[gentoo-user] Touchscreens under linux

[gentoo-user] Touchscreens under linux

[Timo Boettcher]

Hi!

 For my Musicbox[1] project, I am looking for a way to control a mpd[2]
 with a touchscreen. The device I have in mind is a 10,2" VGA / USB
 touchscreen. I assume it is supported by linux.

 If I understand correctly, the touchscreen is (if used correctly) just
 another way to control the mouse pointer. Is that right?

 Do I have to use X to use the touchscreen, or can I use it with gpm or
 SDL?

 Does anybody know a client for mpd ([2]) that works without X an can be
 controlled with a touchscreen? Maybe using SDL?

 If there is no client that works without X, does anybody know something
 that will work as an onscreen-keyboard?

 Timo
 
PS: yes, I have read the howto[3]

[1] http://blog.spida.net/index.php?/archives/9-Powerusage-II-Musicbox.html
[2] http://www.musicpd.org/
[3] http://tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Touch-Screen-HOWTO.html
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[gentoo-user] Re: Touchscreens under linux

[James]

Timo Boettcher <spida <at> spida.net> writes:


>  For my Musicbox[1] project, I am looking for a way to control a mpd[2]
>  with a touchscreen. The device I have in mind is a 10,2" VGA / USB
>  touchscreen. I assume it is supported by linux.

Hello Timo,

I have not set one up, but, if my memory is correct, there is a driver
to enable for a few specific brands, in the kernel sources. Poke around
in the kernel sources and look for info...


hth,

James

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Re: [gentoo-user] Touchscreens under linux

[Iain Buchanan]

On Tue, 2007-05-22 at 22:29 +0200, Timo Boettcher wrote:

>  If I understand correctly, the touchscreen is (if used correctly) just
>  another way to control the mouse pointer. Is that right?

yes.  when you touch, the mouse moves to, and clicks at that location.
You usually have an option to use right clicks.  Depending on the
driver, dragging and other more complicated mouse features may be a bit
more tricky.  Similar to using a touchpad.

Some newer tablet PC's (ie. Toshiba, not sure about others) actually
have a special pen which moves the mouse without touching the screen -
you just hover over the screen and the mouse moves, then touch to get a
click.

>  Do I have to use X to use the touchscreen, or can I use it with gpm or
>  SDL?

nope, AFAIR it will work like any mouse.  There's not much you can do
without X though is there?  Unless you have a keyboard, and then why not
have a mouse as well?

HTH,
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

People that can't find something to live for always seem to find something to
die for.  The problem is, they usually want the rest of us to die for it too.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Touchscreens under linux

[Rodrigo Forlin]

[-- Attachment #1.1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2131 bytes --]

Iain Buchanan wrote this:
> On Tue, 2007-05-22 at 22:29 +0200, Timo Boettcher wrote:
> 
>>  If I understand correctly, the touchscreen is (if used correctly) just
>>  another way to control the mouse pointer. Is that right?
> 
> yes.  when you touch, the mouse moves to, and clicks at that location.
> You usually have an option to use right clicks.  Depending on the
> driver, dragging and other more complicated mouse features may be a bit
> more tricky.  Similar to using a touchpad.
> 
> Some newer tablet PC's (ie. Toshiba, not sure about others) actually
> have a special pen which moves the mouse without touching the screen -
> you just hover over the screen and the mouse moves, then touch to get a
> click.
> 
>>  Do I have to use X to use the touchscreen, or can I use it with gpm or
>>  SDL?
> 
> nope, AFAIR it will work like any mouse.  There's not much you can do
> without X though is there?  Unless you have a keyboard, and then why not
> have a mouse as well?
> 
> HTH,

    I'm having problems with a tsharc touch screen, The company says
that it has support for linux and command line, but it does not work on
xorg 7.x, since their driver is in .o format instead of .so, I made the
shared lib (.so) based on their object file but X complains about not
finding a ModuleData data object, instead of the ModuleInit function.
I'm keepping in touch with them to make this work.

    I could make it work under X with the evdev driver, but with
calibration problems.

    I used gpm with evdev driver too, checked the events with mev and
detected that the events are being recognized, but the mouse is always
at position 50,18, it doesn't move.

    I'm also working on a embedded system with no X. I'm writing
everything with fbdev, and libgpm. I'm also interested in a
onscreen-keyboard.

    So, if you're going to use touchscreens, Don't make the same
mistakes and make sure that is has mature drivers. I'm working to make
the tsharc driver ok, and depending on the hampshire company answers
i'll rate it as linux friendly or M$ company :)

HTH,

Rodrigo Forlin

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Re: [gentoo-user] Touchscreens under linux

[Iain Buchanan]

On Wed, 2007-05-23 at 11:32 -0300, Rodrigo Forlin wrote:

>     I could make it work under X with the evdev driver, but with
> calibration problems.

of course, I forgot to mention, the bane of my touchscreen experience!
You can often get the touchscreen to "work", but without calibration,
which makes it less than desirable...

-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

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