Choosing a candy bar

All-in-one touch screens - types, settings, malfunctions

The all-in-one computer screen is one of its main advantages. All-in-one PC screen sizes range from 15 to an impressive 27 inches, and are able to satisfy the needs of any user. If you have chosen an all-in-one PC as a means of entertainment and gaming, the size and quality of the screen plays a vital role, the ideal candidate for you would be powerful gaming all-in-one PCs with large screens and high-quality matrices. For business and unpretentious users, machines with medium diagonal screens (17-20 inches) and average matrix parameters are suitable; you don’t need to overpay for something you don’t need and it’s still not noticeable to the eye.

A synthesizer on a candy bar computer screen, let's play?

A large touch screen is what sets all-in-one computers apart from other large electronics, and if the touch screen in mobile devices has become commonplace for us, touch technology is new for large screens. Other names used to refer to a touch screen: Touch Screen, Touch Panel, touch panel.

What is a touch screen for?

First of all, the sensor is a means of controlling the interface; many operations have been simplified or reduced in the number of actions thanks to touch control. Touch control is convenient and clear, intuitive, managing programs has become easier, and more multimedia capabilities have appeared.

For the gaming industry, the touch screen is simply a godsend; it means new directions and types of games, greater immersion in the gameplay, greater interactivity. There are not many games for the sensor yet, but active work in this direction is undoubtedly underway.

Touch game

Which screen type is better?

The best in terms of picture quality and viewing angles will be a screen on an IPS matrix; when viewed from above and below at an angle, the colors are not distorted, the contrast only drops slightly, the black color looks deep, dark, and the white also has no extraneous shades. On other types of matrices, PVA or MVA, you can also achieve almost the same quality as on IPS matrices. Simpler screens, at large viewing angles, lose the contrast and richness of the picture, but on the other hand, we almost always look directly at the screen, in this case the picture is good, and the price of monoblocks with these types of matrices is lower. Here it is worth thinking, is it worth overpaying?

Typically, the characteristics of a monoblock do not indicate the type of matrix and its quality can only be determined by eye or in comparison with other devices whose screen parameters are known, such as monitors or laptops. There are also glossy and matte screens, the former give glare from lighting, especially in the sun, matte screens do not glare, but are much less common than glossy ones, for some reason manufacturers mainly produce monoblocks with glossy screens, the reason remains a mystery. If you have a choice, of course take a candy bar with a matte screen.

Monoblocks with IPS matrix (matte/glossy)

List of all-in-one computers with IPS matrices, indicating the type of coating (matte/glossy) and other screen characteristics.

How to enable/disable the touch screen on an all-in-one PC

There are situations when it is necessary to disable the sensor on the all-in-one screen, see the instructions below for how to do this.

In order to disable the touch screen, we will use the standard settings in Windows. Click Start > Control Panel > Browse by Category > Pen and Touch. In the dialog that opens, select the "Touch" tab. To disable the touch screen, uncheck "Use finger as input device", to enable it, check the same box and press "OK" to confirm and save the operation.

Pen and touch input

Use your finger as an input device

Unfortunately, in Windows 8 there is no setting to disable the touch screen, but you can disable it in another way. Go to Device Manager > HID Devices > HID Compliant Touch Screen, right-click and select Disable. In the dialog box asking about disabling, select “Yes”.

HID compatible touch screen, disable

This way, you can disable or enable the touch screen not only on your all-in-one PC, but also on other Windows devices, such as touchscreen laptops or tablets.

Use an all-in-one PC as a monitor

In a number of cases, for example, connecting a game console, system unit, laptop, or simply needing a second monitor, there is a need to use an all-in-one computer as a monitor. The question arises: can AIO work as a display and, if so, how to do this?

Yes, you can connect a monoblock as a monitor if the monoblock has an HDMI INPUT (HDMI-in). The connection diagram using an HDMI cable is simple: the cable from the system unit comes out of the HDMI-OUT port and is connected to the HDMI-IN port on the monoblock. Next, switch the All-in-One PC to signal receiver mode; there must be a special button or setting. And that’s it, you can enjoy the picture from an external source, simply and easily!

Make sure that the monoblock has an HDMI INPUT port, otherwise you won’t be able to connect it as a monitor

Just remember that a monoblock will consume the same amount of electricity, that is, significantly more than a monitor of comparable sizes, and constantly using a full-fledged computer as a monitor is at least impractical.

