Why?

A few years ago, my friend was given a large monitor as a gift, and he procedded to setup his OS X machine to run with two monitors. This configuration is known as "Dual Head". I as instantly hooked. I now run two monitors on my machine at home, and at work. Soon came the requirement to find good, wide screen backgrounds for machines running with two monitors. As my father can tell you, I've always spent too much time customizing my desktop...

Many of these were taken with my new digital camera, a simple Olympus D-520, which takes great panoramas and plays well with new Linux kernels. Some have been stretched, but in my mind, not too much.

The backrounds you'll find below are 2560x1024, and will fit on two screens running 1280x1024. If you have an Apple Cinema display or other wide aspect ratio monitor, these will probably also work for you. (although cropped somewhat)

The Backgrounds

Balloons

Panorama from a hot air balloon festival near Angi's parent's while we visited.

Death Valley

Death Valley, the lowest point in North America (-265 feet)

Front Range

Looking west into the heart of Colorado's Front Range

Snowmass Mountain Sunrise

Taken from 12,000', on the ridge south of Snowmass Lake.

Aspen Forest

We saw incredible aspen forests on the Snowmass-Maroon Trail.

Clouds and Mountain

Looking towards the clouds at sunrise.

Cold

This is the view of Wheeler Gulch at 12,000'. Memorial Day 2004.

Ladybugs

If you like ladybugs, here's a lot of them on a log.

Rainbow

I spotted this rainbow near Angi's parents house.

Boulder Panorama

I snapped this on my way to school, spring 2004

Boulder Sunrise

Snapped this from my 3rd floor apartment in Boulder, May 28th, 2004

Downtown Minneapolis

View looking south on Downtown Minneapolis, May, 2004

Angi on Mt. Meeker

Angi on the highest point in Boulder County with Longs Peak beyond.

Angi on Mt. Yale

Angi stops for a break just below the summit of Mt. Yale, May 2004

Mt. Elbert Sunrise

I captured this sunrise at 12,000' on Mt. Elbert on March 15th, 2004

Frosty Tree

This tree aquired a coating of snow, ice and frost during a spring storm.

Rock and Lichen

This was taken on Bear Peak near Boulder.

Flowers and Dew

I saw these at the Mallard Head Lodge in Moorsville, North Carolina

Grapefruit Explosion

This was my first wide background. Found buried in a slashdot thread.

Everest from Space

I Stumbled across this high resolution shot on a NASA page.

Endurance Crater (Mars)

I found this on my daily check of the progress of the Mars Rovers.