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It's alive, it's alive!!! mwahaha! - WinButtons and 7" touchscreen works

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nudone:
Ath's WinButtons: http://ath.dcmembers.com/wb/pages/software/winbuttons.php and a 7" MYMO Touchscreen are now part of my system - AND IT ALL WORKS perfectly.

Okay, there are slight issues but they aren't worth mentioning just yet; it works better than I could have hoped for within a few minutes of setup.

THIS REALLY IS THE ULTIMATE TOUSCREEN + PC setup. (Potentially, at least; this is still early days.)

I've already said to Ath that I think this could easily make the iPad look prehistoric in comparison. Imagine the combined power of your computer setup and the ability to have a super multi-purpose "magic" keyboard that changes to every one of your program requirements. WinButtons makes touchscreens genuinely useful to your average user - that's amazing - that's a first. (It's blowing my mind just thinking of what's possible - even without considering the serious business market - imagine if Adobe or Microsoft were selling a universal touchscreen device. Oh, I'll shut up as I'm getting carried away.)


Here are a couple of photos. Not a great deal to look at as I've only just had all this working for about 10 minutes (yes, it works straight out of the box). I'll try and do a video demonstration when I've set up all my buttons and programs.


WinButtons with custom 40 button layout on MYMO 7" touchscreen. I shall be moving the touchscreen down so that it doesn't get in the way of the the 30" center screen. (On the left screen is the WinButtons template in edit mode.)


Close-up of the 40 button layout. Sorry for the poor quality (I need to buy proper a camera). The four buttons in the top left are graphics - just for testing.



Oh, just a quick description of what actually happens when using all this stuff:

1) A program has focus, say, Photoshop for example.

2) The touchscreen displays a specific set of buttons related to the above program (in focus).

3) Hitting the touchscreen buttons trigger macros or, more simply, just hotkey shortcuts already built into Photoshop.

4) Moving Photoshop (or whatever) out of focus, i.e. to focus desktop or Explorer, makes another Button layout appear on the touchscreen. This layout has its own set of custom triggers/buttons and appearance.


What's the point?

a) No need to remember hotkey shortcuts as they'll be displayed as buttons on the touchscreen (nice graphic buttons will help this).

b) No need to remember which macro key on a fancy keyboard relates to which function. (I've got around 30 macro keys on my MS Sidewinder keyboard and I can't remember which key is which.)

c) It's like Star Trek but without having to wait a hundred years for the technology to arrive. (This isn't rocket science, something like WinButtons and a touchscreen should have been on the market a few years ago.)


More posts on the project to follow, I'm sure...

mouser:
Love it! keep the posts and pictures and updates coming.

Nudone has a history of coming up with great ideas so he is worth listening to when he says something is useful.

Ath:
This makes me a happy person with a warm feeling inside today (and some more days this week) :-* and that's just because you are so happy with the result :D

It's looking great, though touch-screen placement does indeed need some tweaking :)

jgpaiva:
That looks great!
I'm looking forward to see how this project goes.

I'd also like to know how this setting compares to Optimus Maximus keyboard (or something simpler).

Nudone has a history of coming up with great ideas so he is worth listening to when he says something is useful.
-mouser (September 05, 2011, 04:12 AM)
--- End quote ---
I agree 100%  :Thmbsup:

nudone:
Unfortunately, I have some "real" work to do for a deadline this week, which means I won't be able to dedicate as much time as I'd like to this project. I'm sure I won't be able to resist keep testing new touchscreen operations out though.

Regarding the Optimus Maximus keyboard, DC member timns (Tim, of Head in the Clouds online comic fame), bought an Optimus keyboard and gave up using it as it was a terrible device to use for "serious" work. It looked nice, as you would expect, but for someone that needs a "work" keyboard, he had to stop using it as it was so annoying. Maybe I shouldn't have said that as he gave it away as a prize during the DC fundraiser. So, for light use, the Optimus looks pretty and will impress and I'm sure it serves it's purpose well for displaying "reminders" as graphic icons on the keys. But if you want to do a lot of typing - stick with a "real" keyboard.

I know timns was also very keen to try using a touchscreen - but he was waiting for me to be the guinea pig and risk buying something that may be useless; knowing that there wasn't any good software to use with one (there really isn't).

But, now we have WinButtons and it really does seem quite revolutionary to me at the moment.

(Ath will be able to join in the fun too but it looks like his touchscreen won't arrive until the end of this month; about 25 days away.)

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