Tenmads: A Software Distributed Multi-display Implementation for Practical and Low-cost Applications

Distributed multi-display systems often require high-end servers and/or linux operating systems. These requirements are not familiar to intermediate PC users, therefore making it difficult for those users to take advantage of multidisplay applications such as multi-user cooperative work. To alleviate this situation we developed Tenmads, a software multi-display implementation that runs on the most prevalent PC operating system – Microsoft Windows. Tenmads focuses on cost effectiveness and simplicity in configuration so that most PC users can set up multi-display environments without any help from computer experts. This paper describes how Tenmads is designed while maintaining a fair performance for low- and middle- range computer/network resources. It also describes Tenmads' support for multiple input devices which enables mixed local/remote real-time multi-user cooperative work.