Weblog entry #2 for gna
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#2
The PenMount Touch
Posted by gna on Fri 21 Oct 2005 at 07:27
I recently got a project where i had to install a kiosk system on a PanelPC manufactured by Lex Computech.
It has a Via Nemeiah CPU, an LV668B mainboard, 256MB RAM, onboard VGA/Flatscreen-controller, 2*100MBit LAN, 4port serial controller, onboard CF-IDE.
The TouchScreen is controlled by a DMC9000 RS232 controller.
I had no problems installing NetBSD or Debian on the system but had no luck with the DMC9000. I also had no fundamental knowledge how to install a TouchScreen controller on X, i only knew it was connected to COM4 (/dev/ttyS3). I googled around and found many manufacturers using this kind of controller, i also found drivers for XFree86 4 on Debian 3.1, but there was always the same README every time, providing a X-config snippet, instructions to copy, and start the calibration tool, but no troubleshooting info.
I saw the driver was loaded right, but nothing happened when i touched the screen. On my last try i put a WinME rescue floppy in the system an booted DOS, and used the DOS driver to test if it could tell me what happens. As the detection tool reported to me the controller is on COM4 (/dev/ttyS3) IRQ 11 i got the idea. On my linux installation i saw the 4 COM ports share IRQ 3 and 4. But thats not right. I started 'setserial -b /dev/ttyS3 auto_irq', then 'setserial -g /dev/ttyS3' and look there the IRQ was set to 0 (ZERO).
I gave it a try and fired up Xorg with the XFree driver, and the TouchScreen worked.
I had to reinstall my Debian system about 5 times. In Sarge the savage driver has a criminal refresh rate, even when it reports running on 85Hz, so i reinstalled Sid and the savage driver was working fine, my last problem was that the angles where wrong, so i tried a PMode setting i saw in DOS, and changed from the default 1 to 7 and now i am happy user of a TouchScreen under Debian SID.
The Kiosk Browser of my choose was Opera 8.5 because of it's ability of doing kioskmode on his own without any hacked skins etc (not like mozilla). The default TWM is right ok for this task, when the user logs in the broser is started, and without keyboard there is no chance to get out of the kiosk.
My only problem is to AUTOLOGIN the kiosk user, and to get the browser window true full screen. I have about 0,5cm on bottom, and 0,2cm on right that need to be filled.
It has a Via Nemeiah CPU, an LV668B mainboard, 256MB RAM, onboard VGA/Flatscreen-controller, 2*100MBit LAN, 4port serial controller, onboard CF-IDE.
The TouchScreen is controlled by a DMC9000 RS232 controller.
I had no problems installing NetBSD or Debian on the system but had no luck with the DMC9000. I also had no fundamental knowledge how to install a TouchScreen controller on X, i only knew it was connected to COM4 (/dev/ttyS3). I googled around and found many manufacturers using this kind of controller, i also found drivers for XFree86 4 on Debian 3.1, but there was always the same README every time, providing a X-config snippet, instructions to copy, and start the calibration tool, but no troubleshooting info.
I saw the driver was loaded right, but nothing happened when i touched the screen. On my last try i put a WinME rescue floppy in the system an booted DOS, and used the DOS driver to test if it could tell me what happens. As the detection tool reported to me the controller is on COM4 (/dev/ttyS3) IRQ 11 i got the idea. On my linux installation i saw the 4 COM ports share IRQ 3 and 4. But thats not right. I started 'setserial -b /dev/ttyS3 auto_irq', then 'setserial -g /dev/ttyS3' and look there the IRQ was set to 0 (ZERO).
I gave it a try and fired up Xorg with the XFree driver, and the TouchScreen worked.
I had to reinstall my Debian system about 5 times. In Sarge the savage driver has a criminal refresh rate, even when it reports running on 85Hz, so i reinstalled Sid and the savage driver was working fine, my last problem was that the angles where wrong, so i tried a PMode setting i saw in DOS, and changed from the default 1 to 7 and now i am happy user of a TouchScreen under Debian SID.
The Kiosk Browser of my choose was Opera 8.5 because of it's ability of doing kioskmode on his own without any hacked skins etc (not like mozilla). The default TWM is right ok for this task, when the user logs in the broser is started, and without keyboard there is no chance to get out of the kiosk.
My only problem is to AUTOLOGIN the kiosk user, and to get the browser window true full screen. I have about 0,5cm on bottom, and 0,2cm on right that need to be filled.
Comments on this Entry
Posted by Anonymous (62.15.xx.xx) on Mon 7 Nov 2005 at 16:47
I have read your post and I have the same problem with Suse Linux 9.3.Do you think it colud be the same problem and solution?
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
You can give it a try, Suse should have also a setserial package. Btw i solved the autologin, and the true full screen.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (62.15.xx.xx) on Fri 11 Nov 2005 at 09:53
Can you explain me the steps to configure the touch controller?
Thanks
Thanks
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (81.86.xx.xx) on Sun 29 Jan 2006 at 21:02
how did you solve the autologin problem? i've tried this: http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue72/chung.html with no luck.
i'm also going to be using a touch screen but don't have the hardware yet...
i'm also going to be using a touch screen but don't have the hardware yet...
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Yes that is the tool i used to solve the autologin.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Why is it so i cannot see the last comment added to my blog?
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (81.178.xx.xx) on Fri 3 Feb 2006 at 17:33
On a very similar setup I cannot calibrate the touchscreen at all. Could you go over the process a little bit? When i touch the screen the cursos just jumps around.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
A very precise calibration was also not possible for me, but when it "jumps" around the screen, you might try the PMode setting to set it to 7 or an other value, and give that a try.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
Posted by Anonymous (202.7.xx.xx) on Tue 1 Jul 2008 at 12:48
If you still have access to the machine you got the touchscreen working on, can you kindly paste the setserial -G /dev/ttyS3?
I am in a similar suituation, where the touchscreen does _something_, namely it makes the cursor jump around the screen. I have tried PMode 1-7 and even 8 without any success.
From the documentation I can find on the DMC9000 controller, it wants a braud rate of 19200, and linux defaults the serial ports to 1152000. This might be an issue, though after changing the baud_base with setserial I don't even get the jumping around behaviour.
Cheers,
Steve
I am in a similar suituation, where the touchscreen does _something_, namely it makes the cursor jump around the screen. I have tried PMode 1-7 and even 8 without any success.
From the documentation I can find on the DMC9000 controller, it wants a braud rate of 19200, and linux defaults the serial ports to 1152000. This might be an issue, though after changing the baud_base with setserial I don't even get the jumping around behaviour.
Cheers,
Steve
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]