My Multi-Touch

We are proud to announce the release of the first edition of the NUI Group Community Book – “Multi-Touch Technologies”. This book comprises state of the art articles from our Community Wiki, as well as several chapters written by leading experts in the field specifically for this publication. Detailing basic hardware technologies as well as the process of developing software suited for multi-touch systems, this book provides a technical introduction to the world of multi-touch. 

This book aims to provide an introduction to the multi-touch world for all backgrounds of people, and also include sufficient information to serve as a general “handbook” for those acquainted with the field, including code examples, suppliers, and building methodology.

Multi-Touch Technologies is a unique publication in its domain in that it is released at no charge under the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Share-Alike license – all content found in this book is free to be re-distributed and modified under a similar license, with attribution. This manual will be distributed in two forms: electronically and printed. Electronically, Multi-Touch Technologies will be available in PDF format here.

To increase the scope of availability and readership, we are also making the book available in print through the brand-new NUI Group Community Shop at a minimal cost to only cover production and shipping, worldwide. The book has entered the production process through online self-publisher Lulu, and you can see a proof copy of the book above. Currently we are working on purchasing an ISBN for the book allowing it to be distributed through Amazon and other major e-bookstores.

Please take a moment to download and take a look at the book, which is the product of the writing and hard work of over 20 people over the last two months, from the link below. If you would like a print copy, you will be able to order one from the NUI Group Store depending on demand. Distribution is they key for success for this book, so please link to it from your blogs, tweets, or just about however you can! The more people that we make aware of this publication and our community, the better – that is the ultimate aim of work such as this.

Thanks!

So I finally diassembled my Logitech webcam. Their naming drives me nuts, so I’ll just post pics and leave it to all of you to see if its the same as your’s

As you can see in the pic of the two hemispheres, I had to use a screwdriver (tiny flathead one) to snap the plastic band holding the two hemispheres together. Then, there were two bars connecting the two hemispheres at opposite sides, and I used big wire-cutters to break it. The plastic casing fell off at this point and I was left with the circuit board attached to the lens and the button at the top.

I got the lens and its casing apart from the circuit board very easily, 2 little screws. Here’s the painful part: getting the glued IR filter off of the lens. I used an Exacto knife (thanks Taha) to scrape at the glass for 20 minutes…makes a horrible sound, but works pretty well. Once a good bit of the glass has been scraped off, you can get a screwdriver in there to pry the rest up – it first goes up vertically, and then it can be pulled out if you dig at it.

So…went to Lowe’s (again) and got some MDF  – medium density fibreboard. My plywood had warped, and I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about h0w the box was turning out. Great guy at Lowe’s, cut my wood perfectly and now it just has to be screwed on.

LCD monitor is a massive pain; there are these little tabs that I’m apparently supposed to pull out to detach the metal frame from the matrix, no luck. Screwdrivers are to be avoided as they could easily puncture the underlying ribbon cable.

Just a quick update; not too much action as I’m occupied with other projects.

So I’ve finally gotten around to taking some pictures of my disassembled LCD monitor. Removing the plastic case took forever…every little plastic snap had to be removed. Needless to say I was quite relieved when I plugged it in after removing the case and it still worked

I have a problem though…I’ve removed the case and such, but I’m not sure where to go from here. There are various ribbon cables attached to a large central box in the middle as you can see in my pics, but what do I remove? There are screws holding down that central box that I removed, but I was still unable to pull the box out. I think its secured to a side steel panel, also in my pics. Where do I disconnect the ribbon cables from?

I’ve gotten it to a stage where I can see the guts, but I don’t know what to do with them.

Anyways, hope you enjoy and make use of the pics…once someone helps me out with what to do from here I’ll put up the final pics of disassembly.

~rbedi100

Hi guys…
Haven’t posted in a while…heard people were actually looking at this so I figured I should post an update. I’ve partially disassembled my Acer AL1916W monitor, and I’m taking pics that should be up very shortly. I’ve nearly finished constructing my table’s body – legs and walls are done; just the top part that will hold the monitor itself to go.

I’ve planned out my monitor-holding design, so that’s good to go. I’m doing some other MT stuff right now – namely playing around with editing a book to help people get started with multitouch. Using InDesign CS4…trying to find my way around.

Just wanted to throw up a quick update

I was able to go to Lowe’s today – picked up all the wood I need to build my table’s body.  I don’t have a very good saw, so I just used the cutting center there. The guy who helped me out was great – he suggested I just go with regular plywood and 2×4s – not to pay more for MDF or something like that. I took my sketchup model printouts with lots of measurements, and I got done pretty fast. Four legs, four ‘legs’ for the base, four panels for the side, and a top and a bottom. I used 1/2″ thick wood, and 2″ square legs. Feel free to leave a comment here if you want the sketchup model I used – or just look through the several that I attached in the previous post through rapidshare.

For the top, rather than build a frame with 4 pieces, he suggested I use a jigsaw to cut the middle portion out, so I picked up a cheap $25 jigsaw, along with the necessary blades. I got it all picked out and cut in less than an hour, so I’m pretty proud of myself, having done no more than very small wood working projects before

Planning to build this week, with pictures! Then I can disassemble my LCD…

Haven’t posted in a couple of weeks…lots of action on the multitouch front, and not.

My monitor came in the mail. I started to disassemble it – just unscrewed a couple of screws and started to pry off the casing. I was talking to someone [Bridger Maxwell] about the monitor disassembly, and he told me that it was  a good idea to have your table and monitor mount 100% ready when you disassemble, so you can plant the monitor in its spot and never touch it again – the more you move it, the more likely you are to get dead lines/pixels, or break it.

So, I’ve been making sketchup models of what my box is going to look like – I’m going with a wooden frame, covered with MDF. One of my friends gave me a great idea regarding how to mount the LCD: . That’s a very rough sketch, but you get the idea – I was going to use a dremel, etc., but this is so much simpler – the bottom piece would obviously be much smaller than the pic, of course.

I’ve done a bunch of sketchup models, for the various possibilities – 3/4″ thick wood, 1/2″ thick wood, with a lower frame, without a lower frame…here are all of them, from rapidshare [[UPDATE: NEW LINKS]]:

It’s winter break right now, so I’m hoping I get a chance to go to Home Depot/Lowe’s and pick up some wood. Itching to take my monitor apart

Just won a monitor off of eBay! Yay!

Its the Acer AL1916W (19″) – nice discount, too. Much thanks to Bridger Maxwell for recommendation (http://multitouch.fieryferret.com). Can’t wait for it to come so I can RIP IT APART!

Yes! Will definitely post full disassembly pics when it comes in the mail.

Any advice on taking apart LCDs would be welcome and much appreciated (so I don’t kill it…)!

Thanks!

Well…I was just getting ready to take apart my Sony SDM-S81 18″ LCD monitor and I was just making one last internet search for potential problems. I found problems all right…apparently one circuit board is connected with no ribbon cable at all – just the connectors directly attached.

http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=26823

I can’t solder that small (read: can’t solder for my life) , and anyways its probably not worth it for an old half-working monitor. I plan to take it apart anyways, to get a feel for ripping apart expensive electronic devices Looking for a new monitor…preferably less that $150. Used is fine…just need to find something. Pics of no-good LCD soon…hopefully.