Our team of professionnels answers to your most frequently asked questions.

Resistive touch technology consists of a glass or like panel that is coated with electrically conductive and resistive layers. The thin layers are separated by invisible separator dots. While turned on, an electrical current moves through the screen casting a sort of net across the monitor face. When you touch the screen (creating pressure) the layers are pressed together, causing a change in the electrical current and a touch command to be registered. Reliability is impressive because resistive touch screens do not have to be recalibrated when environmental conditions change. Resistive-type touch screens are usually the most practical. Resistive screens are extremely durable and can withstand the harshest of environments. Resistive technology is the "work horse" of touch technologies.
This type of screen is recommended for point of sale systems-kiosks (POS), restaurant registers, control or automation systems, medical use, hospitality kiosks, grocery/convenience, standard kiosks and others.

A Capacitive Touch screen consists of a glass panel with a capacitive (charge storing) material coating its surface. Circuits located at corners of the screen measure the capacitance of a person touching the overlay. Frequency changes are measured to determine the X and Y coordinates of the touch command.
Capacitive type touch screens are very durable and have high clarity. They are used in a wide range of applications, from restaurant and point of sale (POS) use, to industrial controls and information kiosks.

Surface Acoustic Wave touch-screens consist of a clear glass overlay. Each axis on the overlay has a transmitting and receiving piezoelectric transducer and a set of reflector stripes. The controller sends a 5-MHz burst to the transmitting transducers which convert the signal into surface waves. These are mechanical waves that propagate on the surface of materials such as glass. When the touch-screen it touched, a portion of the wave is absorbed by the finger. This is (somehow) converted to X-Y coordinates by the controller. These touch-screens are very clear since there is nothing but glass. They are bright, stable, can withstand temp, humidity, etc changes. Scratches do not affect the SAW touch-screens but they are do not work well when liquid comes in contact with the screen.

LED Array touch-screens consists of an array of LEDs across the top and one side, and an array of photo transistors across the bottom and other side. These set up a mesh of beams, and when a location is touched, some of the X-Y beams are blocked by the finger. There are no overlays so they are very clear and bright. They are subject to false touches, however, especially since the array is often more than a centimeter above the glass. Flies and dust also create problems.

This is a relatively new "freaky" kind of technology. Nicknamed the "pizza box", in industry, these touch-screens consist of a flat platform, on which you put a monitor. It won Product Of The Year Award from IDN (?) magazine in 1993. The platform acts as the touch-screen, so you can put any monitor on it. The platform consists of a top plate which rests on springs that can sense movement in 3 dimensions. A touch can be measured by the displacement of the springs! This still freaks me out. Since there is no covering, these touch-screens are very clear, bright, scratch resistant, etc. Calibration, however, is time-consuming and difficult. If the monitor is moved at all, the software has to be re-calibrated again. Note the slow response time.

Any PC with Win95 or later and a USB port or com port available. Any Mac with a USB port available. Also compatible with Linux.

Not to worry. Unless the cut penetrates the first layer of the Touch membrane, its functions will not be affected.

It can be cleaned with regular glass cleaner, such as Windex. DO NOT spray the liquid directly on the screen.