The all-in-one display does not turn on, possible reasons

The display of the all-in-one computer does not turn on - the screen is black, but the computer is working, the noise of the fans is heard, the lights are on, the disks are spinning, this is how you can describe the malfunction of the display of the all-in-one computer. There can be many reasons, let’s consider the most possible of them.

• The problems are related to the operation of the computer’s video card; the video card is not working correctly, for example, the power cord has come loose or the card has partially come out of the slot or is not working at all. Try replacing it with a new or proven working one.
• This may be due to a failure or malfunction of the computer's BIOS. To solve the problem, you should perform a BIOS reset procedure, usually this requires pressing a certain key combination at boot. Each manufacturer may have its own settings for this function; check on the official websites of the companies.
• Another possible reason is that the wire from the video card to the all-in-one monitor has come loose; whether this is true or not can only be determined visually by disassembling the all-in-one and carefully inspecting the wires.
• And the most unpleasant reason for the breakdown is that the matrix control electronics have broken down, roughly speaking, the screen itself has become covered, something happened to the matrix, just take it for repairs to replace the microcircuits, maybe they will help.
• It also happens that the monoblock displays a white screen, this may be due to poor contact of the cable or its complete malfunction, or it may be due to the matrix control electronics.

Cleaning the all-in-one screen and body

Cleaning the all-in-one computer screen, as well as the entire AIO PC in general, should be done regularly. Since the components of the all-in-one are placed in a small space, in such cramped spaces, if contaminated with dust, problems with cooling the all-in-one may begin, the processor and video card may overheat, and the screen of the all-in-one will also heat up, which can lead to unstable operation and even breakdown.

To clean the all-in-one screen, do not use products such as alcohol, other alcohol-containing products, acetone, soda, window cleaners, powder products, etc. It is best to use special products for caring for monitors - gels, foams, aerosols, wipes with fillers, which can be purchased at computer stores. The simplest and most accessible remedy is a soap solution in warm water, wipe the display with it, then rinse with water and dry with a dry cloth.

Cleaning the case can be divided into two stages, the first is regular quick cleaning, just run a vacuum cleaner through all the holes and crevices, trying to suck out everything that is possible. The second is general cleaning, disassemble the back cover of the candy bar and vacuum everything thoroughly, this should not be done often, once every six months or a year. And don’t forget to wipe with a damp cloth in both cases.

General cleaning of the monoblock

Now that the first beta version of the future operating system has been available to the general public for some time, it is time to talk about the new touch feature of Windows 7 - Windows Touch or Multi-touch, as Microsoft itself calls it. Today we will tell you how you can enable it. However, before we do this, let's clarify some detail.

It is worth clearly understanding that enabling Multi-touch, and therefore using it, and getting some benefits from its use, is not possible on all computers. The computer, like the operating system, must support multi-touch, and there are not many such computers at the moment. Among them:

HP TouchSmart All-in-One PCs (IQ500 and IQ800 series):

HP TouchSmart tx2 Tablet PC:

And Dell Latitude XT Tablet PC:

And, if you are the happy owner of one of the above computers running Windows 7, then you can easily proceed directly to enabling multi-touch. And to do this, you just need to download and install the latest multi-touch drivers, which will allow the use of multiple touch points on the screen. Drivers can be obtained here:

• For HP TouchSmart All-in-One computers: The driver is available through Windows Update. After installing Windows 7 Beta, click on the Start button and select the Windows Update menu item. Next, click on the Check for Updates link on the left, which will find the driver for you. The driver is currently optional, so you will need to manually select it to install it.
• For Dell Latitude XT and HP TouchSmart tx2 Tablet PCs: Drivers are available on the N-Trig website. N-Trig is a company that produces digitizers for these computers. Please note that the drivers are currently in beta and are not yet supported by Dell or HP.

Installed? That's basically all you had to do. Now you need to make sure that multi-touch works. You can do this by launching, for example, the new graphic editor Paint, the latest version of which contains several new wonderful brushes designed for Multi-touch capabilities. By clicking on one of them in the Brushes gallery (we prefer the Oil Brush), you can try painting with your fingers. By the way, here you can easily determine how many fingers can work on your computer at the same time - some computers support only two fingers, and some four or more.

Once you've had your fill of drawing, head over to Internet Explorer 8. The latter supports touch scrolling, allowing you to scroll with your fingers from anywhere on the page. Just touch anywhere on the page and slide up or down - it's much easier than trying to touch the scroll bar. You can also use something called “flicks” to jump back and forth between pages—try sliding to the right to go back (as you would when going back to the previous page of a book).

