How to turn a regular screen into a touch screen. Touch panel from a regular monitor. Preparing the tablet frame and installing the touchscreen

Unlike desktop computers Control of functions and programs in tablets is carried out by lightly pressing the fingertip on the screen at the desired point. The tablet reacts to touch thanks to a thin transparent glass plate superimposed on the display screen. When you press on the glass (touchscreen), depending on the type of sensors, the resistance, inductance or capacitance of the mesh applied to the glass changes and thus the tablet receives instructions for a specific action.

The touch glass is very thin, but strong enough to break with your finger. But if the tablet is dropped on a hard surface or hit with a sharp object, the touch screen cracks, which is what happened with the glass of the children's MonsterPad tablet shown in the photo.

Checking the tablet's functionality using the mouse

The image on the screen was uniform without defects or distortions. The tablet remained operational, since when you pressed the Power button, a window popped up with a menu to turn off the tablet, but it became impossible to control its operation by touching the screen with your finger.

To fully check the functionality of the tablet, and the ability to turn it off before repair, it was necessary to connect it to the connector Micro USB, located on the side of the tablet, mouse. Mice usually have a connector for USB connections. Therefore, I had to buy a USB-Micro-USB adapter.

When a mouse was connected, the tablet system automatically detected it, and an arrow-shaped mouse cursor appeared on the screen. Diagnostics showed that the tablet’s electronics are in good condition. Therefore, to repair the tablet, it is enough to replace the touchscreen with your own hands. After diagnostics, the tablet was turned off using the mouse.

While waiting to purchase a touchscreen, it is necessary to keep the tablet battery charged, since deep discharge sharply reduces the time battery life tablet.

Where can I buy a touchscreen for a tablet?

The search for a store to purchase a touchscreen for a children's MonsterPad tablet at a minimal cost led to a site that I personally have tested over time Chinese Internet AliExpress store. The site presented a large assortment of sellers of touchscreens for the MonsterPad tablet.

The seller was selected big amount positive reviews and high ratings with an average price and free shipping. When choosing a touchscreen, pay attention to the presence of double-sided tape on it. If the screen is without adhesive tape, then replacing it will be complicated by the need to purchase such adhesive tape, cut it and secure it.

If you can’t find a touchscreen by the name of the tablet, you can try searching by its markings, which are usually applied to the flat cable running from the touchscreen.

The touchscreens of many tablet models are interchangeable. The main thing when choosing is to pay attention to the type of sensor and its diagonal size, expressed in inches. For example, the MonsterPad requires a 7" touchscreen.

The resulting parcel was a large, compared to the size of the touchscreen, polystyrene box completely wrapped in adhesive film. It is convenient to open such packaging by cutting the film with a knife along the line of connection of the box halves.

The touchscreen was removed from the packaging and carefully inspected for defects. Everything was in perfect condition. Trying on the glass on the tablet confirmed the size matches. To check its functionality, all that remains is to disassemble the tablet and connect the touchscreen to the motherboard.

How to disassemble the MonsterPad children's tablet

Before starting to repair the tablet, to avoid scratches on its case and display and dust getting between the display and touch glass, you need to wipe the table with a damp cloth and cover its surface with a soft, lint-free cloth. The only tools you need are a knife and a couple of small screwdrivers with a Phillips and a flat blade. After preparing the workplace, you can begin repairs.

The MonsterPad children's tablet can be disassembled easily thanks to the screw fastening of the back cover. Using a sharp tool, remove the four plug legs glued with adhesive and unscrew the four screws using a Phillips screwdriver.

Then, even without the help of a plastic card, grab the case halves with your fingernails in the area where the tablet's power button and connectors are installed, and carefully move the halves apart. The power and volume buttons must be immediately removed and set aside so that they do not get lost or scratch the tablet screen if they fall under it.

The tablet has been disassembled sufficiently to begin replacing the touch glass. All that remains is to remove the cable coming from the touchscreen from the connector. In the photo the connector is in the far right corner.

If the tablet was disassembled to replace the battery, then its type is clearly visible in the photo. To replace the battery, you first need to unsolder the red and black wires coming from it from the motherboard and carefully remove it, overcoming the adhesion force of the double-sided tape.

To release the touchscreen cable, you need to use a screwdriver blade to move the clamps a couple of millimeters in the direction indicated by the red arrows in the photo. After this, the cable can be removed from the connector without force.

How to check the touchscreen before installing it in a tablet

After removing the back cover from the tablet, it became possible to test the new touchscreen for functionality. To do this, without removing the protective film, you need to place a new touch screen on the broken one, carefully turn the tablet over, and observing the numbering of the cable, insert it into the connector on the motherboard and return the latches to their place. Then turn the tablet over with the display facing up and turn it on using the power button.

After downloading software you need to tap on any icon or just work a little on the tablet. If there is a reaction on the display when touching and scrolling through pages, then everything is in order and you can start replacing the broken glass. Before starting the repair, you must turn off the tablet with the power button and disconnect the cable of the new touchscreen from the connector.

How to remove a cracked touchscreen

For removing cracked touchscreen You need to use the end of a knife to pry it at any of the corners and try to lift it.

In the MonsterPad tablet, the glass was glued weakly; there was no need to even heat the glued area with a hairdryer. The force of the fingers was enough to peel it off. The main thing is not to rush and perform this operation very slowly and smoothly.

Preparing the tablet frame and installing the touchscreen

After removing the cracked touchscreen, use a rag soaked in alcohol to degrease and remove any remaining adhesive from the frame.

Fortunately, the cracked glass did not crumble into pieces and there was no need to use a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer to blow off the small fragments. For the same reason, it is not recommended to scrape off glue residue with a tool.

To ensure that the cable did not interfere with the positioning of the touchscreen when gluing, a piece of polyvinyl chloride tube was inserted next to its release hole, as in the photo.

In the next step, the protective film was removed from the touchscreen from the applied adhesive layer to the edges.

All that remains is to tuck the cable into the hole in the tablet frame, rest the corner of the touchscreen near the cable into the notch of the frame and slowly attach it to the frame, controlling the accuracy of the placement in the opposite corner diagonally.

