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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."

12 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. a touchy subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    and now we are discussing it...

  2. Already slowish by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a Coral-cached print version of the article.

  3. My retort to M$ by WaroDaBeast · · Score: 5, Funny

    Touché.

    --
    "The body may heal, but the mind is not always so resilient." -- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  4. $350 huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a $2 version

    1. Re:$350 huh? by dna_(c)(tm)(r) · · Score: 3, Funny

      I would if the bicycle flew long distances safely at 100+ MPH.

      I have one that can be dropped safely from 3000m and reaches speeds far in excess of what you need. Safety is guaranteed for 99.999% of the trajectory.

      Price negotiable.

  5. I think yes by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    Given that the system uses frustrated total internal reflection, I imagine it would be quite sensitive to grease from the fingers and any other dirt that changes the refractive index at the surface of the acrylic?

    From playing with a real Surface in Vegas, I think the answer is yes - it appeared to have a few dead zones where presses were not registered very well.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  6. 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.~
  7. 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.

  8. I saw one on display, there was a sign on it: by UnixUnix · · Score: 5, Funny

    "DO NOT TOUCH"

  9. 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).

    --
    -- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
  10. wiimote smartboard by Locklin · · Score: 3, Informative

    My wife built one of these "smartboard" like projects with a wii remote and a single infrared LED as per here. Not exactly multitouch, but it works pretty well; calibrates quickly and you can write on a projected image anywhere. It uses the IR camera over bluetooth on the wii remote to track the LED "pen", and emulates a mouse for windows XP.

    I'll be watching for a Linux version of the software. It would be pretty sweet to run presentations off my Linux netbook and be able to draw on a regular projected screen.

    --
    "Knowledge is the only instrument of production that is not subject to diminishing returns" -Journal of Political Econom
  11. Also see Jeff Han's multitouch surface by six11 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It looks like this article is implementing the system that Jeff Han made about a few years ago and famously presented at TED. I'm glad to see this DIY article out there since it is getting lots of people interested in physical hacking, but I wish it would have referenced what came before. Here's the UIST paper:

    Han, J. Y. 2005. Low-cost multi-touch sensing through frustrated total internal reflection. In Proceedings of the 18th Annual ACM Symposium on User interface Software and Technology (Seattle, WA, USA, October 23 - 26, 2005). UIST '05. ACM, New York, NY, 115-118. DOI= http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1095034.1095054