11 ms·

DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

1097 points by geerlingguy 2y ago

mcphage 2y ago
As someone with an ultrawide monitor, this seems like a really neat solution. Thanks for sharing it!
rcarmo 2y ago
This is _genius_. I have been using RegionToShare in Windows to share only a section of a widescreen monitor, but didn't have a good Mac equivalent. Now I have something that may well work _just as well_ with Windows inside Parallels (need to try that ASAP, am on the "wrong" Mac now). Edit: A quick test shows that yes, the Windows VM sees the additional display just fine--but, alas, Parallels doesn't let me pass _just_ one physical and that virtual display to the VM, so I can't have my "personal" portrait monitor unoccupied by Windows...
- rr60 2y ago
  +1 for RegionToShare on windows. It's not perfect but it has made sharing on a 49" monitor much much easier.
  - sbarre 2y ago
    I will "third" RegionToShare.. Sometimes I need to share many windows in a meeting and rather than share my entire 4k monitor, I can set up a 1080p region with RtS and put a bunch of windows in there to swap between when I'm doing my demo, and it's super useful! https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare
delusional 2y ago
What an intriguing idea. I wonder if I could do something similar on linux by placing a second monitor on top of my current one with xrandr.
- sadjad 2y ago
  On Linux, you can try Xephyr (https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/Xephyr/ https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/Xephyr/, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xephyr https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xephyr). It's not as nice as DeskPad, but you can basically achieve the same thing.
  - arjvik 2y ago
    Xephyr runs a whole new X server - it's not as easy to drag and drop an application into the nested server, it has to be launched with DISPLAY=:1.
- nixosbestos 2y ago
  It's too easy to just use OBS for this, in my opinion. Add the pipewire display capture, add a filter to crop it to a corner, stretch that container to fit the stage, open the window in the corner. Fairly simple.
_6GoofyWizard9_ 2y ago
Very nice idea! It would be nice to be able to do the same on Linux and/or Windows, too!
- bitbang 2y ago
  This has been possible on Linux (Wayland + pipewire) for a couple years now.
  - eqvinox 2y ago
    It has been possible on Linux for way longer than that, Xnest dates back to when it was still XFree86 rather than Xorg. Quick googling has Xnest and Xephyr mentioned in 2012 changelogs (X11R7.7), but those aren't even "creation" changelogs. (I can't easily dig up when they were created…)
neilv 2y ago
The title could clarify it's for MacOS X.
- neallindsay 2y ago
  Linux users probably already have some weird workflow with X11 virtual buffers to do this.
  - jauntywundrkind 2y ago
    Yeah. On Wlroots or Sway, we can setup virtual displays pretty easily (swaymsg create_output, done). Run wayvnc, and both the other person and yourself connect over vnc or rdp to see what's over there. Available May 2020, https://github.com/any1/wayvnc/issues/7#issuecomment-625661109 https://github.com/any1/wayvnc/issues/7#issuecomment-6256611...
    - moritzruth 2y ago
      For Hyprland, the command is `hyprctl output create headless NAME`
  - Devorlon 2y ago
    It's not exactly the same, but as an alternative to what jauntywundrkind you can use V4L2-Loopback and OBS to create a virtual webcam and use that to share your screen. I find it really handy being able to switch between either just my cam, my desktop or both.
  - marcodiego 2y ago
    Xnest is probably enough. I've used it for similar purposes a few times. Don't know the equivalent for Wayland though.
    - Arnavion 2y ago
      Yes, Wayland compositors like cage and sway can be nested too. That said, with both the X nesting approach and the Wayland nesting approach, you'd also need to run the screencasting application itself inside the nested server, not the just the application you want to cast. If the compositor supports a way to create headless outputs (as sway and hyprland do) that is much easier.
ekinertac 2y ago
what a briliant idea, most of my meeting i had to share my 4K screen with laptop pals and most of the time i had to zoom so they can see. now it's solved.
transfire 2y ago
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could adjust resolution per window? On a 4k monitor some applications have tiny text and icons, and no way adjust that I can find.
- rcarmo 2y ago
  I just went to Preferences and set the resolution of the virtual display to 1920x1080.
  - transfire 2y ago
    But doesn’t that affect ALL windows?
    - rcarmo 2y ago
      Yes, and? You only need to move the window you want to share to that, and at that resolution, without retina, things are pretty readable.
- intull 2y ago
  I like the idea! Rooting for whoever in the universe working on it! Meanwhile, I think you could actually "mimic" this by using OBS as a virtual camera and use multiple layers to selectively share windows. You can set an output video size, and scale different layers/windows individually.
mmastrac 2y ago
Very cool. Does it require the "screen recording" indication to be up the entire time whether screen recording is happening or not? I don't see any info in the repo but I recall some previous solutions would effectively appear to be recording all the time. EDIT: unfortunately it does. But if it's designed for screen sharing, it's probably not a big deal. Unfortunately there's no easy way to mirror on OSX without this, AFAIK. This particular issue is annoying for certain USB-C video adapters that create a virtual screen and mirror it over an arbitrary protocol.
garysahota93 2y ago
I really like this concept. especially for the use case where I need to share my whole screen, but just want a "sandbox" of sorts to share. Typically have gotten around this with a secondary monitor that I share with, but that doesn't work when I'm on the go with my laptop. Will def be using this
- dTal 2y ago
  On Linux, a simple solution for this particular use case is to run a VNC server inside xvfb. You get total isolation between your real desktop, and your "sandbox" - no embarrassing notifications! Of course you can't drag windows around from one to the other, but that's what a sandbox does...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
leptons 2y ago
With my 6480 x 3840 (three 4k screens) desktop resolution, in Zoom I just select "Share a portion of screen", and I can resize the area that gets shared to something close to a common screen size.
- xahrepap 2y ago
  I used that until we moved to Teams for all video calls. And it doesn’t have that feature :( I’ve looked around for an app like this. But they’re all paid and the security prompts are a little scary.
imzadi 2y ago
I need this. I have a 49" monitor and sharing the screen is such a pita
- al_borland 2y ago
  I have a 43” and keep my laptop screen open for when I need to share my screen. The issue is when I have to share code, because my font is huge in my editor. I could scale up and down I guess, but I really don’t like messing with stuff once I have it how I like it. More and more I’ve gotten lazy and share my main screen. My editor is big enough for people to see, but browsers are an issue. I have less of an issue zooming those as needed.
jeanlucas 2y ago
So neat!
shmoogy 2y ago
Thank you for this - sharing a window makes drop downs and other things not work. I look forward to trying this out for a better solution.
benjonesutah 2y ago
Here is a related project I use to share selected content (usually single windows and my iPad) on a projector while teaching: https://github.com/benjones/presenterMode/ https://github.com/benjones/presenterMode/