The touchscreen fit into the recess of the frame exactly, without gaps or displacement on the first try. There is no need to press the glass tightly at this stage of repair. It is advisable to do this after fully assembling and checking the operation of the tablet.

The cable is long enough, which is convenient for installation. However, to prevent the cable from breaking if it gets caught between the covers when they are closed, it must be folded in half and pressed a little, avoiding sharp bends.

All that remains is to install the pushers of the buttons for turning on the tablet and adjusting the sound volume and snap them into place back cover to the base of the tablet. Screw in the four self-tapping screws and install the removed plugs on them.

The independent repair of the tablet was successfully completed, it began to work and look like new, and the child can play his favorite games again. Now, I believe, he will be more careful with his tablet and other gadgets. I did not remove the protective outer film from the touch screen; let the owner of the tablet remove it and be the first to tap (touch) the surface of the screen.

I hope given step-by-step instruction will help any home handyman, even those without experience in repairing such devices, cope with the repair of a tablet or smartphone.

The cost of replacing the tablet's touch glass with your own hands was less than 10% of the original cost of the tablet.

Modern technologies not only constantly offer new devices. Today, with their help, you can independently improve even not very advanced models. For example, make your regular laptop touch-sensitive.

Carrying out such an “upgrade” is quite simple - using a specially developed Korean gadget DuoDigital. But before purchasing it, make sure that the diagonal of the laptop monitor does not exceed 22 inches. Since the system operates in this range, you could end up wasting about $50 (that's what this gadget costs).

The device itself consists of two systems - a special scanner and a pen. In this case, the scanner is designed to read your manipulations and “report” them to the computer. And he will already be engaged in processing these “reports”. The pen will be a means for performing your manipulations on the laptop screen. That is, in fact, it will replace a mouse, therefore, like a mouse, it is equipped with two control buttons.

Let's move on to installing DuoDigital. It’s better to start with a scanner - it needs to be attached to the top edge of the monitor, exactly in the middle. For this purpose, the device is equipped with a special holder, similar in design to the mount for web cameras.

Now we turn on the device and, using the drivers provided with DuoDigital, install the system on the laptop.

We go through all the necessary setup steps in accordance with the instructions. Due to the fact that this system is a new segment on the market, it does not yet have a Russified interface. Therefore, choose from the proposed languages the most understandable for you.

When everything is installed and configured, we connect the gadget to the laptop and pair the devices. And now your laptop can “understand” and respond to your touch.

Due to its “freshness,” the DuoDigital system is not yet widely distributed in the retail network and is produced only in its homeland. Therefore, to avoid fraudulent offers, order your gadget exclusively through well-known online stores.

SovetClub.ru

How to make a regular monitor touchscreen?

Today, touch input panels are ubiquitous. They are installed on smartphone and tablet displays, laptop touchpads, graphics tablets, payment terminals and ATMs, as well as medical and industrial equipment. Manufacturers are making touchscreen all-in-one PCs and TVs, but most PC displays are still not touch sensitive.

Read also: Microsoft Touch Mouse: very touch sensitive, completely wireless

Many people have probably thought about how to make a regular monitor a touch screen. Indeed, in some operations (reading, working with graphics, editing texts), scrolling through a page, selecting the desired item, or selecting an area on the screen with a pen or finger is much easier, faster and more convenient than moving the cursor or turning the mouse wheel. At first glance, it seems that this idea is a fantasy, and it is difficult to implement it. But in reality, everything is a little simpler. He will tell you how to make a touchscreen monitor yourself this material.

A little theory

The touch surfaces of screens are structurally a separate element that is not directly connected to the display matrix. Of course, in recent generations Smartphones and tablets use so-called OGS panels, in which the sensitive element is built between the pixels, but it is still controlled via a separate bus. In total, there are three types of touchscreens, each with its own characteristics.

Resistive

Resistive technology for constructing touch screens is the simplest and cheapest. Based on the principle of operation, such touchscreens are similar to computer keyboards. On two layers of a transparent substrate, tracks of almost transparent conductive material are applied. These two layers are located on top of each other with a gap of several micrometers. The upper one is necessarily flexible and bends when touched by a finger, closing the tracks. The further away the fault is, the longer the path the current travels and the higher the resistance. Based on its value (accurate to an ohm), the sensor controller calculates where the click occurred.

Resistive touch screens are cheap, simple, responsive to any object, but not reliable enough (a small cut can damage the touchscreen) and have limited transparency (at a certain angle, conductor tracks even become visible).

Capacitive

Capacitive touchscreen is the most common nowadays (as of 2016). It is more advanced and reliable. The number of layers was reduced to one, its thickness became smaller. A grid of transparent conductors with low resistance is applied to the surface of the touch glass or film. The human body is a poor conductor of electricity and can accumulate electric charge, therefore, when a finger touches the glass, a small current leak occurs, the location of which is determined by the controller.

Wave

In wave touch screen Acoustic (ultrasound, surfactant technology) or light (infrared, ultraviolet, PSV technology) waves are used to register touches. A frame is installed around the perimeter of the screen, combining the emitter and recorder. When a finger touches a surface, it absorbs and partially reflects the wave, and sensors register the location.

SAV and PSV screens are reliable, absolutely transparent (no mesh of electrodes), have an inexhaustible theoretical resource (in reality depends on the quality of the components), if there is a protective frame, the sensor itself cannot be damaged, and the use of armored glass makes the screen matrix invulnerable. Therefore, they are often used in ATMs, payment terminals, industrial machines and medical equipment. But their accuracy in determining finger coordinates is mediocre. Also, wave touchscreens require regular wiping (dirt on the glass causes phantom reactions).

There are other types of display sensors, but they are much less common. In addition, these methods are difficult to implement at home, so they are not discussed.

Application of sensors in practice

All three technologies are in demand when applied to touch monitors. The resistive type was widely used in the past, but is still found today. This is what is interesting in terms of how to make a regular monitor touchscreen, but more on that below. Capacitive sensors are used in almost all modern displays that were originally touch-sensitive. Wave touchscreens, as mentioned above, are used in banking, industrial, medical and other specific equipment. Thanks to the enterprising Chinese, they are also interesting when converting a regular monitor into a touch screen.

