[markw10]

I have to explain the situation I have.
I purchased a Mac Pro sometime back to use in my office but the person in the office next to me also frequently has use for a Mac Pro and since we can't purchase two Mac Pro's now we decided to set up a system with multiple monitors/keyboard/mouse. We ran a 2nd DVI Cable and a USB Hub over to the other office and use that for a second monitor hooked onto this Mac Pro plus a 2nd Keyboard and Mouse. Fortunately the distance was not too far and it worked out well.

The problem we're having is trying to figure out how to do the Screen Mirroring/Spanning. The Mac Pro has two video cards. Video card 1 is the Nvidea 8800 GT and the 2nd card is an ATI 2600 XT. I have the main monitor in my office which is a 22" Samsung Widescreen hooked up as video 1 on the Nvidea card. The 2nd monitor which is an Acer 19" Widescreen monitor has been hooked up to both video 2 on the NVidea card and even video 1 on the ATI.

We have selected to do screen mirroring and this was our original plan except once screen mirroring is turned on the graphics seem to run much slower on both monitors. When a window is moved it is kind of 'jerky' and everything seems slightly slower. Is this normal or can it be fixed?

We then tried simply spanning the monitors and fortunately that fixed the 'jerky' problem. In a sense it even allowed us to have our separate workspaces. I could have my workspace open on my monitor and hers open on her monitor. Of course even though we have two keyboards and two mice they can't be used at the same time.
-Is it possible to set up a system where we could use both mice and keyboards at the same time on separate monitors? The only way I can think of possibly doing this is through something like virtualization but even then I think even with separate monitors only one keyboard and mouse can be used, right? I know you can select for a program like VMWare to either use or not use certain USB devices but yet you can't run OS X in virtualization, can you?
-Also, another issue we ran into with this is screen sizes. It may be because of the smaller 19" monitor but it seems to want to make the screen resolution lower on the 22" monitor. I have changed it to a larger screensize manually after the computer does it but then the screen is not the full width of the 22" monitor.

Screen spanning definitely seems like the best solution to us with the separate workspaces and better speed than mirroring. The big problem we have with screen spanning though is that the 2nd monitor doesn't display the dock at the bottom or the pull down menus at the top of the screen. Is it possible to display them on both monitors?

Thank you for any help with the above questions.

[ibook_steve]

You can't have two people doing two different things on the same computer at the same time. It's just not possible. No amount of "virtualization" is going to make this possible. And you can't have the dock and menu on two displays at the same time without mirroring.

If the two of you really need to be working like this, you or this other person should seriously consider buying another computer. Get a Macbook, or, even cheaper, a Mac Mini.

Steve

[mishakim]

with two video cards, you shouldn't be having jerkiness when mirroring, but you will have the problem that the two monitors are different sizes, so you've basically limited to the resolution of the smaller one. For the jerkiness, that's not normal, but I don't know what to suggest for fixing it (I've never had problems with dual screen setups).

As for two people doing to different things, that's absolutely possible, but not necessarily useful. You need a little more hardware, specifically, a VNC terminal (either a custom device with minimal hardware, or any PC). I assume your co-worker has a PC or simpler mac, as she isn't using yours all the time, so she should be able to user her PC as a VNC client.

I have no idea how performance would be, as I've set this up to see if it would work, but haven't actually done anything with it. I can say it seems to work on my dual-G4, so your Mac Pro should have no trouble. Functionality may be lacking, I don't know what performance you need, but here's what you do: Install Vine Server (formerly OSXVnc) on the Mac Pro. Set up fast user switching. Log in locally as the remote user (her), start Vine Server and set it to use a display other than 0, and note the port (for display 1, port is 5901). Don't log out, but switch back to the other user (you). On the remote machine, start up a VNC client and access the other mac at the port from above. (In leopard, just click on the icon for the shared screen in Finder) That VNC client session will get the dormant user's session and can use it simultaneously with you using the normal session.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

No amount of "virtualization" is going to make this possible.

