Operating system for visualization app in 6 monitors

Question

Hi. I have to plan the development for an application with these major requirements:

• Show different graphical data and animations in 6 monitors, in fullscreen mode.
• The hardware to be used is a PC with 3 NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 cards.

I have some expertise working with OpenGL, but never with more than one monitor. I have the (some limited) freedom to choose an operating system for the application. My options are: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Ubuntu 8.04/10.04.

I would like to know, if you have some expertise or knowledge in the multi-monitor application development field, what is the recommended operating system for this kind of application? And, do I need any software other than the operating system and the NVIDIA drivers to be able to use the 6 monitors in fullscreen, showing different things in each one of them?

Any comment/answer will be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Federico

Answer 1

We use Ubuntu on a 8 display setup driven by two QuadroPlex. This works just fine with both fullscreen and windowed OpenGL, no additional tricks necessary. Three years ago, we also tried to run Windows Server 2003, but the OpenGL performance with six displays was intolerable.

Answer 2

I would recommend Linux, since it is much easier and more performant to address the individual GPU's and monitors see Parallel OpenGL FAQ.

Software-wise I recommend Equalizer, it will save you a lot of time figuring out the details (context creation, thread-safety, event handling). Technically speaking you can do everything just with basic OpenGL, and I'm hardly impartial on the topic...