How to make a monitor touchscreen

It’s worth noting right away that converting a regular monitor into a capacitive touchscreen is out of the question: such touchscreens are relatively expensive, specific, and almost never found separately. But resistive and wave technologies are much more interesting in this regard. It is also worth mentioning the purely light (not PSV, but infrared) version.

Method 1: Light

The first method is the simplest and most accessible, but it requires certain skills and desire to work. Before making a touchscreen monitor, you need to stock up on a webcam, an infrared diode (like in a TV remote control), a piece of photographic film (undeveloped), a battery and a housing for a homemade stylus (for example, a laser pointer will do), as well as the Community Core Vision program . What to do with all this goodness - in more detail and point by point below.

Before making a regular monitor touch-sensitive this method, you need to make sure that the level of technical skills is sufficient, and the environment does not interfere with the implementation of the idea. After all, the webcam needs to be positioned precisely, and for this you need space on the table, which not everyone has. In addition, a slight shift of it or the screen forces you to set everything up again.

The method is cheap: the only equipment you will have to buy is the cheapest camera for 500 rubles (most already have one), an IR diode (you can pull it out of a broken remote control), a laser pointer (you can take a marker or other thin tube instead), batteries ( “mini fingers” or “tablets”). The most difficult thing is with photographic film: most people last held film point-and-shoot cameras in their hands more than 10 years ago. In addition, the disadvantages of this method are the difficulty of setting up, the instability of the structure, and not the highest level of convenience.

Some Chinese manufacturers offer ready-made solutions of this type, allowing you to make the monitor touch-sensitive. Such products consist of a special wide-angle webcam mounted on the display and a stylus. This option is not without the mentioned disadvantages, but it looks attractive and does not require skills in working with homemade products.

Method 2: Wave

There are ready-made touch panels on sale that operate on the principle of surface light (SLW) and surface acoustic (SAW) waves. They are a glass with a frame to which a special controller with a USB or COM interface (RS-232) is connected. Such solutions are intended, first of all, for creating terminals and special equipment, but no one prohibits using them at home.

The process of redesigning the display with them is extremely simple.

Before making the monitor touchscreen, you need to wipe it with microfiber and a special cleaner or universal glass cleaner. It is important to remember: if the screen has an anti-reflective coating, you cannot use products containing ammonia (ammonia) for this, as they wash off this layer!
After this, a touch glass is placed on the screen, which is secured with the included devices or placed on high-quality double-sided tape (but it’s better to screw it on anyway).
The further setup procedure consists of installing a proprietary driver and other software (supplied on a disk with the sensor or downloaded from the manufacturer’s website) and calibrating the touchscreen.

The main disadvantage of such a conversion of a monitor into a touchscreen is its relative high cost. A new sensor costs from several thousand to tens of thousands of rubles, depending on the diagonal. In addition, finding the right size for modern wide-format large-diagonal matrices is often difficult. This is due to the fact that narrow format (4:5 or 3:4) screens have best ratio diagonal and usable area, which is why such touchscreens are produced more often for them. In addition, glass with a frame can spoil the aesthetic appearance of the monitor, not fitting into its exterior.

Method 3: Resistive

In terms of price, efficiency and ease of use, a resistive touchscreen is most preferable. Chinese manufacturers create special touch films of different levels of accuracy, durability and functionality, with different sizes.

Some of them can be trimmed to fit the display, while others do not support such modification. Therefore, before you buy such a touchscreen, you need to study its description and characteristics.

blog.aport.ru

How to make a laptop screen touchscreen | News | "Technocontrol"

Modern gadgets that appear on the market can seriously “upgrade” your device. For example, touch screens on laptops are no longer uncommon, but if you purchased a compact computer a couple of years ago, then most likely you do not have this function. If you need it, you shouldn’t sell your old laptop and buy a new one, especially since their prices are now very expensive. One small gadget that was introduced a few days ago can help you solve this problem. The device is called AirBar and was developed by a little-known company called Neonode. So here it is this accessory Allows virtually any computer screen to gain touch capabilities. The operating principle is as follows. AirBar is a magnetic bar that needs to be attached to the bottom under the screen. By the way, this is of course much more convenient to do on a laptop. Then the gadget needs to be connected to a laptop or computer via usb cable. Once connected, AirBar begins to generate light rays invisible to the eye onto the display, with the help of which gestures and movements are tracked.

The gadget, remarkably, does not take up much space and, moreover, according to the developers, can work without drivers under Windows and Chrome OS. The gadget also works on OS X, but has this moment reduced functionality. AirBar can detect movements not only of a finger, but also of other objects, such as a pencil. They plan to sell such an interesting gadget at a price of $50 for 15.6-inch screens. The new product will be officially presented at the CES exhibition, which will be held in January.

Best regards, Dmitry Amelin

Expert Technocontrol

technocontrol.info

Making a tablet from a laptop

Making a tablet out of a laptop has been my long-time desire. Inspired by the materials I dug up online, I got to work. Let’s find out what came out of this idea under the cut. If you want, we can make one for ourselves. I immediately apologize for the low quality of some photos - I forgot to take them during work, I had to be content with what I had. At that time, it was absolutely impossible to bring my idea to life - laptops cost a lot of money, and no one would let me take them apart. Now it’s easier with this, I’ve been fiddling with iron to one degree or another for many years and somehow a very decent amount has accumulated around it, there’s plenty to choose from. In general, I perfectly understood that this would be a device for home use, because such a brick box in a bag is not very easy to carry around with you. In principle, this was not required, because An additional incentive to create this tablet was my mother's need for a large touch screen for her drawing preparation work.

About touch screens (Touch screens)

At the moment, there are mainly three types of touch screens available to the average user: resistive, infrared and capacitive. You can search on foreign sites using the queries “USB touchscreen kit”. However, such screens can also be purchased from our offices that supply spare parts for terminals. For those interested in technical details, click here.

