New Touch Screen Paradigm

upstatemike

Senior Member
In an attempt to find a way to move forward with a touch screen solution, I want to reconsider a "what if" scenario with tablet PCs to see where that might take me. If I can rework my plans to use 3 tabletop tablet PCs instead of 6 surface mount single-wire touch screens maybe I can find a way tio move forward. Unfortunately I know nothing about Tablet PCs so maybe I can get some feedback on the following:

1- Do most tablet PCs work like a touch screen? That is, can you use a finger (or gloved finger) to operate them?

2- If I used a tablet PC, couldn't I have a couple of different products loaded such as MainLobby, HomeRunner, HouseBot, XLobby, etc. and switch between them at will (until I eventually settled on one)?

3- Are most tablet PCs WiFi? Do they generally have some sort of a charging cradle that they sit in to keep them charged? Can they be used while in the cradle?

4- I assume this will solve my camera problem since I can use IP cameras and use the browser in the tablet to view them?

5- Any particular models folks are using with good success?

6- Any reason I might be unhappy with the result if I go down this road? Should I be looking for some sort of wireless touch screen monitor instead of a tablet PC?
 
Thanks for the link Rupp... lots of good info! I see Paul is using the 110 model with MainLobby with good success. The Airpanel apparoach probably has better longevity since I could upgrade the host cpu without replacing the screens.

Anybody else using the airpanel as an interface?
 
Mike, if that is the one I am thinking of (Sony) it is twice the money as the Samsung and smaller. I don't think smaller than a UMPC is the hot ticket.
 
Mike, looks like that DT is pretty expensive, starting at $2,245.00. ;)

Tablet info that I can comment on...

Do most tablet PCs work like a touch screen? That is, can you use a finger (or gloved finger) to operate them?
They usually require an active stylus.

If I used a tablet PC, couldn't I have a couple of different products loaded such as MainLobby, HomeRunner, HouseBot, XLobby, etc. and switch between them at will (until I eventually settled on one)?
Sure!

Are most tablet PCs WiFi? Do they generally have some sort of a charging cradle that they sit in to keep them charged? Can they be used while in the cradle?
Yes three times. :)

I assume this will solve my camera problem since I can use IP cameras and use the browser in the tablet to view them?
Yes.

I just found this, which is interesting...
http://www.motioncomputing.com/products/tablet_pc_tc.asp
 
Thanks Tony. I'm still kind of attracted to Rupp's Airpanel 110 suggestion because of the price point. Anybody else have Airpanel experience or info?
 
Mike,
The only problem with the v110's is they are getting really hard to get. The 150 are a bit easier to get but are just too large in my opinion.
 
Mike the Airpanel displays an applicatino running on a central PC. So, the central PC needs some horsepower if you plan on running multiple display devices.
The Q1 is a complete PC and can run outside of the house as well.
The Q1 can even play a DVD from a network drive.
 
The Viewsonics are RDP clients. RDP can be used, but has many shortcomings. And if you want to support more than one, not only do you need a fair amount of horsepower on the back end, you need to pay for some sort of solutoin to allow for more than one RDP session at once, either by using Windows Server or buying one of the third party programs that allow for that. So it also adds expense.

If you are willing to buy used, you might still come out ahead. But, overall, I'm not sure you come out better than just buying a UMPC tablet.
 
Many Mainlobby users use the Airpanels. Have a look at the Cinemar forum for discussions on Airpanels. As Dean said they do appear to have issues. The 110's are very hard to find and I was planning on purchasing a 210 at one point but my project got shelved for a while. There is a hack available that will allow multiple RDP sessions with XP but I'm not sure how many. I've used it with two and it works fine.

Dale
 
The hack for XP works fine and allows 10 connections. I've have 5 connections and sometimes 6 (one from work) and my 4 year old 2.8 GHZ never uses more than 20-30% CPU load. This only happens if me and the kids and the wife are all hitting the connections at once.
 
Back
Top