[WriteLog] Rttyrite on extended desktop

Wed Apr 17 16:26:20 EDT 2013

Dean,

Thanks so much for your insight into my extended desktop problem with WL.  After doing a bit of research on my machine I suspect you are onto something about the amount of memory available to the graphics card to run the extended desktop.

My Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop has a Intel Duo Core CPU at 2.00 GHz with 2 GB of memory running on Vista Home Premium 32 bit OS.  The onboard graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and the system information specs show that it only has a dedicated video memory of 256 MB with a shared system memory of 767 MB.  The dedicated and shared memories summed together makes up half of the computer's total memory!  I'm sue that this is where the problem lies.  There is simply not enough dedicated memory available to the graphics card to efficiently run the extended desktop and allow it it to perform all functions that can be done on the main laptop monitor.  At least I now have a good idea of what is going on and can see there is no fix in WL that will solve the problem.

So I think it is time to seriously consider upgrading the station PC to something more robust.  Unfortunately, just this week I had to replace an old XP system machine in the house with a new Dell desktop machine that has 8 GB of memory and a 1 Terabyte hard drive.  It is now the fastest and most powerful PC in the house, but unfortunately I cannot "borrow" it from the rest of the family to be my shack computer.  So, I will have to wait a bit for the credit card balance to improve and then look at a new machine for ham radio use.  While shopping on the Dell website I noticed they have a really nice mounting system for two side by side wide screen monitors!  I'm really drooling over that setup!

Thanks again for the information Dean.  Hope to print you soon in another RTTY contest.  Just hope the signals are strong enough to decode in my main RittyRite window and not in one of the clones!

73,
Gary AL9A

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Dean St. Hill 
  To: Gary AL9A 
  Sent: April 16, 2013 4:22 PM
  Subject: Re: [WriteLog] Rttyrite on extended desktop

  Gary

  I think it may be some issue with the drivers and or the actual video hardware. I'm using a desktop setup with Win 7 and a mid-level dual monitor graphics card which is really for gaming and so on. Writelog allows me to click on cloned window calls without a problem whether on the extended monitor or not. I see no difference using either monitor.

  I do recall having a number of problems however when running an old Dell laptop under WinXP with an extended monitor. In that case I would use the feature like a projector setup where what is on the laptop screen is also on the monitor and by using the monitor's maximum resolution I found I would have no problem. However the problem would always re-occur if I tried the "extended desktop feature". In that case I put it down to one of three things - limited XP support for multiple monitors, lack of driver support or limits of the actual video hardware to support what was a 1600x1280 display but not the extended monitor function which I figured would have required more video memory than was available on the built-in video card - which I think was maybe 256K.

  My desktop has 1 Gig of video ram and Windows 7 has the drivers natively - so I'm not even sure whether last time I scrubbed the system whether I loaded the ATI Radeon 5700 drivers.

  So in terms of a solution I suspect if the hardware is up to it, it may require updated drivers or an upgrade to Windows 7. I don't know how you could confirm whether it is a hardware issue. 

  Hope that helps at least to point you in the direction of a solution.

  Regards and 73's

  Dean - 8P6SH

  On Tue, Apr 16, 2013 at 10:10 AM, Gary AL9A <al9a at mtaonline.net> wrote:

    I've had this problem for sometime and keep forgetting to ask the group if others see the same thing.

    My main monitor is a Dell laptop and I have a HP widescreen monitor setup as an extended desktop.  When running a clone RttyRite window for RTTY on the extended desktop left clicking on a call or the exchange doesn't populate the Entry window fields.  I have discovered if I right click on a call WL will push that call onto the stack and I can then pop it from the stack to the call field.

    If I drag this clone window to the laptop monitor left clicking works normally.  Since the laptop screen is significantly smaller than the extended desktop I cannot fit all the open clone windows on that monitor and see the other log windows.  I would like to have the clone windows open on the extended desktop respond to a left mouse click and populate the Entry window.  I know of at least one other individual, Bob WB2COY, who has indicated he has this same problem with his extended desktop.  Steve N9OH at WL support indicates that Wayne has multiple monitors and this is not an issue for him.  He also indicates that it may be a problem with my computer setup.

    My OS is Vista Home Premium, which I know is a POS, but still everything else I open on the extended desktop works ok.  Word, Excel, Power Point, EditPro Lite, CC User, etc.  All these programs respond correctly to mouse clicks normally.  The only difference is when clicking on something on the extended desktop none of these applications are trying to populate a field back on the main monitor.  So, the question is, is anyone else seeing this behavior by RttyRite on an extended desktop?  Has anyone ever had the problem and fixed it?  Is there a WL ini setting somewhere that is improperly set?  Any help appreciated.

    73,
    Gary AL9A
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  -- 
  Dean St.Hill

  Counterpoint Consulting 
  17 Ocean City
  St.Philip
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