You can also use touch when navigating the taskbar. The new Jump Lists on the taskbar are optimized for touch, so instead of right-clicking an icon, try sliding your finger up to literally pull the menu up.

Windows Media Center is also optimized for touch. The latter's sensory work can be viewed below:

And finally, a little advice. To make icons and controls a little larger and therefore easier to touch, you can set Windows to display everything large. To do this, go to the Start menu, type display and then open the Display Control Panel (which should be at the top of the Start menu). Here, choose the Medium (which is what we use) or the Larger size, and you will notice that it will be easier for your fingers to work.

We've come a long way in developing Windows 7. Looking back, we go back to when the idea of ​​a touch interface for Windows 7 was first presented at the D: All Things Digital conference. We want to further the discussion about the development of touch scenarios in Windows 7, because we know that this is a huge, long-term work, including working with the entire ecosystem, necessary to realize all the benefits of the method.

For Windows 7, touch support has evolved based on the advanced input technologies we developed, applied back in the TabletPC add-on for Windows XP. The implementation of touch control in Windows 7 requires improvements to the hardware base, drivers and application support, as well as further improvement of user interaction with the system interface as a whole. Such support, based on an open platform, will provide advantages for users and developers - in the choice of hardware, software, and computer form factors. Some people are skeptical about touch controls, mainly because they don't like fingerprints on the screen. We believe that touch control methods have a great future - as long as the equipment can fully support them, and for some versions of computers this method will become the main one (integrated screens in medicine, kiosks, cash terminals). They will prove their viability in e-readers, transformable tablets, and kitchen PCs. One of my favorite sights is watching people in an electronics store crowd around all-in-one computers with touch interfaces and try out their screens by touch. Of course, this spectacle remains pleasant as long as computers respond to user actions. The fact that a computer can be operated by hand will very quickly become commonplace, and the method itself will become natural. This post is the first one dedicated entirely to the touch interface. It is the result of the joint efforts of several Touch team members: Reed Townsend, Dave Matthews and Ian LeGrow. --Stephen

Windows Touch is designed to improve the user experience with your computer. For those of us who have lived and breathed the touch interface over the last couple of years, the opportunity to let the rest of Windows 7 users experience its benefits is a huge joy. In this article we'll talk about how we made Windows 7 tangible - literally at your fingertips. We achieved this result by coming at it from different directions at the same time: major improvements to the fundamentals of the user interface, optimization for touch control in key positions, collaboration with hardware manufacturers - it was necessary to create reliable, durable PCs with support for clicks and provide a platform for programs that support multiple simultaneous clicks.

Make Windows Tangible
Starting with Windows 7, we gave Windows a built-in touch interface, making it the first-class way to control your computer, next to your mouse and keyboard. We've focused on the core controls and refined them to be finger-ready. The user has the opportunity to freely, directly interact with the PC - for example, open a web page and slowly scroll through it, and then quickly speed up the scrolling to get to the last lines. With new touch-optimized apps created by talented developers, you can immerse yourself in the virtual world, browsing through your photo albums, taking in breathtaking landscapes, chasing bad guys in your favorite games.

By improving the touch interface, we made it a full-fledged way to work with the system, and not an add-on over the usual options. We've been asked if we're creating some kind of special, new Touch UI or Touch Shell for Windows - something like a Media Center that completely replaces the regular Windows interface with a version specifically optimized for touch. As you can see from the beta, we're focused on introducing touch controls to every level of the system and making sure they're the best experience where you need them. A dedicated touch shell solely for running tactile-oriented programs does not meet user expectations: there is too much switching between touch mode and normal mode. Instead, we've focused our efforts on giving Windows another reliable control method: touch.

We used a range of approaches - from very broad to extremely specific - in order to achieve our goal:

