Independent second monitor

[PHend6]

We have a system that drives a second monitor from a Windows 10 PC using an Intel 530. We currently have to use an extended desktop to access the second monitor which is only used by our dedicated application. This gives a number of issues as we have to be sure our app is talking to the correct screen and if there are problems we end up with a Windows desktop showing on the second monitor which is undesirable. Ideally we would want a screen dedicated to our app that is not part of the Windows desktop set. We don't need to display a lot of images on the screen so a different API to write to the screen would be fine.

Is there any way to do this? I noticed some older Intel graphics devices have a dual mode in addition to single/clone/extended, and this sounds interesting, but I could find anymore information about it.

[Nikky_P_Intel]

Hi Patrick,

Please follow the below steps set the external display as the primary display device:
1) In desktop mode, right-click on your Desktop and select Graphics Properties.
2) Click Display > Multiple Displays.
3) Click the drop-down arrow for Operating Mode. Select the Extended Desktop or Clone Display.
4) Click the drop-down arrow for Primary Display. Select the display you want to use. The secondary display auto-populates with the other device. Click Apply > OK.

You may also find the below link on Frequently Asked Questions for Multiple Displays:
https://www.intel.in/content/www/in/en/support/articles/000005580/graphics-drivers.html

For more assistance you may contact our desktop team for on-call assistance or chat assistance, all you need to do is Under Hardware> Click Intel Graphics :
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/contact-support.html#@1

Regards,

Nikky 

Intel Developer Zone

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Nikky,

You didn't understand Patrick's question.

To restate is question: Patrick wants to add a display that is NOT generally accessible by Windows. IOW NOT a duplicate desktop and NOT an extended desktop. Patrick wants a display that has exclusive access by his application. IOW an assignable device as opposed to a shared device.

Patrick,

You may be able to find a specialized USB to HDMI (or DVI or VGA) dongle for an assignable display. If you are unable to find on, and are of the mindset to do what is necessary to get the job done, consider looking at one of the low-cost single board computers (SBC) that have a display port and can message with your Windows application. Note, this can be over Bluetooth, WiFi, Ethernet, USB. You may be able to cobble together without much effort the SBC as a web host and which also displays the web page. A Raspberry Pi would work, there are other SBCs that would be suitable as well. You might look at this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4kMEbeORLo&t=705s

Jim Dempsey

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Another option to consider, depending on your needs, is to use a serial port intelligent display.

https://www.banggood.com/7_0-Inch-Nextion-HMI-Intelligent-Smart-USART-UART-Serial-Touch-TFT-LCD-Screen-Module-p-1105319.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

https://www.amazon.com/Colorful-Display-Control-Medical-Machine/dp/B07CG95T4N/ref=sr_1_164?crid=1UX8Q9GUO6QD7&keywords=serial+display&qid=1573140832&sprefix=serial+di%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-164

https://www.amazon.com/Display-Program-Equipment-Control-WTVC101WT-01/dp/B07XH24625/ref=sr_1_182_sspa?crid=1UX8Q9GUO6QD7&keywords=serial+display&qid=1573140832&sprefix=serial+di%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-182-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExREtQNDFYOTRRWkFLJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzY0NjE5MlVZQkZPREZNWEtRTyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDY4NTE1MjJQQUtRR0lYTT...

Or consider using a Mini PC, and using remote desktop to your host Windows 10 system.

https://www.amazon.com/ACEPC-Computer-Internal-2-5-Inch-Ethernet/dp/B07Z381PC7/ref=sr_1_245?crid=1UX8Q9GUO6QD7&keywords=serial+display&qid=1573141357&sprefix=serial+di%2Caps%2C195&sr=8-245

Or do the remote desktop using a left-over notebook.

Jim Dempsey

[PHend6]

Jim,

Thanks for clarifying with Nikky, you have understood my question correctly.  We have considered using an SBC but would prefer to avoid the extra complexity.  the USB to HDMI idea is interesting and I will look into it.

Thanks.

Patrick

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Patrick,

I did a little searching and came across this:

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/vstudio/en-US/d940a189-58e8-48e5-a3f0-0ca0f66f1cb1/howto-get-handle-of-a-display-device-from-displaydevicedevicename?forum=vcgeneral

Scroll down to August 5, 2013 (but start at the post immediately before this on June 15, 2012)

I cannot say that this is the answer to your needs. But I can say it will be the starting point.

The essence of the article (and misdirection in early responses) it the OP wanted to be able to use CreateFile to be able to obtain a device handle to a monitor. He wanted to control the brightness. In your case you want exclusive access to a monitor.

What you may need to do for your use, and this is speculation on my part, is to Disable the extra monitor such that it is neither Mirrored or Extended of the main monitor. Hopefully, after disabling it, it will still be seen in the device list (as off line), and that you can open it.

Once you have this device handle, I recall that there is a Windows API that permits you to create a device context and attach it to your application as its Display. I've used this to open a separate console window, it may possibly be used to open a graphics window as well.

Jim Dempsey

[PHend6]

Jim,

Thank you!  That's looks very interesting and I'm going to experiment with it.

Patrick

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Patrick,

On my wife's Windows 10 with dual monitors, at the bottom of the Display settings, in Multiple Displays, I can select "Show only on display 1". Implying Display 2 is off-line. I do not know what choices you get with 3 displays. With the 2nd monitor offline, see if you can use CreateFile to open the device.

If you do get a solution for application exclusive use of a monitor, please document how you did this and post it back here. There may be others that can learn from this discussion.

Jim Dempsey