Thread: Remote touchscreen control of iPhone via serial port - Need hardware help!

Cracker, some of my earliest posts are about the bluetooth keyboard back when FW 2.x was all the rage. I haven't heard or seen anything new about bluetooth touchscreen controllers. I personally only use BT for... well... nothing. I've only used bluetooth on my iPhone for tethering, but since I usually have a cable handy, I'd rather have the 200kb/s connection than the painfully slow BT tethering connection. So as for those previous worried about losing hands free and stereo BT headphones... I think that's a loss most anyone would be willing to sacrifice. plus, would you really be surfing the internet on your external touchscreen, talking hands free, and driving at the same time? And how often would you be doing this. Not only that, but if you are going to plug your phone into your car so it has power, you might as well just enable the hardwired stereo though the dock connector anyway and not fiddle with Stereo BT.

BugByte said he has a bluetooth touchscreen controller in a previous post. Can we have make/model/info about that? I think this could be a key. Otherwise, we are seeing many keyboard controllers (such as that musical keyboard) that are sending signals INTO the iPhone. I don't think we have to go to kernel level to get that fixed.

As for bebopblues, got any input? Can't be disappointed if you aren't submitting input.

I'll post info on the BT touchscreen when I get back in town.

Not sure if I missed it but, was the Sheeva plug ruled out as an option? I have faith that this will be solved soon. I currently have a custom touch screen to USB overlay installed over my factory stereo screen ready for action.

No, Sheeva isn't ruled out as an option. It is a little hard to see exactly how it would work but in theory, the Sheeva could send commands to the iPhone that would emulate mouse clicks but that's really kind of a wacky way to do it.

I think that this problem will be solved in due time. I already have a mouse and keyboard controlling my iPhone. The touchscreen I have is supposedly bluetooth and if that's the case, it ought to be possible to get a driver to work with it.

That's currently beyond my capability but others could probably make it work.

Originally Posted by hyperclimber

BugByte said he has a bluetooth touchscreen controller in a previous post. Can we have make/model/info about that? I think this could be a key. Otherwise, we are seeing many keyboard controllers (such as that musical keyboard) that are sending signals INTO the iPhone. I don't think we have to go to kernel level to get that fixed.

Here's a link to the touchscreen: http://Www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.19654

Hmm...Several posts on that site say it is NOT bluetooth. It didn't come with instructions and I haven't messed much with it since I bought it. I saw that it had a USB port on the main board but thought that perhaps this was the way they were powering the BT for the screen.

subscribing. would love to have this

And the iPad icons even go landscape unlike the iPhone. Gosh I'm excited.

As I suspected, the issue of touchscreen is pretty much made moot by the iPad. It gives you both a screen and a touchscreen plus all the computer guts in one package. Good job, Apple!

i think the iPad looks great. It solves many of our previous problems... perhaps. I think it also presents us with a new set of problems as well. Why do we want an iPhone interface in the car? Well, because the iPhone is packed with so many things in one device. It's a GPS, it's got internet anywhere you go, it's connected with our email, telephone, SMS, it's plays video, and audio, etc. What I foresee now as new problems is the fact the the iPad does not have GPS, is limited in it's input hardware (afterall, if we're now going to implement a computer into the car, we might as well be able to plug stuff into it!), and if we now view the iPad as such a computer, I would want storage space for music and movies. A 1TB hard drive now sells for less than 100 bucks, but the difference in price between a 16gig iPad and a 64gig one is considerable. If we could get 1tb on that thing... I would buy one and get it in the car tomorrow. I think the big deal breaker is that there is no GPS and now I'm going to have to pay 15 bucks a month for another 3G device when i'm already paying 30/month for my phone one. I tether to my G5 at home so I don't pay for any more internet. I don't think I could justify doing that for my vehicle. that's 45 bucks a month for internet that is based on location. If the vehicle is moving a lot, and I happen to travel out of 3G coverage often, that's a lot of money to pay for dl speeds similar to dial up.

I think it's easy to think of the iPad as a computer... but I don't think it is. It's an oversize iPod touch with the option of getting 3g internet. It's a cool device nonetheless, but now comes the challenge of adding input devices, storage space, a shared iPhone 3G connection (maybe with adhoc or BT tethering), and shared GPS location, this iPad thing could be the next best thing since sliced bread. What scares me about it though is that i'm thinking about buying a mac 'computer' without a full os. can anyone say Jailbroken iPad?!