• Gestures: In Windows 7, you can use a limited set of gestures, which are available in many existing applications. These include push-and-drag scrolling, right-clicking, back, forward, zooming and rotating. We'll tell you more about how gestures work a little later.
• Improved support for high DPI values: Windows 7 has improved support for high resolution (more details in). The main advantage for touch control is that the sizes of GUI elements practically do not change (previously they had to be significantly increased) - small buttons, links and other details are easier to control.
• Improved window management: The updated taskbar and window grouping capabilities have significantly improved the manageability of Windows. Small but critical aspects have been optimized:
  • The sizes of buttons and thumbnails in the taskbar are ideally adjusted for touch control, in addition, in this case they provide a special reaction to touch. For example, drop-down lists can be brought up by dragging from the taskbar, and when brought up by touch, the shortcuts in these lists get extra vertical space to make it easier to select one of them.
  • Aero Peek is configured to work with touch controls - the "Show Desktop" button is twice as wide as before (it's just a visible indication that you're working on a Windows Touch PC) and instead of hovering the cursor (which is not possible with touch input), you need to activate Aero Peek press and hold the button.
  • Resizing and positioning windows is easy with Aero Snap - just drag the window to the edge of the screen. Moreover, a special calibration has been carried out for touch control: there is no need to pull the window to the absolute, physical edge - the response balance has been optimized especially for using the touch method.
• Improvements to key features: Web surfing and multimedia applications have been improved to provide an optimal touch experience. IE8 supports basic gestures (scroll, back, forward, zoom), the address bar opens by dragging your finger down the screen, and additional spacing has been added to the favorites list and history when they open by touch. Playback controls in Windows Media Player (play, pause, etc.) are equipped with an enlarged touch field, although they look the same as before - precisely to facilitate touch control.
• Touch keyboard: The on-screen keyboard is optimized for touch input - keys are illuminated when touched, making them visible when your finger obscures the icon on the key, and added support for multiple simultaneous taps for more natural typing and key combinations. Designed for quick access to entering small amounts of text, for example, for entering a web address.

Overall, the features of Windows Touch are such that they provide an excellent touch experience. For example, with IE8, a user can surf the web using only his fingers: entering an address, zooming, panning and other actions can be performed without a mouse or keyboard. To do this, however, you need a tablet that supports simultaneous multiple-press technologies (more on this below).

Gestures
Gestures in Windows Touch are the basic elements that allow the user to interact with Windows or a program using touch control. As we indicated above, since gesture recognition is built into the core of the system, they can be used in all applications, even those that, in principle, do not support touch functions by default.

While working on integrating gestures into the system, we kept repeating to ourselves the mantra: " Predictability + Reliability = Habit"To remain predictable, the action must be tied to the result - if something is pulled down, it must move down. Reliability means that a certain gesture should produce approximately the same effect everywhere. The system's response to the gesture must certainly be present - some variability in gestures (of course, within an acceptable range) should not interfere with this. If these conditions are met, users will be much more happy and without much thought to include the use of gestures among their daily PC skills.

We've intentionally focused on a small set of gestures that work across the entire Windows 7 system. By adhering to these restrictions, we reduce the number of recognition errors, thereby making recognition more reliable. We also reduce response times because we limit the amount of information required for the system to react. Finally, a small number of gestures are simply easier to remember! Here is a list of basic gestures:

• Tapping and double tapping- touch and release, emulates a mouse click. This is the basic touch gesture. Double tap opens a file or folder. Tolerances are less strict than with a mouse. Works everywhere.
• Drag- touching the screen and sliding your finger across it. Like dragging with a mouse, this gesture moves shortcuts and windows around the desktop, highlights text (movement from left to right), etc. Works everywhere.
• Scroll- dragging content (not scroll bars!) down or up in a window, where some of the content remains outside the visible area of ​​​​the screen. It may sound a little corny, but it's the most used (and most useful - it's much easier to hit content than aim your finger at scroll bars) action by beta users. These are our telemetry data. You can see for yourself that some nuances give this action an additional naturalness when interacting with a computer: inertia during acceleration in the middle and a slight “bounce” at the end. Scrolling is one of the most popular actions when surfing the web and when working with email, the ability to scroll the contents of a window with acceleration is in direct correspondence with the strength and frequency of pressing (several quick movements of a finger across the screen). Scrolling is possible using one or more fingers. Works in most programs that have windows with scroll bars.
• Scaling- bringing your fingers together or spreading them apart to enlarge or reduce the document. This is convenient when viewing photos or reading documents on a small screen. Works in programs that support zooming using the mouse wheel.
• Two finger tap- touching with two fingers simultaneously increases the content from the center of the touch to the sides or returns it to its original state. Great opportunity for hyperlinks. Programs need to be adapted (code added).
• Rotation- touch two points on the photo and rotate it as you would a real photo card. Programs need to be adapted (code added).
• Slip- slide your finger from right to left or vice versa to navigate forward and back in the browser and other programs. Works in most applications that support forward and backward modes.
• Press and hold- hold your finger on the screen, then release it at the moment when the animation appears (to emulate a right-click). Works everywhere.
• Clicking with another finger- to emulate a right-click, just like you would with a regular mouse or trackpad. Works everywhere.

