Touchscreen Mod

I would like to use a touchscreen as a second screen. Anybody aware of a touchscreen possibly on USB , which has the size of the AA1?
With two screens I would like to use the AA1 as a real book. The touchscreen displays the left page the screen of the AA1 the right page.
Similarly I could then use the touchsreen for commands etc and the other screen as output screen.
However, I myself would definitely refrain from soldering etc.
Anybody ideas about this?

Winfried

 

are you trying to go for something like this??
or


yea i wish i was that good lol

 

Shame on me, but I didn't bother to read all 17 pages associated with this topic. Why did this mod start out with changing screw holes, soldering, etc. when you can buy a "solderless" touch screen conversion from a number of sellers, already made for the AA1, with excellent instructions, on eBay for $95 or less all day long, some with free shipping? Maybe they weren't available when this thread started. In that case, pardon me.

 

i think that was the case..the solderless thread is here viewtopic.php?f=43&t=6278

 

I have just installed the touch screen. Got a cracked from DX, and have been talking to them about getting a replacement. It ended up me having to get a new panel elsewhere, because that came cheaper than a replacement from DX...go figure.

Anyway, new programs needs to be tested. Obviously there is no Media Center with the OEM version from ACER, but what else could be used? And is there a chance that the tablet pc componets from XP Tablet PC 2005 version could be installed...one way or another?

 

I've successfully installed the (soldering required) touch screen (bought from ebayID toptouchscreen, but its instruction was for EEE not AA1) after quite some trial and error. Here are some notes that I feel important if you want to try the same thing at home:

• 
  1. Be careful at removing the cable to SSD. I might have either damaged it or shorted the SSD board, because afterwards my SSD no long shows up as an IDE drive in BIOS, I lost the default local drive! I had to re-install my entire system to SD card and use a USB thumb drive to boot. It's a painful experience and although I got my system back eventually, you should avoid damaging your AA1.
  
  2. Be very careful at taking apart the case around the screen, and especially do not force open the bottom edge. I ended up breaking the plastic clips in there. So now I have a screen with a slight crack at the bottom that isn't fully closed
  
  3. This particular screen I ordered from ''toptouchscreen'' has the flat cable positioned differently than other ones mentioned in this thread. I ran all extra cables through the lower left hinge, but in hindsight I should have folded the flat cable of the touch screen to the back of the LCD screen at the upper right corner, and run cables through the right hinge. The lower left part of the screen is already crammed by the LCD cables, so avoid using the left hinge if you can.
  
  4. Be very careful at removing the connector to the camera or microphone. Move your LCD screen away when you do this! I was careless and left a small scratch on the LCD, not very noticable but still, it's a damage that can't be undone.
  
  5. It's almost impossible for me to solder anything onto the motherboard. So I took apart the camera USB cable, and tried to connect it to the touch screen controller. It took me almost a day of trial and error to realize that the camera USB cable has only +3.6V voltage, which is not enough to power the touch screen controller. I had to take a +5V line from an existing USB connector on the motherboard, and this is the only soldering I performed on the motherboard.
  
  6. It's hard to tell which line from the USB cable to camera is D+ or D-. First of all the twisted pair of lines are D+ and D-, and one of them is slight green, and that's D+. The pink line is +3.6V, which you shouldn't use. The rest two lines (black and blue) are GND.
  
  7. The pin layout of this touch screen controller is the same as the others. Just connect D+, D- and GND from the camera USB cable, and +5V from a USB connector on the motherboard to them.
  
  8. The latest Linux software from TouchKit (release 2008/09/22) takes some effort to install. The kernel driver will only compile for kernel 2.6.28 after changing line 25 of tkusb.h from <asm/semorphore.h> to <linux/semaphore.h>. The egalax_drv.so module for Xorg 1.4 only comes in binary, and only works for exactly xorg 1.4.0. As a result I had to revert the xorg 1.4.2 of my slackware 12.2 back to 1.4.0. NOTE: kernel module usbtouchscreen.ko from the default 2.6.28 kernel can recognize the touchscreen device, but together with the evtouch xorg module, they still don't work as expected.

Hope it helps new comers like me!