jakelsaunders94 2y ago
Oh lawd I’ve had to say ‘sorry you’ll have to bear with my ultrawide’ during pairing at least 10 times in the last week. You are a lifesaver.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
supermatt 2y ago
This looks great - really useful! I have always wondered how these virtual desktops work. A cursory looks shows that this is using some undocumented APIs. How do people learn they can create a virtual desktop in this way if the knowledge to do so is hidden/obfuscated? Does apple allow distribution of an app that use these "private" APIs? Is anyone aware of what mechanisms are there for achieving something similar in windows?
- sleepybrett 2y ago
  > Does apple allow distribution of an app that use these "private" APIs? In the app store, sure, any other way, what can they going to do about it?
  - supermatt 2y ago
    They could not notarize it, meaning users have to tackle bypassing the Gatekeeper?
neLrivVK 2y ago
I’ve been using https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay for this purpose. Does something similar and more. Works great!
- mellosouls 2y ago
  But not open source? I mean, its fine if its closed, but no point in linking to a github repo, and if so its not a like-for-like. Edit: I see looking at the branches an old version was open source some years ago.
- blsv 2y ago
  Which feature do you use? Would like to try it as well.
  - __mharrison__ 2y ago
    I have a big comment around my usage of BetterDisplay in another thread.
- ilyagr 2y ago
  I know it can create a dummy display, but can it create a window on the real display showing the contents of the virtual display? That seems to be the flagship feature of DeskPad.
  - Aaron2222 2y ago
    Yes. It can also do windowed mirrors of real displays. That being said, BetterDisplay is $19 USD and crams in a ton of functionality, so for those who just want a single virtual screen for screen sharing (and don't need/want anything else), DeskPad is probably the better option due to its simplicity and being free. But yeah, if you want something more advanced, BetterDisplay is great.
    - ilyagr 2y ago
      Good to know, thanks!
conductr 2y ago
I think the problem I have is more so that people want my font sizes to be 3x what I have them. Usually I’m presenting a spreadsheet (financial statements and such) and people ask me to zoom in. Which I can but it breaks the whole thing and throws me off because I can no longer read my document anymore and I’m trying to present it. For that reason, I evangelize that attendees use the Zoom feature on their device if it’s too small. As I understand the issue it’s not that font is too small on my device, it’s that Teams has a tiny viewport and so it gets shrunk down. Most people aren’t doing full screen. They have a sidebar for chat and such and a top bar of other options. These don’t leave much real estate for my presentation. Would something like this help my problem or anyone know a better solution?
- rcarmo 2y ago
  OK, I have a series of steps you can follow: - Start DeskPad - Go to System Settings and set the resolution of the virtual display to 1920x1080 (just to be a standard size/resolution and not retina, saves on resources and hassle) - Still in System Settings, set Accessibility Zoom to render a magnified version on the virtual display: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/zoom-in-on-whats-onscreen-mchl779716b8/mac#:~:text=If%20you’re%20using%20more%20than%20one%20display%2C%20you,click%20Choose%20Display%2C%20then%20choose%20the%20second%20display https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/zoom-in-on-whats-on.... - Resize the DeskPad window to be a nice little preview on the corner of your screen. - Start your call, share the virtual display (which will be the zoomed version of what you are pointing at with your mouse)
- LorenPechtel 2y ago
  I ended up buying a bigger monitor for screen share. For most purposes I prefer my setup with multiple 19" monitors running at 1280x1024 but it's a nightmare if someone with a higher desktop wants to share. I have found the bigger monitor nice for games also.
- madhias 2y ago
  I am presenting SAP t-codes on a daily basis and can relate – especially for presentations I tried to show always only the most important things and use fonts like 2 or 3 times bigger, especially with monospace fonts not so easy to find good readable narrow fonts.
jeanregisser 2y ago
Nice! I’m currently using https://www.appblit.com/screegle https://www.appblit.com/screegle It works well and has more features but I like having an open source alternative. Thanks
savrajsingh 2y ago
Zoom has this as a built-in feature -- you can share just a region you specify of your whole display. Share screen -> advanced -> "portion of screen"
- mathfailure 2y ago
  Is it open source? Oh, no?
mleo 2y ago
This is great; though I have less need for it day to day now. I used to have 49" 5120x1440 display. We started with Zoom, which under Advanced would allow partial desktop sharing. I would draw a 1920x1080 box and move windows in and out of the box. We moved to Teams and Teams only supports Window or Screen sharing. DeskPad would work great for that situation. Create a virtual display, share it and then use it on right part of the physical screen, moving windows in and out as needed. Currently, I use 2 Studio Displays instead of the 1 Wide Screen. When I need to share screens, I press a button on Stream Deck that calls displaypacer to set the resolution on the second display to 1600x900. When done, I press the button again and it toggles the resolution back to 5K. The resolution switching is instantaneous with Apple Silicon/Studio Display making it hassle free.
- prmoustache 2y ago
  Why do change the resolution instead of the scaling?
  - sieabahlpark 2y ago
    [dead]
  - naikrovek 2y ago
    That’s what changing the resolution on MacOS does. On Windows, resolution and DPI are separate settings. On MacOS they are combined into a single “resolution” and you pick from a list that makes sense for the display in question. You pick the “effective resolution“ of the display, but the native screen resolution is always used and the DPI is changed to scale things up or down until they are scaled the same they would be on a monitor of the chosen resolution. There are a few choices in that list, denoted by “(low resolution)” or something, which set the indicated resolution and leave scaling at 100%. Those look horrific on MacOS but they are options.
    - prmoustache 2y ago
      Thanks, makes sense.
madman2k 2y ago
Nice. I'm testing it watching a YouTube video in "full screen" in its window, while also leaving room for a browser and email window on that monitor.
- albert_e 2y ago
  This is an excellent use case that I also often felt the need for. You can remove all the YT clutter this way, have all the controls and keyboard shortcuts, and extensions like Video Speed Controller still functional while precisely controlling the position and size of the video. Would be great for following long lectures and tutorials. any good solution for this for a Windows machine?
  - spaceywilly 2y ago
    I use the “maximize video” chrome extension which may work for you. You can click on any video player and it will make that take up the whole browser window size. So then the video size == the browser window size. I use it to panel multiple videos around my screen (mostly for watching multiple NFL games at the same time). I also use Better Touch Tool which supports keyboard shortcuts for arranging windows, I believe there’s a similar tool for windows. So for example if I want 4 equal sized windows (in each quadrant of the monitor) I can do it easily with keyboard shortcuts.