It's important to see what it really looks like. Watch a short video:

To make gesture recognition reliable, we tuned the recognition engine using real gestures, having real users perform them on real hardware in pre-release builds of the system. You will see calibrated recognition in the RC assembly. Debugging was a labor-intensive process. Similar to collecting information for handwriting recognition, we used special tools to collect preliminary data using volunteers who performed a series of prescribed actions. We've collected thousands of examples generated by hundreds of people. This data was examined to find optimization problems and opportunities. The benefit of our system is that we can revert to test information after any changes made to the mechanism, testing improvements and protecting the system from rollbacks in other areas.

This resulted in several important improvements. For example, we have found that scaling and rotation are sometimes confused. Recognizing only the zooming gesture in programs that did not use rotation led to a 15% improvement in recognition quality.

Further analysis showed that most brief [incomplete] movements remain unrecognized. The heuristic gesture recognition engine requires 100 ms or 5 mm of travel before deciding to classify the movement. This limitation was dictated by the known concern about deciding too early what kind of gesture the user made, which, in turn, led to an error. In fact, after analyzing the data we collected, we came to the conclusion that we could abandon these restrictions altogether - heuristic recognition worked perfectly in all doubtful situations. After changing the settings and running the gestural samples we collected through the tests again, we saw that zoom and rotation recognition improved by 6% each, and short scrolling by a whopping 20%!

Gesture support [in programs]
The support built into the system works in such a way that many programs do not require developer attention to this aspect at all. This situation has been achieved due to the fact that the system contains special interpreters that translate gestures into the “language” of the mouse or its wheel. Usually everything works fine, but there are programs in which recognition does not work smoothly or does not work at all. In this case, the application must be made to respond directly to touch controls.

Some applications integrated into the system a priori support touch control. We've put a lot of work into IE8 to make sure that scrolling and zooming work flawlessly, and that the forward and back commands are actually easy to use. Media Center, which is generally ideal for touch controls, now has smooth scrolling in the album and on the desktop. XPS Viewer also supports touch controls, which should serve as an example for all document viewers to implement similar support. Scrolling and zooming works as expected. When the user moves to zoom out in the space between pages, they line up so that multiple pages can be seen at the same time. In this zoom position, double-tapping on the page image returns its zoom to its original size. A two-finger tap restores the zoom to 100%. This predictability facilitates the rapid emergence of user skills.

Working with the ecosystem
The main advantage of the Windows ecosystem is its diversity: there are computers of all shapes and sizes. To ensure excellent touch performance on a variety of hardware types, we have developed a special set of tests and compliance parameters that are part of the Windows Logo certification program. We've been working closely with touch hardware manufacturers since the beginning of Windows 7. We define hardware requirements and make sure they're fully prepared for launch.

Our approach is to provide the necessary level of abstraction for the hardware that provides support for the function. We have developed specifications that cover accuracy, sampling intervals, resolution, and other parameters. Our recommendations are based on examples to ensure that touch controls work correctly. For example, we determined the precision required for a tablet screen so that users would not have problems with trivial interface elements such as buttons to close windows.

These specifications form the basis of the Windows Touch logo program. For users, the presence of such a logo on the equipment means that the computer and all its components are optimized to run on Windows. The peripheral logo we assign to digitizer tablets, for example, helps OEMs select the device that provides the best touch support.

Based on our specifications, we have developed a 43-item interactive test suite that tests the hardware's performance under a variety of conditions. Thus, there is a separate check for positioning accuracy in different areas of the screen, including corners, where accuracy is often difficult to maintain, but where it is critical for the system. There are several dynamic tests where accuracy is measured while drawing lines (see Figure 1). In this test, the user draws two lines simultaneously along a black track from end to end. The touch should start tracking within 2.5mm on the track between the start and end of the movement. The first image shows the test running, with the entire tracking process marked in green (apologies for the blurriness of the image - scaling the image from a large screen has its drawbacks).

Rice. 1: Line in the accuracy test from the Windows 7 Touch logo test tool

Not all devices passed the test. Below you can see equipment that failed. This device has had interference - note deviations from the red line. Errors must be corrected before the logo can be assigned. These kinds of problems can make it difficult to recognize gestures.

Rice. 2: Accuracy inconsistency in Windows 7 Touch logo testing

To ensure the reliability of the testing methodology, we made a set of plastic templates with cutouts (see Fig. 3). This template was used for 5 tests and accuracy measurements when drawing arcs.

