[ale] Pad or Netbook w/Touch Recommendation.

[Ted W.]

On 11/27/2014 09:05 AM, Jim Kinney wrote:
> Check some of the low cost touchscreen laptops. Win8 can be replaced :-)
>
> On November 26, 2014 11:55:04 PM EST, Aaron Ruscetta <arxaaron at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hey strangers! :-)
>>
>> I've been tasked with procuring a touch pad or netbook with touch
>> screen
>> for use in the library at Atlanta Friends Meeting. It will essentially
>> be a
>> dedicated web browser to access our library catalog, which we intend
>> to keep on an internet service called Library Thing.
>>
>> An iPad has been suggested but I would love to avoid spending anything
>> on a a dead end Apple device, let alone way more money than we need
>> to for the purpose.
>>
>> Only other important aspects are a couple of standard USB ports for
>> connecting a CueCat bar code scanner and/or keyboard / mouse and
>> a security attachment slot (eg Kensington lock).
>>
>> Would like to keep the whole thing under $300, including the
>> security gadget.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for input!
>>
>> in peace,
>> aaron
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
> --
> Jim Kinney
> Linux Systems Analyst
> Physicist/Brewer
> http://jimkinney.us
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>

My only concern is your desired budget. Can you get anything with a 
touch screen besides a low end, Chinese no-brand, Android tablet for 
that? And even then, some of those can't act as a USB host device so it 
would complicate attaching your scanner unnecessarily. You say laptop 
but what about an LCD and a NUC (or something similarly small) mounted 
to the VESA mount on the back of the screen? Doing a quick search on 
Newegg, it looks like you can get a basic Intel i3 NUC with 1-2GB of RAM 
for a bit under $300. Combine that with an Acer FT200HQLbmjj 20" 
touchscreen ($120 on newegg ATM) and you'd have a nice kiosk machine for 
< $500. If that is too far over budget, I would still stick with the 
VESA mounted computer but maybe drop to a less expensive ARM boards. The 
RaspberryPi probably doesn't have enough power to do what you're looking 
for but something like the BeagleBone Black, Banana Pi or HummingBoard 
might be a little more acceptable and would keep the computer portion 
under $100.

Be sure to update us with whatever you end up with. I'd be curious to 
hear what works for this sort of application.

-- 
Ted W. <ted at xy0.org>