This is kind of off topic, so please feel free to delete if you want <grin>.. Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying outputs from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style). Does anyone have any recommendations for an inexpensive device that will take care of this? I have found some nice devices in the 10k price range, which needless to say is a little outside the budget. Security companies sell these devices for Video for around $500, so I'm figure someone should have a VGA version of the device. Thanks! Spencer ************************************************************ Spencer Wood, Network Manager Ohio Department Of Transportation 1320 Arthur E. Adams Drive Columbus, Ohio 43221 E-Mail: Spencer.Wood@dot.state.oh.us Phone: 614.644.5422/Fax: 614.887.4021/Cell: 614.774.3123 *************************************************************
Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying outputs from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style).
This kind of problem is normally solved using software. If the applications driving the 4 VGA displays are all using X-Windows, then try an X Window manager that supports capturing a window and displaying it in miniature form in a dashboard or button bar. It should be possible to adapt this easily to display the 4 applications in a 2 x 2 matrix. If the applications driving the displays are not using X-Windows then it should still be possible to build an X based solution but you would have to start by using VNC on the application machines to provide a remote viewer that can display window contents on the X machine. Chances are you already have people with the skills to do this whose time is not fully occupied in their day job. If so, the marginal cost could be close to zero. --Michael Dillon
On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 14:43:55 BST, Michael.Dillon@btradianz.com said:
If the applications driving the 4 VGA displays are all using X-Windows, then try an X Window manager that supports capturing a window and displaying it in miniature form in a dashboard or button bar. It should be possible to adapt this easily to display the 4 applications in a 2 x 2 matrix.
Or recent Xorg servers support the Xinerama extension, which will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you... We now return to our regularly scheduled flamefest about RFCs 3675 and 2826.. ;)
On 2 Jun 2005, Michael.Dillon@btradianz.com wrote:
Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying outputs from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style).
This kind of problem is normally solved using software. If the applications driving the 4 VGA displays are all using X-Windows, then try an X Window manager that supports capturing a window and displaying it in miniature form in a dashboard or button bar. It should be possible to adapt this easily to display the 4 applications in a 2 x 2 matrix.
An X window manager like ratpoison or ion can easily do 2x2 tiling of windows, mixing continuously displayed host and remote node sessions. Chris
On Thu, Jun 02, 2005 at 08:54:39AM -0400, Spencer Wood wrote:
Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying outputs from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style). Does anyone have any recommendations for an inexpensive device that will take care of this? I have found some nice devices in the 10k price range, which needless to say is a little outside the budget. Security companies sell these devices for Video for around $500, so I'm figure someone should have a VGA version of the device.
A VGA (much less XVGA, which is probably what you really need) quad splitter is likely to be pricey as crap. I'd recommend looking at using VNC from the workstation you have now to pick up the screens you need. Check out: http://www.csd.uwo.ca/staff/magi/doc/vnc/extras.html and specifically John Wilson's VNCMonitor, at: http://www.wilson.co.uk/Software/vnc/VncMonitor.htm which sounds like it will do the splitting for you. I've never used it personally, but it sounds like it might do what you need. Cheers, -- jra -- Jay R. Ashworth jra@baylink.com Designer Baylink RFC 2100 Ashworth & Associates The Things I Think '87 e24 St Petersburg FL USA http://baylink.pitas.com +1 727 647 1274 If you can read this... thank a system administrator. Or two. --me
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Spencer Wood wrote:
This is kind of off topic, so please feel free to delete if you want <grin>..
Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying outputs from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style).
What is the native rez of your lcd projectors? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFCoFId0STXFHxUucwRAlTbAJ9LRXnaf058CrUGB4zqA5U9k1IcBgCfaLK/ GTC6rh5wuZIoImUQpKO8zRs= =tw/B -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On a related note, those interested in NOC display technology may also want to check out the recent Wall Street Journal article (sorry, I don't have a link) that suggests that we are about to see a huge drop in large LCD/Plasma display pricing as several new factories are coming on-line. I'm not sure if that changes the way we'll build NOCs - projectors have been popular, but I'm not sure if that's only due to cost advantage. (I'd like to say that I don't feel a thread on NOCs is particularly off-topic. While I can't configure LCD projectors on an IOS command line, I've sure configured IOS command lines on LCD projectors - reasonable display technology can be the difference between a useless "Show NOC" and a technically useful operations center) - Dan On 6/3/05 8:50 AM, "Chip Mefford" <cpm@well.com> wrote:
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Spencer Wood wrote:
This is kind of off topic, so please feel free to delete if you want <grin>..
Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying outputs from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style).
What is the native rez of your lcd projectors? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFCoFId0STXFHxUucwRAlTbAJ9LRXnaf058CrUGB4zqA5U9k1IcBgCfaLK/ GTC6rh5wuZIoImUQpKO8zRs= =tw/B -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
(I do not feel it as off-topic, btw). Q. - what really are you going to see on this projected screen? I saw very , very few systems and screens, which was really interesting for the big screen. Most 'World map, colored icons, fancy lines' views are 99% useless (many reasons). Big screen is desired, if you have compact view of your all system, such as in Proactivenet (events + primary charts), or 'snmpstat' (up to 300 - 500 active ports and links, including traffic bars, on one screen). Even here, you will need MORE information. Projectors are not designed for it. They are designed more for the presentations, with 1200 x 1000 resolution, and so on. If I have 2,000 active links which I'd like to see, or 2,000 objects which I'd like to see better, or something like this - I'd like to have integrated resolution as 4,000 x 2000, which iis, for example, 8 standard LCD screens. So, what are real requirements for such projectors? 4 VGA screen on one projector? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Daniel Golding" <dgolding@burtongroup.com> To: "Chip Mefford" <cpm@well.com>; "Spencer Wood" <Spencer.Wood@dot.state.oh.us> Cc: <nanog@merit.edu> Sent: Friday, June 03, 2005 11:21 AM Subject: Re: OT: NOC Display's
On a related note, those interested in NOC display technology may also
want
to check out the recent Wall Street Journal article (sorry, I don't have a link) that suggests that we are about to see a huge drop in large LCD/Plasma display pricing as several new factories are coming on-line.
I'm not sure if that changes the way we'll build NOCs - projectors have been popular, but I'm not sure if that's only due to cost advantage.
(I'd like to say that I don't feel a thread on NOCs is particularly off-topic. While I can't configure LCD projectors on an IOS command line, I've sure configured IOS command lines on LCD projectors - reasonable display technology can be the difference between a useless "Show NOC" and a technically useful operations center)
- Dan
On 6/3/05 8:50 AM, "Chip Mefford" <cpm@well.com> wrote:
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Spencer Wood wrote:
This is kind of off topic, so please feel free to delete if you want <grin>..
Anyway, in our NOC we current have two LCD projectors displaying
outputs
from two different computers. On one of the display's, I would like to be able to take 4 VGA outputs from 4 workstations, and display it on the screen (aka: Hollywood square style).
What is the native rez of your lcd projectors? -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.0 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFCoFId0STXFHxUucwRAlTbAJ9LRXnaf058CrUGB4zqA5U9k1IcBgCfaLK/ GTC6rh5wuZIoImUQpKO8zRs= =tw/B -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
participants (8)
-
Alexei Roudnev -
Chip Mefford -
Chris Beggy -
Daniel Golding -
Jay R. Ashworth -
Michael.Dillon＠btradianz.com -
Spencer Wood -
Valdis.Kletnieks＠vt.edu