  - nikeee 2y ago
    I use the pip functionality of Firefox for that. It works on every html video and ironically, you can make it full screen.
swijck 2y ago
Having had to order whiteboards to airbnbs for offsites, yes this is cool!
jameslk 2y ago
I have an Intel MBP, so my first question is will this work on my legacy hardware? And my second question is will this act like a typical external display I connect to my MBP and set it on fire? As far as my experience goes, it's not behaving like an external display unless my CPU is occasionally pegged at 100%, fans are blasting, and my computer becomes intermittently unusable until I disconnect the display.
- doubleorseven 2y ago
  I used to have an Intel MB, mid 2010. I had to disconnect the hdmi cable so it can boot, otherwise it would just blast the fan displaying the apple loading animation. It died on 2022 when i installed an update that asked for a restart and i forgot to disconnect and went on vacation. RIP Intel MPs. Amazing beasts.
  - diddyparty565 2y ago
    [flagged]
sandos 2y ago
This has to have been made for MS teams, right? It is unusable if youre screen is too large!
thomasjv 2y ago
Just don't drag the DeskPad window to the virtual monitor
- badmintonbaseba 2y ago
  Unless you happen to be presenting on how reference counting can leak with circular references.
spease 2y ago
Cool! I usually have to share window-by-window, this may come in handy.
evanjrowley 2y ago
This is very useful, thank you.
nashashmi 2y ago
Windows has a similar tool. But it’s two steps. 1. Set up a new virtual monitor (see https://github.com/itsmikethetech/Virtual-Display-Driver https://github.com/itsmikethetech/Virtual-Display-Driver) 2. See virtual monitor using google chrome desktop.
- kyriakos 2y ago
  https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare Or use this
  - bentcorner 2y ago
    This is the same tool that I use. Extremely simple and works as you'd expect. Combined with FancyZones and you can snap windows to the region so that they're "fullscreen" for viewers.
wpm 2y ago
I've gotten away with simply firing up OBS and "screen sharing" the virtual camera. Has worked fine on Zoom and Slack huddles, with the added benefit of giving me other things that OBS can provide: easy recording, scenes, text, source management, plugins, etc. For a casual conversation it's somewhat overkill, but when you're doing something more serious or formal, or need to switch between a keynote/Powerpoint and a screen share, or a video capture device, it's wonderful, and actually rather easy to get going in.
- lolinder 2y ago
  > and actually rather easy to get going in. The other day I tried installing OBS on a Mac and this was not my experience. I couldn't even get it to recognize the built-in MacBook camera, much less share a screen or a mic or... I've successfully got OBS set up on Linux in the past and managed to get a simple workflow running, but even that took a lot of fiddling to get started and I had the darndest time finding what I needed. The UI reminded me of GIMP—I'm sure I could eventually figure out how to work it and it probably makes complicated workflows possible in ways that simpler tools don't, but for a newcomer it has been overwhelming.
  - naikrovek 2y ago
    Really? It was painless for me. Worked out of the box exactly as I expected. I wonder why your experience was different.
  - sadeshmukh 2y ago
    You have to install with admin, and everything then works entirely out of the box. I get away with ignoring most of it, and everything there is really intuitive after a day or so. Probably the most intuitive setup I've seen.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
ziknard 2y ago
It would be so nice if we could stop destroying the planet by dropping support for legacy Macs. Mine is a 2014 Air and I'll stop using it when it crumbles to dust.
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  Agreed! Open Core Legacy Patcher is amazing for this use case. https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/ https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
- AstroJetson 2y ago
  I have a 2014 iPad Air with a zagg clamshell keyboard that I love. I would like to have a new browser for it, this version of Safari has been deprecated from Discord and Discus forums.
gechr 2y ago
After trying various solutions - including DeskPad - I came up with a custom cross-platform (I'm on macOS, but assume it'll work elsewhere) solution that worked incredibly well on my 40" ultrawide monitor: OBS[1]. Having never used OBS before but knowing it was popular among streamers, I wondered if I could use it to (1) only share the specific applications I wanted to share and (2) share them at a resolution that people could actually read, without constantly being asked to zoom in. I first tried setting up a virtual camera and sharing via my video stream, but it was laggy and the quality was so poor that people couldn't read what I was sharing. I quickly gave up on that approach. Then I discovered Projectors[2]. By right-clicking on the main view in OBS and selecting "Windowed Projector (Preview)", it launches a separate window, which I can then share directly via Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc. Whatever I drag into the OBS view is displayed in the Windowed Projector (similar to DeskPad), with the added bonus that I can choose to blur certain applications that might be dragged in. For example, if I open Slack or my password manager, the entire window blurs until I focus back on my terminal or browser. It took a bunch of tweaking to perfect, but I'm very pleased with how well it works now. --- [1] https://obsproject.com/ https://obsproject.com/ [2] https://obsproject.com/kb/power-of-projectors https://obsproject.com/kb/power-of-projectors
- 67j67j7j 2y ago
  [dead]
- jeremyjh 2y ago
  Why did you prefer this to DeskPad? I haven't tried either but have been looking for a solution for this without knowing it.
  - sadeshmukh 2y ago
    Not OP, but OBS is cross platform and you can set up custom scenes. So you can basically show whatever you want on it, and save those so that it automatically works like that every time. It also can act as a virtual camera, and you can record.
  - drewmol 2y ago
spaceisballer 2y ago
I like using FancyZones which is in the Microsoft PowerToys suite. That way you can snap things to a 1080p resolution part of your ultrawide screen. My other simple option is just open the laptop screen which is 1080p
generalizations 2y ago
I wonder if something like this could be done on Linux with xorg hackery (probably involving xvfb?). Definitely seems handy.
- eqvinox 2y ago
  You can just start Xephyr, it gives you an X server in a window. Needs a few lines of setup around it to get a window manager or desktop session on that window.
  - badmintonbaseba 2y ago
    Is it possible for that setup to show up as a virtual display on your main WM/DE, so you just extend to it, or does it need to run its own, separate instance? Can you drag a window from your main DE to the virtual display?
    - eqvinox 2y ago
      With Xephyr, it's a separate instance per se. I've never tried attaching it to an existing session; this is total half-knowledge but it might have been possible with the old Xinerama protocol (which has been replaced with Xrandr). With the move to Wayland, it's all a bit of a moot point either way... (You can absolutely use Xephyr on a Wayland session of course, since the latter is compatible with X11 clients. But the virtual display Xephyr provides is X11.)
      - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
        Many Wayland compositors can just be launched nested with no extra steps, which is approximately the same as Xephyr.
