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DIY Multi-Touch Tabletop "Surface PC"

Posted by kdawson on from the beneath-the-surface dept.

notthatwillsmith writes "We've all seen the nifty demos of Microsoft's Surface PC. Now Maximum PC details how you can put together your own multi-touch tabletop PC. The article shows how you can build the cabinet and combine that with a standard PC, a decent projector, about $350 worth of assorted hardware (cameras, lenses, mirrors, and screens), and a handful of free apps to build your own Surface-like PC — without giving Microsoft $10,000."

5 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. not really 350$... by polle404 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Reading TFA, it's not really 350$, as they already had the projector and the PC.
    It's an impressive build nonetheless.

    --

    ~men are from earth. women are from earth. deal with it.~
    1. Re:not really 350$... by Aladrin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Whoa... They had to add $350 on -top- of the PC and Projector!? I assumed that at least included a crappy projector. Ouch.

      So really, instead of a $10,000 professional table with big support behind it, we're talking about a $1500-3000 homemade table that isn't going to be nearly as refined and awesome. For 1/3 of the price, it had better be pretty competitive with the big one. For 1/30 the price, it was allowed to be pretty hacky.

      --
      "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  2. Re:$350 huh? by troll8901 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I, for one, find the $2 video very interesting. At 0:29~0:32, the video showed clearly how the physics worked.

    "Learning = linking the unknown to the known, so the unknown becomes known."

    Most Slashdot readers are smart - they know the $2 version is non-durable, unlike the $350 version.

    You, on the other hand, do not recognize the related technologies between the $2 and $350 versions.

  3. Re:Already slowish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    As it always is... but not quite as slow as this Slashdot reply box.

  4. Re:Will not replace the mouse / keyboard for a whi by zwei2stein · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even if it works perfectly, it will not cut it.

      * You have to move your hands, without resting support. Thought mouse carpal tunnel is bad? Wait for days work with this tech

      * I have yet to see demo which looks, well, usefull. It looks like it is all about eye candy. They do a lot, but they do "random stuff" ... have photo pile, pick one at random, zoom, drag it to another pile at random. Impressive, but only if you don't think about what they do.

    It is more like mouse gestures which have very low user penetration for reason. (Why draw glyph if you can just press button?). Or voice command. Voice reconginition was perfected, but noone wants to use it (its slow, using it looks kinda dumb, it has no added value if you do not have disability).

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    -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.