Accessing BIOS in a multi-monitor setup
- M@multitech_ymt
Hi
@michael I want to use tiny pilot for my machine which is basically a very powerful workstation with a dedicated graphics card. I work about 20% of the time in front of this machine with two monitors attached to it, whilst during the remaining 80% of my time I work remotely with RDP etc.
I've got three graphic outputs:- HDMI
- DVI
- VGA
HDMI and DVI are in use for my two screens whilst my VGA port stays available for any other graphical output. I guess I'd need to make the VGA screen the main screen in windows 11 as I otherwise wouldn't see any output before loging in to the OS.
That is less of an issue, however when the PC is on BIOS level prior to booting any OS, the BIOS defines which screen it outputs on (I think this is OS independent). What is the suggested solution for that?
I really want to buy the tinypilot as it's absolutely fascinating, however I'd love to know if it actually suits my use case.I was thinking of maybe using my USB-C port on my mainboard to convert to HDMI and then I'd have the spare HDMI left for the tinypilot... But I'm unsure how the system in preboot state determines on what screen to output on.
Looking forward hearing from You!!
Many Thanks!
David @david2023-06-01 01:12:52.239Z2023-06-01 07:17:20.770ZHi @multitech_ymt, thanks for your question!
TinyPilot is primarily designed for use in single-monitor setups - however, many customers use their TinyPilot in multi-monitor setups.
As you've pointed out, there are some quirks to multi-monitor behavior on different operating systems. If it's possible, setting your TinyPilot to mirror your primary display is a good idea. I know that in some cases applications may open on other display's desktops, which can be cumbersome to work around.
To access the BIOS in this situation, I suspect the output port your TinyPilot attaches to would have to be the primary output. The primary output port is likely different depending on the GPU. As far as I know, modern GPUs typically use HDMI or DisplayPort (rather than VGA) as their primary output. This EVGA FAQ explains some of the typical GPU / BIOS behavior in these situations.
If you let me know the make / model of the GPU you're using, I might be able to find the manual and check which port is the primary output.
If your primary use case for TinyPilot is to access your BIOS in a multi-monitor setup, this might not work in a simple plug-and-play way. The only way to force BIOS output on a specific port is to disconnect all other monitors.
I hope that answers your question - please let me know if you have any other queries.
- In reply tomultitech_ymt⬆:
@fft2023-06-06 05:04:54.057ZHi @multitech_ymt,
I am not sure, if I fully got the question. I understand it in the way, that you want to make sure, that TinyPilot is connected to a specific VGA to ensure, it get's the output if connected while booting. This might influence your other monitors. So I understand it to use 2 monitors on one VGA output of your machine. If this is the case, I suggest something like https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B083JVPXDY/ which splits one HDMI input to two outputs, and can use different output resolutions, if I am not totally wrong. If you use VGA2HDMI for input (make sure it is active and really VGA2HDMI!! you should get it on the TinyPilot website.) and than HDMI2VGA as output, it might work. Or you find simething like that with VGA only. I used it in several cases, when it came to splitting the HDMI to two devices. I hope there are similar systems you get in the country where you life. I had to try a few, until I stumbled into the above. Hope it helps.
let me know, if this worked for you.
thank you
Juergen