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DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

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121–130 of 167 posts

Re: DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

#121
post #78

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 pe…

Why did you prefer this to DeskPad? I haven't tried either but have been looking for a solution for this without knowing it.

Having used OBS before (not the OP) it is much more feature rich and widely used.

Re: DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

#123
post #83

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

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.

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?

Re: DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

#125

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 al…

> 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.

Re: DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do change the resolution instead of the scaling?

Notched MBPs can't do HD through resolution changing. (I would love to be proven wrong on this. See my other comment for hoops I jump through to get around this.)

What exactly do you mean by "can't do HD?"

I can set my display to 1728x1080. That's HD.

I can also output my Mac to an HD TV, Projector, etc. And I have the notch on my MacBook Pro.

Do you have some other definition of HD that I'm not understanding?

Re: DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

#130
post #6

The title could clarify it's for MacOS X.

Linux users probably already have some weird workflow with X11 virtual buffers to do this.

As a Linux user who generally prefers to avoid the command line for things user friendly applications should be able to do, I'll stick with OBS. That solution also works on Windows, which is extra nice.
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