        eqvinox 2y ago
        I assume that approach has the same limitations as Xephyr too? I.e. independent session, need to decide upfront which to use when launching things?
eqvinox 2y ago
Linux/X11: #!/bin/sh new_disp=:2 size="1600x900" unset XDG_SEAT XMODIFIERS GTK_IM_MODULE set - "$@" \ -noreset -br -ac -dpi 120 \ -xkb-layout us \ -screen "$size" \ "$new_disp" \ # Xephyr "$@" & sleep .5 export DISPLAY="$new_disp" metacity & urxvt & Metacity is kinda deprecated but still my "simple WM" of choice. You may need to set an xauth key for :2. ("xauth add :2 . <32-random-hex-chars>") (Script slightly edited & shortened, probably broke something :D)
- deathanatos 2y ago
  > Metacity is kinda deprecated See the MATE project. It's a continuation of GNOME before GNOME stopped being what made it wonderful. The fork of Metacity, specifically, is named "Marco".
hidelooktropic 2y ago
The main benefit for me with this is being able to have a separate space where I can share content when I'm on my laptop. When I'm doing so in a conference room, this is exactly where I won't have my two displays. Great stuff.
jrm4 2y ago
Many have probably considered this, but just in case not, I solved this issue MANY years ago by just using virtual machines.
valunord 2y ago
Great tool I think this is heads and shoulders above other options, including Projectors from OBS since it allows me to control the ecosystem I'm sharing very tightly and cleanly. Thank you!
IronWolve 2y ago
I do this in a win VM, then I just share the VM window, and I just resize it to 1028x768. Or remote desktop into a VM, and share remote desktop. Works great for vendors/techs to work on upgrades, I can keep working. Also allows me to alt tab or minimize and not steal the mouse focus, and they cant see my screen.
djbusby 2y ago
Lots of posts on everyone's unique method; I'll add mine. I'm on Xfce (X) with three monitors. When I share I can pick just the right-most. Shares everything in that panel. Just need to be careful what is on 3. Then, I zoom in the app (browser, VCCode) for viewers. But I like this idea of a virtual, so I don't accidentally leak a window I shouldn't.
lee-rhapsody 2y ago
I just adjust my 4K monitor to be 1920x1080 when I need to screenshare.
- shinycode 2y ago
  I hate to do this, I have multiple columns in my IDE thanks to 4K and it’s a nightmare in 1920x1080
p4bl0 2y ago
This is for macOS only, which should be reflected in the title. For those using Linux, I wanted to achieve the same thing a few years ago and ended up using Xephyr, which is a nested X11 server that gives you another display (not the same thing as a virtual monitor). I remember having quite a hard time to get that setup working but I don't remember what made it difficult… The idea of a virtual monitor that continues yours on the left or right side of your screen like an actual external monitor is actually pretty neat, it offers a much more frictionless usage than an entirely separate display. I wonder if there an easy way to do this on Linux.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
pushreply 2y ago
Thank you! finally I don't have to unplug my main monitor to share with the right resolution
wenbert 2y ago
It's not mentioned here yet, but since this provides some kind of virtual display, you can use this with https://deskreen.com/ https://deskreen.com/ - if you have an tablet that does not support sidecar then this is a viable option for an extended display. Setup is a bit of a hassle but it works.
trabant00 2y ago
A bit off-topic but the number of IT workers still using small 1080p monitors in 2024 is absolutely shocking to me. If you are one of the "I don't want a monitor that is too big" people: a larger (30+ inch diagonal) monitor allows you to place it further from your eyes which is the number one eye health and comfort factor. So the relative size of the display does not change, you won't have to move your head to see all of it. And you can scale up your display to >1 factor so the text won't be small either for hidpi displays. There's absolutely no downside to having a large diagonal large dpi display, aside from needing a wider desk if you have a very narrow one now.
- oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
  > aside from needing a wider desk And possibly a deeper one. My 24" is pushed as far back as my desk will allow and a bigger monitor would be too close to me for comfort. At least it's not 1080p, although at 11 years old, I'll be looking to upgrade it fairly soon.
- yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
  So you want me to go spend money on a fancy new monitor... because by having a big enough desk and with a lot of tweaking, I can negate the extra pixels and get back to what I have now? (A lot of tweaking also includes having to jump through hoops when doing screen shares)
oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
I had to laugh at: > so macOS will take care of properly arranging your windows to their previous configuration. That's a definition of "properly" that I'm not familiar with.
oliviergg 2y ago
A great solution, but a huge headache: a window in a screen that captures the mouse when you go to the edge of the screen. I wasn't ready for that.
YQX8 2y ago
Noon.
mtam 2y ago
I have solved this a while back by connecting my ultra wide monitor twice to the same machine and setting up the monitor to side by side mode. From the OS perspective, it works exactly as if I had two monitors but without the physical bevel/edge in the middle. It is perfect, the only downside is that I lose two USB-C ports, instead of one. It also works 100% on Mac and Windows.
- sbarre 2y ago
  Huh this is actually awesome, I need to look if my ultrawide supports side by side ...
shinycode 2y ago
Amazing tool ! I use gather.town at work because everyone works remotely and we all share our screens every day. I have multiple 4K screens and altough Gather let us zoom in, having a dedicated screen for sharing with the proper resolution is a blessing (for my co-workers) because everything is too small for them and changing resolution multiple times per day is painful. Thank you so much !
jbverschoor 2y ago
I bought an LG monitor as it has "side-by-side" split screen, but of course, it doesn't work. Just let me config my screen in sections at the hardware or driver level, and accept them as different monitors
- glitchc 2y ago
  This is a bad idea. You'll end up stuck in driver hell. Screen-splitting is best done at an OS/app level.
  - jbverschoor 2y ago
    Doesn’t work the way I want it to work.
asimpson 2y ago
You can achieve something similar using vlc + slop on Linux, here's the script I usually use (I run i3 typically). selection=$(slop -f %w,%h,%x,%y) width=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 1) height=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 2) top=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 4) left=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 3) cvlc --no-video-deco --no-embedded-video --screen-fps=20 --screen-top=$top --screen-left=$left --screen-width=$width --screen-height=$height screen:// & Then "just" share the VLC window instead of your desktop.
- dctoedt 2y ago
  Brings to mind the infamous comment about Dropbox: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 EDIT: As noted below by @cole-k, the situations aren't the same, because the parent comment here is talking about approximating DeskPad-like functionality on a platform not (currently) supported by DeskPad.
  - cole-k 2y ago
    I feel this is a little unfair to the parent as they are offering a solution for an unsupported platform.
    - dctoedt 2y ago
      Point taken; I edited my comment.

