17-inch panel PC offers capacitive touchscreen

By Jonathan Angel
2010-01-29

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Advantech is now selling a 17-inch panel PC that's available with capacitive, infrared, surface acoustic wave (SAW), or resistive touchscreen technologies. The PPC-175T offers 1280 x 1024 resolution, CompactFlash and PCMCIA Type II slots, dual Ethernet and IEE 1394 ports, plus PCI and Mini PCI expansion, the company says.

Advantech's PPC-175T has apparently been on sale since last year, but a new release from Zytronic, a U.K-based manufacturer of touch sensors, says the device is now available with a Zypos touchscreen. This screen is said to employ a proprietary projected capacitive touch (PCT) technology, using a matrix of micro-fine capacitors (each only 10μm in diameter) that are laminated behind a pure glass panel.

Advantech's PPC-175T

No claim is made that this PCT screen provides multi-touch operation, but it's said to be suitable for heavy-duty industrial applications, with "unlimited durability," and to work indoors and outdoors even in the harshest climates. According to Advantech, the PPC-175T is also available with touchscreens that use standard capacitive, SAW, or analog-resistive technologies. These are less durable, but are said to offer life ranging from 35 million touches (resistive) up to 225 million touches (standard capacitive).

In every case, the PPC-175T's screen is rated for a resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels, with a contrast ratio of 800:1 and a 17-inch diagonal size. While the device's northbridge and southbridge are not specified, Advantech says the PC supports Socket 478-based Pentium CPUs up to 1.8GHz or Celeron CPUs up to 1.5GHz, with up to 2GB of DDR memory via a single 184-pin slot.

According to Advantech, storage is provided on the PPC-175T via a bootable CompactFlash slot, a 2.5-inch bay that accepts IDE hard disk drives, and via an optional optical disk drive. Expansion, meanwhile, consists of a PCMCIA Type II slot, a PCI expansion slot (length not specified), and a Mini PCI card slot, the company adds.

I/O on the PPC-175T is relatively extensive, consisting of two 10/100 Ethernet ports, three serial ports (2 RS232, 1 RS232/422/485), four USB 2.0 ports, and two IEEE 1394 (FireWire) ports, Advantech says. Also listed are a VGA port plus mic in, line in, and line out jacks.

Specifications provided by Advantech for the PPC-175T include the following:

Processor -- Socket 478-based Pentiums up to 1.6GHz and Celerons up to 1.5GHz
Chipset -- n/s
Memory -- Up to 2GB of DDR RAM via 184-pin slot
Display -- 17-inch touchscreen with 1280 x 1024 resolution; available with resistive, capacitive, infrared, SAW, or projected capacitive technology
Storage -- CompactFlash slot or 2.5-inch IDE hard disk drive
Expansion:
- 1 x PCMCIA Type II
- 1 x PCI
- 1 x Mini PCI
Networking -- 2 x 10/100 Ethernet
Other I/O:
- 3 x serial ((2 RS232, 1 RS232/422/485)
- 4 x USB 2.0
- 1 x IEEE 1394
- 1 x VGA
- Audio -- mic in, line in, line out
Operating temperature -- 32 to 122 deg. F (0 to 50 deg. C)
Power -- 100 to 250VAC; 100 Watts
Dimensions -- 17.4 x 14.25 x 4.39 inches (442 x 362 x 111.5mm)
Weight -- n/s

Ian Crosby, sales and marketing director for Zytronic, stated, "Projected capacitive touch sensing technology ... can enable touchscreen systems to be created which present an intuitive control method that is effectively immune to operational wear-and-tear, as well being sealable to the highest levels, while maintaining the highest levels of sensitivity and accuracy. Using Zypos, Advantech has been able to implement a touchscreen that meets the most exacting industrial demands."

Further information

Advantech's PPC175T is said to support both DOS and Windows in all versions except the PCT one, which is only compatible with Windows. More information on the device, which appears to be available now, may be found on Advantech's website, here.

More information on PCT technology may be found on Zytronic's website, here.

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