[WINDOWS] Ways to use second monitor with XBMC
#1
I have a spare old LCD monitor that I'm planning to attach to my HTPC and put in my TV cabinet. What I'm trying to figure out is if there's some way to use it with XBMC so that when I start XBMC, have a program start and be displayed on the second monitor with information about the currently playing item in XBMC. When not using XBMC, it should display a slideshow of photos from the computer (or just turn off). XBMC itself should still be displayed on the primary monitor, which is the TV.

I am using a Dell Zino (2 GB RAM, 2 TB HD, ATI Radeon HD 4330 512 MB Graphics) running Windows 7 and the latest stable release of XBMC.

Based on my reading of the forums, I have a few ideas, but wanted to see if anyone more experienced has some suggestions.

What I have found is:
- I can use EventGhost (http://www.eventghost.org) to start whatever this mythical program is I've yet to find. It looks like I could set up some triggers that would launch the program when XBMC starts and shut it down when XBMC stops. Same for the slideshow or whatever else I want to display when not using XBMC.
- Ultramon (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon) can be used to control the multiple monitor side of things. However, since I'm using Windows 7, I can also try the solution documented at http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=44617 .
- YASTE, Yet Another Touch Screen Experiment (http://code.google.com/p/yatse) is similar to the program that I'd like to display on the second monitor (just minus the touchscreen side of things).

I have yet to try out my initial pass at things above, however I will in the next day or so. I would really appreciate any suggestions people may have.
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