Android touch panels

D

Thread Starter

dex

hi,

I'm interested to use Android in my industrial automation project, and in particular I need a touch panel that have a good ingress protection (>= IP5x).

I did not found any good solution, apart this <b>Ltouch</b> panel.
http://www.biemmeitalia.net/

Did someone try this out?
It seems quite good in terms of performance and interfaces such as RS485, Ethernet, etc...

Thanks
 
I have a list of Samsung and Asus Android tablets that should start delivery in the next few months. With prices about $150 (US) for 7-8" models, and x86 CPUs (Linux software for x86 is probably more mature than for ARM) these look like nice tablets to reload with Linux (Debian or Ubuntu) and that also makes them much easier to program. The Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone boards are nice and inexpensive, but having a color touchscreen on inexpensive x86 systems looks very nice. I hope to add more information ASAP on this page:
http://www.turbocontrol.com/mobileard.htm
 
Do the Samsung and Asus tablets have a host USB port and/or wired Ethernet? These two would be ideal for projects I'm considering.

Thanks
KEJR
 
B

Bruce Durdle

Samsung Tab 10.1 and Asus/Google Nexus 7 both do - I'm using them as masters to control some stuff (via a FORTH program running on a PIC).
 
C

Curt Wuollet

As a general rule, anything that runs Android will run Linux since Android uses the Linux kernel. My Nexus 7 for example, will run Ubuntu linux and probably others.

These aren't really ports, just recompiles. There may not be turnkey support. but if it can be done, somebody is doing it.

Regards
cww
 
Out of curiosity, why do you avoid using Android?

Thank you for the link, I'd look whether there exists a version with ingress protection IP54
 
> Out of curiosity, why do you avoid using Android?

I've done a little Android programming with www.Processing.org and I mentioned that on this page:
http://www.turbocontrol.com/mobileard.htm

I've done a lot of Windows, WinCE, and Linux programming using these free open source tools that are *very* easy to start using:
http://www.turbocontrol.com/easyfpgui.htm

The normal Android tools (Eclipse) work good for full-time programmers. But they are very complex. I can get young folks started a lot easier with the easyfpgui stuff!

> Thank you for the link, I'd look whether there exists a version with
> ingress protection IP54

Yes that is important! According to this PDF (not guaranteed by me) the front panel is IP65:
http://www.microcomputersystems.com/089t_datasheet.pdf
 
>> Out of curiosity, why do you avoid using Android?

Android (and iOS) is *much* more complicated to program for than Windows or Linux. It is OK for a full time programmer, but it is a bit much for someone who tries to keep doing a lot of other engineering tasks. This page shows how simple programming those OSs can be (a 3-4 MB zip for everything to compile a GUI program):
www.CtrlTerm.com

I recently found a way to use Linux (no GUI) on Android tablets (no rooting required). This makes running Linux console apps on inexpensive Android tablets *very* easy. Here is my first example (more will hopefully follow soon):
http://turbocontrol.com/gnuroot.htm

This seems very interesting to use for running a single machine control app on an inexpensive tablet (with USB OTG)! I know that won't work in many industrial settings, but it does seem to work OK in some settings (like a machine shop).
 
Running a linux x11 GUI app on an Android device may have just gotten a lot simpler!

GNURoot has been updated! See this text: "WheezyX rootfs type added - it has Xterms working. After launching it, use a vncviewer on your Android device or you PC to connect to it." Now I hope to get Control Terminal working (first for WiFi and Bluetooth, then with USB OTG for Ethernet and Serial)!

http://turbocontrol.com/gnuroot.htm
 
What is the ultimate goal for this? I have broken down and run embedded windows for the HMI on some of our more complex machines (with a custom HMI library I designed). It is hard to beat C#.net and visual studio winforms for designing simple user interfaces. Sometimes I do miss the commercial HMI hardware. They are often more robust than many of the small panel PCs I've been able to find.

I still prefer to use a RTOS or PLC for the underlying machine control.

I would love to use linux some day for an HMI but I find that I spend a lot of time messing with trying to get things to work (even simple things like touchscreens). Cross compatible tools for development exist but there are complexities. Visual studio can be made (with the right libraries) to be drag and drop. This is important down the road when you need other people to maintain your projects.

KEJR
 
>What is the ultimate goal for this?

Since you mentioned C# please see my response (the 6th message) in this thread: :)
http://www.control.com/thread/1294638212

I've been programming (engineering apps) for more than 30 years, and since I wrote www.CtrlTerm.com about 2.5 years ago it has become the program that I've used the most (for real work projects), had the most fun with, and has been the simplist! :)

I think most of my goals are expressed in messages earlier in this thread, on the Control Terminal web site, and on this page:
http://turbocontrol.com/gnuroot.htm

Control Terminal seems pretty easy, even for inexperienced programmers. I hope to add more info soon on options to use different IDEs with it.
 
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