looking for an XP based touchscreen solution

[electron]

I am trying to figure out a cheap way of adding another PC based touchscreen. I want it to mount as nicely as the TS07. I want to do this as cheap as possible, so I guess I will have to fall back to just a touchscreen upstairs, and the PC backend downstairs.

Question is, how cheap can I do this, while still having a pretty smooth experience? Those Nobu units would be the perfect solution, but they are just not in my price range.

 

[Dean Roddey]

Are you currently using the video/USB output of the computer itself? If not, then use a Cat5 KVM extender and use that to drive a touch screen upstairs. Either get a Lilliput type one (same res as the Elk touch screen) for around $225'ish or a 15" one for around $600'ish, plus a couple hundred for a good extender.

You can put a video switcher there at the computer so that you can switch to the local screen for mainteinance purposes.

Another option would be a very small local machine, which you can get with XP installed for as little as $750, then add a local touch screen.

In either case you'd have to mount it into the wall and put a bezel on it, since it would be a home brew solution. But some other folks have gotten nice looking results with this type of thing. I'm not sure how they did the mounting, but all the touch screens have standard mounting brack holes on the back.

 

[Rupp]

One of these small pc's with a Lillyput or similar touchscreen would make a nice system.

 

[TonyNo]

My foyer system was $200 for the XP-based PC and $400 for a 15" Dell touch screen. A Lilliput may be a good compromise.

 

[Spanky]

Electron,
I know it is out of your budget, but we got a Samsung Q1 in and installed ELKRM on it. What a fantastic machine!

The nice thing is all the third party software should run on it because it runs mobile XP. h34r:

 

[roussell]

You could also extend a second monitor/touchsceen from your existing "Touchscreen server" with a USB-->VGA adapter and a USB over UTP extender. Ideally, you could have several of these units driven from one "server". Your interface software would have to launch and re-launch at specific coordinates to keep them on the proper monitors and only one screen could be touched at ant one instant, but other than that it could be a cheap way to provide multiple touch screens plus you only have to worry with one PC driving them.

I have successfully tested this with the HouseBot swremote and 3 local monitors. In HouseBot it takes a vbscript and some registry manipulation to place the software remotes at the proper coordinates, but it works well on the test bench. My particular application adds an additional layer of complexity as I am running the swremotes in a Wine session under Linux that you wouldn't have unless you wanted to avoid another XP install and your software will run under Wine.

Lastly, if you choose to go with a 1 to 1 PC/touchscreen; check out geeks.com for refurbs, or better yet; ebay, if your house is like mine you probably have plenty of hiding places for PCs withing 10-15 feet of your desired touch location (directly above/below in the attic/basement). Instead of a mini PC, you can also get cheap older laptops from ebay to use. Keep the laptop closed and it hides under the lowest couch or chair without a problem - that works great for touchscreens sitting on coffee tables of side tables...

Terry

 

[electron]

I don't really use the desktop environment of my HA server, so I guess I could extend that to begin with (assuming I can find a nice affordable KVM extender). My main concern is being able to nicely flushmount the touchscreen itself.

My positive Elk TS07 experience set the bar pretty high. I am familiar with people modifying liliputs, but plenty of people have run into issues with their screen after doing this. I could get the Xenarc which is much better in quality, but also more expensive, and would still involve a lot of work modifying the screen.

Thanks for the replies so far, this is some really great advice, so keep em coming!