DCC staff are beginning to receive an increasing number of requests for
various types of interactive displays including interactive whiteboards,
interactive (touch-screen) LCD monitors, and tablet PCs. Since the UDT has
not been tested or modified to work on tablet PCs it would seem less risky
to connect one of the other display choices (interactive LCD monitors
or whiteboards) to a supported UDT-XP (based on Windows XP) desktop or
notebook computer.
Neither Norman Public Schools (NPS) nor the District Computer Center (DCC)
recommends or endorses the products listed below.
We have not tested most of these products for compatibility with NPS
systems.
These product lists are provided as a convenient starting point for your
comparison shopping and are not intended to be exhaustive.
If you know of other products which should be added to these lists then
you may wish to contact one of the technical contacts listed at the bottom
of this web page.
Need Prices?
For pricing and availability of the products listed below you may want to
check our
Technology Vendors web page.
Interactive Wall / Whiteboard Displays:
These are generally larger whiteboard-style displays that can be mounted on a wall
or portable stand. Sensors allow the whiteboard to interact with other
equipment such as computers and/or projectors.
Interactive Desktop / Handheld / "Touch Screen" Displays:
These touch-screen displays suitable for desktop (or possibly even handheld) use.
Most have LCD displays. Some are wireless. Few are inexpensive. But an advantage of
interactive displays over tablet PCs is that they can work with a variety of
computers. This means your investment in touch-screen technology will probably be
compatible with computers you purchase a couple of years (or more!) from now.
Tablet Computers:
These range from from oversized PDAs to notebook computers with a writable
display surface that can twist around to cover the keyboard. Pay close attention
to the spcifications for tablet PCs as they often compromise system performance
to keep the cost down. In other words, their computing power and performance
may be a generation or more behind non-touchscreen computer models. Click
here to go to
Microsoft's official Tablet PC web site. Some smaller, ruggedized Tablet PC
models are at the bottom of the list below.
Please note: The DCC has not tested tablet computers for compatibility
with the UDT platform.
At this time you should not expect UDT functionality
on tablet computers.
Graphics Tablets:
A graphics tablet is a flat, electronic pad with a matching stylus/pen or
mouse/puck for input. The stylus is similar to a mouse in that it moves
the cursor on your computer display and you can use it to click, drag,
drop, and draw. But, depending on the model, a stylus may be pressure
sensitive allowing much more intuitive responses to your artistic impulses.
Graphics tablets come in many sizes but most are roughly 4x5, 6x8, or 12x12 inches.
While not actually an interactive display (the focus of this web page) graphics
tablets allow a richer interaction experience with existing diplays at
a fraction of the cost of true interactive displays so they are not entirely
out of place here.
The top three names in graphics tablets are probably Wacom, Wacom, and Wacom
but we'll list a few others for comparison.
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