HP 150 stiffies

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Sun May 10 17:06:12 1998

On Sun, 10 May 1998, Pete Turnbull wrote:

> > BTW, does anyone remember Steve Ciarcia's homebrew touchscreen articles
> > in Byte? I have the reprints somewhere, and it works in the same way as
> > the HP150 touchscreen - IR LED/detector pairs around the screen.
>
> I've got that reprint somewhere, too. "Let Your Fingers Do The Talking",
> Byte August 1978 and September 1978. A 16 x 16 grid of emitters/sensors.
>
> A box near the ned of the article says "An industrial grade alphanumeric
> terminal incorporating touch panel input is being manufactured. For
> information contact: General Digital Corp, 700 Burnside Av, East Hartford
> CT 06108".
>
> Another box says, "NOTE: Any one building a unit from these designs should
> be advised that they are covered by a number of patents by the University
> of Illinois and may not be sold for profit".

As coincidence would have it, I just picked the following up at a thrift
store today:

The Carroll Touch Input System from Carrol Touch Technology, Champaign,
Illinois. The schematics are from July 1979. Apparently an entire
company was formed just to produce these LED array touch screen things!

-- Doug
Received on Sun May 10 1998 - 17:06:12 BST