Sherri, I wasn't keeping an eye on Harper County last summer, or really on anyone else because I was at fires, often multiple fires, daily, or sometimes all night long. Last July and August are just one big blur in my mind. Without knowing how dry y'all got specifically, I'd bet you were in the upper 700s there, and very close to 800. Both the Altus area and the Durant area were the two areas I noted that were the driest on the KBDI, and they both actually exceeded 800 (which I thought was impossible) by 10 or 12 points. The driest our county got was about 770 or 780, and we had been in D4 well before we hit that point. How dry is that compared to previous droughts? The worst previous drought we'd had in our county since I learned about the KBDI was in 2005-2006, and my county topped out around 680 in that one. We never dreamed, never, ever in our wildest imaginings, we'd ever get 100 points drier than that in some future year. On our worst, hottest day, we were at a fire just on the edge of I-35 in 115 degree weather. Firefighters were dropping like flies and I was really concerned about them. A big storm was moving our way. We could tell it was going to rain. We cleared from that fire just as the storm rolled over our part of the area. We had lots of wind and lightning, and enough rain to drop our KBDI maybe 50 to 70 points the next day. That was the beginning of a downward trend in the KBDI for us. But what "gift" did the thunderstorm bring us? Lightning started fires across the river in Texas and we were called for assistance with those wildfires. lol Sometimes the thunderstorms are more harmful than helpful at times like that. I'll link today's map, and we can see what a change a couple of rainy days can make. I know that in my county we were getting close to 500 and now we're down around 100 after the rain last week and this week. That is such a relief, but we're still having grass fires. They're just slow-moving ones now and there's not many of them the last few days. In my own yard, it becomes hard to keep plants happy after we hit 500. By then our clay is hard like concrete and water just ponds on top of the ground and rolls downhill instead of soaking into the ground. It depends on the time of year, though. A KBDI of 500 in August bothers me more than a KBDI of 600 in December. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Today's KBDI Map--Lots of Improvement

Thanks all, I went back to the owbist provided link and see it is a series of video clips and looking at more than the first one I get the "big" or "multiple" picture. I do not have any current plan to use multiple monitors, I was just looking for a monitor for use with my Notebook, which has a 15" display, and my wife's new Netbook which has a 10.1" display. The monitor I am considering mostly on a price/availability (can see hands on at local BJs) has a Display Link feature. It also has the unusual design to sit on the desktop, not up on a stand.. which it claims is best suited my application. Figured the Display Link is just a plus... not sure if it requires more video muscle in my computers over what is required for a VGA. The Display Link software does seem to also offer optimization of the computer/monitor interface. A plus, I think. I got a reject on my post for some reason, so I added "again" to the subject to see if I can get through.

My BIL had a monitor, wired in to the local fire/police dept, that alerted them if the temperature in their lake/summer cottage (vacation home) went below a certain temp. (no burglar monitor, just the temp) It turned out to be a brilliant idea. A few years ago, several of the 30+ y/o water pipes in the baseboard heating system finally burst, from either mineral buildup or age, and spewed water all over the house for three days. The monitoring system called his cell phone (He had given them multiple contact #s.) He was out of the country on vacation and had to cut it short. It was Spring, or the temp would have gone down faster and the alarm would have sounded a day or two earlier with less damage, but at least he had the alarm/monitoring. The house had to be gutted, and was an excellent opportunity for them to remodel, since he planned to live in it full-time after retirement, which is the case right now. Without the monitor, the house would probably have been 100% ruined from all the water spewing.

Well if the Dimension computer has a separate video card - as opposed to onboard - and if both computer have the same video slot (AGP or PCIe) you could move the card from the dimension to the Inspiron to see how it looks before spending money perhaps. Newegg, linked below, show 12 video cards in the $10 to $25 range and 159 in the $25 to $50 range. Frys are another good place to look. Here is a link that might be useful: Newegg video cards