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| unclet:
I am looking into purchasing a touch screen monitor (perhaps two of them) and had some questions: General questions 1) Are certain brands better than others? 2) Does the display screen eventually become "blurry" do to all the finger touching in which a normal cleaning will not fix the blurriness (ie: does the monitor display glass get bad over time)? If so, what is the age of an averaged used touchscreen monitor? 3) I would prefer an LCD touchscreen of course since the footprint if smaller than the traditional CRT models, but these things are expensive. What is my best bet (money wise) on finding a good deal on a touchscreen monitor? 4) Shall I be looking to purchase via Ebay, or is there some other place I should be looking as well? Technical questions 5) I am currently running WinXP. Are there certain touchscreen monitors which exist which will NOT work on WinXP? I would hate to purchase a touchsceen monitor and find out the drivers are not supported. 6) I currently have two CRT monitors connected to my computer using an additional video card (for dual monitor support). Is it possible for me to replace these two monitors with two touchscreen monitors? Basically, can I connect two touchscreen monitors to the same computer at the same time or will I run into problems with the drivers not understanding how to read input (ie: getting confused). Do both touchscreen monitors connected have to be from the same manufacturer for same strange reason? 7) If I purchase a touchscreen from Ebay (which most likely will not include cables, drivers or anything) then is it possible for me to find the cables and drivers I need easily (ie: is all this stuff standard)? I would hate to buy a touchscreen and then find out I can not find appropriate drivers and cables for it ..... or have to spend a bunch more money getting the drivers and cables. 8 ) Since the only touchscreen monitors I can remember actually seeing up close are the ones at McDonalds ..... I clearly do not have any idea how a touchscreen actually attaches to a computer or if touchscreen monitors have any secret problems or configurations which are necessary. Do touchscreen monitors simply attach to a computer via the same VGA cable as does a home computer monitor? What other attachment stuff do I need to know? 9) I understand some touchscreen monitors come with a serial port connection for the "touch" data to be transferred to the computer. Is this the standard input/output for touchscreen monitors or is there another type which I should know about? Also, I am assuming the serial cable is a standard serial cable ... correct? I would just like to learn more about what touchscreen monitors are and how to connect and use them before buying one (or even two). Thanks |
| RandyT:
Elo accounts for a lot of the touchscreen technology that's been out there. It was / is used on a lot of OEM monitors. If you don't get drivers with your purchase, make sure you get enough information to download some before making the purchase. Do ALL of your research ahead of time. Old TS's are mostly serial, but you'll need specific drivers to use them. You can't roll your own easily. Resistive touchscreens are a double layer overlay, so they inherently aren't as sharp as the capacitive style which is usually an evaporated coating on a glass plate. Resistive touchscreens are durable, but can be damaged more easily. They all should be cleaned carefully and as often as required. Resistive touchscreens can be used with a pointer or gloved hand, while capacitive need flesh. Most are just ordinary VGA with a separate connection for the TS stuff. DB-9 cables are DB-9 cables. Just make sure that the unit has the power cable / adapter if one is required. Newer ones will use USB, but if you are looking for cheap / old, then it will most likely be serial. Some are powered by the PS/2 port through a splitter, so you might want to make sure that all of these things are discovered and included before purchasing. RandyT |
| unclet:
I guess I do not need to go with "old" and "cheap" ..... I typically tend to think that if I am going to buy a "nice" item, then I should spend more money at the front end to get a better product then worrying about whether it will fail later on ...... at least think I am bettering my odds of not buying a dud. What do you mean "pointer" .... I am assuming this is some type of hardware pointer thing which means a "resistive touchscreen" can NOT be used by the bare finger .... is this correct? I also would assume touchscreen list whether they are resistive or capacitive in their product description ? I am looking at this model, but can not find any model specifications about it, perhaps someone can help me find this information (I will keep looking of course): 18inch LCD NEC 1860NX ELO TOUCHSCREEN |
| BobA:
If you go with ELO and their windows certified driver for XP you can easily set it up for 2 monitors. The monitor you are looking at has the older serial port interface so you will need 2 free serial ports on your PC to interface the 2 touchscreen controllers. Each monitor has its own controller. The touchscreens on the ELO monitors are very durable and I have not seen any sign of wear on mine. I use my finger and it works fine without a stylus or pointer. Accouracy of thouch depends on the size of your onscreen controls. If they are too small then they are hard to select with a fat finger. Make sure you get a software package with adjustable or made for touch use control sizes. |
| RandyT:
--- Quote from: unclet on February 28, 2007, 02:35:11 pm ---What do you mean "pointer" .... I am assuming this is some type of hardware pointer thing which means a "resistive touchscreen" can NOT be used by the bare finger .... is this correct? --- End quote --- I guess a better term would have been "stylus". A resistive model can be activated by anything with enough force to cause the two layers of material to compress and make contact with each other. So a bare finger is fine on these as well. --- Quote ---I also would assume touchscreen list whether they are resistive or capacitive in their product description ? --- End quote --- They should, but that would be assuming the seller has a "clue." Looking at the listing for that monitor, they apparently don't, or neglected to specify the technology used. It's appears to be an OEM touchscreen using Elo Technology. That means the unified drivers will work with it, but the model doesn't offer any clues as to which it is. To be honest, if you aren't going to be using a stylus or a gloved hand, it really doesn't matter much. RandyT |
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