allan gould
27-10-2010, 03:03 PM
Thought that I would mention a conversion I did to my laptop which really has made a difference as to how you use a laptop either in the field or the observatory.
As usual I was surfing the internet and came across this site.
http://www.cyclotouch.com.au/index.php?osCsid=a749cf353254824322 4f27ebdf8921c3
I bought a 15.4" touch screen seen here
http://www.cyclotouch.com.au/index.php?cPath=315&osCsid=a749cf3532548243224f27ebdf89 21c3
and set it up on my laptop.
It attaches to your normal screen with double sided tape which leaves enough room to slide a red screen (plastic sheet) between the normal and touch screen if you need red lighting. If not, leave it out and it can be slid in later.
Only downside is that on some PC screen you may not be able to fully close the laptop. As mine is permanently in the observatory this is not a problem.
I found that using a touch sreen speeds up the use of my time at the screen as Im not using a mouse or the keyboard. My planetarium program ECU Pro5 when doing an object search has all the NGC, M. IC etc etc headings set out in a table that you touch/click with a mouse and next to it is an numeric pad, thus entering objects to slew to is very fast. All my programs now run without a mouse or keypad except for entering in the name of files to save when imaging.
Really fast and useful so I thought I would pass it on.
Cyclotouch in Adelaide were quick and responsive to questions and great on delivery.
As usual I was surfing the internet and came across this site.
http://www.cyclotouch.com.au/index.php?osCsid=a749cf353254824322 4f27ebdf8921c3
I bought a 15.4" touch screen seen here
http://www.cyclotouch.com.au/index.php?cPath=315&osCsid=a749cf3532548243224f27ebdf89 21c3
and set it up on my laptop.
It attaches to your normal screen with double sided tape which leaves enough room to slide a red screen (plastic sheet) between the normal and touch screen if you need red lighting. If not, leave it out and it can be slid in later.
Only downside is that on some PC screen you may not be able to fully close the laptop. As mine is permanently in the observatory this is not a problem.
I found that using a touch sreen speeds up the use of my time at the screen as Im not using a mouse or the keyboard. My planetarium program ECU Pro5 when doing an object search has all the NGC, M. IC etc etc headings set out in a table that you touch/click with a mouse and next to it is an numeric pad, thus entering objects to slew to is very fast. All my programs now run without a mouse or keypad except for entering in the name of files to save when imaging.
Really fast and useful so I thought I would pass it on.
Cyclotouch in Adelaide were quick and responsive to questions and great on delivery.