Plastic template with cutouts for testing reliability.

Figure 3. Plastic template with arc-shaped slots for tests.

Testing tools are now available to our partners, we work closely with some of them. We help them bring the performance of their hardware up to a level that matches the quality of the touch experience. We have set up a special test site [in Redmond] where we will test any hardware vying for the Windows 7 Touch logo.

Once the RC version of Windows 7 is released, OEMs and major hardware manufacturers will be able to complete the certification process for this logo - for computers and peripherals designed for Windows 7. Some of them have already provided us with devices and drivers for testing.

Windows Touch for Software Developers
We'd also like to talk about a touch development platform that software creators can use for their apps. Windows 7 provides extensive touch support for applications. We have already mentioned gestures. There is also a special low-level platform that allows program authors to fully control everything related to touch control. We think of this as a sort of scale on which sensory support packages are placed depending on the degree to which they are integrated into programs.

Fine
The "good" set is the touch functionality Windows 7 provides at the system level to any application by default. In Windows, many gestures correspond to certain system events, and these events will occur when the user triggers them with their actions. For example, if someone starts scrolling the contents of a program window that supports touch system settings, Windows will detect the presence of scroll bars and allow the scrolling action to occur. Likewise, when the user makes a pinch-to-zoom gesture, many programs' built-in system event messages signal that a pinch-to-zoom action is about to occur. Every programmer can be sure that the gestures supported by default will work when using ordinary scroll bars and respond to the signal sent to the program when the user moves the mouse while holding down the Ctrl key.

Better
The "better" package focuses on adding touch support directly to the program, as well as some minor GUI improvements and other tweaks to make the program more touch-friendly. For example, a new window behavior system event, WM_GESTURE (preview on MSDN), which tells the application what movement the user has made in relation to the program window. Each message contains information about the gesture - to what position the user scrolls the content, at what point is the center, from which the zoom is counted, etc.

Programs that respond directly to touch control have full control over how they respond to it. For example, the default finger scrolling is designed for windows with text content that scroll primarily vertically, while horizontal scrolling is more likely to be interpreted by the recognition engine as an attempt to select an element. In most programs this works well enough, but in some you need to give preference to horizontal scrolling. In addition, for some programs, the default scrolling may not look aesthetically pleasing: what is perceived well when using the mouse wheel, may look unnatural when controlled with your fingers. Some programs require particularly fine-tuning of scrolling in border areas (top, bottom, sides) - for example, spreadsheet processors, photo lists. IE8 opens a link differently when you drag it to open than when you open it normally by clicking on it.

In addition to gestures, minor improvements have been made to the touch mechanism to make it easier to determine when it's in use. Many improvements to the Windows touch mechanism have been made in this vein. Increased space between items in pop-up lists, larger trigger areas for window arranging, press-and-hold recognition for Aero Peek on the desktop - all these interface details are designed for mouse control, but have slightly different parameters than standard ones when using touch controls.

Great
The excellent kit and the apps that support it provide the best results when using touch controls. They are built on top of WM_TOUCH, a system event associated with window behavior that allows data to be passed directly to the application. Program authors can use it in addition to the main system gestures and create their own sets of gestures for applications. They can also use visualization of touch control movements (for example, rasterization of an editable window), create their own controls - in general, do whatever they want, including things that we ourselves would never think of.

We also offer a COM version of the programming interfaces originally created for the Surface project - Manipulations and Inertia (manipulation and inertia). The Manipulations API simplifies interaction in the following situation: the user touches a 2D object with a certain number of fingers, after which the object can be manipulated, and at the same time the object transforms. For example, when creating a photo editing program, you can make it so that the user can take two photos at the same time and use as many fingers as he wants to move the images, resize them, move them within the application, etc. Inertia provides the most basic physics models for applications and, as in the example above, allows you to “nudge” images, slow down their movements and freeze them in a way that looks natural.

Demonstration of sensory functions
We've previously featured the Microsoft Surface Globe, an interactive globe created in collaboration with the Surface project team. Rotating the globe is similar to how a real globe behaves, and with a globe that supports touch functionality, you can scale, rotate, or move areas of the surface. Interacting with the globe and exploring are the main content of the user interface in this case, and they are much easier to use by engaging touch controls. Other functions, such as searching and marking maps, were also designed for touch control.

The video below will give you an idea of ​​what we mean:

Windows 7 Touch demo using Surface Globe

We're looking forward to new touch-optimized interfaces. If you have ideas for creating relevant programs or adding touch support to existing ones, you should check out the documentation and examples on MSDN.

