[HOWTO] Use your NC as a secondary PC screen

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nikescar

Member
Jan 9, 2008
44
14
Indiana
The Nook is the perfect size for a secondary display for a laptop or desktop pc.

This method creates a virtual display that TeamViewer can attach to and control.

I'm going to use TeamViewer (for simplicity's sake) but you can use VNC if you want also. I am making this guide assuming you are using Windows 7.

Software you will need:
Mirage Virtual Display Driver
TeamViewer for PC and Android

PC
  1. Install both Mirage and TeamViewer. If either of them ask for a restart, then restart.
  2. Right-click on your desktop and choose 'Screen Resolution'.
  3. Click the 'Detect' button.
  4. In the 'Display' drop-down list you should see your virtual display as 'Display device on: VGA'. Select that.
  5. Under 'Multiple Displays' drop-down, choose 'Extend desktop to this display' and click 'Apply'
  6. Under the 'Resolution' drop-down, choose 1024x600 and then click 'OK'.
  7. For 'Orientation' choose either 'Landscape' or 'Portrait' to suit your needs.
  8. To setup TeamViewer follow the steps in this PDF.

NOOK
  • Install TeamViewer on your NC using the standard or easy (drag-drop-open with file manager) methods.
  • Launch Teamviewer.
  • Type your pc's ID and password you setup from the PDF and click 'Connect to Partner'.
  • After a few moments you should establish a connection. If you get a help screen on connection press close.
  • On the toolbar on the bottom click on the gear icon. (You may have to click towards the top of the icon, at least on my NC that's how it is)
  • Under 'Session settings' tap the 'Monitor' pulldown and choose 'Monitor 2'. (It was #2 on my setup yours may be different)
  • Under 'Quality' I left mine on 'Automatic'.
  • The 'Back' button wasn't working on mine so just tap your Nook's back button.

That should do it. Now you can drag Twitter, Pandora, Winamp to your NC, add some widgets like cpu usage, or whatever.

Notes:
  • On my setup when I tried to add th NC as my third screen, Windows wouldn't allow it. I'm sure it has to do with my video card or something.
  • If you want a cleaner picture try 'Optimize quality' under 'Quality'. Likewise, if you want smoother transitions choose 'Optimize Speed'.
  • This isn't a hack or anything special but I thought some might be interested.
 
Last edited:
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T

tunwear

Senior Member
Aug 28, 2010
93
4
The Detect button fixed it. Looks good. Thanks again.

I to be mr 20 questions ( :D ) but I clicked show remote cursor on the settings, but it only updates the cursor when you click the mouse. Anyway to update it in real time? I also have it on optimize speed.
 
B

bartimeus

Senior Member
Apr 11, 2008
244
8
Springfield
tunwear said:
The Detect button fixed it. Looks good. Thanks again.

I to be mr 20 questions ( :D ) but I clicked show remote cursor on the settings, but it only updates the cursor when you click the mouse. Anyway to update it in real time? I also have it on optimize speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

There is an option that sets it to view the remote mouse.


This works well when my laptop isn't plugged into my actual monitor but it never gives me the option to select a third monitor. May be helpful at work though, thanks!
 
X

xebix

Member
Mar 20, 2009
11
0
I've tried this on both my home computer and my work computer. Both run Windows 7 x32. The Mirage Driver shows up under Displays in device manager, but when I click the Detect button, all I see is my primary monitor. Any suggestions?
 
