It seems that the driver is changing the monitor and desktop
resolutions
simultaneously. If you could decouple them, and make the monitor
resolution less than the desktop resolution. The monitor resolution
in LCD has a maximum (not sure). Therefore the driver behaves
differently.
It is quite possible that matox.com has written their drivers in C++
or
with all the attributes in their objects. When they came to complile
it for
XP, they just did not give an option in the interface to it. Thus the
code
hardwired the two values. These values change simultaneously. If they
can be decoupled, then the problem may solve. We know that their NT
drivers did have this virtual desktop feature and it worked
flawlessly.

On Nov 3, 11:25 am, windows.lov...******.com wrote:
> Virtual desktops for windows
>
> I have run into many people who have this problem. They have old
> hardwares which they are satisfied with, such as the PCI cards,
> monitors etc. They are upgrading the motherboards/CPU/RAM, but keeping
> the rest of the old stuff since it works. They are also upgrading the
> OS. Here is one case:
>
> The old NT4.0 was mainly used for CAD programs or general use. It
> served well. It has a nice virtual desktop using a matrox millenium
> card with 4Meg of RAM, top of the line at that time. It also works
> great under linux with the same virtual desktop that supports panning.
> This way an economical monitor can provide the performance of a high
> end large screen monitor.
>
> There are many reasons for the upgrade of OS such as security, speed,
> support for new applications and so on.
>
> We have a number of PC's that use the Matrox Millenium cards with the
> MGA-2164W chipset and screen resolution upto 1200x1600. These are
> excellent hardwares.
>
> People from Western Europe, Russia and the Eastern Europe cant be
> endlessly paying tax to Uncle Sam and Uncle Maple.
>
> The question is this: Is there a way to get these hardwares working in
> the newer OS's just as they worked on NT4.0 ? Specifically, the market
> has a lot of older cards floating around, and people are still using
> these cards.
>
> We know that Linux can make use of ANY of these video cards and make
> them work to the best performance under X windows.
>
> Here is a list of approaches for windows :
>
> (1) Take the NT driver and modify it to work with XP. It should be
> possible to disassemble the driver, and apply the changes. Ironically,
> the latest driver for the legacy product like this athttp://matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/support/drivers/latest/home.php,
> ie w2k_582.exe fromftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/archive/win_2k/2002/w2k_582.exe
> and the unistaller pd_unin201.exe fromftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/utils/pd_unin201.exe
> does not work very well.
>
> (2) Use a non-microsoft desktop manager which can make these cards
> work, such as Yod'm 3D which works with Vista, Windows 2000 or XP.
> However, we are not asking for its sophisticated 3D capability, only a
> 2D feature for panning.
>
> (3) We know that the LCD's allow panning under windows XP for some
> reason, but not everyone wants to change every single of their older
> monitors to LCD. One would ideally want to use the Monitors till their
> natural death. This is the most ideal, most environmentally friendly
> approach. There is no reason to waste
> your money of the labor of those who manufactured these hardwares.
>
> Is there a way to fool the windows XP or the matrox driver that the
> monitor is an LCD ? Is it an issue of maximum magnification ? How does
> the feedback from the mouse pointer crossing the edge give the info to
> the OS for an LCD to pan ? Perhaps, this may be the best solution to
> allow that specific setting manually to fool the OS or the video card
> that an LCD is connected.
>
> (4) There are a number of virtual desktop managers and shells
> (different from the virtual desktops provided by the driver software)
> which may be able to provide a virtual desktop.
>
> BEGIN QUOTE
>
> Microsoft Windows does not implement virtual desktops at installation
> time. Microsoft provides a virtual desktop PowerToy (for Windows XP),
> a software-based virtual desktop manager, which simulates many
> desktops, by minimizing and maximizing windows in groups, each group
> being a different desktop. However, the functionality provided is less
> comprehensive than that of many other virtual desktop solutions (e.g.
> missing functionality to move windows to another desktop, maintain a
> window in a given desktop even when its application bar button
> flashes, etc...). Application compatibility problems are common,
> because application developers do not expect virtual desktops to be in
> use on the Windows platform.
>
> Many desktop shell replacements for Windows, including LiteStep,
> bblean, GeoShell, SharpE and many others, support virtual desktops via
> optional modules.
>
> END QUOTE
>
> Note, that the microsoft powertoy does not have virtual desktop with
> pan feature. That is the most important feature. More details here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_desktop
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desktop_shell_replacement
>
> BEGIN QUOTE
>
> In Windows 95 and later versions of Microsoft Windows, the Windows
> shell is by default explorer.exe (in the Windows folder or one of its
> subfolders, System32) which displays the icons on the desktop, the
> taskbar, the Start menu and the file browser. By default, explorer.exe
> runs automatically when Windows starts. Mostly the shell simply
> launches other programs on request.
>
> Computer users with the desire can modify explorer.exe extensively. It
> is also possible to completely replace explorer.exe with another
> shell. Such a desktop shell replacement provides an alternative to the
> standard Windows shell. Alternatives such as those below can replace
> visual elements and windowing layout on a Microsoft Windows-based
> system, provide more options for customization, or use fewer
> resources.
>
> END QUOTE
>
> The only problem in the way is the greed of the hardware and software
> manufacturers in an unstated conspiracy against the end-users. These
> manufacturers insist on controlling our life and forcing us to waste
> our money. People should upgrade based on their own desire and
> calculation, and not under compulsion from the manufacturers. The
> biggest hypocrisy is when these Canadians and Al Gores cry hoarse over
> the GLOBAL WARMING. Each monitor thrown away, each video card thrown
> away just because a driver was not available or software was not
> supporting its basic feature is contribution to global warming. The
> processes to make these cards were not only energy intensive but
> highly polluting.