Anyone grasped dual monitors with Lion yet?

I don't really see the need to over complicate things.

All I'd like to see is the default behaviour of the full screen button should make the app go full screen on the display it's currently on, and leave all the other displays as they are. By all means make an option to option-click and have it blank the other displays but that should be an option, not the default, and definitely not the only method.

Thanks Richard that sounds even better. You could make the behaviour selectable in the preferences so Apple could give the current behaviour to basic users and power users get to choose, same as they have for Tabs in Safari. An elegant solution and fits in with the way Apple does things.

I'd still like the option to reorder spaces in Mission Control as well though.

Why cant we unlink the monitors if we are not using that kind of application this is stupid???

Be careful what you wish for. I'd hoped to be able to reorder Spaces and 10.7.2 gave me exactly that. BUT, and it's a big but, you still can't move spaces across monitors.

10.7.2 shows how easy it is to rearrange spaces using mission control, so why don't they allow spaces to be moved to a different monitor? Really annoyed by this as it'll be months until 10.7.3 and any chance of a fix.

I'm glad I read this ! My current version of vmware still works in fullscreen with out blanking the other monitor.

I'm definiatly not going to upgrade vmware now, lets put it that way !

Because of the way Lion changed the way Lion handles resolution on external monitors, I've found it useless. If I can't sit on my sofa and see the fonts on a 40" screen, I can't use it. Plain and simple. I don't understand how 1920x1080 can mean two completely different things from one OS to the next. Or how that same resolution could look completely different depending on whether I have my macbook open or closed. Apple?? What gives??

I tried to understand why things were happening the way they do. It appears that Lion assumes that, with a second screen attached, then the picture should show on the second screen if the laptop lid is closed.

Here is what I noted after playing with it all for a couple of hours. I also made a short call to Applecare who did not seem to be 100% familiar with the problem I was having.

1. Plug in the mini-DVI to HDMI adapter to the Macbook Pro and into the HDMI #1 port on the Monitor. It seems the audio out from the Macbook also needs to be connected to the monitor. This mutes the Macbook speakers and uses the big screen speakers if you want that.

2. On Macbook, open the apple-button/preferences/displays and see that you have the main display and a second display (do not have the mirror button checked or they will just both be identical)

2. On my setup the macbookpro is at 1920x1200 and the TV display is at 1080p (on a Samsung T27A950 27" TV/Monitor or T23A950 or S27A950 etc..)

3. At this stage the second screen is the same as a giant extension to the right of the Macbook screen. You can drag application windows over there to view them. You can make the application windows large but you CANNOT MAXIMISE them. If you do so, the window will go back to the Macbook screen and be maximaised there!

4. If you open iTunes now on the Macbook, you will see the normal iTunes window. You can move it to the big screen and practice the above viewing options.

5. Now lets play a movie.

6. If I play Planet of the Apes, it appears in a medium sized window on the big screen (where i am keeping the iTunes window). Once the moview is playing somewhere it can be paused. Then look at the iTunes/view menu to choose HOW and where the movie plays - in the "iTunes Window" or in a "full screen". It seems to remember where you started from - and if you started to run the movie on the macbook screen - it will tend to run there. If you started it with iTunes on the second monitor it likes to run there.

7. If the movie is not running then you cannot use the view menu - it is grayed out. After you start the movie then you can choose.

8. When the movie is running full screen on the macbook pro, and you close the lid, it appears full screen on the second monitor. If you then close the movie by clicking the X button with your mouse, then the movie goes off but leaves iTunes running on the second screen. Then, if you open the lid of the Macbook, the iTunes jumps back to the Macbook pro and the second monitor goes back to background (e.g. galaxy image).

Overall, I don't think Apple needs to change anything. Once understood, it seems be be quite predictable and works fine.

Barry

Message was edited by: barryfromsubiaco I added a comment about audio and also note that this entry could be useful for people setting up Samsung T27A950 27" TV/Monitor or T23A950 or S27A950 or S23A950 etc.. These monitors have a native resolution the same as my 17 inch Macbook pro.

I've resolved my issue. The problem for my 40" Sony TV was that I needed to enable the stretch mode so 1360x768 fills the TV screen with wasred screen space. Maybe not the problem others were having, but I hope it helps someone.

