in which the digest will be written. DigestWidget removes multiple line feeds and “cleans up” the text before making the digest file.
- DigestWidget can read a batch of files in a folder and convert them to a single RTF digest file.
- DigestWidget can write a text digest of everything you copy to your Windows clipboard. A new capture session is started each time you start the DigestWidget.
- The Digest files can be directly copied to the reader or directly to an SD card and inserted into the reader. No additional conversion or formatting is required.
I’ve probably spent about 25 hours working on the Digest Widget, and I’ve taken it as far as I want to go with it. However, it seems to me that someone who either knows the free AutoIt language may want to change or improve the program I’ve written. So, I’m publishing DigestWidget, including the Autoit source code,
Your derivative works from my source code must include this attribution:
“This program derived from DigestWidget from Chuck Eglinton and ChuckEgg.com”
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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