
Fully Functional 32 Year Old Touch Screen in a Buick Reatta - busymichael
https://youtu.be/pq2PSLdc8rA?t=191
======
busymichael
Notice both the text and graphics. Further in the video he shows how pressing
the eject button on the radio screen opens the cassette player. And how
diagnostic messages "pop up" on the screen, taking over the screen.

My father had a 1988 Buick with the led speedometer -- nothing like this touch
screen. But, we thought it was so hi-tech at the time. He also had a cell
phone built into the car -- but we were never allowed to use it because it
cost $2+ a minute!

~~~
busymichael
After watching the video again I realized the screen has some kind of
digitizer behind it. That was highly unusual for touch screens of the era.

Most touch screens from the 80s were not actually sensing touch; instead they
had light beams and sensors in a grid around the screen. Your finger would
interrupt the light and the sensors at the x and y axis would determine your
finger's placement over the screen.

------
rkagerer
Is it wrong that I prefer the user interface over some of today's more
contemporary automotive touchscreens?

~~~
rkagerer
It feels like it was designed with a stylus and ruler vs. some contemporary
automotive UI's designed with fingerpaint and a crayon.

------
ksaj
It also made it past Y2K, which they surely hadn't intentionally planned for.

