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DAKboard OS can now work with Touchscreen and Infrared Touchscreen Overlays (IR Overlays). The Touch capabilities are always enabled so all you need to do is attach your touchscreen and reboot your CPU to get it to work. However, there are a few things you need to know to get the touchscreen connected to our OS. This article is to help you determine if your Touchscreen or IR Overlay will work with your DAKboard OS device, and show you how to connect it to your CPU
What you Need to Know:
The DAKboard OS is designed on a Linux-based operating system. Because of this, you will need to make sure your touchscreen or infrared overlay is Linux-compatible. Your Touchscreen or IR Overlay must have a USB connection so that it will communicate with the DAKboard OS device. As long as you meet these criteria, your Touch device should work with our OS out of the box.
NOTE: Some known issues may prevent your Touch Device from working with our Displays. When we discover these issues we will create bug cases and share them with you in our article Touchscreen with DAKboard OS. Be sure to review this before purchasing your screen.
How to Connect your Touch Device:
The basics of connecting your Touchscreen or IR Overlay should be included with your choice of monitor or Overlay. If there is no documentation for your Monitor or Overlay, we strongly suggest you review any online documentation before you try connecting your Display. Below are some general information to help you set up your Touch Device with our OS
Touchscreens:
With touchscreens, you will need to connect both the HDMI cable that came with your DAKboard OS device and the USB cable that came with your Display. Most touchscreens come with a USB-A to USB-B cable and use USB 2.0 when connecting the touch controller. Make sure you use this cable as the connection on the Monitor will be the only one for the touch controller.
With the DAKboard CPU v4 and CPU v5, you should be able to plug the USB-A connector in any of the 4 USB ports, but we recommend using the 2.0 ports as they seem to perform the best. You can identify them as they are the black ones. The blue ones are 3.0 ports. See below:
For the DAKboard Mini, you will need an adapter to connect the USB-A cable to your CPU. These adapters are available in our Shop HERE. With this adapter, you will need to connect it to the Micro USB peripheral port. This is marked as the Touchscreen Controller in the image below:
NOTE: Touch Functions do not perform well with the CPU Mini. It is strongly recommended to use a Raspberry PI CPU that has at least 2GB of RAM to take full advantage of this capability.
Once you have the CPU connected, power it on. When it is loading you should see, during the loading process, an additional screen as seen below:
This screen only appears if you have completed both the HDMI and USB connections. If you do not see this, try reseating the USB connections on both ends then reboot your CPU. Once loaded your Touch Matrix will already be initialized.
Infrared Overlays:
As with the touchscreen these devices will need to be connected to the USB port on your CPUs to work. Unlike touchscreens, there is no HDMI cable for these devices. Instead, you mount them, like a frame on a picture, to a Monitor or TV of your choosing, and it will act as the touch panel does. Breaking the IR beam in the overlay tells your CPU where your finger is and turns any Monitor or TV into a touchscreen.
Most IR Overlays will work with the DAKboard OS as long as you follow the same guidelines. Make sure it will work with a Linux-based computer, and that it uses USB-A for its connection to the CPU.
USB Mouse:
Though technically not a Touchscreen, you can still use all your touch functions by connecting a USB mouse to your DAKboard. Any USB mouse will do. You can even use a Wireless Mouse and Keyboard combo for your Display which will allow you to directly access your CPU and its settings page. See our article How to Access Your DAKboard OS Settings Page for more details on this.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Why can't I click things on my Screen, but I can move the pointer?
This can sometimes happen when your Touch Matrix fails to load, or if you lose connection to the USB port on either the monitor or CPU. To correct this, simply unplug the USB from the CPU and plug it back in. Doing this will reset the touch matrix. If this doesn't work, you can log into your CPU's settings page and Save your settings to trigger a reload. See our article How to Access Your DAKboard OS Settings Page for details and options to connect to your settings page.
Why does the pointer move left to right when I want it to move up or down?
This can happen when you change orientation from Landscape to Portrait and the Matrix fails to load. The solutions are the same as above. You can either unplug the USB cable and plug it back into your CPU to reload the matrix, or you can access the settings page and click Save Changes. Either method should reload your matrix and get it working again.