Talk about missing the point!

barryfromsubiaco wrote:

8. When the movie is running full screen on the macbook pro, and you close the lid, it appears full screen on the second monitor. If you then close the movie by clicking the X button with your mouse, then the movie goes off but leaves iTunes running on the second screen.

So you're only using ONE SCREEN then aren't you.

How about you try playing the movie full screen on your external monitor/TV whilst you carry on working on another app on the main laptop display. Oh right, you can't can you? That's the whole point of this discussion.

What is the point in Apple selling $1000 external monitors if the only way to use an app full screen is to kill the functionality of all their other displays?

I don't generally need to run apps on my main display at full screen, maximised will do, but I do absolutely want to run quicktime, dvd player or the video output from itunes at full screen on my second monitor or TV whilst I continue to work on my main display. I've been able to do that for years but since Lion and the full screen fiasco I can't.

Well done Apple, you've resigned all your own Apps to the trash can as I now just use VLC for everything.

I started using MPlayerX a while ago, as it's got a bit more of a Quicktime look, the power of VLC (almost), and I can rig it to lauch full screen in a second monitor when a video file is opened. Sweet.

Maybe one day Quictime will catch up...

Richard Olpin wrote:

Talk about missing the point!

barryfromsubiaco wrote:

8. When the movie is running full screen on the macbook pro, and you close the lid, it appears full screen on the second monitor. If you then close the movie by clicking the X button with your mouse, then the movie goes off but leaves iTunes running on the second screen.

So you're only using ONE SCREEN then aren't you.

How about you try playing the movie full screen on your external monitor/TV whilst you carry on working on another app on the main laptop display. Oh right, you can't can you? That's the whole point of this discussion.

What is the point in Apple selling $1000 external monitors if the only way to use an app full screen is to kill the functionality of all their other displays?

I don't generally need to run apps on my main display at full screen, maximised will do, but I do absolutely want to run quicktime, dvd player or the video output from itunes at full screen on my second monitor or TV whilst I continue to work on my main display. I've been able to do that for years but since Lion and the full screen fiasco I can't.

Well done Apple, you've resigned all your own Apps to the trash can as I now just use VLC for everything.

Sorry. When I posted my previous response I got an errror saying Apple Discussions had been closed down for maintenance. Then I got a message saying I didn't have permission to post anyway, I tried to backtrack but my message had gone awol. **

I spent an hour typing what I wanted to say. Sod it. What follows is merely a summary of what I wanted to post.

😠

I've got an iMac using Snow Leopard.

I want to continue using my second (Philips 190B 4:3) Monitor to read instruction manuals whilst I used iMovie (say) on my iMac's screen

This is my set up - different Spaces screens for different apps. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11373233/MacDiscussions/Screen%20shot%202012-02-13%20at% 2020.48.13.png

If I can continue this way, Lion is an option. If not, Lion is out.

So basically I am in agreement with our friend Richard Olpin

Message was edited by: El Deanio ** I keep getting ths error. I recommend typing into TextEdit instead then pasting into this Forum instead. Very PC I know, but since the late Steve J took his hand off the tiller last August (maybe before) ...... Hmmm

I can certainly understand some people being upset with the recent changes in Lion, but this is starting to seem a little over the top. I run Firefox on my second screen with Netflix. There may be a quarter inch border at the top and bottom of the screen, annoying, but not a deal-breaker. Everything fits to the second screen. With VMWare, onlooker often think I have two computers with the way Winders takes-up the whole second screen.

I am the same problem with Lion...

Using the OSX Lion's NATIVE fullscreen button on the secon display moves it over to the primary display...rediculous!!

However, with the OLDER version of VLC (not the new v2 version), which i actually prefer, full screen DOES in fact work on the second monitor but only using VLC's own fullscreen button. Being an older version, Lion's fullscreen button is not present...

With this method i DO get full on my second display, while the first blacks out, as it should. The problem with v2 of VLC is that they have got rid of their native fullscreen button, and are now only using Lion's fullscreen button.

Fail.

topdillin wrote:

The problem with v2 of VLC is that they have got rid of their native fullscreen button, and are now only using Lion's fullscreen button.

Fail.

Err, nope. If you look in the VLC preferences you'll see there's a checkbox which says "Use the native fullscreen mode in OS X Lion". It's entirely optional, uncheck the box and it behaves as it always has. There's also a 'Dark' interface style option which makes it look very much like QuickTime too.

Bit of a case of 'check the release notes before you moan about it' there mate..