Inexpensive Open Source Multi-Touch Screen

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This new open source multi-touch screen is targeting developers but, with a price tag of under $1,600, damn near anyone with C++ skills can afford this thing. I found this video from back in July that shows the kit in action.

But not all multi-touch work is being undertaken on a corporate scale - R&D studio NOR_/D (NORTD) have released a cheap and simple hardware/base software package that gives open source developers all the tools they need to create, run and share their own multitouch applications.
 
Another touchscreen method is just have a camera that aims at the screen itself.

Still not really a real touch screen.

Also I don't understand why touchscreen is still quite expensive when the tech been around for ages.

The only reason i could think is because it isnt widely used so not produced that much which increase cost to make profit for it.
 
I mean I don't know shit about touch screen tech beyond you touch the screen and it does shit. But, has not Nintendo been cranking millions of touch enabled handheld consoles for year's and doing it cheaply? I mean I understand that their screens are not the same size. But hell I just think it should not be as expensive as it is to make the bigger ones. But like I said what do I know?
 
I mean I don't know shit about touch screen tech beyond you touch the screen and it does shit. But, has not Nintendo been cranking millions of touch enabled handheld consoles for year's and doing it cheaply? I mean I understand that their screens are not the same size. But hell I just think it should not be as expensive as it is to make the bigger ones. But like I said what do I know?

there's a huge difference between simple touch screens like you find at a store cash register or a nintendo ds and this thing. The difficult part about these touch screens is that they can keep track of multiple touches at once (like when he draws with 2 or 3 fingers at a time), and they can also register the actual shape of what is being touched (like when he makes thicker/thinner lines depending on how he touches it). The ds can't do that.
 
there are at least 7 different mainstream types of touch screens all of which were invented at various times and have different pros-cons. this one is one of the later types (DS uses resistive single touch btw). It has (if i understand correctly) infra-red LEDs that lights at the bottom of that screen which sends infra-red lights bouncing INSIDE that screen due to total internal reflection. when your finger touches the screen your finger stops the infra-red lights from bouncing INSIDE of the screen at the point you touch, infra-red light comes pouring out to the infra-red camera.

if you have read about wiimotes and stuff then you'll know that to a infra-red camera, all it would be able to see are your finger points on the screen and it will sends it into the computer and computer draws that and sends it into a projector which project your finger points plus trail effects onto the same screen.

the sad thing is if you can get infra-red camera and LEDs you can basically make this yourself. the special glass?
http://www.buy.com/prod/neon-pink-t...oard-9-x-12-spr01868/q/loc/101/205805708.html

if you have one you can shoot really bright LED into the side of it and it will look like it's glowing on the edges, press a finger on the underside of the board and you should see your finger light up.
 
This looks like the same projector/webcam BS that every multitouch project on the internet is composed of. This one just comes with a rediculous price tag.
Finger paint is much cheaper and multicolored.
 
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