
Turn a MacBook into a Touchscreen with $1 of Hardware - globuous
https://github.com/bijection/sistine
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craftyguy
Previously posted (including comments from the author):
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745998](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745998)

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ljf
The blog post (easily missed at the bottom of the read me) is likely more
interesting to non-technical reader (like me) :
[https://www.anishathalye.com/2018/04/03/macbook-
touchscreen/](https://www.anishathalye.com/2018/04/03/macbook-touchscreen/)

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solarkraft
Likely even to a technical reader. Thanks!

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Viper007Bond
All of my past couple laptops have been touchscreens. I never find it that
useful honestly. It just ends up leaving fingerprints all over the screen.

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dmix
I generally agree, but I still found it useful simply for up/down scrolling
while reading an ebook or news articles while on the couch. Basically when I
don't need to use the keyboard at all for an extended period of time.

I can hold the laptop differently in that case, using it more like a tablet. I
did this often enough where I was happy I got a touchscreen...

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Theodores
Just think how different it could have been had this approach been feasible a
decade or two ago. I believe it would have been, however, nobody had thought
of it.

Had that route been taken then by now it would be a mature technology with
most laptops having some bulge around the web camera to turn it from touch
mode to web cam mode or to privacy mode.

It could have co-existed alongside expensive touch much like how other
hardware gets emulated in software if the full hardware is not present. By now
the device could have slimmed down to use some magic piece of mylar film that
folds flat when the lid is closed but magically springs out to capture the
whole screen.

But this is a tech that is too late to the party, touchscreen is not going to
have a lame cut down version that works off a webcam, however, had this idea
come along and been viable two decades ago then things could have been
different, it could have been a tech that lasts for a while before being
superseded.

I do wonder at the PIN number stealing scam applications of this and if there
is something we will all have to look out for in terms of really sneaky camera
on ATM machines.

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colorincorrect
Absolutely amazing! Goes to show how far a clever idea can go. I wonder how
much better the system can be improved with two cameras instead

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Moter8
Already exists professionally (as in -- commercial product). Sadly I don't
remember a name.

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proee
[https://air.bar/mac](https://air.bar/mac)

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aresant
This is a really smart and cool implementation, seems like a kickstarter
waiting to happen.

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mavhc
Pro glossy screen arguments: Can retrofit a touchscreen Anti: everything else

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punnerud
Why not use an AI system like PyTorch and make the system learn the rest
itself, as long as you “calibrate” enough times.

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amelius
Does it also work when the screen is displaying lots of images of fingers,
like in the demo video itself?

