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Posts: 142 | Thanked: 106 times | Joined on Jun 2008
#4
Originally Posted by jolouis View Post
Not entirely related to that technology specifically, but I toyed with the idea a few months ago of installing a Phidgets touch interface on the backpanel of my N800; at the time although I had the software running and things the biggest disadvantage was that the USB connector with adapter and things was too annoying to have sticking out a few inches on the side of the device, but I may revisit the idea soon as I've got a new solution to the USB problem that might end up making a very slick little "addon" device...

The original idea though anyways was to have a simple touch sensor that you could through software use to do any number of things such as act as mouse buttons, move the cursor (though this ties into the mouse support problem), or most importantly just scroll/tab around simply by pressing or moving your fingers over the back panel of the device. The only catches with the phidgets stuff is that A) I'm not sure what effect it would have on the battery life of the device and B) they're not based on pressure sensors, but rather proximity sensors, so you couldn't do things like press harder to double click/etc... but it's still an interesting starting point and a lot more viable/practical/cost effective than trying to build a true touch film layer and controller in...

-Rob
wouldn't this be even easier?

http://www.ergonomictouchpad.com/ergonomic_touchpad.php

It's very tiny and thin, hooks up to usb.