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I recently found this option if you need sensitive touch control in the
future (I do for a project I'm working on).  It's not quite what you're
looking for but what the heck.

Capacative Sensor / Arduino Library:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHQPqQ_5ulc

.
Maria Mortati
.
(415) 235-8994
[log in to unmask]
.
site: http://www.mortati.com
blog: http://www.mortati.com/blog
.

On Fri, Mar 22, 2013 at 6:54 PM, Lorne Covington <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> ****************************************************************
> *****************
>
> For quick and dirty interfacing, just take a USB joystick and remove the
> control board, and wire up your own switches.  Bingo, lots of switch inputs
> and even a couple of analog (or more, depending on the joystick).  Great
> for prototyping as you can get them anywhere just about anytime.
>
> Cheers!
>
> - Lorne
>
>
> http://noirflux.com
>
>
>
> On 3/22/2013 4:32 PM, Jason Jay Stevens wrote:
>
>> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>> institutions.
>> ****************************************************************
>> *****************
>>
>>
>> The iPac, a circuit designed for coin op machines is available through
>> Suzo-Happ.It comes preset in a way that serves those systems well, but as
>> such works right out of the box without programming. It'll talk to your PC
>> through a USB cable. Other, similar and sometimes better products come and
>> go, unfortunately.
>>
>> Alternatively, Arduinos are available on many online electronic supply
>> sites, and are now available at Radio Shucks, which has granted that
>> merchant some bits of redemption, in addition to elevating the product to
>> "off-the-shelf" status--very cool. It's also cheap, and has a big, happy
>> user community. You can use one to send pushbutton clicks and other inputs
>> as generic/non-keystroke serial signals to a computer. That way, your
>> keyboard remains a keyboard; you can add all the pushbuttons and dials your
>> heart desires and never have to sacrifice certain letters of the alphabet.
>> The chip can be programmed in C++, and there is a never-ending supply of
>> freely-available frameworks. If I stopped making sense, stick with the iPac.
>>
>> The cutting edge is even cooler, though. We're experimenting with
>> Raspberry Pi's, which are $35 computers (! ! !), with an interface for
>> electronics built right onto the board. And HDMI video out! Incredibly,
>> wildly cool. Any application in exhibitions requires some amount of
>> programming, and is better with a good administration interface, so if
>> things ever go wrong (which they never do, btw), staff can run the first
>> few rounds of troubleshooting before a code geek needs to be called in. The
>> fact that it's cheap and you can hide one in a burger bun--or a large slice
>> of pie-- is going to offset that inconvenience!
>>
>> (not for human consumption)
>> : j
>>
>>
>> Jason Jay Stevens
>> Flutter & Wow Museum Projects
>>
>> P. O. Box 21576
>> Detroit, MI 48221
>>
>> [log in to unmask]
>> 210.364.6305
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mar 22, 2013, at 3:26 PM, Bob Raiselis wrote:
>>
>>  ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>>> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
>>> institutions.
>>> ****************************************************************
>>> *****************
>>>
>>> For an exhibit prototype, we are looking for a solution to controlling a
>>> PC (specifically, navigating to one of several URLs with Internet Explorer)
>>> using pushbuttons. I expect that there are existing solutions to this in
>>> the adaptive technologies world - any leads on what has worked for you
>>> along these lines? I imagine this will be a combination of a hardware
>>> interface and some sort of macro software...
>>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>> Bob Raiselis
>>> Montshire Museum
>>>
>>>
> ****************************************************************
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