Touchscreen question

[CalypsoCowboy]

Does anyone have any touchscreens that they are using with mControl?

I'm looking for something that I could either sit on an end table, or put into a while. It sounds like all I really need is the ability for the touchscreen to support IE.

Cheap would be nice too.

[katrash]

If you have a budget, go with an ultra mobile PC (UMPC). Or with the new release (v1.70 which has a beta available for download) you can use a PocketPC with Wi-Fi for controlling your devices.

[jagowar]

you could also use the webpage as well couldnt you? (since its touchscreen)... or is that what you were talking about?

i would love to see the embeddedautomation guys come up with some sort of remote application so you wouldnt have to use the webpage...

[CalypsoCowboy]

The webpage I think would be fine, I was looking at more hardware folks are using like a cheap tablet or something.

[katrash]

you could also use the webpage as well couldnt you? (since its touchscreen)... or is that what you were talking about?

i would love to see the embeddedautomation guys come up with some sort of remote application so you wouldnt have to use the webpage...

The mControl SDK is a client side library that allows people with programming experience in .NET to create their own clients as Windows app or anything they like to do all the things they like in mControl as the web client. Look at it under this forum http://www.embeddedautomation.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=18

[T_trip]

One point of caution about the touchscreen you select: Make sure it supports a 1024 X 768 resolution. I just purchased an 8" for use with mControl and it only supports 640 X 480. I got a little anxious and completely skipped over this requirement (pg 8 User Manual).

Tommy

[Ted Singh]

T_trip,

It is possible to create a new sking which works on lower resolutions. For example, for UMPCs (ultra-mobile PCs), like the Samsung Q1, we can automatically detect its 800x480 screen type and provide a skin for it.

If you are interested in supporting your 640 x 480 skin, please refer to the User Manual - there is a large section on designing a custom skin.

There is a lot of demand for new skins - it's something that we plan on working on, but that's also why we released the information - so that others can work on it. We do plan to offer other skins in the future.

Ted

[DeeEmm]

I'm using a cheap 8" touch screen with a micro pc to drive it. it works great (in fact I use the micro pc to run mControl on as it's fanless and doesn't annoy the missus). All up - much less than half the price of a 'normal' touch screen (plus it runs win xp not win ce).

I looked into embedded electronics - something that I could plug a network cable in one side and a vga cable (ie the touchscreen) into the other side and worked as a browser - I couldn't find anything - I even looked into embedded pc's but they worked out far too expensive - in the end I ended up settling on the micro pc.

I've since discovered tablet pc's are pretty cheap so I've ordered one to use as a mobile touch screen, it's yet to arrive but it was less that half the price of the micro pc and touch screen - I'll let you know how I get on.

I do have one question relating to touchscreens - I'm using the IE interface - is there any way to get rid of the cursor?

[DeeEmm]

To answer my own question - the mouse pointer can be 'disabled' by selecting a different pointer sheme in the mouse properties dialog - there is a pointer scheme called 'touch hide cursor' select these and your pointer will disappear (not recommended if you either don't have a touch-screen or do not know how to navigate via the keyboard).

DM

[jagowar]

T_trip,

It is possible to create a new sking which works on lower resolutions. For example, for UMPCs (ultra-mobile PCs), like the Samsung Q1, we can automatically detect its 800x480 screen type and provide a skin for it.

If you are interested in supporting your 640 x 480 skin, please refer to the User Manual - there is a large section on designing a custom skin.

There is a lot of demand for new skins - it's something that we plan on working on, but that's also why we released the information - so that others can work on it. We do plan to offer other skins in the future.

Ted

i still wouldn't mind seeing something designed for mcontrol with a nice software suite that mimicks vista mce that could stream audio and run mcontrol. It is still far too much work imo to get a good solution for this (and something competing suites have)