touchscreen monitor @ geeks
- Thread starter ver0776
- Start date
Well, I had more time last night to try out more things with this touchscreen. First off was the FM radio capability.
I extended the on-board telescoping antenna and after following the "instructions" was able to get FM radio on the monitor. The speakers on this thing remind me of the cheap 9v transitor radios I used to have back in the 60's!! Very tinny sounding and not at all to be considered useful unless you want to assault your ears! The monitor does have an earphone jack but I didn't have any headphones to try this out. There is no way to tell what FM station you are tuning to. Absolutely no on-screen display for station or even volume control. IMHO this is NOT a useful feature.
Next up was testing this with a SVGA input. I robbed my SO's PC and started in. The monitor can display resolutions from 640X480 up to 1024X768. I didn't test higher because at 1024X768 the icons and print on the screen was REALLY small (as it should be given the 8" screen). There were no dead pixels, the screen is bright, and no scratches on the surface. The screen is protected by a peal-off plastic membrane on the surface so it's well protected but there were small dust particles under it that begged me to take it off before going further. The included CDR has no specific monitor drivers so this will set in Windows as a "default monitor".
To test the touchscreen part of the monitor required me to load two distinctly different drivers from the CDR. One was for an imbedded USB device that appears to convert the USB connection to a serial interface internally. The other driver is for the touchscreen functionallity and the driver is from ELO Touchsystems. The "manual" and the readme file on the CD both say to load the serial drivers VS the USB drivers. This seemed counterintuitive until after loading the USB driver the touch function would not work. After removing the driver and reloading the serial driver the monitor began responding to touch.
The driver utilities allow for touch calibration and that is where I went next and here is where this monitor starts disappointing.
The calibration routine is nothing more that on-screen targets to touch and the settings are saved. But after numerous calibrations, touching the screen with a finger (note: not a fingernail but just the pad of the finger) produced very poor results. The cursor would not always track the touches and many times just completely jumped to the far edge of the screen. I tried several more calibrations and after a few frustrating minutes, did a complete reinstall. Same results.
The only bright spot (so far) is that the screen responds accurately with the included stylus (plastic stick). I say so far because I visited the ELO web site and downloaded a new driver. Maybe I will have more luck with the newer driver but ran out of time last evening. I will be testing the new driver tonight and will report back with the results.
I will also test the two video inputs. Also note here that the audio input is mono only and will be tested as well.
(TESTING CAVEAT: Since my primary use for this monitor will be the display of Netremote screens as a front end to Homeseer, my opinions might be colored by the lack of accurate touch tracking at this point. YMMV!)
Chuck
I extended the on-board telescoping antenna and after following the "instructions" was able to get FM radio on the monitor. The speakers on this thing remind me of the cheap 9v transitor radios I used to have back in the 60's!! Very tinny sounding and not at all to be considered useful unless you want to assault your ears! The monitor does have an earphone jack but I didn't have any headphones to try this out. There is no way to tell what FM station you are tuning to. Absolutely no on-screen display for station or even volume control. IMHO this is NOT a useful feature.
Next up was testing this with a SVGA input. I robbed my SO's PC and started in. The monitor can display resolutions from 640X480 up to 1024X768. I didn't test higher because at 1024X768 the icons and print on the screen was REALLY small (as it should be given the 8" screen). There were no dead pixels, the screen is bright, and no scratches on the surface. The screen is protected by a peal-off plastic membrane on the surface so it's well protected but there were small dust particles under it that begged me to take it off before going further. The included CDR has no specific monitor drivers so this will set in Windows as a "default monitor".
To test the touchscreen part of the monitor required me to load two distinctly different drivers from the CDR. One was for an imbedded USB device that appears to convert the USB connection to a serial interface internally. The other driver is for the touchscreen functionallity and the driver is from ELO Touchsystems. The "manual" and the readme file on the CD both say to load the serial drivers VS the USB drivers. This seemed counterintuitive until after loading the USB driver the touch function would not work. After removing the driver and reloading the serial driver the monitor began responding to touch.
The driver utilities allow for touch calibration and that is where I went next and here is where this monitor starts disappointing.
The calibration routine is nothing more that on-screen targets to touch and the settings are saved. But after numerous calibrations, touching the screen with a finger (note: not a fingernail but just the pad of the finger) produced very poor results. The cursor would not always track the touches and many times just completely jumped to the far edge of the screen. I tried several more calibrations and after a few frustrating minutes, did a complete reinstall. Same results.
The only bright spot (so far) is that the screen responds accurately with the included stylus (plastic stick). I say so far because I visited the ELO web site and downloaded a new driver. Maybe I will have more luck with the newer driver but ran out of time last evening. I will be testing the new driver tonight and will report back with the results.
I will also test the two video inputs. Also note here that the audio input is mono only and will be tested as well.
(TESTING CAVEAT: Since my primary use for this monitor will be the display of Netremote screens as a front end to Homeseer, my opinions might be colored by the lack of accurate touch tracking at this point. YMMV!)
Chuck
Thanks for the update!Chas821 said:
Do you have any more information on the two drivers that are being loaded? Do you know their names or what chipset they are for? There should probably be some information with the drivers, or maybe in System > Hardware.
