NEW CAFE OPENING! Who has a solution?

[willstein]

Hey techies! I'm looking for ideas.
A new cafe is opening up in Northern California, and we're going to have a monitor in the wall, where customers can - see the menu, learn about the coffee, see nutrition labels etc. etc. etc.

The digital format will probably be in flash, or perhaps some kind of "dvd" software. In any case whatever is on screen has to be "locked" where user's can't 'ctrl+alt+del' - or alt+tab - or somehow get to the windows screen. ... that's a different topic though.

I need ideas how to run this.

Instead of purchasing a computer to run what will be quite a simple system, is it possible to run this system off the office computer about 50 feet away?

Is there some software that lets you run one program on one monitor, and the rest of XP on another monitor?

Or can I install two operating systems, and run them both simuntaneously?

Or is the best solution simply to purchase a spare computer for about $500 and run it off the spare entirely.

Anyway, any ideas you have would be sweet. (and if you know how to "lock" a program, you can share too)

 

[hercules_upw]

I think all you would have to do is set up your system for dual monitors. Run the menu on the second monitor. I know my video card is set up for dual monitors (primary/secondary).

I have seen this program (photo parade) where several photos are displayed as the screen saver. The "photos" could be the menu on your second monitor and the screen saver program would display them in order.

 

[willstein]

Set up the sytem for dual monitors might work best, except the scenario that a user presses control alt delete, etc. etc. etc. Although I wonder what damage can be done with only a mouse...

Is two operating systems possible to prevent this?

 

[Eagleboy]

I would run it single monitor, only give the user a mouse with only one click, and no keyboard.


Then have it as a flash based program or whatever where it can't be exited with just the mouse---have the keyboard elsewhere (such as the office the tower is located in)

 

[willstein]

Running it on a single monitor would mean I would have to purchase a second computer for the videos.

Any way to run XP and this app on the same computer simuntaneously? (with two different mice + one keyboard)

What about installing two XP's on the hard drive? Can they both run at the same time?

Thanks.

 

[septoid2]

Get a touch screen monitor?

 

[willstein]

thought about it.

without a keyboard, can a savvy user do much damage?

 

[Harper]

Is there some software that lets you run one program on one monitor, and the rest of XP on another monitor

Microsoft has brought out a product called Virtual PC (I might have the name wrong)

Anyways, you can use run 2 OS. However it's a real data whore on your ram. So you would want to have at least 1Gb (prefered 2 gb) of ram on there.

Why do you want to do this?

 

[willstein]

Re: Re: NEW CAFE OPENING! Who has a solution?

Why do you want to do this?

Basically to save the $500 from having to buy a seperate PC to run a simple interactive video.

Yeah, I just looked up Virtual PC. It is the right name, and it will run two operating systems - but do you think it will run two mice and keyboard as well?