 

Ordered the solder-in USB touchscreen from fidohub on ebay some time ago and it was working great...that is, until I decided Windows 7 might be fun. Now I can't get it to respond to anything.
In the touchkit software, I can't get the 4-point calibration, Linearization or Draw Test options to run. Either the buttons for them do nothing, or Touchkit freezes at "Reading Parameters" and then acts as though I'd never clicked anything. Also, under the Hardware tab, there is nothing under Controller Model or Firmware Version and the Hardware Setting button is inactive/gray.
The USB Touchscreen shows up in the Device Manager under Mice and other pointing devices as "USB Touchscreen Controller(Universal)" and says it's drivers are in order, too.
Very odd. Anyone have an idea on how to make it work?

For anyone looking to run windows 7, I reccomend it--works great. Just be wary of your hardware drivers!

 

Yes that is what I am looking for. But it looks like extra two screens in addition to the screen of the AA1.
I am looking for ONE additional screen of the same size as the AA1 with touch screen which I could put when reading books over the keybord.
However, I could even imagine that the touchscreen monitor replaces the keybord and the touch panel.
Then the AA1 really would look like a book and could be handled like a book.
In standard position the touchscreen would offer the facilitites of the keybord. If necessary -that is if the virtual keybord one could put on the touch screen is too unconfortable when writing long texts- one uses an external USB keybord.
In reading position both displays show the left and right page of a book and the touchscreen allows to maneuver through the book.

That require some modifications of the reading software, which on Linux is anyway in bad shape since there don't exist any readers which allow the new formats which protec t copyright.
Would be an interesting project or? and I would prefer such an e-book in contrast to the e- readers now coming on the market with only black and white reading. Furthermore such a modified AA1 would still have full functionality of a netbook.
Winfried

 

Hi everyone. I just bought my aspire one and I am glad this forum exists. I am one of those people that believes "If you can fix it when it aint broke, then by god break it trying!!!" I do not have any experience with laptops but I have built my own home computer from parts about 5 years ago. My question is how difficult is this touch screen modification? Is it something someone with basic computer tinkering skills can handle or am I doomed to throw 300 bucks away? I have read through the thread a bit. I thought I saw a post mentioning a youtube instructional but im not sure. If its there I will find it. I will be buying the kit within the next couple of weeks. :mrgreen:

 

toro where did you buy the replacement panel from?, as my touchscreen is buggered and i don't want to buy a whole new kit if i can just buy the touch panel on it's own.

tia
phil

 

Go figure this one.

I installed a USB hub and soldered touch screen kit. Ok:

- the hub is detected
- the TS controller is detected
- a bluetooth dongle i also installed to the hub is detected and working

- but the touch screen won't respond. And I'm stuck I don't know how to debug further!

I'm running Windows 7 on my aa1 and I haven't cracked my panel or anything. Any thoughts? Please this is killing me I've already taken it apart twice :cry:

 

Have you tried the calibration utility?

Is the TS settings set to beep on touch? Is there a beep during startup?

Win 7 has it's own TS calibration tool, don't use it until the TS manufacture's software works first.

Sometimes you have to remove the TS and Controller and plug in the controller to one of the external USB port and get everything working before reinstalling.

 

Did you examine in the control panel / device manager that everything is smooth and without any conflicts?

 

Ok I've just discovered today that it DOES work! However, I only found this out because I noticed that part of the touchscreen had stuck to the lcd causing this horrible 'bubbling' artifact (also like oil on water). I tried to pull it off with blu-tac and then the cursor moved!

I've been experimenting and noticed two things:

* It looks like I've soldered Y+ Y- the wrong way around.

* And I'm having to press really hard (the liquid crystal in the display distorts) to get a registered click/touch.

Do you guys have any suggestions as to either why I'm having to press so hard and/or how to remedy this?

Cheers
Hodges

 

Is it possible to be bad touchscreen with some defect? Is it possible that you installed it facing back?

 

That's an interesting if not troubling idea. It'll be a while 'til I can take it apart to find out. This is a brilliant suggestion though. Lol, what a noobie I am if you're right!

EDIT: I'm a noob...

 

Had the same problem , i installed the touch screen backwards not knowing which was up. The hub and touch screen were found but the touch never worked. The thinner part of the screen is the touch screen, the thicker glass faces the LCD.

 

Please keep me updated with results, good luck!

 

Well Zipposs, I got it working It's a little temperamental as the ribbon connector is in the lid and pressing on it pushes pins together. + i didn't have any flux with me so I wouldn't surprised if one of the wires comes loose!

Also I think my hub shorts sometimes which is a bit annoying but I couldn't find a source for that. I'm going away from home now for 5months so if it's still working by the time i get back then I'll be extremely happy as I won't have chance to fix it while I'm gone.

 

anyone know if this will work with the D150?!? It would be so cool to get this mod installed!