1097 points by geerlingguy 2y ago

As someone with an ultrawide monitor, this seems like a really neat solution. Thanks for sharing it!

This is _genius_. I have been using RegionToShare in Windows to share only a section of a widescreen monitor, but didn't have a good Mac equivalent. Now I have something that may well work _just as well_ with Windows inside Parallels (need to try that ASAP, am on the "wrong" Mac now). Edit: A quick test shows that yes, the Windows VM sees the additional display just fine--but, alas, Parallels doesn't let me pass _just_ one physical and that virtual display to the VM, so I can't have my "personal" portrait monitor unoccupied by Windows...

rr60 2y ago
+1 for RegionToShare on windows. It's not perfect but it has made sharing on a 49" monitor much much easier.
- sbarre 2y ago
  I will "third" RegionToShare.. Sometimes I need to share many windows in a meeting and rather than share my entire 4k monitor, I can set up a 1080p region with RtS and put a bunch of windows in there to swap between when I'm doing my demo, and it's super useful! https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare

delusional 2y ago

What an intriguing idea. I wonder if I could do something similar on linux by placing a second monitor on top of my current one with xrandr.

sadjad 2y ago
On Linux, you can try Xephyr (https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/Xephyr/ https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/Xephyr/, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xephyr https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xephyr). It's not as nice as DeskPad, but you can basically achieve the same thing.
- arjvik 2y ago
  Xephyr runs a whole new X server - it's not as easy to drag and drop an application into the nested server, it has to be launched with DISPLAY=:1.
nixosbestos 2y ago
It's too easy to just use OBS for this, in my opinion. Add the pipewire display capture, add a filter to crop it to a corner, stretch that container to fit the stage, open the window in the corner. Fairly simple.

_6GoofyWizard9_ 2y ago

Very nice idea! It would be nice to be able to do the same on Linux and/or Windows, too!

bitbang 2y ago
This has been possible on Linux (Wayland + pipewire) for a couple years now.
- eqvinox 2y ago
  It has been possible on Linux for way longer than that, Xnest dates back to when it was still XFree86 rather than Xorg. Quick googling has Xnest and Xephyr mentioned in 2012 changelogs (X11R7.7), but those aren't even "creation" changelogs. (I can't easily dig up when they were created…)

neilv 2y ago

The title could clarify it's for MacOS X.

neallindsay 2y ago
Linux users probably already have some weird workflow with X11 virtual buffers to do this.
- jauntywundrkind 2y ago
  Yeah. On Wlroots or Sway, we can setup virtual displays pretty easily (swaymsg create_output, done). Run wayvnc, and both the other person and yourself connect over vnc or rdp to see what's over there. Available May 2020, https://github.com/any1/wayvnc/issues/7#issuecomment-625661109 https://github.com/any1/wayvnc/issues/7#issuecomment-6256611...
  - moritzruth 2y ago
    For Hyprland, the command is `hyprctl output create headless NAME`
- Devorlon 2y ago
  It's not exactly the same, but as an alternative to what jauntywundrkind you can use V4L2-Loopback and OBS to create a virtual webcam and use that to share your screen. I find it really handy being able to switch between either just my cam, my desktop or both.
- marcodiego 2y ago
  Xnest is probably enough. I've used it for similar purposes a few times. Don't know the equivalent for Wayland though.
  - Arnavion 2y ago
    Yes, Wayland compositors like cage and sway can be nested too. That said, with both the X nesting approach and the Wayland nesting approach, you'd also need to run the screencasting application itself inside the nested server, not the just the application you want to cast. If the compositor supports a way to create headless outputs (as sway and hyprland do) that is much easier.

ekinertac 2y ago

what a briliant idea, most of my meeting i had to share my 4K screen with laptop pals and most of the time i had to zoom so they can see. now it's solved.

transfire 2y ago

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could adjust resolution per window? On a 4k monitor some applications have tiny text and icons, and no way adjust that I can find.

rcarmo 2y ago
I just went to Preferences and set the resolution of the virtual display to 1920x1080.
- transfire 2y ago
  But doesn’t that affect ALL windows?
  - rcarmo 2y ago
    Yes, and? You only need to move the window you want to share to that, and at that resolution, without retina, things are pretty readable.
intull 2y ago
I like the idea! Rooting for whoever in the universe working on it! Meanwhile, I think you could actually "mimic" this by using OBS as a virtual camera and use multiple layers to selectively share windows. You can set an output video size, and scale different layers/windows individually.

mmastrac 2y ago

Very cool. Does it require the "screen recording" indication to be up the entire time whether screen recording is happening or not? I don't see any info in the repo but I recall some previous solutions would effectively appear to be recording all the time. EDIT: unfortunately it does. But if it's designed for screen sharing, it's probably not a big deal. Unfortunately there's no easy way to mirror on OSX without this, AFAIK. This particular issue is annoying for certain USB-C video adapters that create a virtual screen and mirror it over an arbitrary protocol.

garysahota93 2y ago

I really like this concept. especially for the use case where I need to share my whole screen, but just want a "sandbox" of sorts to share. Typically have gotten around this with a secondary monitor that I share with, but that doesn't work when I'm on the go with my laptop. Will def be using this

dTal 2y ago
On Linux, a simple solution for this particular use case is to run a VNC server inside xvfb. You get total isolation between your real desktop, and your "sandbox" - no embarrassing notifications! Of course you can't drag windows around from one to the other, but that's what a sandbox does...

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

leptons 2y ago

With my 6480 x 3840 (three 4k screens) desktop resolution, in Zoom I just select "Share a portion of screen", and I can resize the area that gets shared to something close to a common screen size.

xahrepap 2y ago
I used that until we moved to Teams for all video calls. And it doesn’t have that feature :( I’ve looked around for an app like this. But they’re all paid and the security prompts are a little scary.

imzadi 2y ago

I need this. I have a 49" monitor and sharing the screen is such a pita

al_borland 2y ago
I have a 43” and keep my laptop screen open for when I need to share my screen. The issue is when I have to share code, because my font is huge in my editor. I could scale up and down I guess, but I really don’t like messing with stuff once I have it how I like it. More and more I’ve gotten lazy and share my main screen. My editor is big enough for people to see, but browsers are an issue. I have less of an issue zooming those as needed.

jeanlucas 2y ago

So neat!

shmoogy 2y ago

Thank you for this - sharing a window makes drop downs and other things not work. I look forward to trying this out for a better solution.