I'd like to know what the USB chip inside the monitor is. Is it a standard serial-usb converter, like something from FTDI, or is it a hardware controller with built-in USB, for example.
Is there any indication of which ELO controller is inside the monitor? This should probably be a number, maybe something like 2210.
Hey Chuck... I'm quite interested in how this works out for you, because I'd love to get one of these as well. I was wondering if you tried to calibrate it with the stylus, then had trouble using your finger, or if you did the calibration with your finger? I would suspect that you may have better luck if you do the calibration with the stylus.Chas821 said:
Thanks for being the guinea pig here
Brett
Brett,
You gave me my first "Well DUH!" moment for today. Congratulations!!!
I'll give that a try this weekend. No kids or grandkids for the whole weekend!! I can have some serious "me" time (if I get permission from the SO <_< ).
I really want to like this monitor. I'll fit better in my media room than my 15" one.
More to come!
Chuck
You gave me my first "Well DUH!" moment for today. Congratulations!!!
I'll give that a try this weekend. No kids or grandkids for the whole weekend!! I can have some serious "me" time (if I get permission from the SO <_< ).
I really want to like this monitor. I'll fit better in my media room than my 15" one.
More to come!
Chuck
Smee,
The only information I could dig up was on the USB-Serial interface. The driver was written by Silicon Labs and the information from Windows is "CP2101 USB to UART Bridge Controller". There is nothing I could find on the ELO controller.
Brett,
I tried you suggestion for calibrating with the stylus first and it does work better but it's still erratic with just using the pad of your finger. I was hoping for better touch action with the newer driver, but it's still behaving the same.
As I see it, this will work but is not as good as my 15" touchscreen.
Additional information:
The two video inputs fed with a composite video signal gives you a pretty good picture. I have been wondering about a blue wire lead on the cables that is labeled "for vehicle backing". I think that if either grounded or fed with switched 12V, it will switch video inputs. This will allow for a camera feed from the rear of a vehicle (such as a motor home) to be automatically switched via the #2 video feed when you put the vehicle in reverse. This backs up my initial impression that this monitor was originally for in-car use. I can see a use for this for video monitoring the front door (Door bell rings, monitor automatically switches to second video input hooked up from a camera).
If you have any questions about this monitor let me know.
Chuck
The only information I could dig up was on the USB-Serial interface. The driver was written by Silicon Labs and the information from Windows is "CP2101 USB to UART Bridge Controller". There is nothing I could find on the ELO controller.
Brett,
I tried you suggestion for calibrating with the stylus first and it does work better but it's still erratic with just using the pad of your finger. I was hoping for better touch action with the newer driver, but it's still behaving the same.
As I see it, this will work but is not as good as my 15" touchscreen.
Additional information:
The two video inputs fed with a composite video signal gives you a pretty good picture. I have been wondering about a blue wire lead on the cables that is labeled "for vehicle backing". I think that if either grounded or fed with switched 12V, it will switch video inputs. This will allow for a camera feed from the rear of a vehicle (such as a motor home) to be automatically switched via the #2 video feed when you put the vehicle in reverse. This backs up my initial impression that this monitor was originally for in-car use. I can see a use for this for video monitoring the front door (Door bell rings, monitor automatically switches to second video input hooked up from a camera).
If you have any questions about this monitor let me know.
Chuck
AcuraTLFan
New Member
Thanks for the reviews....however, how bright is the screen? Planning to use this monitor in-dash (car) as a carputer....wondering if it's bright enough to be somewhat readble in sunlight.
For the calibration and touchscreen accuratecy...the problem may be that the touchscreen is actually touching the edges of the plastic casing and it will trigger the cursor to that location. A fix to that problem was to open it up and place small piece of foam or pad around the perimeter of the touch screen.
Also can you give the dimenions of the unit.
Thanks
For the calibration and touchscreen accuratecy...the problem may be that the touchscreen is actually touching the edges of the plastic casing and it will trigger the cursor to that location. A fix to that problem was to open it up and place small piece of foam or pad around the perimeter of the touch screen.
Also can you give the dimenions of the unit.
Thanks
AcuraTLFan,
This screen should be bright enough for in car use. For the most part this unit appears to be designed specifically for that purpose. I'll post the dimensions for the unit after work today.
After calibrating the touch screen with the stylus and NOT my finger the accuracy has improved. However, to get it be accurate with my finger I find I need to touch the screen with more fingernail than with the pad of a finger. Depending on the front end application (in my case Netremote) you may have to use larger buttons for accurate activation. Given the small amount of screen real estate this might hinder the usage. YMMV.
Chuck
This screen should be bright enough for in car use. For the most part this unit appears to be designed specifically for that purpose. I'll post the dimensions for the unit after work today.
After calibrating the touch screen with the stylus and NOT my finger the accuracy has improved. However, to get it be accurate with my finger I find I need to touch the screen with more fingernail than with the pad of a finger. Depending on the front end application (in my case Netremote) you may have to use larger buttons for accurate activation. Given the small amount of screen real estate this might hinder the usage. YMMV.
Chuck
