Why I think Linux needs to adopt the touch screen.

[naf456]

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Hi, My name is Nathan.
I have been researching into the evolution of the desktop computer.... And do you know what- I think the future is Touch

Tablets are selling like hot cakes. I walk into my local electronic store and I saw two salesmen talking to two customers - one about buying an iPad and the other a Nexus 7.

Around in "Desktop Corner" - standard desktops computers just don't seem cool anymore - it's when you see the new shiny Samsung or ASUS touch desktops when things come to light.

I don't think Desktops aren't going away any time soon - Laptops maybe, in favor for tablets.
Anyway Like Apple did to portable entertainment and eCommerce, I think there is a revolution coming - I mean, I know a revolution is coming- Everyone knows.

So what will this look like?
I think It'll come in the form of Tablelets.
Huge horizontal angled tablets, running Windows 8/9.

I mean this is the start isn't it? ... the start of the end for the computer mouse. Microsoft is never going to release a version of windows which isn't going to have primary support touch interfaces, And I'm a linux fan as much as the next guy on here, but there is no joking around when that Microsoft has the consumer desktop market to themselves.

I for one am very grateful for Microsoft for Windows 8 - we're finally going somewhere different, and evolving this, what seems legacy platform, I however for one, am staying with linux.

So what does this means to linux? Absolutely nothing of course.
There will always be USB ports which will allow us to plug in are mice and keyboards.

Ubuntu and it's Mobile Platform is a good idea, and I bad one. There is alot of noise with mobile computing at the moment - alot of the computing giants are trying to pull consumer bases apart. I'm intrigued to see if the guys at Ubuntu getting any contracts out to license there os to real hardware, not just Ubuntu branded phones. But this does mean touch screen support is in the works, and lucky for us, Linux is flexible enough to easily add touch screen support/better touch screen support

More about the Tablelets ... Mounting touch screens to vertical stands , makes them harder to use, as your arm is always trying to beat gravity. on horizontal screens, your arm falls with gravity.
I can imagine the desktops of the future like the computers from the movie Tron Legacy, if you know what I mean ;D

[oz]

Hello

Support for various touchscreen devices has been being added to the Linux kernel for at least 3 years now, but there are always more current and upcoming devices that will undoubtedly need to be added. You can check the following wiki pages for some tips on getting touchscreen devices working:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Touchscreen

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ng_Touchscreen

The articles were written for Arch but some of the info should apply to other distributions as well.

[rokytnji]

Actually. The way Dragon software seems to be selling like hotcakes to Windows and Mac users.

My take is voice activated software with a linux kernel is the future eventually.

Kinda comic in a way. I can hear the computer geek now.

"Will some one rm rf the dog pee in the hallway"

Then the whole cluster starts to wipe the drives.

[oz]

My take is voice activated software with a linux kernel is the future eventually.

I too think the future is voice driven commands, pretty much like on Star Trek, but of course with a certain amount of touchscreen still at hand, and I personally feel very doubtful that it will be Microsoft writing the operating systems, or the majority of the related software. Things are changing and it's going to be interesting to watch.

[Siddly]

Not only ArchLinux, touch screen support has been there for a long time in Linux of any flavour.

[m4kkin4]

Now it's more than a year that i purchased an all-in-one asus pc with touchscreen. It came with win 7, now it's dual-booted win8/mandriva 2011. 2 things:
1 it's not comfortable to use continously the touch-screen because you have to extend your arm.
2 the real issue(to me) is a desktop environment touch-screen friendly. meaning i'd like a simple horizontal desktop extension android style. this could be useful for workspace optimization

[CaptainDangeax]

Hi Naf456.

I've read your post in complete, and during that I asked myself about "will he write something about tennis elbow or whatever ?" You did.

I couldn't disagree more with your point. A touch screen-keyboard inside the desktop ? Nah, where will I put my papers / books / pencils / whistle ? And I'm sure I will never reach the same speed with a touch screen than with a mechanical keyboard (I tried, I have a 10" android tablet). My point is touchscreen is a game ; serious work needs a keyboard and a mouse (or even a 12" square pad for professionnal designers). But if you want to play with touchscreen, the choice is yours, not mine. I must tell that as a French, I was commited in school to use a "Thomson TO7", a 8bit personnal computer with an integrated light pen. How awful after 5 minutes for my right arm and elbow...

[ricard]

I don't think voice command will be used for anything but mundane things in the forseeable future. You wouldn't want to experience the result of "rm -rf / no wait, I meant rm -rf ~, oh crap". Apple have shown the way with Siri on the iPhone though, it will be interesting to see how it develops.

As for touchscreens, we have both iPads and laptops here at home. My wife prefers the iPad, and I like it for quick referencing like checking up a recipe, or a bus time table, it's fast and small and easy to do simpler tasks with. But it's awkward to hold in a reading position for any length of time, and Skyping tends to be tedious for the same reason. I find myself using my laptop for most of the stuff I do except quick Internet surfing. The trackpad on my laptop has much better precision than the touchscreen in the sense that I can aim much better with it.

Touch screens are much more intuitive of course, and it is very apparent with children, it's interesting to see how fast they embrace the touchscreen interface, our two-and-a-half-year-old can navigate the iPad with amazing speed, whether a keyboard and trackpad is completely alien to him.

The thing I'd expect to disappear would be the desktop computer. I can't imagine getting one myself, except perhaps for the larger screen, but you can always have an external one. On the other hand, in our home I place a lot of value of being able to sit in different places when I'm at the computer, whereas not everyone may have that need and perhaps prefer a fixed location for their computer work.

[oz]

I don't think voice command will be used for anything but mundane things in the forseeable future. You wouldn't want to experience the result of "rm -rf / no wait, I meant rm -rf ~, oh crap".

According to what I've read on the web, that happens to some users with keyboards, too. That said, I definitely prefer using keyboards over touch screens or voice commands (when appropriate), and full-sized keyboards at that. I'm not at all interested in trying to type on one where the tips of my fingers each cover 3 letters at a time.

[Miven]

You guys are hilarious. Thank you for getting at this one before me. Made me laugh instead of tearing a fresh hole in his ...

At least the OP had his spelling mostly correct, but his MicroSlobber is still dripping down my forum page.

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Peace and Cheer