Resistive screens consist of two conductive layers, insulated from each other by microscopic dielectric balls. When you press on the screen, the top layer is pressed through and is point-locked to the bottom layer. Based on the resulting electrical resistance, the controller calculates the coordinates of the press. This type screens are the cheapest and are available as a low-cost option for experimentation. The downside is that a relatively strong pressure is required for the click to be registered. It is quite possible to work with your finger, but to increase the accuracy of the hit, it is still better to use some kind of stylus.
Infrared screens are a frame with infrared LEDs fixed in it on one side and phototransistors on the opposite side. When an object touches the screen, it blocks the LED beam for the corresponding phototransistor and the controller calculates the coordinates of the click. This allows the screen to be completely indifferent to what is being pressed - a stylus, a hand, a pencil, anything, as long as it is thick enough to block the LED beam. The advantages are high transparency and durability. The disadvantages are sensitivity to dirt, and slightly worse accuracy in determining coordinates. The cost is average.
Capacitive screens are based on measuring the amount of current leakage when touched by a finger or other conductive object. The downside is the need to use conductive objects to work with such a screen. They are very convenient to work with, but the cost of such screens is high, and, in my opinion, they are not very suitable for our low-budget experiments.

Choosing a victim

In fact, the model of the original laptop does not really matter, except for a couple of points. Firstly, the aspect ratio and dimensions of the screen must correspond to the touch glass models available in your city, which were described above. Secondly, it’s better to take something other than the same old stuff that I took for the experiment - then you can also work on what you get. Initially, the donor was supposed to be someone found at work. samsung laptop. After I took it apart to estimate appearance It turned out that he couldn’t see the USB point-blank – the south bridge had died. Well, this is my own fault - it would be nice to check this before disassembling. The photographs were not preserved in their original form, so here is a photo in the form of a sandwich:

The first donor for the future tablet After this unfortunate discovery, a battered old one was taken as a basis Acer laptop Aspire 3610, bought for pennies somewhere in the dark catacombs of the Mitinsky radio market. Like all models in this series, by that time it had “remarkable” broken hinges of the top cover, filled with a thick layer of epoxy resin by the previous owner and broken again.

View of the laptop before work began

Changing the filling

Some configurations of this model are equipped with a Wi-Fi module, but in my case it was not there, and with a clear conscience I twisted the adapter from the above-described Samsung along with the antennas. The antennas were placed on the right side inside the case, and the wires to them were routed directly along the laptop board and glued with double-sided tape in several places so as not to interfere with assembly.

Installed Wi-Fi adapter My kit included a Bluetooth adapter, but it was immediately mercilessly thrown away as it was completely unnecessary. This model has the ability to raise clock frequency processor by inserting a jumper into its socket, but I decided not to tempt fate and not conduct such experiments. I didn’t want to buy a third laptop for this purpose. DVD drive together with the PCMCIA slot housing was removed as unnecessary and in order to lighten the weight of the structure.

We modify motherboard

Initially, I wanted to move the buttons and indicators to the end of the tablet, and even made a board and adapter for all this stuff, but in the process of working on the walls of the case, I realized that this would unnecessarily complicate the assembly process, and decided not to stretch the already lengthy experiment. It was decided to throw it away bluetooth adapter and use its power button to control the tablet's power. In fact, the changes are not at all difficult, and for this model this can be done by a person with at least some soldering skills. At the bottom of the board there are Bluetooth and WiFi control buttons. We select the button labeled “blue2” or similar, and mercilessly cut this path. It is quite simple to determine: the button has four legs, three of them are connected to the “ground”, i.e. with a large solid area on the board, and one with this very track.

Disabling the Bluetooth button Next, you need to connect the standard power button with our new button. Define desired contact is also simple: two of the four contacts are connected to ground, and the two opposite ones are connected to another track. We take any thin wire and solder its ends to the found contacts on both buttons.

Standard power button

New power button We solder the touch screen controller cable to any unnecessary USB port. They will have to sacrifice and seal it on the outside with epoxy. You can unsolder one of the connectors, or you can simply solder to its contacts. I warn you right away: it is not recommended to desolder the connector without experience in such an action - it is quite difficult and there is a chance of damaging nearby elements of the motherboard. It is much easier to solder to the contacts. By the way, you can solder not the controller cable, but a small USB hub and plug the controller into it. We'll get several additional ports inside the laptop.

Body work

This is, without a doubt, the most tedious and dirty part of the job. All that was left of the entire case was the back cover, the inner frame of the display and a piece of the upper inner cover (the one in which the keyboard is attached).

We leave only a small piece of the lid. The walls were drawn out manually using epoxy plasticine. Like this:

Epoxy plasticine

Working with it is very simple: cut off a piece and knead it thoroughly with gloved fingers moistened with water. It is important to mix it thoroughly until the color is uniform. Plasticine heats up quickly and remains very plastic for some time. I recommend not cutting off a piece more than 2 cm long, since this amount may be too much for one wall, and hastily molding it somewhere so as not to spoil is not a good idea. It’s better not to rush - the quality will be better.

The general technology for forming walls is as follows: we take a fairly long plate (for example, a ruler), cover it with wide tape so that the plasticine does not stick to it, and form a flat wall in the desired location of the body. Once the plasticine has hardened, the ruler is easily separated from the epoxy and leaves an excellent, smooth surface.

Body wall made of epoxy plasticine, view of the internal rough side. Please note: in order to get an even line between the top and bottom covers, I traced the side walls on the already assembled tablet, and then sawed it lengthwise with a thin circular saw on a drill. The result was a thin, neat gap, like on factory plastic. To attach the lid, I used a trick - I made new mounting legs to fit my holes. The technology is as follows - we take a sheet of paper, fold it on a pencil, cut it to the desired length, fill it with liquid two-component epoxy, and press it to the desired place. This results in a column like this:

Blank for the display mounting leg After curing, drill the top of the post and glue (with the same liquid epoxy) into it the nut that was broken out of the cover or housing fastening. Actually, all the screws are wrapped in such nuts; they can be picked out a lot from the original case.

Display mounting leg with embedded nut The display is attached to the frame using the same technology, only the nuts are glued directly onto the display frame. Display module is now a frame-touchscreen-display stack. Those. We simply place the touchscreen close to the display and tighten it to the frame with screws using the standard fasteners.

Attaching the display to the frame Wi-Fi antennas are laid out as free space allows. I didn't bother too much with the placement of the antennas, but the signal quality did not deteriorate. It’s the same with the touchscreen control unit – it doesn’t care where it’s located.

