What PC systems will your touchscreen systems work with?
We have touchscreen solutions available to work with most common operating systems, including DOS, Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP/7/8.1/10 and Linux. Third party software is also available for some products to allow our touch screen systems to work with Unix and other specialized systems.
Does a touchscreen require special software to operate?
Our touchscreen solutions are supplied with software drivers that allow the touch screen to emulate a mouse in Windows or Macintosh systems. Because the touchscreen emulates a mouse, touching the screen is the same as clicking your mouse at the same point on the screen. This allows the touch screen to work with a vast amount of pre- existing mouse driven software. This also allows for simple development of new applications, because no additional code or knowledge is required to develop software for use with the touch screen. New touchscreen applications can be developed in the same way as mouse driven software.
Can I use my mouse and keyboard simultaneously along with a touchscreen?
Yes, our touchscreen products are designed to work along with a mouse, trackpad, and/or keyboard. The touch screen will work along with a PS/2, USB, or serial style mouse. If you are using a serial touch screen and also a serial mouse, you will need to have two available serial ports (Com 1 and 2).
How does the touchscreen interface with my PC?
Our touch screen solutions generally interface to the PC via a serial port (RS-232) connection or a USB type connection. The serial port interface generally works with DOS, Windows, and Linux Systems. The USB port interface typically works with Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Macintosh systems.
What mouse functions does the touchscreen emulate?
The touchscreen is an input device like a mouse or trackpad, and it emulates basic mouse functions. The touchscreen can emulate left-clicks, double-clicking, and dragging. When the screen is touched, it is the same as if you used your mouse to move the pointer to that spot, and then clicked your mouse button. Right clicking can be done with additional software.
Do I have to use my finger or can I use another pointing device with a touchscreen?
This depends on the type of touch screen. Resistive touchscreens are pressure sensitive and will work with any type of input- finger, gloved hand, stylus, pen, or any pointing device. Capacitive screens on the other hand will only work with finger input. PenTouch is a special type of Capacitive screen that comes with an attached pen stylus. SAW (surface acoustic wave) touchscreens will work with finger input or soft-tipped stylus input. With SAW technology, a hard tipped pen will not create a touch response, but a soft-tip stylus will work.
Can the touchscreen respond to two touches / two fingers at the same time?
No, the touchscreen can only respond to one input at a time. Some touchscreens will average together multiple touches, causing the mouse cursor move to a position between the points touched. Some touchscreens will accept the first touch and then ignore simultaneous touches.
Can I use a touch screen to browse my Web site?
Yes. Because the touch screen systems that we offer work with mouse driven software, they will work with standard Web browsers such as Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer. There are also special touch screen Web browsers available that include touch screen friendly controls and system security, allowing web-based content to be easily displayed in public spaces.
Can I design custom programs and applications to work with the touchscreen?
Yes. Because the screen emulates standard mouse functions, you can use the same programming methods that you would use to program for a mouse. For example, if you place buttons or images on a form in Visual Basic, responding to a touchscreen click will be the same as responding to a mouse click, by using the mouse click or mouse down events.
What can I use to clean the touchscreen?
Any standard glass cleaner (non-ammonia based) can be used to clean the touchscreen. Always spray the glass cleaner on the cloth or towel and then clean the touchscreen.
Is there a software program that will turn my non-touch monitor into a touchscreen?
A normal computer monitor does not have the necessary hardware to be able to detect touches to the screen, so there is no way to make it a touch responsive display through software. The only way to convert a standard PC monitor into a touch screen monitor is to add the necessary touch screen hardware. We have low cost touch screen add-ons that can be mounted onto most monitors, and we also sell fully integrated monitors that have the touch screen hardware built-in.