Jf280

SAW is float glass with some piezos on the edge - heat will not bother it. Biggest problem with SAW is water causes false touch.

Cap is good, but the coating cuts into your light transmission. Also, might require more frequent calibration since in a changing enviroment.

IR can get blinded by direct sunlight - but this takes on the order of 7.5K cd/m2. For referance - typical office is sub 500 cd/m2 , and high noon on a clear day is about 10K. ie: difficult to blind them.

I'm currently using 5wire resitive in my project. But will change to SAW or IR soon.

thermoptic

Jf280, thanks for the info!

Well guys, I finally purchased an 8.4" IRTOUCH Systems E-Series (WITH glass), a sheet of AR-MR200, and USB extension cable. I'm having the film cut and applied to the touchscreen. Total cost is $200. Not bad, especially since Digikey was out of single sheet quantiles of the 3M AT-MR200 film. I have learned that the touchscreen's glass is extremely important in protecting the front surface LCD polarizer. Pressure points can build that will damage the LCD operation.

I'll post detailed pictures once I get the unit, but it may not arrive until early next week. When I'm done, the IRTOUCH systems will no longer be shrouded in mystery.

I saw the IRTOUCH Systems TS discussed on a Linux Kernel thread. I haven't dug into the Linux drivers yet, but it appears they only release the binaries (GPL violation?) for the various distros. The protocol is being reverse engineered on the kernel discussion thread. Based on the IRTOUCH multi-touch SID2007 demo, I may try learn more about the viability of the MPX project, which was linked in the thread below. MPX may only be in its infancy.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/inpu...echnology.html

europorsche914

found 10.4" intellitouch saw kit on ebay for $50 the overlay is new and comes with a used controller. i ordered one i will let you know how it works out heres the link if your interested: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=008

thermoptic

Nice find. I see you have the Shark 10.4" with 3M upgrades and now a $50 SAW TS. All for under $300... I just wish they offered something in 8.4".

thermoptic

I received the IRTOUCH E-08-U-BC IR touchscreen on Thursday of last week. It was well packaged. I haven't had a chance to connect to EPIA since it is in pieces with the LVDS card installation.

The front side consists of a black plastic bezel, which houses the IR array and controller. The back side consists of bare metal housing that clips to the front. This is a really nice form-factor. A four-wire, flat cable exits the bezel on the right-side and has a standard USB connector. No need for a separate power connection. Nice! I had the 3M AR-MR200 cut and installed. Unfortunately, it bubbled-up in a few places on the edges, so I will need to determine the best way to tack it down.

The IR plastic cover is angled and attached to the glass. This is very clean design. Hopefully I can get some pictures/videos of it working next weekend.

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europorsche914

well just figured i'd let you know that the touchable area of the intellitouch is 10.5 but the overall dimensions are actually larger than my shark housing. guess thats what i get for not measuring. so now to make a "smoked" plexiglass housing to fit it all in...

industrialguy

While you can simply hang a touch screen on the front of an LCD with 2 sided tape, you will loose a significant amount of display brightness and contrast that way. Bonding gets rid of the 2 inner surfaces and will make the display much clearer and brighter. Clearview does a good job.

These guys used to have a white paper on bonding on their site in their display section http://www.chassis-plans.com.

thermoptic

Optical bonding is definitely the way to go but you are looking at $400 dollars, which is out of my price range. I have some links regarding Clearview's G-Bond earlier in this thread.

On a related note, there was discussion in my NEC LCD thread regarding a lead on a manufacturer that was selling LCD panels with bonded touch screens (perhaps overstock from deal gone south?). Can't remember who posted and it was never confirmed...

If you're in the business and have the right contacts, I suppose you could skim one off the top of a large order for a reasonable price. Of course, this is not practical for general public. Perhaps a group b..., but these are forbidden in the forums.

thermoptic

I am finally making time for the car PC project again. It's been too long!

Despite all of my LCD color woes (tracked in separate thread), I just installed the drivers for the IRTOUCH. Calibration was typical with four point test followed by sample drawing to verify calibration. The driver options are discussed in the user's guide that I linked in a previous post.

A stylus doesn't track as well as a finger, given the resolution of the IR sensor array, but I can navigate the Windows XP start menu in small icon mode. Selecting and dragging is fluid.

Once I solve the LCD color issue, I plan to take some pictures and perhaps a video with indoor and outdoor operation. All in good time.

thermoptic

I have uploaded hires pictures and video in my NEC 8.4" Transflective Solution - Custom Kit thread.

dbacs

Hi,

I've been scouring the net looking for the best alternatives for touchscreens, and came across your thread.

Can you provide a link as to where i can purchase the IRscreen you posted please? Thanks.

Also any idea if this comes in 15" widescreen? I found the IRTOUCH site but i do not see how to purchase form the US site.

thermoptic

I purchased mine through a custom supplier, but you can order from Digi-Key Electronics.

For the 15" size, I think IRTOUCH mainly targets 4:3 aspect ratio. Also note that for the larger sizes, you have to move to the K-Series, which use a stronger, thicker bezel. This unfortunately results in increased cost ($257). The K-Series does offer a glassless option which may be of interest.

IRTOUCH 15" (4:3)
http://www.digikey.com/scripts/DkSea...me=653-1019-ND

For wide screen, you may have to buy a larger TS and calibrate to your aspect ratio region. This assumes you can recess the LCD screen and tolerate a larger bezel frame. Don't know how this would pan out. You may be stuck with resistive. A 10 second Google yielded the following:

Magic Touch 15.4" Wide-Screen Resistive TS
http://www.magictouch.com/KTMT-154W.html

Good luck!

dbacs

Thanks for the informative reply. Right now the IRtouch screens are just a little too expensive. Maybe in the future if i can get into installing these things proffesionally, i'll go with the IR.

Just got a 15" widescreen resistive on ebay.

Do you see a huge difference between the IR and transflective?