Fastening Wi-Fi antennas and a view of a wall made of epoxy plasticine. The cable and the inverter can be routed like this, you don’t have to re-solder and nothing gets in the way anywhere:

New cable and inverter gasket

Touch Screen Controller

Let's shine

Sanding all this stuff was a hassle and brought a lot of acrylic dust into my room, but it was worth it. I used regular acrylic putty (even on wood, in my opinion) in white and simple matte black paint from a spray can. The work is not very difficult, but it requires accuracy and some patience. I had so much fun the first time and everything went well. I don’t have any photographs of the process, since there was no way to take pictures with dirty hands, and somehow I didn’t think of asking someone in the heat of the battle with putty.

We strive for excellence

The scope for imagination is limited only by your perseverance and budget. Of course, it was possible to find a faster processor, since the socket allows it, and insert a small SSD drive to speed up the system, but the tablet turned out to be quite pleasant. A capacitive touchscreen would have made working with the tablet even more enjoyable, but its price put me off right away.

operating system

I immediately chose Windows XP Tablet Edition as the operating system, so as not to think about specific tablet features and not experience performance problems. You can install Windows 7 on this platform, but it will be very, very slow. By the way, I successfully installed xUbuntu and even Android from the Android x86 project on it! Tablet drivers for Linux and Windows (and even MacOS, it seems) are included on the disc included with the touchscreen.

results

A little TV

They even made a report about my tablet on the Podmoskovye channel. Of course, there are plenty of blunders like “threw away the motherboard,” but this is not a technical program, but an entertaining one, so I think the editors can forgive them (the blunders). Tags:

laptop
tablet
homemade

geektimes.ru

Does a laptop need a touch screen?

In the childhood of many Western (and Russian) millennials, one of the favorite animated series was “Inspector Gadget” - a story about a bumbling police officer equipped with a huge number of technical devices. The cartoon featured, among other things, a “computer book.”

Fifteen years have passed and look how gadgets have evolved. We have not only “computer books”, they are also tablets, but also self-driving cars and smart watch! We develop technologies that allow you to use your time more efficiently. But how often do we look back to understand how useful a particular gadget is? Does it solve any current problem? Was the new development a necessity, or an exciting but useless invention?

It's worth asking: does a laptop really need a touch screen? How did customers rate this innovation and how did it impact the user experience? Is this overkill or a change for the better?

Study

To answer these questions and learn how people typically use a laptop's touchscreen, the User Testing team gathered a group of people who had recently purchased Windows 8 laptops with touchscreens and conducted a usability study.

Participants in the experiment were asked to use the starting Windows screen and make small changes to the display settings using the control panel. Marketers also asked subjects to go to an online shoe store and find a pair of black men's shoes, size 42.

Participants were encouraged to start shopping using the touch screen, but were allowed to use a keyboard and mouse if necessary. For the purity of the experiment, the interaction of people with the sensor was recorded on video.

Mobile usability: opportunities and limitations

Advantages of a touch screen

1. Windows 8 design

The new tiled design of Windows 8 combined with a touchscreen was well received by study participants. Many of them preferred to use the screen rather than the mouse to scroll the page.

Participants noted that the ease of scrolling is mainly ensured by the size of the tiles. Although many liked the design of the starting Windows windows 8, one participant suggested that on non-touchscreen laptops this design would be less intuitive and the horizontal scroll bar would not be very useful.

2. Internet

Participants also highly appreciated online shopping with a touch screen. They liked the ability to scroll through search results to find the product they were looking for. Scrolling turned out to be easier and clearer than using the vertical scroll bar.

Keyboard navigation as website usability optimization

Disadvantages of touch screen

1. Keyboard

If you touch text field a touch keyboard appears on the screen. The study participants liked it the least: it is awkward to use because the screen is tilted, and it seems unnecessary because the laptop has a keyboard.

In addition, the touch keyboard, taking up a lot of space on the screen, obscures the content. One study participant noted that if he could turn it off permanently, he would like the touch screen much more.

Small links and buttons were a problem for most study participants. For example, it was not easy to select the “shoes” category by tapping on the screen. Many times people accidentally fall into other categories and have to start all over again.

Participants made quite a few errors in this task using the touch screen and admitted that in such cases they usually turn to computer mouse due to the size of links and buttons.

Participants also noticed that the touch screen lacks some mouse functions. It allows, for example, to examine shoes in detail by hovering the cursor over the image. Participants tried to complete this task and enlarge the picture by stretching it with two fingers, but it was not the same.

How to make clickable landing elements intuitive?

So, the touch screen functionality was of little use to the study participants. While scrolling through search results allows you to quickly select the products you want while shopping, that's where the benefit ends. The touch screen is more suitable for sites and applications designed for mobile phones than conventional computer programs.

Study participants found that the touchscreen and mouse combination allowed them to complete all tasks, but that switching between them was cumbersome.

High conversions to you!

Based on materials from usertesting.com, image source: O V E R U N D E R

Modern touchscreen mobile phones are a generally accepted attribute of our lives. Their rich functionality and broad capabilities allow them to be used to solve many problems that are not limited to classic phone calls. The wealth of options for using such devices leads to their gradual failure, and one of the common failure options is the dysfunction of the sensor on the phone, when the latter simply stops responding to presses (or reacts extremely poorly). In this article I will tell you what the reasons for this dysfunction are and what to do if the sensor on your phone does not work.

Let's look at common reasons why a phone's sensor fails. They may be as follows:

The sensor on the phone does not respond, what should I do?

To restore normal functionality of your phone's sensor, do the following:

*#7353# - for most Android phones, especially Samsung;

*#*#3424#*#* - for most HTC phones;

*#*#7378423#*#* - for most Sony Xperia phones;

*#0*# - for most Motorola phones.

In the menu that appears, select, for example, “TSP Dot Mode”, and by clicking in different areas of the screen, see which parts of the sensor are not polled, this can help fix the problem in which the touchscreen does not work.

Restoring the sensor through safe mode

To boot into safe mode completely turn off the phone (including by removing the battery). Then, long press the Power button to turn on the gadget. When the Samsung, Nexus, LG, etc. logo appears on the screen, press the Power button and then hold down the Volume Down button. Press this button when your device boots up, and you will see the inscription “Safe mode” at the bottom left of the screen.

