Low Budget TouchScreening ? 13
IntrepiD One writes: "I need to create an information gathering interface (preferably touchscreen) in a lobby area, but my budget is very low. I have looked at touchscreen add-ons (150-250 US$). Also, I want to create the interface in an X environment to add more flexibility. Before I go off and reinvent the wheel, does slashdot have any input." Any ideas for an inexpensive way to get input put in?
Thats very low budget... (Score:2)
Or if you can find a broken laptop computer with a working touchpad you could rip that out and mount it on the machine somehow. Users might have trouble working out how to move the mouse pointer with it though.
How complex is the UI going to be? If its down to simple menu choices you might be able to wire up a keypad or some buttons to a serial port.
By the way, $200 for a touch-sensitive screen overlay seems pretty cheap!
Baz
Low cost touchscreen (Score:1)
Re:Thats very low budget... (Score:1)
Depending on your use (Score:1)
Another Idea (Score:2)
Your lucky day (Score:1)
What do you mean by cheap? (Score:5)
Consider making a grid of IR-LEDs (say top and left side)and photodiodes (bottom and right side). Build small adressing circuit run from parallel port of PC to individually strobe LEDs and see which detectors do not react. Software from there.
The venerable lightpen is even cheaper, has better resolution, and can be hacked together in moments.
Epoxy three piezoelectric tranducers (bottom left, top left, bottom right corners) on a monitor tube, attach to a/d circuit, have software monitor for vibrations from finger touch (yes, I know it can be done with only two sensors, but three makes the software much easier...)
If you can live with defined areas, get some thinly aluminiumised Mylar, form touch areas and circuits between them, then use those cheapie lamp controllers (60 cycle crossing detectors) to make data for parallel port.
I've never tried it, but I have observed change in capacitance in a monitor tube if you place your hand on it as the beam sweeps across. Build simple cap meter on front of A/D converter and then see if software can decipher changes in position.
All I can think of. Anybody else?
Re:What do you mean by cheap? (Score:2)
Worldcom [worldcom.com] - Generation Duh!
Time to get my walker shined up... (Score:2)
*grumble*
I guess I better start hacking together assisted living gear. My wheelchair is gonna do the quarter mile in 13.8, drive itself in a thick fog, and provide a couple of hundred teraflops besides :-)
Really, _really_ cheap (Score:1)
You could build something like this for virtually nothing (junk hardware, a few cheap components, and a spare joystick port.) It would take a fair bit of punishment too, and even if it was stolen or got broke you could easily build another. Of course doing the initial design and writing the drivers isn't going to be quick or easy, and you'll have to work around its limitations (I think frequent recallibrations were necessary) but TANSTAAFL.
IR Grid (Score:1)
USB camera? (Score:2)
-russ
Re:Low cost touchscreen (Score:2)