benjonesutah 2y ago

Here is a related project I use to share selected content (usually single windows and my iPad) on a projector while teaching: https://github.com/benjones/presenterMode/ https://github.com/benjones/presenterMode/

jakelsaunders94 2y ago

Oh lawd I’ve had to say ‘sorry you’ll have to bear with my ultrawide’ during pairing at least 10 times in the last week. You are a lifesaver.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

supermatt 2y ago

This looks great - really useful! I have always wondered how these virtual desktops work. A cursory looks shows that this is using some undocumented APIs. How do people learn they can create a virtual desktop in this way if the knowledge to do so is hidden/obfuscated? Does apple allow distribution of an app that use these "private" APIs? Is anyone aware of what mechanisms are there for achieving something similar in windows?

sleepybrett 2y ago
> Does apple allow distribution of an app that use these "private" APIs? In the app store, sure, any other way, what can they going to do about it?
- supermatt 2y ago
  They could not notarize it, meaning users have to tackle bypassing the Gatekeeper?

neLrivVK 2y ago

I’ve been using https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay https://github.com/waydabber/BetterDisplay for this purpose. Does something similar and more. Works great!

mellosouls 2y ago
But not open source? I mean, its fine if its closed, but no point in linking to a github repo, and if so its not a like-for-like. Edit: I see looking at the branches an old version was open source some years ago.
blsv 2y ago
Which feature do you use? Would like to try it as well.
- __mharrison__ 2y ago
  I have a big comment around my usage of BetterDisplay in another thread.
ilyagr 2y ago
I know it can create a dummy display, but can it create a window on the real display showing the contents of the virtual display? That seems to be the flagship feature of DeskPad.
- Aaron2222 2y ago
  Yes. It can also do windowed mirrors of real displays. That being said, BetterDisplay is $19 USD and crams in a ton of functionality, so for those who just want a single virtual screen for screen sharing (and don't need/want anything else), DeskPad is probably the better option due to its simplicity and being free. But yeah, if you want something more advanced, BetterDisplay is great.
  - ilyagr 2y ago
    Good to know, thanks!

conductr 2y ago

I think the problem I have is more so that people want my font sizes to be 3x what I have them. Usually I’m presenting a spreadsheet (financial statements and such) and people ask me to zoom in. Which I can but it breaks the whole thing and throws me off because I can no longer read my document anymore and I’m trying to present it. For that reason, I evangelize that attendees use the Zoom feature on their device if it’s too small. As I understand the issue it’s not that font is too small on my device, it’s that Teams has a tiny viewport and so it gets shrunk down. Most people aren’t doing full screen. They have a sidebar for chat and such and a top bar of other options. These don’t leave much real estate for my presentation. Would something like this help my problem or anyone know a better solution?

rcarmo 2y ago
OK, I have a series of steps you can follow: - Start DeskPad - Go to System Settings and set the resolution of the virtual display to 1920x1080 (just to be a standard size/resolution and not retina, saves on resources and hassle) - Still in System Settings, set Accessibility Zoom to render a magnified version on the virtual display: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/zoom-in-on-whats-onscreen-mchl779716b8/mac#:~:text=If%20you’re%20using%20more%20than%20one%20display%2C%20you,click%20Choose%20Display%2C%20then%20choose%20the%20second%20display https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/zoom-in-on-whats-on.... - Resize the DeskPad window to be a nice little preview on the corner of your screen. - Start your call, share the virtual display (which will be the zoomed version of what you are pointing at with your mouse)
LorenPechtel 2y ago
I ended up buying a bigger monitor for screen share. For most purposes I prefer my setup with multiple 19" monitors running at 1280x1024 but it's a nightmare if someone with a higher desktop wants to share. I have found the bigger monitor nice for games also.
madhias 2y ago
I am presenting SAP t-codes on a daily basis and can relate – especially for presentations I tried to show always only the most important things and use fonts like 2 or 3 times bigger, especially with monospace fonts not so easy to find good readable narrow fonts.

jeanregisser 2y ago

Nice! I’m currently using https://www.appblit.com/screegle https://www.appblit.com/screegle It works well and has more features but I like having an open source alternative. Thanks

savrajsingh 2y ago

Zoom has this as a built-in feature -- you can share just a region you specify of your whole display. Share screen -> advanced -> "portion of screen"

mathfailure 2y ago
Is it open source? Oh, no?

mleo 2y ago

This is great; though I have less need for it day to day now. I used to have 49" 5120x1440 display. We started with Zoom, which under Advanced would allow partial desktop sharing. I would draw a 1920x1080 box and move windows in and out of the box. We moved to Teams and Teams only supports Window or Screen sharing. DeskPad would work great for that situation. Create a virtual display, share it and then use it on right part of the physical screen, moving windows in and out as needed. Currently, I use 2 Studio Displays instead of the 1 Wide Screen. When I need to share screens, I press a button on Stream Deck that calls displaypacer to set the resolution on the second display to 1600x900. When done, I press the button again and it toggles the resolution back to 5K. The resolution switching is instantaneous with Apple Silicon/Studio Display making it hassle free.

prmoustache 2y ago
Why do change the resolution instead of the scaling?
- sieabahlpark 2y ago
  [dead]
- naikrovek 2y ago
  That’s what changing the resolution on MacOS does. On Windows, resolution and DPI are separate settings. On MacOS they are combined into a single “resolution” and you pick from a list that makes sense for the display in question. You pick the “effective resolution“ of the display, but the native screen resolution is always used and the DPI is changed to scale things up or down until they are scaled the same they would be on a monitor of the chosen resolution. There are a few choices in that list, denoted by “(low resolution)” or something, which set the indicated resolution and leave scaling at 100%. Those look horrific on MacOS but they are options.
  - prmoustache 2y ago
    Thanks, makes sense.

madman2k 2y ago

Nice. I'm testing it watching a YouTube video in "full screen" in its window, while also leaving room for a browser and email window on that monitor.

albert_e 2y ago
This is an excellent use case that I also often felt the need for. You can remove all the YT clutter this way, have all the controls and keyboard shortcuts, and extensions like Video Speed Controller still functional while precisely controlling the position and size of the video. Would be great for following long lectures and tutorials. any good solution for this for a Windows machine?
- spaceywilly 2y ago
  I use the “maximize video” chrome extension which may work for you. You can click on any video player and it will make that take up the whole browser window size. So then the video size == the browser window size. I use it to panel multiple videos around my screen (mostly for watching multiple NFL games at the same time). I also use Better Touch Tool which supports keyboard shortcuts for arranging windows, I believe there’s a similar tool for windows. So for example if I want 4 equal sized windows (in each quadrant of the monitor) I can do it easily with keyboard shortcuts.
- nikeee 2y ago
  I use the pip functionality of Firefox for that. It works on every html video and ironically, you can make it full screen.

