Looking for touch screen product/solution suggestions

[electron]

My old in-wall Atom-based PC's touchscreen 'finally' stopped working, so now I'm looking for a replacement. Trying to figure out options, and hoping maybe someone has some product suggestions that may meet my requirements. Some of my requirements I'm trying to meet:

• Power: no battery, or really great battery charge management. Ideally, I just want a PoE based tablet as I don't want to deal with 'spicy pillows'. The other side of this wall does have access to an outlet, which is how I've been powering this old PC.
• OS: A recent and clean version of Android which can run something like Fully Kiosk as I would like to be able to remotely change views/screen states via Home Assistant. Windows is another option.
• Size: 10" or larger
• Mounting: have a large hole in my wall now, but would be ok with patching and go for a low-profile surface mount type setup

Since privacy and security are really important to me, this knocks out many of the cheap Chinese Android devices. Amazon Fire tablets were the holy grail, however, with permanent ads and newer tablets not being as hack-able, I feel like these are no longer an option.

Samsung tablets look pretty nice, but Samsung is a privacy nightmare in general, plus I'd still have the battery issue.

Apple iOS tablets have great battery management, but I'm not sure how well the browser would stay on top as an application. Does something like Fully Kiosk exist for iOS?

Only other option I'm considering is just installed a 15"-20" HDMI display with touch enabled, and run it back to the server via KVM extender. This is probably the most expensive option, but would give me a lot of flexibility.

Thoughts?

 

[Frunple]

Don't really have a suggestion but I do have a tip.
I use Fire Tablets and if you block they're internet access you get no ads.
Something to think about I guess.

 

[electron]

That's actually a good point I forgot about. As long as the OS doens't lock up/misbehave due to complete lack of connectivity, I could consider one of the bigger brands. Thanks for the tip! Do the Fire tablets allow you to limit battery charging behavior?

 

[Waynedb]

Don't really have a suggestion but I do have a tip.
I use Fire Tablets and if you block they're internet access you get no ads.
Something to think about I guess.

Maybe it's just me but I am not putting a tablet on the wall that has fire in the name.

 

[pete_c]

Personally here still using Openpeak Atom based 7" tabletops (can be used in wall and with POE). Running with 15 tabletops managed by Homeseer and each run Microsoft SAPI. They are getting slow and working fine after 10 years now. They run embedded Windows (using Seabios) and have all been hardware modded. These run OmniProTouch and Homeseer Touch and do OK running Home Assistant in Opera. They are about 1" thick. They also run as Squeezeplayers. (Linux, Windows and Android).

They have microphones (working with SAPI). Did test the Atom Home Assistant test device plugging it into side USB port. Works fine for VR.



Personally here do not want to hang a tablet with batteries. I do use Android and Windows tablets today and they work fine.

Year before last tested used Axis-TV-1000p's that I purchased for $50 used. These worked fine and were POE. Only thing was that there was a custom bios with a maximum of 800X600 display on the LCD touchscreens.





Year before last also tested an Asus AIO which also works fine. It is not POE. It is thin and runs Linux and Windows 11 fine.

 

[Frunple]

That's actually a good point I forgot about. As long as the OS doens't lock up/misbehave due to complete lack of connectivity, I could consider one of the bigger brands. Thanks for the tip! Do the Fire tablets allow you to limit battery charging behavior?

I use POE to USB adapters and just leave them plugged in. No need to worry about batteries dying that way.
3D printed a case for them and it mounts to a 3 gang box. The adapter is in there.

 

[sic0048]

If you use an older Amazon Fire Tablet, you should definitely look at the Fire Tool Box utility. It is an easy way to remove ads, add Google framework, remove Amazon apps, etc which can make it run more like a regular tablet. Unfortunately, it seems that Amazon has started to block some the functionality of this toolbox with their more recent models. Still, it's something to check out because some things still work even on the newest models. It's free and it doesn't require root or unlocking the bootloader to work.

 

[electron]

Asus AIO

AIO approach is not a bad idea at all. Only question is the price of these units, which puts it in the same range as the touchscreen/KVM-over-CAT6 combo which would be more future proof. Will have to set up some deal alerts just in case something pops.

I use POE to USB adapters and just leave them plugged in. No need to worry about batteries dying that way.
3D printed a case for them and it mounts to a 3 gang box. The adapter is in there.

My concern is with the battery continuously being charged, which can be a fire hazard. I wouldn't feel comfortable with devices which can't account for always being plugged in and/or the ability to keep SoC below a certain value.

If you use an older Amazon Fire Tablet, you should definitely look at the Fire Tool Box utility. It is an easy way to remove ads, add Google framework, remove Amazon apps, etc which can make it run more like a regular tablet. Unfortunately, it seems that Amazon has started to block some the functionality of this toolbox with their more recent models. Still, it's something to check out because some things still work even on the newest models. It's free and it doesn't require root or unlocking the bootloader to work.

Amazon's effort to block Fire Toolbox is what made me stop considering them (shouldn't have waited I guess, but never did find out if it can safely handle always being plugged in).

I wonder if anyone has played with the Russound XTS7 Android screens? Only 7", but PoE, no battery, just really expensive. Supposedly it's around $350 via Worth Dist, but don't have an account there anymore. Looks like it's registered under Russound's FCC ID, so it looks like they designed most of it.

 

[pete_c]

@electron

Purchased the Asus AIO as a refurb like new device for around $100 a couple of years ago. I updated it to 8 Gb and an SSD drive. It is commonly used in medical offices and as point of sale devices. It will work with POE ++ (802.3BT).

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Are Geekland's any good?

 

[electron]

Almost too good to be true, but after doing some background checks, it looks like it may be legit. Not sure if they're willing to sell to consumers, but will have to reach out to them to get a better feel. Great find!

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Looks like you can just add an item to your cart and checkout/pay via PayPal (I'm not getting one, just testing their buying system).