Magic Touch add-on screens?

by **rembetis** on Wed Sep 28, 2005 12:39 pm

Just curious whether anyone has used or heard anything about these add-on touchscreens made by Keytec.

I just bought one off eBay with a 12" LCD included for a pretty good price and would love to know of any pitfalls or bugs ahead of time.

Also, what's the longest you can extend both VGA and USB without experiencing problems?

TIA (Thanks in advance)

by **rubbah** on Wed Sep 28, 2005 1:04 pm

guess vga should be good for about 15m depends on the resolution.

think you will have a hard time streaching usb that far. 3-5m i would guess. but you can buy a repeater.

by **arkania** on Wed Sep 28, 2005 4:53 pm

That's ironic, I just purchased one of these as well, except it's the serial version 17". Let me know how you make out.

My projector has a 25ft VGA cable and I have no problems but YMMV.

by **Colby** on Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:27 pm

There are no real problems with those keytec add ons. I have one in the basement, 15" over lcd for 3 years. (I assume your addon has glass in it, since its going over lcd. they make them without.) You will have to calibrate the screen from time to time. And you will want to redo the clippy things it attaches with. Also dont damage or mess up the little electronic box the screen plugs into, it costs about as much as the whole setup. The wire from the screen to the connect looks like telephone jack, they say dont use it, but Im not so sure it wouldnt work. That could extend your length if it did.

by **rembetis** on Thu Sep 29, 2005 12:42 am

Thanks for the feedback guys. I'm very excited to play with my new toy

Will post back if I have anything of substance to add...

by **summerall** on Thu Sep 29, 2005 3:17 am

You can extend VGA really far (30+ feet) and using this method.

http://www.myhometheater.homestead.com/vgacable.html

It's also really inexpensive and since its a cat5 wire its easier to run. I was at first intimidated since I've never soldered before but my 30 foot cable came out fine first try. I suggest giving this method a try before investing in a long VGA cable.

by **rembetis** on Sat Oct 01, 2005 9:18 pm

edit: removed a really stupid question

by **Xlobbyist** on Wed Oct 05, 2005 4:41 pm

I have three of these panels. For the money they work great just make sure they never get hit hard (e.g. a two year old swinging a plastic golf club). One day I found I could not control my mouse. The cursor would move in the direction I moved the mouse but as soon as I stopped moving the mouse, the cursor would always move back to the same position on the screen. After close examination, I could see a small dent in the plastic touch-sensitive film that apparently looked to the Keytec hardware like something was always touching the screen there.

I am planning on moving the monitor out of harms way and was going to try these USB extension cables (they can be daisy chained up to 5 cables):

http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&id=ID740017&partno=70557&search=USB&rsite=pccables.com&rcode=

They also have good prices on VGA extension cables.

by **Xlobbyist** on Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:32 pm

The active USB extension cables from PCCables.com did not work with the Magic Touch screen. I called Keytec (which I should have done to begin with) and they sell an extension cable that goes between the screen and the USB converter. The extension cable is custom made to length (up to 1000 feet long) and costs 50 cents/foot. It appears to be a 6-conductor RJ11 type connector. Great customer service but they ding you for $10 shipping.