dual-screen jukebox

[struisje]

I have two rooms that are gonna be used as a gameroom/bar. They are located next to each other.
I can not remove the wall between them as it is a supporting wall.
My plan is to build an in-wall jukebox with touchscreens on either side of the wall. That way i can control my music from both rooms.
Now before I go ahead and buy the screens I would like to know if this would be possible.
I know the output to the screens won't be a problem but I wonder if I will face any input-related problems. Can i have two seperate touchscreens controlling the same juke?
What will happen if two people use both screens at once?
Maybe there is a script available somewhere that can deactivate one screen when the other is in use and reactivate the screen after (let's say) 10 seconds of inactivity on the other screen.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[Paladin]

I can't help with your question, but I'm curious what the answer is.

[drventure]

If the rooms are really separate, do you really always want the same music playing in both rooms?

Guess I'm not seeing the full layout of the space in my mind.

If there's a +chance+ you'd want the two rooms to be able to play different tracks simultaneously, I think I'd go with 2 jukes, and maybe just point one to the other's library of tracks to keep track duplication down.

If you really want to always play the same tracks, I'd think you'd be good with a mirrored screen and any old touchscreens that look like mice to windows.

The reasons are:

1. Mirroring the screen will deliver the same image to both monitors. Easy as pie.
2. you +would+ have effectively 2 mice going, but, as far as I can tell, any device that looks like a mouse to windows, controls the single mouse pointer unless the app is specially coded (ie mame). In this case, you actually WANT both screens to control the mouse in the same way.

Yes, you MIGHT get into issues where 2 people are trying to play different tracks at the same time, but they're right around the corner from one another and it'll be obvious that someone else is moving the cursor around onscreen.

Or, you could put up a heavy duty header and take out the wall anyway. That's what I did (er had done, it was a little too risky for me to take on by myself) on a kitchen remodel I did.

[struisje]

Well the rooms are seperated by a door which I intend to remove and possibly widen a bit. So i want it to feel more like it is one big room in stead of two small ones.
That's why i want one jukebox, because i want it to be a single room.

I think I'll just have to give it a try and see how it works.

[drventure]

Yeah, I know mirroring the screen and using two plain ol' usb mice will work the way I describe. So the only ? is the touchscreen drivers and whether you can load 2 simultaneously.

If the screens look like USB mice, I'm betting you'll be good to go.

If they're serial, it might be a little trickier, though I'm pretty sure Windows can deal with 2 serial mice as well.

[struisje]

I guess i could always use one usb and one serial to avoid conflict?

[drventure]

Yeah, that should work, actually that's bound to work. I've got a serial tablet and a USB mouse hooked up to my PC right now and both control the mouse simultaneously. 2 serials MIGHT work, but I've never tried it.

[struisje]

Did some research,

"Elo Resistive or SAW" can support 4 touchscreens on one PC.
Serial or USB on Vista, XP, 2000
Only Serial on 98 and 95
Don't know about Windows 7

"3M/Microtouch Capacitive" can support up to 12 touchscreens on one PC in vista, XP and 2000 (Serial or USB) and 2-4 monitors on 98 and 95 (Serial or USB)

"MagicTouch Add-on" can support 2 monitors on one PC in vista, XP and 2000 (USB only) and no support for 98 and 95

BUT:

All of the configurations shown require the multiple monitor features in Windows, and will NOT work with a video splitter. You can use a video splitter if you only want to have a single touchscreen monitor and additional non-touchscreen monitors showing the same image.

[drventure]

Have you seen that little touchscreen 7" usb monitor?

http://www.mimomonitors.com/products/mimo-720-S

That could work really nicely for this type of app (assuming the price isn't prohibitive)

[struisje]

Yeah that screen looks nice.
I also found this manufacturer:
http://www.faytech.de/en

They have a touchscreen range from 7" up to 22"
I've seen them on ebay from € 140 for 7" up to € 450 for 22"

[drventure]

Another thread just turned up and excellent deal on touchscreens, btw

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=98189.0