Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

This is a LOT of computer monitors!

It’s interesting to notice how in the UNT college computing environment, an office computer setup with two flat-panel LCD monitors has become “the standard” for most faculty and staff. Even as a lowly adjunct instructor this semester, the Windows desktop computer in my office is connected to two monitors.

If a two flatscreen monitor setup is “the new normal” for college computing at a tier-1 research institution (I’m thinking UNT qualifies in that category, but not sure) then consider the following photo. That’s right, there are TWELVE (12) flatscreen LCD screens on this desk, connected to TWO (2) desktop computers.

To get an even better picture of this, check out the full-size image (2756 x 1005) taken with Pano on my iPhone. Wow! This is the office computing setup for our network administrator in the Department of Learning Technologies, in the UNT College of Information. He’s running six of the monitors on a Windows computer configured with UltraMon software. The other six are running on a Ubuntu box, which supports six monitors natively.

Another monitor-related sight which has impressed me this semester in our department is the projector setup used to show promotional video clips at the front entrance.

Promotional video ad in the UNT Department of Learning Services, College of Information

The projector for this small screen is powered by a Mac Mini, cleverly mounted right on top of the projector.

Mac mini projector setup

Back in West Texas, I think we’d describe this environment as “livin’ in tall cotton.”

Now if all the students in my “Computers in the Classroom” course were coming to class with their OWN laptops, I’d be REALLY impressed by the state of IT access here!

Students in Hong Kong working at Discovery College


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