MSI All-In-One Touchscreen PC

[Dermbrian]

I received my MSI AIO AE-1900-05SUS computer yesterday and thought I'd give a report as to what it's like, especially in terms of running some of the more popular jukebox software. 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883152003

This is the dual core Atom processor unit, with a 250 gig hard drive, 2 gig of memory, a DVD writer, and Vista Home Basic.

It came in a box containing the white touchscreen monitor/computer, a white keyboard, and a white mouse that glows orange when in use.  There was very little printed matter.  The quickstart guide did not go beyond hooking up the peripherals.  Nothing covered the software and actual operation beyond powering it on and adjusting volume.

I connected the keyboard, mouse and plugged the unit in and turned it on.  I didn't time it, but I'd say it took about 1 and 1/2 hours! to initialize Vista fully to the point where I could enter the date and time.  Wow. 

The display is very vibrant.  I eventually found the MSI utility that has to be used to calibrate the touchscreen.  Again, no documentation with the PC mentioned any such utility, but it was necessary to get the screen working well.

The 16:9 aspect screen, with its 1366 x 768 native resolution is, frankly, an emerging standard but not yet supported by most of the familiar jukebox programs.  This would be an issue as I began to test the various jukebox apps.  So let's go right to those.

WinCab (DWJukebox)
Vista Home Basic = No touchscreen support in WinCab.  What a shame.  I love that program and will still be stuck using a mouse and keyboard to run it.  WinCab has a few widescreen skins available for download at Chris' site, and I settled on the Orange Box skin for now. 

This unit, with the dual-core Atom 330 processor, handles the audio of WinCab much better than my single core netbook Acer Aspire One. 


SK Jukebox
If I run this in full-screen windowed mode, it's fully usable as a touchscreen jukebox, but does have the following issues:

• If you turn on the on-screen keyboard for the 'find' function, the buttons at the bottom of that keyboard are not visible.  That means the 'space' key isn't available.  Not a showstopper.  If you type "Town" you will still pull up Bruce Springsteen's "Lucky Town".

• If you want the ability to exit with
  only the touchscreen, you have to run it it in a full-screen window in order to have the little 'x' at the top of the window to exit.  That also means the taskbar is at the bottom of the screen covering part of the left/right buttons that scroll the album covers.  Not a showstopper.  The buttons are big enough that they're still useable.

E-Touch
I've downloaded the Version 5 Demo.  It works well, but would work better with a skin with the native 1366 x 768 resolution.  The mismatch in the skin resolution and the display resolution leads to squashed-looking album covers and buttons that are a bit blurry and slightly oval shaped.  If you run in as an 800 x 600 skin, then it works crisply but doesn't take advantage of the whole screen.

I may be learning how to skin E-Touch.


TouchJams
TouchJams offers the option to scale its skins to whatever screen resolution you have.  That works.  The buttons are crisp and the album covers are square and legible.  But TouchJams is a work in progress.  Right now, I'm having issues with the way it handles compilation albums.  The same album tends to show up in several places.  The author is reachable through his forums on his website, so I'll probably be having discussions with him about the handling of "various artist" collections.


Hulu.com works better than on my netbook, but not a lot better.  It still has enough frames dropped to come across as a little jerky, and that detracts from watching whatever you're watching.

The built in stereo speakers are unimpressive.  External amplified speakers are needed.  Really.  I have that covered with my Logitech Z2300's.

The unit, along with my Logitech's, has replaced my stereo in our entertainment center.  At 50 watts power consumption when running full out, it's pretty darn frugal.  But I still have some work to do to get it up and running using the touchscreen to its full advantage for choosing and queueing up the music. 

I'm not likely to disconnect the keyboard or mouse in the foreseeable future.

Brian[/list]

[gonzo90017]

If you want the ability to exit with
only the touchscreen, you have to run it it in a full-screen window in order to have the little 'x' at the top of the window to exit.  That also means the taskbar is at the bottom of the screen covering part of the left/right buttons that scroll the album covers.  Not a showstopper.  The buttons are big enough that they're still useable.

I'm using an ElO 15" touch screen monitor. When I touch and hold down my finger on the screen it acts a right mouse button click. This is the way I bring up the menu on SK and click on exit.

[Barry Barcrest]

The skin is getting squashed because it's 1024 x 768. It would not be a big job to convert the default skins to 1366 x 768 to just fix the squashed album cover and button distortion. However it might be better to spend a little more time to take advantage of the extra width. I will see if i can get the authors of the default skin to do a widescreen version and if not i'll work on it myself, i have a widsceen on my dev PC so I should be able to re-work the skin for that res.

[Dermbrian]

I'm using an ElO 15" touch screen monitor. When I touch and hold down my finger on the screen it acts a right mouse button click. This is the way I bring up the menu on SK and click on exit.

Thanks for letting me know.  That does work.

I will see if i can get the authors of the default skin to do a widescreen version and if not i'll work on it myself, i have a widsceen on my dev PC so I should be able to re-work the skin for that res.

I really like the BnR skin....wink, wink, nudge, nudge.   

[Barry Barcrest]

ALPHA BnB Here...

http://www.freeboxjukebox.com/Forum/index.php?topic=1431.msg12604#new

1360 x 768 

[Dermbrian]

Looks much better.  I get thin strips of my desktop showing through on each side, but if I put a thin black border around my desktop image, no problem.

It sounds like there's some interest in these new screen sizes.  Thanks for getting your community involved.   I will be donating and moving up to the full version. 

Brian

[Barry Barcrest]

Hopefully I can get that skin fixed up properly by the weekend, then i'll work on the Black and Red version.

[jfbeute]

I am using the Asus EEE 1602 Top, same screen size.

My programs of choice are:
Winamp 5.5 Pro - for ripping CD's in MP3 format
Jaikoz - for fixing any tag issues
TouchTone - for jukebox

All programs of the latest current release version. All these programs work on this resolution without any special configuration or setting. I have tested several programs and formats but in the end this was a combination that worked for me functionally and without artifacts on the screen or in the audio.

[azpaul]

Derm,

I am looking at a couple of these computers as well.  How do you like the functionality and quality?

Have you been using it a lot since May?


Any updates on programs, compatibility etc...

Thanks

[Barry Barcrest]

Derm,

I am looking at a couple of these computers as well.  How do you like the functionality and quality?

Have you been using it a lot since May?


Any updates on programs, compatibility etc...

Thanks

I made a skin for that resolution you can get it on my forum and try it with the demo. I think it got 99% completed so there may be a couple of small tweaks required but it does work.