What's next?
In RC, the touch functions will be partially updated. If you have a beta version of Windows 7, you can experiment with it on a computer that supports multi-click technologies. Please keep in mind that the PCs available today were created while Windows 7 compliance requirements were still under discussion. We believe these computers will work with Windows 7, but only manufacturers can provide certified Windows 7 drivers and support for their devices when used on Windows 7. With this in mind, you may want to consider the following computers:

• HP TouchSmart All-in-One PC (IQ500 and IQ800)
• HP TouchSmart tx2 Tablet PC
• Dell Latitude XT or XT2 Tablet PC

You can enable multi-click support when the beta version of Windows 7 is installed on this hardware by obtaining the latest samples of the corresponding drivers (also beta versions). Please note that these drivers are not supported by Microsoft, Dell or HP. Let us remind you that they still have to pass the Windows Logo test before the final versions appear.

• For HP TouchSmart All-in-One PCs: A preview driver is available through Windows Update. After installing the Windows 7 beta, open Windows Update from the Start menu. You may need to call the "Check for Updates" option to find the driver; Since it is optional, you will have to select it manually. It can also be downloaded from the NextWindow website.
• For Dell Latitude XT, XT2 and HP TouchSmart tx2 Tablet PCs: Drivers are available on the N-Trig website. N-Trig is a company that produces digitizer screens for these PCs (pay attention to the release documentation: the driver has limitations - pen input is not supported, this will be fixed by the time the RC build is released, and also pay attention to the features of switching between Windows Vista and Windows 7).

We often get questions about pen-input PCs. Will they work with Windows 7? There are many options for such equipment. Typically these PCs use resistive screens. Running a regular touch PC under Windows 7 will be functionally the same as running it under Vista, and you won't be able to take advantage of the benefits of touch in Windows 7. As mentioned above, touch input in Windows 7 has received a set of improvements, some of which require support for simultaneous multiple clicks, otherwise it will be impossible to fully enjoy it.

Since form factors, as well as user requirements for the interface, are subject to change, both the capabilities and methods of entering information change. We're proud of the advances in touch that we can offer users and how these features allow users to use their computers in new, more intense ways. We look forward to new form factors in computing devices in the future that will help bring the full potential of Windows 7 to life.

Windows 7 is designed to effectively use multi-click technologies across all key GUI elements, because this way of controlling your computer is a natural and intuitive complement to the mouse and keyboard that are so common today.

The touch screen has long successfully entered the life of almost every inhabitant on the planet. Of course, the primary role in this fact is given to smartphones and tablets, but other areas, with more highly specialized equipment, do not lag behind modern trends. One such area is industry. The most popular devices in the industrial segment equipped with a touch screen are, of course, panel computers and monitors. Most often, questions about the operation of the touchscreen arise precisely when using it on these devices - how to connect? How to setup? How to calibrate? Etc. We’ll talk to you about this in a little more detail later.

How to connect?

In panel computers, as a rule, the touch screen controller is automatically detected by the operating system and does not require the installation of additional drivers. The only additional thing that may be required is calibration, but this is only if the touch screen does not work correctly. See below for details on calibration. The monitor connection diagram is slightly different. Each industrial monitor equipped with a touch screen always comes with an additional USB or COM cable. With this cable, you connect the monitor to the computer from which the video signal will be output. Further, the connection algorithm is similar to the option with a panel computer.

Let's look at an example of connecting a P6217WPC-24VDC-U monitor to a built-in computer eBOX670-883-FL-DC.

How to setup?

Configuration means identifying the touch screen controller in the system and then making it work successfully. As mentioned above, the operating system automatically recognizes the touchscreen, but what to do if this does not happen? The first thing you will definitely need is drivers. In order to find or obtain the necessary drivers, you have several options:

• The drivers are present on the disk that came with the device.
• If the disk is lost, you can download drivers from the panel computer or monitor manufacturer's website, or, if you know exactly what touchscreen controller is installed in your equipment, for example AMT PenMount, you always have the opportunity to download drivers from the controller manufacturer's website.
• Contact IPC2U technical support by writing in the online chat or sending an email to .

How to download from the manufacturer's website?

Each manufacturer has its own website design, so a single algorithm of actions in this case will not be appropriate. But, the location of the drivers is standardized for everyone, so you can always find the drivers in the “Downloads” section. The first thing you need to do is go to your product page on the manufacturer’s website and then look for the “Downloads” tab.

