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Lee 2001-10-01 21:27
I am running two monitors at the moment, and each has it's own ATI card. (ATI sucks. I'll never buy another ATI product). I recently found and installed UltraMon. I am in the UltraMon Desktop: Wallpaper. All options are dimmed. Why might this be? I just wanted to set a different image for each monitor.
Thanks,
Lee
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Christian Studer 2001-10-01 21:32
Looks like you have installed Beta 4, please upgrade to Beta 5. The wallpaper feature has been improved a lot in Beta 5.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Lee 2001-10-01 23:04
Okay, I was using UltraMon20.msi. I just upgraded to UltraMon20b5.msi. Now I have the options, but I cannot access any .gif images as I was doing in the previous version. I tried disabling and re-enabling Active Desktop, but no deal. Any ideas?
, Lee
Thanks,
Lee
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Lee 2001-10-01 23:18
Also, after setting a particular jpeg (a.jpg) to be displayed on one monitor, I cannot get any other image to display on only one monitor. The a.jpg remembers its setting, but I cannot put a different image on my other monitor. All other images show up on both monitors in the preview and when applied, even though the radio button for "a different backgroun/image for each monitor" is selected.
Thanks,
Lee
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Christian Studer 2001-10-01 23:32
GIFs are not supported, you'll need to convert them to JPG, PNG or BMP. You can convert images with Microsoft Paint, which is included with Windows.
I didn't add GIF support due to the licensing requirements by Unisys. In Beta 4, UltraMon didn't handle images directly so no GIF license was required.
Regarding a different image on each monitor: please try if the following works:
- create a new wallpaper
- select 'different background/image for each monitor'
- add a different image for each monitor
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Lee 2001-10-01 23:47
I created a new wallpaper called test.jpg. When I click OK, test.jpg is selected, but not active, in the list ("highlighted" in gray instead of blue). Both of my desktops appear blank, with just my black background color.
Next, I select "a different background/image for each monitor".
Then, as soon as I click another image in the list, it appears in the preview of both monitors--and the selection for "a different background/image for each monitor" is unchanged.
, Lee
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Christian Studer 2001-10-01 23:51
Listed on the left are the different wallpapers. To add images to your current wallpaper, select the monitor you want the image to appear on, then click the Browse button to choose an image.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Lee 2001-10-02 00:02
We are making progress, but it's still quirky. If I browse for them, I can set a different image for each monitor. Even after doing that, if I click an image in the Ultramon Desktop Wallpaper list it immediately appears in the preview of both monitors. So, if I want an image that's right there in the list, I have to take the long way around and browse for it.
, Lee
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Christian Studer 2001-10-02 00:15
The problem is that Windows and UltraMon use the term wallpaper differently: for Windows, an image or HTML file is a wallpaper; for UltraMon, a wallpaper is a collection of images and background settings.
When you run UltraMon for the first time, it creates an UltraMon wallpaper for each existing Windows wallpaper. But the list to the left is always a list of UltraMon wallpapers, not images. You always select images using the Browse button.
I'm not sure how the user interface could be improved to make this difference clearer. One way could be to not import existing wallpapers, but during Beta 4 I noticed that most people expect their existing wallpapers to be available in UltraMon. Let me know if you have any ideas.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Lee 2001-10-02 00:24
How is it that after removing UltraMon completely, including the directory "C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Realtime Soft\UltraMon", which is not removed automatically, and rebooting, when I reinstall the app, it remembers the setting of that one image in the list (a.jpg) that displays properly on one monitor without fiddling around?
I'm baffled since the image file itself was not modified.
, Lee
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Christian Studer 2001-10-02 00:31
Wallpapers are stored in My Documents\My Wallpapers and All Users\Shared Wallpapers. These folders are not removed during uninstallation.
The .wallpaper files store the wallpaper settings, such as images used and background settings. When you activate a wallpaper, UltraMon creates a .bmp file with the same name. Original images are never modified or deleted by UltraMon.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Lee 2001-10-02 01:10
I must say that by using the term wallpaper to mean something different from what it means in Windows is just begging for trouble. That breaks a major rule of developing a user-friendly app.
