LCDs with capacitive touchscreen for the BeagleBoard

Hi,

I've been looking for inexpensive LCD solutions for the BeagleBoard.
By inexpensive, I mean an LCD with a capacitive touchscreen that will
retail for less than a full blown comercial device that includes it
(such as cellphones).

As it is, were the interfaces compatible, it would be cheaper to buy a
consumer device and cannibalize it for parts than to order a single
LCD, let alone the capacitive touchscreen, which is usually sold
separately, if even available to begin with.

Kits such as those from beagleboardtoys usually only provide the
resistive option. This is an issue for prototyping appliance UIs,
since the experience is radically different, from an end-user
perspective.

Is there a reason for the high prices/low availability? Are there any
patent issues I am not aware of? The technology doesn't look like it
should be expensive, except perhaps for manufacturing tolerances.

Of course, once the final product is complete and there is proper
funding, the usual channels will open up, such as direct negotiations
with manufacturers, buying in quantities. There is a long road until
that point is reached, however :slight_smile:

--Stephen

I am not aware of any capacitive touchscreens that have been adapted to Beagle. You will need to provide the interfaces to drive any LCD you add as well as the capacitive touchscreen itself. Capacitive touchscreens have generally not yet found their way to being easily accessible as the resistive ones have. One place would be to start withthe controllers and see what touchpanels suppliers they recommend. Generally speaking, the TP is separate form the LCD, even though you can buy them together. Your best bet would be to look for them separately. Some TP suppliers to provide the required controllers with their panels.

There are indeed patent issues that have slowed the availability issues with capacitive touch panels. I won’t say who has tried to corner that market, at least for now, but I will instead leave it to your imagination. There is a resistive technology out there that will give you the same features as capacitive, but I don’t really know too much about it or how well it works.

Gerald