About, how to make a regular monitor a touchscreen, many have probably thought about it. Indeed, in some operations (reading, working with graphics, editing texts), scrolling through a page, selecting the desired item, or selecting an area on the screen with a pen or finger is much easier, faster and more convenient than moving the cursor or turning the mouse wheel. At first glance, it seems that this idea is a fantasy, and it is difficult to implement it. But in reality, everything is a little simpler. Howmake the monitor touchscreenindependently – this material will tell you.

A little theory

The touch surfaces of screens are structurally a separate element that is not directly connected to the display matrix. Of course, the latest generations of smartphones and tablets use so-called OGS panels, in which the sensitive element is built between the pixels, but it is still controlled via a separate bus. In total, there are three types of touchscreens, each with its own characteristics.

Resistive

Capacitive

Capacitive touchscreen is the most common nowadays (as of 2016). It is more advanced and reliable. The number of layers was reduced to one, its thickness became smaller. A grid of transparent conductors with low resistance is applied to the surface of the touch glass or film. The human body is a poor conductor of electricity and is capable of accumulating electrical charge, therefore, when a finger touches the glass, a small current leak occurs, the location of which is determined by the controller.

Wave

In a wave touch screen, acoustic (ultrasound, surfactant technology) or light (infrared, ultraviolet, PSV technology) waves are used to register touches. A frame is installed around the perimeter of the screen, combining the emitter and recorder. When a finger touches a surface, it absorbs and partially reflects the wave, and sensors register the location.

There are other types of display sensors, but they are much less common. In addition, these methods are difficult to implement at home, so they are not discussed.

Application of sensors in practice

All three technologies are in demand when applied to touch monitors. The resistive type was widely used in the past, but is still found today. It is he who is interesting in terms of, but more on that below. Capacitive sensors are used in almost all modern displays that were originally touch-sensitive. Wave touchscreens, as mentioned above, are used in banking, industrial, medical and other specific equipment. Thanks to the enterprising Chinese, they are also interesting when converting a regular monitor into a touch screen.

Method 1: Light

The first method is the simplest and most accessible, but it requires certain skills and desire to work. Before,how to make a monitor touchscreen, you need to stock up on a webcam, an infrared diode (like in a TV remote control), a piece of photographic film (undeveloped), a battery and a housing for a homemade stylus (for example, a laser pointer will do), as well as the Community Core Vision program. What to do with all this goodness - in more detail and point by point below.

Before, how to make a regular monitor touchscreenWith this method, you need to make sure that the level of technical skills is sufficient, and the situation does not interfere with the implementation of the idea. After all, the webcam needs to be positioned precisely, and for this you need space on the table, which not everyone has. In addition, a slight shift of it or the screen forces you to set everything up again.

Method 2: Wave

The process of redesigning the display with them is extremely simple.

Before, how to make a monitor touchscreen, you need to wipe it with microfiber with a special cleaning agent or a universal glass cleaner. It is important to remember: if the screen has an anti-reflective coating, you cannot use products containing ammonia (ammonia) for this, as they wash off this layer!
After this, a touch glass is placed on the screen, which is secured with the included devices or placed on high-quality double-sided tape (but it’s better to screw it on anyway).
The further setup procedure consists of installing a proprietary driver and other software (supplied on a disk with the sensor or downloaded from the manufacturer’s website) and calibrating the touchscreen.

The main disadvantage of such a conversion of a monitor into a touchscreen is its relative high cost. A new sensor costs from several thousand to tens of thousands of rubles, depending on the diagonal. In addition, finding the right size for modern wide-format large-diagonal matrices is often difficult. This is due to the fact that narrow-format (4:5 or 3:4) screens have a better ratio of diagonal to usable area, so such touchscreens are produced for them more often. In addition, glass with a frame can spoil the aesthetic appearance of the monitor, not fitting into its exterior.

Method 3: Resistive

In terms of price, efficiency and ease of use, a resistive touchscreen is most preferable. Chinese manufacturers create special touch films of varying levels of accuracy, durability and functionality, with different sizes.

Some of them can be trimmed to fit the display, while others do not support such modification. Therefore, before you buy such a touchscreen, you need to study its description and characteristics.

Before, how to make a regular monitor touchscreen, it also needs to be wiped clean from dust and stains.
Next, you should remove the front frame from the screen (usually this is done using a pick, an unnecessary bank card, or another thin object made of durable plastic that is inserted into the gap) and wipe the display again with microfiber.
If the touchscreen does not fit, but supports cropping, you need to take measurements from the matrix to fit the sensor to it. This must be done in accordance with the sensor manufacturer's instructions. It is also recommended to watch the video instructions for disassembling the display so as not to accidentally break it. Finally, it's important to remember that modification will void your display manufacturer's warranty.
Along the edges of the monitor matrix (outside the visible area) you need to stick special gaskets on which the touchscreen will be placed. This is required to protect the display from finger pressure during operation.
Next, you need to position the sensor and stick it on top of the matrix.
To hide the touchscreen controller and secure it, you need to remove the back cover of the monitor. To do this, you need to disconnect the leg or stand and unscrew the screws on the back (if any).
Near the scaler board (matrix controller) it is advisable to find free place, where the controller will be placed on a screw or double-sided tape (the first option is more reliable).
The controller power and data cable must be routed into the existing hole near the VGA/HDMI/DVI connector or other connection interface. If there is no hole, it can be made with a drill or using a hot nail (select the diameter in accordance with the thickness of the cord).
When installing the controller, it is important to monitor the integrity of the cable, preventing it from twisting, sharp bends, etc.
If the matrix fits closely into the monitor body, in the place where the cable will go back, it is better to make a cut on the body with sandpaper, a needle file, or remove the plastic layer with a hot knife.
The back of the housing can then be put back on.
In order for the monitor frame to fit back in place, it will have to be modified. Depending on the design features, you will have to file the fasteners, cut off or grind off the inner sides a little, etc. After adjustment, it can be installed.
The final stage is connecting the sensor and calibrating it. To do this, you need to install the driver (downloaded from the sensor manufacturer's website or supplied on disk), and then adjust the accuracy by touching the dots that the driver program displays on the screen.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. Everyone or a laptop at one time or another is faced with the question: how to take a screenshot (or in other words, a snapshot - read more) of the screen, for example, in order to then send it to someone. Sometimes it doesn’t appear on the computer special programs, helping to implement all this quickly and efficiently.