D

DanAdamKOF

Member
Jul 5, 2007
23
3
36
Dallas
Thanks a lot for posting about this, I tried it and here's a few notes:
-I couldn't get Mirage Virtual Display Driver to really work, it would install but it wouldn't appear when I went to add another display. I ended up not using it at all (see below).
-I was able to add an extra display with my nVidia video card. Basically, I did the following:
--I used the NVIDIA Control Panel to create a 1024x600 60hz custom resolution
--I went to Windows 7's Screen Resolution thing, clicked Detect, clicked on "Another display not detected", clicked "Try to connect anyway on: VGA", clicked Apply, and from there it was simple to choose the 1024x600 resolution and extend my display onto it.
-It was difficult for me to use the other display.
--For one, the refresh rate was quite choppy (even with optimizing for speed enabled), so I would keep overshooting the cursor, moving it back, waiting to see if I was in the right place, and if not, trying to move a bit less in the opposite direction again (sort of like an annoying "Binary Search" hehe).
---I have to wonder if getting the NC to use LAN over USB would improve performance. There's a lot more throughput to be had over USB than WiFi. Any ideas on how to do that?
--For two, and the most annoying part, was that the bottom bar for Teamviewer on my NC took up a lot of screen space. If I maximized a window, I couldn't see the bottom part of it because of the bar.
---I wonder if finding out the exact height of the bar, and subtracting that from the custom resolution, will make a display that floats on top of the bar when viewed in Teamviewer?

For the record, I'm running a rooted NC with the stock rom (no CM7 or anything custom), my PC is running Windows 7 6bit, dunno if any other details matter.

Since this works over WiFi, I'd imagine iDisplay would perform similarly, so I think until they get it to work over USB, I won't buy it (I emailed them a while ago and asked if you established a LAN connection over USB if it would work, and they said no).
 
L

lellouchftw

Senior Member
Jun 22, 2010
72
5
Just tried iDisplay and it worked for me, thanks alot!

Don't know how useful it's going to be, but at least it gets bragging rights :p
 
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    nikescar
    The Nook is the perfect size for a secondary display for a laptop or desktop pc.

    This method creates a virtual display that TeamViewer can attach to and control.

    I'm going to use TeamViewer (for simplicity's sake) but you can use VNC if you want also. I am making this guide assuming you are using Windows 7.

    Software you will need:
    Mirage Virtual Display Driver
    TeamViewer for PC and Android

    PC
    1. Install both Mirage and TeamViewer. If either of them ask for a restart, then restart.
    2. Right-click on your desktop and choose 'Screen Resolution'.
    3. Click the 'Detect' button.
    4. In the 'Display' drop-down list you should see your virtual display as 'Display device on: VGA'. Select that.
    5. Under 'Multiple Displays' drop-down, choose 'Extend desktop to this display' and click 'Apply'
    6. Under the 'Resolution' drop-down, choose 1024x600 and then click 'OK'.
    7. For 'Orientation' choose either 'Landscape' or 'Portrait' to suit your needs.
    8. To setup TeamViewer follow the steps in this PDF.

    NOOK
    • Install TeamViewer on your NC using the standard or easy (drag-drop-open with file manager) methods.
    • Launch Teamviewer.
    • Type your pc's ID and password you setup from the PDF and click 'Connect to Partner'.
    • After a few moments you should establish a connection. If you get a help screen on connection press close.
    • On the toolbar on the bottom click on the gear icon. (You may have to click towards the top of the icon, at least on my NC that's how it is)
    • Under 'Session settings' tap the 'Monitor' pulldown and choose 'Monitor 2'. (It was #2 on my setup yours may be different)
    • Under 'Quality' I left mine on 'Automatic'.
    • The 'Back' button wasn't working on mine so just tap your Nook's back button.

    That should do it. Now you can drag Twitter, Pandora, Winamp to your NC, add some widgets like cpu usage, or whatever.

    Notes:
    • On my setup when I tried to add th NC as my third screen, Windows wouldn't allow it. I'm sure it has to do with my video card or something.
    • If you want a cleaner picture try 'Optimize quality' under 'Quality'. Likewise, if you want smoother transitions choose 'Optimize Speed'.
    • This isn't a hack or anything special but I thought some might be interested.
    View
    1
    N
    nikescar
    If it shows up in device manager try clicking "Detect" when you are in the 'Screen Resolution' window.
    View
    1
    G
    GabrialDestruir
    khaytsus said:
    Cute hack, but I can't imagine anyone doing this on purpose.
    Click to expand...
    Click to collapse

    I'd do this on purpose for when I'm not using my NC for other stuff.
    View
    1
    N
    nikescar
    iDisplay now Available for Android

    This is a program that is designed to work as a second display instead of being a hack job.
    View
    1
    N
    nikescar
    Yes, it works with multiple screens.
    View

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