Lilliput touch screen
Submitted: Thursday, Jul 07, 2005 at 09:57
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pprass
Further to my post 23737 10 June 2005.
Just got back from our central Aus trip with the touchscreen velcroed to the dash. Worked
well as just a monitor with the mouse. BTW the screen did not budge even after going through horrendous stretches of heavily corrugated tracks, smashing into ditches and plowing through ponds on the road. The laptop on the other hand was not that forgiving and shut down a few times - but no damage.
Regarding the touchscreen drivers:
Thanks to Groove and BenSpoon and to Alex from eGLALAX Inc, I loaded the appropriate driver, deleted a corrupt file that loaded on from the first try using the disk supplied (thanks Alex) and finally got it going. It took a few nights cursing and retrying, but in the end it WORKS. Now to work out how to tidy up the leads etc. Also after the trip, I have worked out how I want to mount the PC so that it won't go nuts on us and will also be easy access.
Reply By: BenSpoon - Thursday, Jul 07, 2005 at 11:41
Thursday, Jul 07, 2005 at 11:41
dont keep us in suspense... where is this spot you found for the laptop?
With the leads, grab some flexi conduit from repco etc. I've got my LCD power, signal and GPS cables running through this going up the dash and under the dash mat, coming up behind the monitor thru the demister holes.
Grab a cheap USB hub from a computer store (harvey norman- $15), and double side tape it to your centre console- That way you only have to plug power, VGA and a USB into the lappy then stash it and you still have easy access to plug in stuff like digital camera, mice, etc
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Follow Up By: pprass - Thursday, Jul 07, 2005 at 17:01
Thursday, Jul 07, 2005 at 17:01
The ideal spot for the laptop in our situation is right behind the centre console. I will be making a stand with a drawer top that flips open. This will sit on the rear passenger floor right between the two front seats i.e. right behind the centre console. It will be at the same level as the console and the drawer will be lined with egg shell foam - top, bottom and sides. The back and front of the drawer will be open to allow for leads and some ventilation. The intention is to have the laptop firmly in place when the lid is shut - kind of a sandwich without stopping ventilation. I am hoping that this arrangement will allow the passenger (and driver in some situations) to simply twist around, open the lid and access the PC to switch on or do some typing etc.
Regarding the USB hub, that is a good idea and I will work on that.
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Follow Up By: V8troopie - Friday, Jul 08, 2005 at 00:36
Friday, Jul 08, 2005 at 00:36
pprass, what else is needed in addition to the lilliput screen (as it comes out of the box) to get this idea to work? A bloke I discussed this gadget with rekons the laptop needs a 'docking station' to allow it to work with its lid closed.
I had a look at a lilliput sellers website, it certainly looks like a neat way to get a screen up onto the dashboard. Did you get the 7" or the 8" model?
klaus
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Follow Up By: pprass - Friday, Jul 08, 2005 at 09:08
Friday, Jul 08, 2005 at 09:08
Klaus,
I got the 8" as I wanted the largest possible without being too obtrusive and heavy so as not to be able to attach it to the dash without falling off every time we go over a pothole. Also I thought if I went too small I may as
well just stick to the GPS screen or set up my PDA.
Theoretically there is nothing you need to do or buy (apart from velcroe) to get you going assuming you have a laptop with appropriate OS. I have Windows XP
Home Edition. However as noted above, you need to download the drivers that are on eGALAX Inc's web site and not use the disc supplied.
Regarding using the laptop with the lid down, you just need to change a Display setting.
Control Panel>Display>Screen Saver>Power>Advanced, then change the setting to the question - "When I Close the lid on my portable computer" The answer of coarse is "Do nothing" the default is "Stand by"
We had the laptop running with the lid shut for 7 hours at a time, however I think there is a "Wait" setting you also need to change in the Screen Saver tab of the Display.
Hope this helps
Peter
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