It doesn’t matter, because the built-in Windows features(even in old XP) is quite enough to accomplish this task. If you use Windows 7, 8 or Vista, then they even have a special built-in program called “Scissors” for this purpose. So be sure to cope if you read the relevant section of this publication.

The second frequently asked question is: how to take a screenshot on your phone running Android, iOS (this operating system used on iPhone and iPad), Windows Phone(used, for example, on Nokia Lumia), Sinbine and other OS. If you are encountering this for the first time, the answers will not be obvious to you.

And finally, I want to devote some of my time to describing specialized programs that allow you not only to take all imaginable screenshots on your computer and laptop, but also to automatically upload them to the Internet so that whoever you give the link to can view them and download them if desired. . I hope it will be interesting.

How to take a screenshot on a computer or laptop in Windows XP, 7 and 8

The most ancient and proven way to take screenshots on a computer is still the key « Print Screen» . It is usually located at the top right of the keyboard, as shown in the following figure:

True, on different types of keyboards (depending on its size and purpose), instead of “Print Screen” it may be written: PrntScrn, PrtSc, PrtScn, PrtScr or something similar.

On laptops to take a screenshot, you may need to press not just one key, but a combination of them: Fn + Print Screen. The fact is that laptops (especially small ones) use a truncated keyboard, some of the keys of which are accessible only by holding additional key Fn, usually located at the bottom of the keyboard (these virtual keys will be written in the same color as the Fn inscription).

When you press the Print Screen key (or Fn + PrtScn in the case of a laptop), a screenshot of everything that was displayed on the screen of your computer or laptop at that moment will be copied. If you need to take a screenshot of only the currently active program window (which currently has focus), then you should use the key combination Alt+PrintScreen.

Okay, we can assume that we have learned how to take screenshots. Now is the time to learn how to use them, i.e. save them in the form of graphic files, which can then, for example, be sent to someone, inserted into a website (as I do) or stored in a secluded place. To do this, you will need to paste screenshots from your computer’s clipboard into any graphics program you have on your computer or laptop (off the top of my head, I can give examples of Photoshop, IrfanView, and dozens of others).

If there is nothing like this (you haven’t installed it, or you are working on someone else’s computer), then in the operating room itself Windows system there is a built-in free graphics editor Paint. Even if he is not perfect (more likely even simply wretched), but to “develop” the screenshot taken will do just fine. So, in order to fish Point out of the wilds of the software built into Windows, you will need to do the following manipulations: “Start” - “Programs” - “Accessories” - “Paint”.

Now in an open graphic editor (Point or any other) you select from top menu“File” - “Create” (or press the combination Ctrl + N), and then type the key combination Ctrl + V (or select “Edit” - “Paste” from the top menu). The screenshot previously copied to the clipboard will be pasted into the editor window, and you can, if necessary, properly process it (crop, add captions, highlights, etc.).

At this stage, we have achieved that we finally saw with our own eyes the screenshot we made and even managed to mock (process) it, but this is not enough. It will still need to be saved as graphic file(most often used for this). To do this, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S, or select “File” - “Save As” from the top menu. All that remains is to choose required format and give the file a name. All. Now you can do whatever your heart desires with it.

How to take screenshots in the Scissors program from Windows 7 and 8

There is one obvious drawback in the method of taking screenshots described above - the process itself does not occur in an explicit form, and for those who encountered this for the first time, it may seem that after clicking the “Print Screen” button, nothing happened at all. However, in Windows Vista, 7 and 8, a new tool called “Scissors” has appeared, which allows you to take screenshots in a much more understandable and visual way. In the same program they can be processed and saved as a graphic file.

The “Scissors” program lives in the same place as the Point discussed just above: “Start” - “Programs” - “Standard” - “Scissors”. As a result, you will see a tiny program window, and the rest of the screen will seem to be overexposed.

It is assumed that you are already ready to select the desired area of the screen on your computer or laptop in order to take a screenshot of it. If this is the case, then hold down the left button and select the fragment. If what is open at the moment is not what you wanted to “capture”, then click on the “Create” button in the “Scissors” program window (or click on Escape) so that it is pressed out. After that, open what you want to screenshot, and again click on the “Create” button, then select the required area of the screen.

Default used to select a rectangular area, but if you click on the arrow to the right of the “Create” button, you can choose one of four options:

Free form - you are free to circle the desired area with the mouse cursor or a graphic pen (if you use one)
Rectangle - default
Window - a screenshot of the window of the program that will be located under the mouse cursor will be taken (for clarity, it will be surrounded by a red frame)
Whole screen - in this case the program takes a screenshot of everything that is currently displayed on the screen (except for the mouse cursor)

What makes this method better than using the “Print Screen” button is that you will immediately see the screenshot taken in the window of the graphic editor built into “Scissors”, where you can draw on something using the three available tools: a pen, marker and eraser.

The functionality of the “Scissors” editor doesn’t even reach Point, but it will be possible to quickly scribble something on the screen (I’m getting greedy in this regard, because I use it to work with screenshots professional program, which will be discussed below). In general, when you have made the necessary notes, you can safely press the button with the floppy disk to save screen as a graphic file Gif format, Png or Jpg, and it is also possible to do this in the form of a separate Html file (it’s not very clear, however, for what purpose).

On the program panel there is also a button for sending a screenshot as an attachment via e-mail, for example, when you took a screenshot to show it to someone. There are again options third party programs for computers and laptops, which allow you to automatically upload screenshots taken to the network and give everyone access to them, but we’ll talk about them a little later.

And finally, by selecting “Tools” - “Options” from the top menu, you will have access to the limited settings of this program.

In my opinion, the developers of Windows 7 and 8 could have added a little functionality to this built-in program so that it would not look so unpresentable in terms of editing screenshots. .