Panel computer page on the manufacturer’s website using the example of the GOT-3177T-834 model from Axiomtek

After navigating or expanding the tab, you will see a list of all drivers available for download for this device. A touch screen driver is always easy to identify by its name. It must include the word "Touch". Sometimes all drivers are in one large archive. It is quite possible that you will also immediately be asked to choose which OS you need a driver for. Select the one you need and the download process begins.

The situation is a little different when you want to download drivers from the controller manufacturer's website. Most often, manufacturers of industrial panel computers and monitors use controllers from two companies, the above-mentioned AMT PenMount and EETI. Drivers on the websites of these manufacturers are also located in the “Downloads” tab. You can go to it directly from the main page.

PenMount

“Downloads” section on the website of the AMT EETI controller manufacturer

How to calibrate the touch screen?

You have installed the drivers, the touch screen works, but you want to put the cursor in the upper left corner, but it moves to the lower right, what should you do? For such cases, there is only one single solution - touchscreen calibration. Most often, the calibration utility can be found in the same archive along with the drivers. Next, we will consider the option of calibrating the touch screen using the example of one of the most popular models of the APPC-1740T panel computer from Nexcom.

During the calibration process, you need to click on the cursor points on the screen, following the instructions, i.e. clicked on the cursor, held it, released it, moved to the next point. All this will take you literally a couple of minutes. Once completed, the calibration window will automatically close. Next, you can check whether the touchscreen is working correctly or not. If yes, congratulations, you have set up your touch screen! If not, contact IPC2U technical support.

Touch screens in desktop computers seem more like entertainment than a full-fledged element of the control system. With the release of Windows 7, the situation may change. How simple the interface of a particular program is can be judged by how quickly an inexperienced user can understand it. If this does not require him much time, then the control can be considered convenient. If you have to sit at the computer for an hour or more, clicking on various icons and wandering through menus, then such a program is unlikely to become popular. The convenience of working with a PC also depends on the manipulators used.

It is impossible to quickly explain to a small child what computer mouse and how to use it. He would rather point his finger at monitor and wait for some kind of reaction from the computer. Consequently, touch control is simpler and more natural for a person: it is perceived by him as a direct and immediate interaction with the information environment. However, only one sensory screen this is not enough - the software also needs to be optimized accordingly.

Currently, the most suitable operating system for a computer with a touch-sensitive screen is Windows 7. Microsoft engineers have done a great job adding new functionality and changing existing components so that the user can interact with the PC in the most natural way.

Windows 7 is optimized for finger control

Standard screen keyboard, which was also present in previous versions of Windows, in the new OS is much better adapted for typing with fingers: the keys have become larger and are highlighted when touched. Added support for multiple simultaneous taps for more natural typing and keyboard shortcuts. In addition, Windows 7 has a built-in tool for recognizing handwritten text in various languages, including Russian.

Touch screen is more convenient

The system recognizes even the most illegible letters and forms words from them, checking them against the built-in dictionary. In addition, it is possible to enter formulas by hand. The functions of a mouse in Windows 7 can also be taken over by a touch-sensitive screen: to position the cursor, you just need to touch the display surface at the desired point. Windows 7 supports Multitouch—screens and gestures, as well as touch scrolling. For example, spreading two fingers apart allows you to zoom in on a photo or document, and bringing them together zooms out. Sliding your finger from right to left and in the opposite direction is used to navigate the browser and other programs that support forward and backward actions. In addition, you can, for example, enable so-called editing gestures - then diagonal finger movements will correspond to the functions of copying, pasting, deleting or undoing. A long touch is equivalent to a right-click and brings up a context menu.

Task bar is also adapted for working with touch screens: tabs in Windows 7 are shaped like buttons that are easy to press with your fingers. If many applications of the same type are open - for example, text files, then such a touch starts a preview of all documents and allows you to select the one you need.

Sensitive screens

Today, PC touchscreens designed as standalone devices are rarely found in retail sales. Most often they are included in monitors, laptops or monoblocks various categories.

Is it worth paying extra for this new option for the personal computer market? The answer to this question depends on how your PC will be used. If you plan to use it primarily to work with texts, process audio and video files, and solve other similar tasks, then for now it will be much easier to do this using mice And keyboards. But if the computer is intended to be used as a home multimedia center, as well as for surfing and communicating on the Internet, then a pressure-sensitive screen can significantly simplify interaction with the system. Some people will like the idea of ​​placing a PC in the kitchen, where there may not be room for a keyboard and mouse.