swijck 2y ago

Having had to order whiteboards to airbnbs for offsites, yes this is cool!

jameslk 2y ago

I have an Intel MBP, so my first question is will this work on my legacy hardware? And my second question is will this act like a typical external display I connect to my MBP and set it on fire? As far as my experience goes, it's not behaving like an external display unless my CPU is occasionally pegged at 100%, fans are blasting, and my computer becomes intermittently unusable until I disconnect the display.

doubleorseven 2y ago
I used to have an Intel MB, mid 2010. I had to disconnect the hdmi cable so it can boot, otherwise it would just blast the fan displaying the apple loading animation. It died on 2022 when i installed an update that asked for a restart and i forgot to disconnect and went on vacation. RIP Intel MPs. Amazing beasts.
- diddyparty565 2y ago
  [flagged]

sandos 2y ago

This has to have been made for MS teams, right? It is unusable if youre screen is too large!

thomasjv 2y ago

Just don't drag the DeskPad window to the virtual monitor

badmintonbaseba 2y ago
Unless you happen to be presenting on how reference counting can leak with circular references.

spease 2y ago

Cool! I usually have to share window-by-window, this may come in handy.

evanjrowley 2y ago

This is very useful, thank you.

nashashmi 2y ago

Windows has a similar tool. But it’s two steps. 1. Set up a new virtual monitor (see https://github.com/itsmikethetech/Virtual-Display-Driver https://github.com/itsmikethetech/Virtual-Display-Driver) 2. See virtual monitor using google chrome desktop.

kyriakos 2y ago
https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare https://github.com/tom-englert/RegionToShare Or use this
- bentcorner 2y ago
  This is the same tool that I use. Extremely simple and works as you'd expect. Combined with FancyZones and you can snap windows to the region so that they're "fullscreen" for viewers.

wpm 2y ago

I've gotten away with simply firing up OBS and "screen sharing" the virtual camera. Has worked fine on Zoom and Slack huddles, with the added benefit of giving me other things that OBS can provide: easy recording, scenes, text, source management, plugins, etc. For a casual conversation it's somewhat overkill, but when you're doing something more serious or formal, or need to switch between a keynote/Powerpoint and a screen share, or a video capture device, it's wonderful, and actually rather easy to get going in.

lolinder 2y ago
> and actually rather easy to get going in. The other day I tried installing OBS on a Mac and this was not my experience. I couldn't even get it to recognize the built-in MacBook camera, much less share a screen or a mic or... I've successfully got OBS set up on Linux in the past and managed to get a simple workflow running, but even that took a lot of fiddling to get started and I had the darndest time finding what I needed. The UI reminded me of GIMP—I'm sure I could eventually figure out how to work it and it probably makes complicated workflows possible in ways that simpler tools don't, but for a newcomer it has been overwhelming.
- naikrovek 2y ago
  Really? It was painless for me. Worked out of the box exactly as I expected. I wonder why your experience was different.
- sadeshmukh 2y ago
  You have to install with admin, and everything then works entirely out of the box. I get away with ignoring most of it, and everything there is really intuitive after a day or so. Probably the most intuitive setup I've seen.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

ziknard 2y ago

It would be so nice if we could stop destroying the planet by dropping support for legacy Macs. Mine is a 2014 Air and I'll stop using it when it crumbles to dust.

aspenmayer 2y ago
Agreed! Open Core Legacy Patcher is amazing for this use case. https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/ https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
AstroJetson 2y ago
I have a 2014 iPad Air with a zagg clamshell keyboard that I love. I would like to have a new browser for it, this version of Safari has been deprecated from Discord and Discus forums.

gechr 2y ago

After trying various solutions - including DeskPad - I came up with a custom cross-platform (I'm on macOS, but assume it'll work elsewhere) solution that worked incredibly well on my 40" ultrawide monitor: OBS[1]. Having never used OBS before but knowing it was popular among streamers, I wondered if I could use it to (1) only share the specific applications I wanted to share and (2) share them at a resolution that people could actually read, without constantly being asked to zoom in. I first tried setting up a virtual camera and sharing via my video stream, but it was laggy and the quality was so poor that people couldn't read what I was sharing. I quickly gave up on that approach. Then I discovered Projectors[2]. By right-clicking on the main view in OBS and selecting "Windowed Projector (Preview)", it launches a separate window, which I can then share directly via Zoom, Teams, Meet, etc. Whatever I drag into the OBS view is displayed in the Windowed Projector (similar to DeskPad), with the added bonus that I can choose to blur certain applications that might be dragged in. For example, if I open Slack or my password manager, the entire window blurs until I focus back on my terminal or browser. It took a bunch of tweaking to perfect, but I'm very pleased with how well it works now. --- [1] https://obsproject.com/ https://obsproject.com/ [2] https://obsproject.com/kb/power-of-projectors https://obsproject.com/kb/power-of-projectors

67j67j7j 2y ago
[dead]
jeremyjh 2y ago
Why did you prefer this to DeskPad? I haven't tried either but have been looking for a solution for this without knowing it.
- sadeshmukh 2y ago
  Not OP, but OBS is cross platform and you can set up custom scenes. So you can basically show whatever you want on it, and save those so that it automatically works like that every time. It also can act as a virtual camera, and you can record.
- drewmol 2y ago

spaceisballer 2y ago

I like using FancyZones which is in the Microsoft PowerToys suite. That way you can snap things to a 1080p resolution part of your ultrawide screen. My other simple option is just open the laptop screen which is 1080p

generalizations 2y ago

I wonder if something like this could be done on Linux with xorg hackery (probably involving xvfb?). Definitely seems handy.

eqvinox 2y ago
You can just start Xephyr, it gives you an X server in a window. Needs a few lines of setup around it to get a window manager or desktop session on that window.
- badmintonbaseba 2y ago
  Is it possible for that setup to show up as a virtual display on your main WM/DE, so you just extend to it, or does it need to run its own, separate instance? Can you drag a window from your main DE to the virtual display?
  - eqvinox 2y ago
    With Xephyr, it's a separate instance per se. I've never tried attaching it to an existing session; this is total half-knowledge but it might have been possible with the old Xinerama protocol (which has been replaced with Xrandr). With the move to Wayland, it's all a bit of a moot point either way... (You can absolutely use Xephyr on a Wayland session of course, since the latter is compatible with X11 clients. But the virtual display Xephyr provides is X11.)
    - yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
      Many Wayland compositors can just be launched nested with no extra steps, which is approximately the same as Xephyr.
      - eqvinox 2y ago
        I assume that approach has the same limitations as Xephyr too? I.e. independent session, need to decide upfront which to use when launching things?