Yes, I also forgot to say that “Scissors” allows you to take a screenshot of, for example, a drop-down menu. To do this, you will need to open this menu and press the key combination “Ctrl+Print Screen”. A screenshot of the desired menu will be taken, which can then be cropped and saved.

Programs for working with screenshots in Windows

First, I’ll tell you a little more about the programs that I use myself, and then I’ll give a list of other popular applications for working with screenshots.

One of the most popular software on my computer is . It has a lot of capabilities and can be useful not only for a webmaster, but also just in the household for solving a number of everyday tasks, one way or another related to taking a screenshot or recording video from the screen.

The program has powerful functionality for both taking screenshots and processing them. For example, it easily allows you to take a photo of a web page that takes up more than one screen (it takes a long time to scroll to the end).

For this purpose, there is a universal and convenient “All in one” operating mode, when by pressing the red button or the Print Screen key (when Snagit is running, this key starts working specifically for this application, and not for copying the screen to the clipboard), you can easily do whatever you please.

For example, if you press the “Print Screen” button and move the mouse cursor to the application window from which you would like to take a photo, then magic happens. By moving the cursor over different places in the window, you will see that either the entire window, or the menu, or some other internal divisions will be automatically selected. Those. you don’t need to aim precisely to draw a frame around the fragment you want to capture.

But you can also work in normal mode, selecting the desired area while holding down the left mouse button, and at the same time you can aim accurately, because a magnifying glass appears under the cursor, magnifying the place of contact of the cursor with the screen.

With the help of Snagit, you can capture video from the screen and do much more. And already about possibilities for processing screenshots on your computer or laptop In general, songs can be composed. Here it will probably be easiest to provide a few screenshots so that the greatness of this creation can be understood:

There are a number of other programs that are roughly on par with Snagit:

FastStone Capture— a good screenshot for a laptop or computer, not overloaded with anything unnecessary.
PicPick— allows you to quickly take a screenshot of the computer screen or any selected area of it, including scrolling windows. In terms of functionality it is very close to Snagit, except that it can’t capture video. The built-in editor allows you to actually professionally process the resulting image.

Programs for taking and uploading screenshots from a computer to the Internet

Clip2net can not only take screenshots and record videos from the screen, but also allows you to instantly post the whole thing on the Internet (the link to the screenshot will be automatically copied to the clipboard and you just need to paste it into an email, website, forum or blog). As a result, you will not need to use your own hosting or one of Yandex Disk, Dropbox, etc.

After taking a screenshot, the program will open a window for editing the captured image. If you do not need this operation, then in the Clip2net settings, check the “Immediate download” box. In the editing window you will be able to use standard tools(inserting labels, highlighting, arrows):

Clip2net is not a unique program of its kind, and there are several good ones on the market. programs for quickly sharing screenshots:

Joxi— a good screenshot with the ability to instantly publish. They are edited directly when the desired area of the screen is selected, i.e. without going to the editor window.
Lightshot— allows you to quickly take a screenshot, add notes to it, draw arrows and other shapes with a pencil. When a file is saved on a computer, it is immediately assigned a unique name, and you can immediately send it to the developers’ server and instantly receive a link to it, which is very convenient.
— outrageously simple and concise to use. There seems to be nothing superfluous in it, but everything that is there hits the bull's eye (in my experienced opinion). Actually, the idea, as far as I understand, was taken from the Apple people (Mac) - you activate the key combination and the picture with the screenshot will immediately fall on the desktop.
, which not long ago learned how to take screenshots and upload them to its own Yandex cloud with a link to them. The program has a fairly convenient graphic editor that allows you to add arrows, frames, lines, etc. to the screenshot. things.
Monosnap is also a very good service that allows you to take, process and post online not only screenshots, but also screencasts (video captures from the screen). It also allows you to organize access to your desktop or webcam in real time.
Skitch— a simple screenshot and screencaster, but with somewhat poorer functionality than the services described above. However, it allows you to send screenshots from your computer or laptop to Evernote, of which it is a part.
Jet Screenshot- allows you to capture the entire screen, the active window or a selected area, and then crop the resulting screen, add arrows, circle the desired area or insert an inscription. In the program settings, you can specify where the final file will be saved - on a computer (laptop) or on a developer server with a link to it.

How to take screenshots on a phone (Android, iOS and other platforms)

Also quite an interesting question. If everything about a computer or laptop is more or less clear, the problem is not how to do it, but how to do it in the most optimal and convenient way. But it’s a little more difficult to understand how to take a screenshot of a mobile phone or smartphone, because there is no special button for this purpose, but a combination of control keys is used, which will be different for various types mobile operating systems.

Let's start with iOS, on which phones from the Apple campaign ( iPad and iPhone). In order to take a screenshot, you will need to hold down two buttons for several seconds: “Power” (sleep/wake) and “Home”. The resulting images are saved in the Photos application on your device as part of the operating system.

How to take a screenshot on Android

The Android operating system has several versions, for which the method of taking screenshots differs. In addition, phone manufacturers also sometimes make their own adjustments (for example, on my old Samsung Galaxy S3, a screenshot is taken by swiping the edge of the palm across the screen from left to right). Actually, I’ll try to summarize the information I have on different types devices:

Android 1 and 2— devices running on this OS did not have a built-in ability to take screenshots, so we had to install third party application helping to make this happen. The methods for taking screenshots in this case depended on the application you chose.
Android 3.2- starting from this version and before the appearance of the four, to take a screenshot of the screen it was enough to hold down the “Recent programs” button for a while.
Android 4— a screenshot is taken after briefly holding the “Volume Down” and “Power” keys.
Samsung under Android control — most often, this phone manufacturer allows you to take screenshots by holding down a pair of “Home” and “Power” buttons, or “Back” and “Home”.
HTC running Android- hold down the Home and Power buttons for a few seconds

Screenshots obtained in this way from an Android phone are saved in the “Gallery” application, which comes with the OS.

There is also such an operating system for mobile phones as Windows Phone, on which, for example, quite popular Nokia phones Lumiya. IN Windows versions Phone 8 to take a screenshot, just press the “Power” button (on the right side of the phone) and the “Win” button (at the bottom of the phone screen). But in Windows Phone 8.1 everything has changed a bit - you need to click on “Power” and “Volume Up”.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the pages of the blog site