fedora 17: making viewsonic td2220 touchscreen monitor work

just got a viewsonic td2220 touchscreen without checking if it has linux support because i was thinking it's just a simple input device. but it didn't plug-and-play. haha

checking viewsonic's website, to date, they only support windows boxes for td2220.

also, to date, google has no answer for it yet, too.
(yep, google doesn't know everything. but it does help a lot in finding what you're looking for! hahaha)

so to make my new touchscreen monitor work, i hunted a driver provider for touch products. good thing there's elo touch solutions (http://www.elotouch.com).

follow the steps below to have your viewsonic td2220 work on your fedora:

1. download drivers (http://www.elotouch.com/Support/Downloads/dnld.asp)
under linux, i used their 32bit multi-touch usb driver, since i'm using the monitor for a 32bit box

2. download instructions file for your more detailed guide
i'm summarizing the steps here so you won't have to read the instructions guide

3. extract and copy the drivers into /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb and prepare files for install

# tar -zxvf SW602247_Elo_Linux_MT_USB_Driver_v2.0.0_i686.tgz
# cp -r ./bin-mt-usb/  /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb

# cd /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb
# chmod 777 *
# chmod 444 *.txt

# cp /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb/99-elotouch.rules /etc/udev/rules.d


4. compile a driver for your system from source (this will require you to install make, gcc and kernel-devel)

# cd /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb/elo_mt_input_mod_src
# make
# make install


5. test if it works (mine worked instantly! woot!! but that means i don't know how to solve your problem if yours doesn't work. haha)

# /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb/loadEloMultiTouchUSB.sh

6. make it run on boot

# cp /etc/opt/elo-mt-usb/elorc /etc/init.d

edit /etc/init.d/elorc to make it chkconfig compatible. i added the ff lines:

# chkconfig: 235 90 10

# decription: viewsonic touchscreen

add your start up script to checkconfig

# chkconfig --add elorc

7. reboot and rest. and because it's the seventh, rest! hahaha

panis! XD

p.s. make sure that your kernel and kernel-devel are of the same version. if you just updated your kernel to be of the same version as your kernel-devel, restart your box before retrying.

tech thought: haptic + pressure = awesome touch screen input

late last year i came across this news about a group in japan developing advanced haptic feedback in touch screens. by touching images displayed on a screen they can make you feel different surface textures.

also, there were news about the development of pressure sensitive touch screens. that technology should be able to distinguish a touch from a press.

combining these two, you could develop what i think would be the best touch screen input possible. imagine feeling non-existent notches or bumps when you touch your slate device and pressing to register action. that gives possibility to typing without looking! just like using your old block phone, where you feel the notch on number 5 and feel the separated keys. or imagine composing text on a tablet by feeling the keys first and orienting your fingers using the bumps on f and j and the key separators, then by pressing to type. touch screen typing heaven!! ...for me, at least. :)