Touch Screens

[Bob Eustace]

There is an interesting revolution going on in the quilting industry (yeh, quite a few Botters wives are quilters). They are fitting Android touch screens to the arms as bog standard. This could solve the dust problem with CNCs as there is no fan sucking in dust and of course no keys to get clogged.

[pkirby]

I've also been pondering touchscreen applications for the bot. Does anyone know if you could setup a tablet/ipad to run as a "touchscreen monitor" for your computer that controls the bot. In other words, the ipad probably doesn't have the processing power to run the SB3 but if you hooked it up as a monitor, then you could place it at the bot to do all of the controls. Any ideas... surely there's an app for that.

[twelchPTM]

I remember back in the 90's using a touch screen monitor that could hook up to any PC. It had and extra plug that went in the PS/2 port for your mouse. dragging your finger moved the mouse and tapping clicked. Suppose that doens't really solve the issue of dust getting into your PC and monitor though....

[donek]

I remember back in the 90's using a touch screen monitor that could hook up to any PC. It had and extra plug that went in the PS/2 port for your mouse. dragging your finger moved the mouse and tapping clicked. Suppose that doens't really solve the issue of dust getting into your PC and monitor though....

We just use these.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ZSE9KO/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
No more dust problems with the keyboard. They take a bit more pressure than usual keyboards, but we're not sending e-mails or answering forum posts.

[ChrisH]

You could always run VNC or a similar remote access application on a tablet to control a PC tucked away in some dust free area. Not sure how well an on-screen keyboard would work for this application but VNC is a tried and true technology in general.

[twelchPTM]

I saw the flexible keyboard before but had a few friends tell me they broke very easily. however using it on the 'Bot is defineatly a less stress then as a full-time keyboard

[jzarski1]

I have a 17" elo touchscreen hooked to my control computer. Don't really use it because the SB software isn't touchscreen friendly. Like with mach3 the start,stop and pause are buttons that work good with the touchscreen. I wish there was a way to make a "skin" per say for the SB3 software. Allowing you to just touch or click a button to zero z or set xy zero. The command line thing gets to me. Just my opinion.

John

[donek]

I saw the flexible keyboard before but had a few friends tell me they broke very easily. however using it on the 'Bot is defineatly a less stress then as a full-time keyboard

We've been using ours for about 6 months without any problem.

[Bob Eustace]

I personally think that the quilting people will shoot themselves in the foot big time. At present they use a dedicated older style touch screen like you find on a GPS. These work on pressure and not capacitance sensing like the glass screen on the iPad etc. They reckon users have asked for a device that they can use for other stuff as well. From what we all know here, this is of course usualy fatal! Anyway my wife isnt going down that path as she has learned heaps here.

Bob

[adrianm]

I bought an old kiosk display from EBay for the equivalent of $50, took it apart and built the touchscreen overlay into my existing monitor.

The type of PC I use doesn't have cooling fans as it has an external PSU. You can even get that type of PC with a touchscreen as standard these days as a lot of them are made for use in the living room as media interfaces.

I couldn't go back to the normal keyboard/mouse type workflow now. It's so much easier with the touchscreen.

[jerry_stanek]

I have been using a roll up key pad for 4 years now without a problem

[waterwheelman]

I have been using the flexible rollup keyboard for about 6 years, and have no problems at all.

[Brady Watson]

Mine died after about 6 months of use. Cute idea - not up to snuff for me. I've been rolling with a wireless one for the past 6 months or so. Works really well & no hiccups.

-B

[mryan]

There is a app for the iPad and iPhone. You just need to set up a server app on your control computer and then you can us your iPad to control it wirelessly. I have not tried it yet but intend to in the next few weeks.

Mryan

[Regnar]

You can try Splashtop App for Idevices and Andriods. Best part is the app is free. If you just want a touch screen keypad have a look at HippoRemote. It allows you to make custom touch pads, although no feedback from the screen.

Hippo Remote. http://hipporemote.com/

Splashtop. http://www.splashtop.com/home

[mryan]

Just came across this item today could be a interesting device to use combined with the shopbot app for iPad. May have to try this out.

http://www.brookstone.com/laser-projection-virtual-keyboard

Mryan

[mjindustry]

Are there no tablets out there that can sufficiently run shopbot control software as a stand alone solution?

[garyc]

Melissa....
In testing, but not yet. Dont hold your breath. Tablets seem to be weak in the USB comm department.

[Bob Eustace]

Gary you could be pleasantly surprised when you start testing. In the music industry iPhones and iPads are fast becoming the norm using MIDI. Music is super demanding on a computer and is measured in MIPS - millions of instructions per second as timing is super critical. I would love to see Shopbot start messing with a Laguna type totally dedicated system with a corded touch screen remote.

[khaos]

Melissa....
In testing, but not yet. Dont hold your breath. Tablets seem to be weak in the USB comm department.

Once the Surface pro is released Q1 2013 I'll let you know. :D