[Larry Wilson]

I am loving Mobile Sheets, which I currently use for piano accompaniments with choirs and vocal soloists on my Microsoft Surface Pro 9, a digital pen, and a Bluetooth pedal unit.

However, I'm always wishing I could have a screen large enough to provide a two-page spread the size of actual sheet music.

An ad came across my social media feed for a new laptop -- the ASUS Zenbook Duo UX8406 -- which has two touch screens in addition to the detachable keyboard. It can be used like a regular laptop, with the second screen hidden beneath the keyboard, or in various other configurations with both screens visible. 

Here's a link:  ASUS Zenbook DUO (2024) UX8406｜Laptops For Home｜ASUS USA. I've also attached a combination of two images from Asus' promotions.

It's rather pricey, but I have to admit that I'm tempted to spring for it (and hopefully get part of the price back by selling my Surface Pro).

Anyone with experience or thoughts??

[Zubersoft]

One comment - I don't know if that device handles each screen as a separate monitor, or one giant monitor. The ability to use MobileSheets with it will hinge on that. If it handles each screen as a separate monitor, MobileSheets doesn't currently support multiple monitors. This is certainly something I want to add support for - I just haven't had time yet.

Mike

[Larry Wilson]

One comment - I don't know if that device handles each screen as a separate monitor, or one giant monitor. The ability to use MobileSheets with it will hinge on that. If it handles each screen as a separate monitor, MobileSheets doesn't currently support multiple monitors. This is certainly something I want to add support for - I just haven't had time yet.

Mike

Wow, Mike, I really appreciate your "hands-on" approach to following and responding to items in this forum! I will try to ascertain how the two monitors in the new Asus Zenbook Duo are treated, and I will watch for any updates from you on the potential multiple monitor support in Mobile Sheets. What a great application you've provided for us musicians!

Larry

[Petra-Kathi]

Larry,

instead of buying such a very special device you might consider using two larger "normal" tablets and put them into a frame, as I did some time ago. See https://www.musiker-board.de/threads/tab...st-8905923  (There is an old thread about my design in this board as well, but I am a bit lazy to dig that out ... )

=> no special software solution required, applicable to quite a variety of tablets, up to the newer Samsung Ultra ones that will provide two 14,6" screens. If you take the last but one generation this will effectively halve the price you'd pay for the new Asus. Using old Android 4.x 12.2" tablets as I did will reduce that significantly even further, with the processing power of those being absolutely sufficient for the required quasi-static PDF presentation.

Please mind that it will be generally desirable to protect any chosen score presenting device against accidental pushing off the music stand, regardless if it is one or two devices. And with the frame to be designed for the two-tablet arrangement this feature can be easily integrated.

Cheers,
Petra

[maxzhu273]

One comment - I don't know if that device handles each screen as a separate monitor, or one giant monitor. The ability to use MobileSheets with it will hinge on that. If it handles each screen as a separate monitor, MobileSheets doesn't currently support multiple monitors. This is certainly something I want to add support for - I just haven't had time yet.

Mike

I have one of these laptops and can confirm that it treats each screen as a separate monitor. As a workaround, the Zenbook Duo has built in software that lets me maximize a window across both monitors. So viewing sheet music in two page mode works perfectly fine. There are some quirks though:
- Some UI things like the "Select Display Mode" popup and the "Select Page Scaling Mode" popup will appear in the middle with half on each screen
- For sheet music with an odd number of pages, the last page will be centered and display with half a page on each display. This occurs when page turn mode is set to two pages, but not when it is set to alternate pages
- Some page scaling modes will center the page relative to the entire window, which makes sense for a single large display. For this setup though, this means that the margins on the left and right edges are near-zero, and there's a massive margin in the middle. I've attached a picture of a worst case scenario. I work around this by selecting a different scaling mode

   

[bcf1]

Perhaps another alternative; I use a Mele PCG02 Stick PC, currently available for about $200 on Amazon Canada. I have it plugged into the back of a touchscreen Viewsonic monitor and with an Airturn pedal, it works great. I get a 2 page display, the whole thing sits neatly on a music stand (I had to extend the shelf to handle the thickness of the monitor) and is very portable. I also have a wireless keyboard and trackball plugged into it for those times when doing annotations, as it is easier to use than the touchscreen for more extensive entries. The setup cost me just over $500 CDN (the monitor was used) and I've used it extensively for almost 2 years without problems. 
Barry