DeskPad – A virtual monitor for screen sharing

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception

  • Strongly positive response, especially from users with ultrawide or 4K monitors and frequent screen‑sharing.
  • Seen as a “genius” quality-of-life tool that solves a long-standing annoyance, especially with tools like MS Teams that lack “share region” features.
  • Several plan to adopt it immediately for work, teaching, and pairing.

Primary use cases

  • Sharing a readable portion of a very large or high‑DPI display without constantly changing system resolution.
  • Keeping a dedicated “sandbox” area for meetings while preserving the main desktop layout.
  • Avoiding accidental exposure of notifications or unrelated windows.
  • Using a lower‑resolution virtual screen (e.g., 1080p) so viewers on laptops can see code, spreadsheets, or SAP screens clearly.

Alternatives and cross‑platform solutions

  • Windows: RegionToShare, FancyZones in PowerToys, virtual display drivers, VMs/remote desktop, OBS with virtual camera or projector windows.
  • Linux/X11: Xephyr/Xnest, xrandr --setmonitor, xvfb + VNC, VLC + slop, nested compositors; on Wayland: headless outputs plus mirroring (sway, Hyprland), pipewire screencast, xdg-desktop-portal hooks.
  • macOS: BetterDisplay (paid, more features), Screegle, OBS projectors, system accessibility zoom, RDM for resolutions.
  • Some note that OBS is very powerful but can be overkill or confusing; DeskPad is praised for simplicity and being free/open.

Screen-sharing UX & readability

  • Common complaint: viewers on small screens can’t read content from large/HiDPI displays, especially in Teams.
  • Suggestions include:
    • Using a low-res virtual monitor via DeskPad and sharing only that.
    • Not maximizing shared windows; keeping them smaller for better scaling.
    • Letting presenters control viewport instead of asking viewers to zoom.
  • Debate around window-sharing UX: some find it manageable; others say it’s clumsy and slow to switch between multiple windows.

Implementation, limitations & concerns

  • Uses private macOS APIs for virtual displays; questions about how these APIs were discovered and Apple’s stance on their use outside the App Store.
  • macOS shows a persistent “screen recording” indicator, which some find annoying but accept as unavoidable.
  • macOS-only nature is noted; multiple people discuss how Linux has had similar capabilities for years, though often with more complex tooling.
  • Some Intel/legacy Mac users worry about performance and OS support longevity.