Secondary Touchscreen Monitor? Help!!

[arrowswake]

I'm a sophomore in college, and I really enjoy my music. I have Logitech Z-680 5.1 speakers for my regular computer setup, but to go to sleep, I have smaller speakers (JBL Creature Speakers) that I'm going to attach to my bedposts so I can listen to my music when I go to sleep, without bothering my roommate (I'm just gonna throw those in the headphone jack to use them at night, no fancy setup there). My idea was this:

Add a 7" Touchscreen LCD and mount it on my bed, so I can CONTROL my music from my bed.

Now I don't really know how to go about doing this. I know which touchscreen I would want: http://www.xenarcdirect.com/detail.asp?PRODUCT_ID=700TS It has the VGA connection, so that's all set.

Now my problem lies in the fact that I already have a graphics card, that I DON'T want to have to change. I just got it last month, and its the ATI Radeon 9800 All-In-Wonder Pro, so changing that to a dual-monitor card is out of the question, I'd rather not have the Touchscreen than replace it.

Seeing as that's taking up my AGP slot, is there a way I can get a secondary PCI graphics card, to hook the touchscreen up to? It wouldn't have to be a good graphics card by any means, it's just going to have Winamp on it. Something 32MB, I wouldn't mind paying for a 64MB or anything (Besides the touchscreen, I'd like to keep the cost under $50, $60). Basically I'm not asking for recommendations on which card to use (Though it wouldn't be bad if you recommended specific products), I just want to know if this would work, without having to unplug / plug in monitors every time I wanted to switch.

And also, if I'm playing a game on my primary monitor or something, can I still have winamp open in the secondary window, and control it that way? (Yes I'm aware that I can't have two mouse cursors in use at once, but would "clicking" on the touchscreen make my game screw up or anything?)

ANY info on this is greatly appreciated.

 

[aj2003]

u can set it up using a second pci graphics card. i know there is a pci version of the fx5200 which is a very low end card but should do the job. im not sure how u would set it up though.

 

[modemide]

xenarch makes the best small touch screen lcd. I use it in a lot of car computer applications. it's excellent if you ahve the money.

 

[blackwrx]

If you wanted to do that but not be able to play a game on one and have winamp open on the other, you could just get a splitter to put on the one you have now so you can have the same thing on two monitors. Or if you can get a converter from the s-video port on the graphics card (I'm pretty sure yours has one) to go to the lcd screen, that might be a lot easier. Good luck with whatever you do!

 

[modemide]

If you wanted to do that but not be able to play a game on one and have winamp open on the other, you could just get a splitter to put on the one you have now so you can have the same thing on two monitors. Or if you can get a converter from the s-video port on the graphics card (I'm pretty sure yours has one) to go to the lcd screen, that might be a lot easier. Good luck with whatever you do!

actually there are a few xenarc models that come w/ VGA input, so like I said, if you have the money, you could use it like a dual monitor setup. Also, if close winamp on your second monitor it should reopen there, so all you have to do is keep an icon of winamp on your second (xenarc) monitor, and winamp will open on it

Roughly 300-500 for touch screen.

 

[knuckle50]

if youre going to spend that much on a touchscreen monitor id get an old computer to use so it would have a dedicated winamp machine. that would be cool. i could get a good enough one for like 40 bucks. but thats just me, whatever your budget can afford.

 

[arrowswake]

Alrighty, I know what I'm doing, I'm getting a second graphics card, and hooking the touchscreen up to it, using dual-monitor support. Now I only have one more question, mostly for anyone who's used these before.

On a site (http://store.yahoo.com/1hitwonders/700tsusb.html) I was looking at, it says "You can connect several 700TS monitors into your computer and the touchscreens would work simultaneously through the multi-monitor support". Does that mean that i essentially have two mice at my disposal? This isn't going to sway my opinion, as I already know that I want to go through with this, but I'm still curious...

 

[..>Lost<..]

This is a cool setup ypu have going but crazy all just to avoid disturbing your room mate!

 

[arrowswake]

Oh, it's not just to avoid disturbing my roommate. The "Not disturbing my roommate" part is just the two smaller speakers mounted right on my bed. The touchscreen and everything is for convenience to me (Not to mention cool-factor, heh)

 

[modemide]

Alrighty, I know what I'm doing, I'm getting a second graphics card, and hooking the touchscreen up to it, using dual-monitor support. Now I only have one more question, mostly for anyone who's used these before.

On a site (http://store.yahoo.com/1hitwonders/700tsusb.html) I was looking at, it says "You can connect several 700TS monitors into your computer and the touchscreens would work simultaneously through the multi-monitor support". Does that mean that i essentially have two mice at my disposal? This isn't going to sway my opinion, as I already know that I want to go through with this, but I'm still curious...

<At first I wrote out this long answer ... then I realized what you were asking lol>

To illustrate this I will give you an example.

You are sitting at your computer using the mouse, the physical mouse can traverse all 2 (or 3) monitors/lcds. Now, you go over to your bed where you have this uber 1337 dual lcd setup. You tap one b/c there is something neat going on it (winamp or otherwise). That lcd is instantly in control of the mouse (actually the touch screen of that lcd) however, you can only touch that screen, therefore the mouse is restricted to that portion of your desktop. Now you touch the other screen and the mouse is also confined to that desktop.

This is my understanding of the dual touch screen process. I have no tried it, but (my) logic leads me to believe this. There may be some software necessary to control all this tho. The best way is to try w/ one lcd first and see. If you can control the mouse with that lcd and then go to your computer and use that mouse, you are all set if you feel the need you can buy another lcd.