This is an interesting issue though. You said, "…For Windows, an image or HTML file is a wallpaper". I do not think that is accurate. For Windows, an image or HTML file is a *potential* wallpaper. Those files only become wallpaper when they are displayed on the desktop, which I imagine means that they are copied to a special location. Note that the label above the image list in Display Properties says, "Select a background picture or HTML doc as Wallpaper”. It does not say select a wallpaper from the list (of wallpapers). This means the files listed are not yet wallpapers. In UltraMon, you are saying that the list is a list of wallpapers.
This seems to mean that Windows does the "conversion" from image/HTML file to wallpaper on-the-fly. The Windows Display Properties Background image list shows a list of image/HTML files that have the potential to be applied as wallpapers. They are not pre-converted files like in UltraMon.
I didn't use beta4, but it sounds as if you went from one extreme to the other; whereas, Windows uses a compromise--which works better than either extreme. You went from no list, it sounds like, to a fixed list. When I add an image to my "C:\WINNT\Web\Wallpaper" directory, it shows up in the Windows "wallpaper" list the next time I open it. UltraMon looks in that directory only upon installation, so the list never gets updated. This sucks when I delete a file from my "C:\WINNT\Web\Wallpaper" directory and UltraMon still lists a “wallpaper” that needs that file. I get a big red X as my wallpaper.
I suggest that Ultramon do what Windows does: each time Desktop settings is opened, it should look in the few special directories for files that qualify as wallpapers. If you want to save the associated settings as .wallpaper files, make sure that the user interface list does not reference the .wallpaper files directly, but the image files themselves. It would be nice if the .wallpaper file was deleted when the associated image is deleted, but since the .wallpaper files are small, it’s not a big deal. If you want to improve upon the Windows method even further (your saving of the associated settings from the last time the image was used is nice and it’s critical to multi-mon use), then I suggest having MultiMon Display Settings aware of changes to the list while the app is running.
, Lee
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Lee 2001-10-02 01:14
I'm not an image specialist so... When I convert a .gif to a .jpg, what happens to the transparent portions of the image?
, Lee
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Christian Studer 2001-10-02 01:32
Monitoring the same directories that Windows uses for wallpapers would be a possibility. My problem with this is that there is no real relation between a single image and a UltraMon (or multi-monitor) wallpaper.
GIF transparency won't be preserved, I guess the image will be saved as it is displayed in the image editor.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Christian Studer 2001-10-02 01:41
One way you could make a direct link between an image and a multi-monitor wallpaper would be by stretching the image across the desktop by default (one background/image for the whole desktop).
This would make it easy to install large multi-monitor wallpaper images. You simply save the image in My Pictures, and it is automatically available as an UltraMon wallpaper.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Lee 2001-10-02 01:45
I think monitoring the same directories as Windows is a necessity. You want a seasoned Windows user to have a minimal learning curve when switching to your app, unless there is very good reason not to do so.
Technically, there is a very real relationship between a single image and an UltraMon wallpaper. The wallpaper references the image, or images. That is a relationship. I don't know how you establish a relationship that is usable by, or in, Windows.
I mainly use .gif images for wallpaper, so, I'm back to Windows on that one.
Good luck,
Lee
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Kurt Towler 2001-11-19 12:48
I think we forgot one of Lee's questions. In fact, I'm having problems with the same issue. I have a nice landscape picture that needs to go across two monitors (2048 x 768). Ultramon refuses to show both images, only one.
I tried to use the previously described method. (Create new wallpaper, select two images, browse for each image) I find that the one background image option works exactly the same. It uses the first half of the image (1024 x 768) for both monitors. I should mention that the preview looks correct and shows two separate images on each virtual monitor.
So far, I like Ultramon and am interested in paying money for it, if I can get it to work.
I'm running Windows 98SE with Nvidia Twinview MX400.
Thanks,
Kurt Towler
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Christian Studer 2001-11-19 23:09
Make sure that Active Desktop is enabled, this is required for Win98/Me. Without Active Desktop, each monitor will show the same part of the image.
UltraMon should prompt you to enable Active Desktop when you open the wallpaper dialog (UltraMon menu > Desktop Settings).
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Kurt Towler 2001-11-20 02:30
Oh...I thought I didn't need MS Active Desktop. So Ultramon exploits it that way. As I cannot stand that GUI, I'll have to think more seriously about that. Oh well, I'm going to XP this weekend, so lots of things are in the air.
Thanks for your help and congrats on a cool program!
Kurt
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