eqvinox 2y ago

Linux/X11: #!/bin/sh new_disp=:2 size="1600x900" unset XDG_SEAT XMODIFIERS GTK_IM_MODULE set - "$@" \ -noreset -br -ac -dpi 120 \ -xkb-layout us \ -screen "$size" \ "$new_disp" \ # Xephyr "$@" & sleep .5 export DISPLAY="$new_disp" metacity & urxvt & Metacity is kinda deprecated but still my "simple WM" of choice. You may need to set an xauth key for :2. ("xauth add :2 . <32-random-hex-chars>") (Script slightly edited & shortened, probably broke something :D)

deathanatos 2y ago
> Metacity is kinda deprecated See the MATE project. It's a continuation of GNOME before GNOME stopped being what made it wonderful. The fork of Metacity, specifically, is named "Marco".

hidelooktropic 2y ago

The main benefit for me with this is being able to have a separate space where I can share content when I'm on my laptop. When I'm doing so in a conference room, this is exactly where I won't have my two displays. Great stuff.

jrm4 2y ago

Many have probably considered this, but just in case not, I solved this issue MANY years ago by just using virtual machines.

valunord 2y ago

Great tool I think this is heads and shoulders above other options, including Projectors from OBS since it allows me to control the ecosystem I'm sharing very tightly and cleanly. Thank you!

IronWolve 2y ago

I do this in a win VM, then I just share the VM window, and I just resize it to 1028x768. Or remote desktop into a VM, and share remote desktop. Works great for vendors/techs to work on upgrades, I can keep working. Also allows me to alt tab or minimize and not steal the mouse focus, and they cant see my screen.

djbusby 2y ago

Lots of posts on everyone's unique method; I'll add mine. I'm on Xfce (X) with three monitors. When I share I can pick just the right-most. Shares everything in that panel. Just need to be careful what is on 3. Then, I zoom in the app (browser, VCCode) for viewers. But I like this idea of a virtual, so I don't accidentally leak a window I shouldn't.

lee-rhapsody 2y ago

I just adjust my 4K monitor to be 1920x1080 when I need to screenshare.

shinycode 2y ago
I hate to do this, I have multiple columns in my IDE thanks to 4K and it’s a nightmare in 1920x1080

p4bl0 2y ago

This is for macOS only, which should be reflected in the title. For those using Linux, I wanted to achieve the same thing a few years ago and ended up using Xephyr, which is a nested X11 server that gives you another display (not the same thing as a virtual monitor). I remember having quite a hard time to get that setup working but I don't remember what made it difficult… The idea of a virtual monitor that continues yours on the left or right side of your screen like an actual external monitor is actually pretty neat, it offers a much more frictionless usage than an entirely separate display. I wonder if there an easy way to do this on Linux.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

pushreply 2y ago

Thank you! finally I don't have to unplug my main monitor to share with the right resolution

wenbert 2y ago

It's not mentioned here yet, but since this provides some kind of virtual display, you can use this with https://deskreen.com/ https://deskreen.com/ - if you have an tablet that does not support sidecar then this is a viable option for an extended display. Setup is a bit of a hassle but it works.

trabant00 2y ago

A bit off-topic but the number of IT workers still using small 1080p monitors in 2024 is absolutely shocking to me. If you are one of the "I don't want a monitor that is too big" people: a larger (30+ inch diagonal) monitor allows you to place it further from your eyes which is the number one eye health and comfort factor. So the relative size of the display does not change, you won't have to move your head to see all of it. And you can scale up your display to >1 factor so the text won't be small either for hidpi displays. There's absolutely no downside to having a large diagonal large dpi display, aside from needing a wider desk if you have a very narrow one now.

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago
> aside from needing a wider desk And possibly a deeper one. My 24" is pushed as far back as my desk will allow and a bigger monitor would be too close to me for comfort. At least it's not 1080p, although at 11 years old, I'll be looking to upgrade it fairly soon.
yjftsjthsd-h 2y ago
So you want me to go spend money on a fancy new monitor... because by having a big enough desk and with a lot of tweaking, I can negate the extra pixels and get back to what I have now? (A lot of tweaking also includes having to jump through hoops when doing screen shares)

oneeyedpigeon 2y ago

I had to laugh at: > so macOS will take care of properly arranging your windows to their previous configuration. That's a definition of "properly" that I'm not familiar with.

oliviergg 2y ago

A great solution, but a huge headache: a window in a screen that captures the mouse when you go to the edge of the screen. I wasn't ready for that.

YQX8 2y ago

Noon.

mtam 2y ago

I have solved this a while back by connecting my ultra wide monitor twice to the same machine and setting up the monitor to side by side mode. From the OS perspective, it works exactly as if I had two monitors but without the physical bevel/edge in the middle. It is perfect, the only downside is that I lose two USB-C ports, instead of one. It also works 100% on Mac and Windows.

sbarre 2y ago
Huh this is actually awesome, I need to look if my ultrawide supports side by side ...

shinycode 2y ago

Amazing tool ! I use gather.town at work because everyone works remotely and we all share our screens every day. I have multiple 4K screens and altough Gather let us zoom in, having a dedicated screen for sharing with the proper resolution is a blessing (for my co-workers) because everything is too small for them and changing resolution multiple times per day is painful. Thank you so much !

jbverschoor 2y ago

I bought an LG monitor as it has "side-by-side" split screen, but of course, it doesn't work. Just let me config my screen in sections at the hardware or driver level, and accept them as different monitors

glitchc 2y ago
This is a bad idea. You'll end up stuck in driver hell. Screen-splitting is best done at an OS/app level.
- jbverschoor 2y ago
  Doesn’t work the way I want it to work.

asimpson 2y ago

You can achieve something similar using vlc + slop on Linux, here's the script I usually use (I run i3 typically). selection=$(slop -f %w,%h,%x,%y) width=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 1) height=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 2) top=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 4) left=$(echo "${selection}" | cut -d , -f 3) cvlc --no-video-deco --no-embedded-video --screen-fps=20 --screen-top=$top --screen-left=$left --screen-width=$width --screen-height=$height screen:// & Then "just" share the VLC window instead of your desktop.

dctoedt 2y ago
Brings to mind the infamous comment about Dropbox: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224 EDIT: As noted below by @cole-k, the situations aren't the same, because the parent comment here is talking about approximating DeskPad-like functionality on a platform not (currently) supported by DeskPad.
- cole-k 2y ago
  I feel this is a little unfair to the parent as they are offering a solution for an unsupported platform.
  - dctoedt 2y ago
    Point taken; I edited my comment.