Installing A Touch Screen by Beyond the Basics

Installing A Touch Screen

Most of us have let our fingers do the pointing and clicking on a touch screen computer at some time, either at an automated teller machine, a kiosk in a shopping center, or a museum. Touch screens let users press their fingers against the surface of a computer monitor either to enter information (such as a bank account PIN) or extract information (such as the location of a mall's shoe stores).

Few PC users realize, though, that any home computer can be modified to accept touch screen input. With a device such as MicroTouch Systems' TouchMate, a PC can accept touch screen commands the same way it accepts commands executed with a mouse and cursor. Users can "point and click" with their fingers to do anything from highlighting and copying text in a word processor to playing Solitaire.

Of course, you probably wouldn't want to use a touch screen to type a letter, run a spreadsheet, or work with programs that require a great deal of typing. But touch screens do have their uses.

For young children, a touch screen requires less hand-to-eye coordination than a mouse. A parent or grandparent might install a touch screen to let a preschooler run certain educational programs unassisted.

People with impaired motor skills can use touch screens to run simple applications. It's possible to program a touch screen-equipped computer to dial a telephone, adjust a thermostat, or perform other routine tasks.

Businesses are the most prominent users of touch screens. Greeting card companies use self-service touch screens to let shoppers create and print customized cards. Restaurants and stores use touch screens to enter orders, record sales, and print receipts. Stores, shopping centers, office buildings, and museums use self-service, touch screen computers to provide the public with directions and information. So do museums, government offices, and trade show exhibitors.

Touch screens are more durable than keyboards and don't require users to master the art of touch typing. Most touch screens are used with specially designed, easy-to-use software that features large, easy-to-read buttons. And, unlike keyboards, touch screens can't be used to hack into a company's accounting files or personnel records.

Users simply set their monitors on TouchMate to turn them into touch screens.

The Inexpensive Option

If you want to use touch screen input with your PC, you have three options: buy a touch screen monitor, adapt an existing monitor to accept touch screen input, or use a specialized device such as TouchMate that mimics the way a true touch screen works.

A typical 14-inch touch screen monitor lists for $995, roughly four times the cost of a comparable non-touch screen monitor.

Converting an existing monitor to touch screen input is cheaper. A typical kit for attaching a touch screen to the front of a 14-inch monitor lists for $645.

The easiest and cheapest option is to use a device such as the TouchMate that mimics a touch screen and lists for $545. Unlike true touch screens that use an invisible "grid" to determine where a finger (or pointing device, such as a light pen) touches the monitor screen,

TouchMate uses three extremely accurate scales to "weigh" where and how much pressure is applied to the screen.