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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."

1 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. What about 2 mice? by Peeet · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've seen a lot of multitouch demos and have always wanted to mess around with the applications side of it, has anyone seen any software that allows you to plug in 2 usb mice and use that as at least a 2 point "multitouch" system? Windows 7 beta seems like it might possibly have the capability to do so with some sort of "TouchVista" add on, but other than that I can't seem to find anything for Linux or XP.

    Any multitouch software I have found uses complicated algorithms to process an image from a webcam to try and deduce points from a blurry low rez low fps infrared image of fingertips. It seems like the first step (to just test out apps without complex hardware) would have been to make a driver for multiple mice, but I can't find that seemingly trivial interstitial step anywhere.