Why do you say that ? Yes, this is not supported by standard OS X, but I could see this being supported by a special software or a future OS X Server version.

Technically, it should be more than feasible.

-t

[mduell]

Originally Posted by markw10 

-Is it possible to set up a system where we could use both mice and keyboards at the same time on separate monitors?

I don't know of anyone who does this under OS X (Apple probably doesn't allow enough access to the internals anyway), but it can be done with Linux: Groovix, Userful, Multiseat X

Originally Posted by markw10 

-Also, another issue we ran into with this is screen sizes. It may be because of the smaller 19" monitor but it seems to want to make the screen resolution lower on the 22" monitor. I have changed it to a larger screensize manually after the computer does it but then the screen is not the full width of the 22" monitor.

The 19" is probably 1280x1024 while the 22" is 1680x1050... there's no way to mirror one of those on to the other, since they're different dimensions. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a hack out there to allow multiple docks, but I don't know of one.

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Why do you say that ? Yes, this is not supported by standard OS X, but I could see this being supported by a special software or a future OS X Server version.

Technically, it should be more than feasible.

-t

If you know of a way of having two cursors on the same computer controlled by two different people at the same time, I would really like to know how.

Unless I'm misinterpreting what the OP is looking for, it's just not possible. If only one person at a time is working on the single computer, then fine: multiple accounts and a KVM (once the mirroring problem is figured out because the cursor would disappear off the screen with spanning). With a second computer, all sorts of options open up: screen sharing and other VNC, net booting, etc.

I interpreted that the OP wants two people using one computer at the same time. If this is incorrect, then I think the OP will let us know.

Steve

[ibookuser2]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

If you know of a way of having two cursors on the same computer controlled by two different people at the same time, I would really like to know how.

See this paper: Multiple Mice for Computers in Education in Developing Countries (PDF). It's using specialized software, on Windows, but it's certainly possible to do. It's just not something that most OS developers think is worthwhile to include in their mouse drivers/GUI toolkit. It also requires rethinking many user interface conventions, such as having a single object/window "focused" for the keyboard and mouse at a time.

Basically, you're looking at something that's technically possible, but there isn't some program you're going to install that makes it magically work. You're really best off getting a second machine.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

I interpreted that the OP wants two people using one computer at the same time. If this is incorrect, then I think the OP will let us know.

Steve

Maybe I misunderstand the OP's lengthy but slightly confusing post.

It seemed to me he was merely looking for a way to not having to invest in a second computer. So in a sense, he wanted to use one CPU and virtually split in two consoles (monitor, keyboard, mouse).

-t

[mduell]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

If you know of a way of having two cursors on the same computer controlled by two different people at the same time, I would really like to know how.

Unless I'm misinterpreting what the OP is looking for, it's just not possible. If only one person at a time is working on the single computer, then fine: multiple accounts and a KVM (once the mirroring problem is figured out because the cursor would disappear off the screen with spanning). With a second computer, all sorts of options open up: screen sharing and other VNC, net booting, etc.

I interpreted that the OP wants two people using one computer at the same time. If this is incorrect, then I think the OP will let us know.

I think your interpretation of the OP is correct, but it certainly is possible; see my post from 14 hours before yours.

Thanks ibookuser2 for noting it can also be done with Windows instead of just with Linux.

[ibook_steve]

Originally Posted by mduell 

I think your interpretation of the OP is correct, but it certainly is possible; see my post from 14 hours before yours.

Thanks ibookuser2 for noting it can also be done with Windows instead of just with Linux.

OK, it may be possible, but even as you said, it can't be done in OS X, which is what the OP cares about and what this forum is for.

Steve

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by ibook_steve 

OK, it may be possible, but even as you said, it can't be done in OS X, which is what the OP cares about and what this forum is for.

What ? This forum is not for rants about Mac and OS X shortcomings ?

Pfff, I think we just wasted eleventy billions of posts

-t