Repurposing an old laptop (adding a touch interface)

[razaldo]

I have an old LG R480 lying around that I plan to repurpose

 

The idea is to hook it on with a cheap steering wheel and convert it into a low end car simulator for my 3 year old

 

I also want to add a touch interface to the screen so that it is easier for him to input 

 

With regards to the touch inputs, i am considering one of the following two options:

Option 1: Infra red touchscreen overlay (reference: like this)

Option 2: Airbar (reference: this handy dandy thing)

The IR overlay is another piece of glass on top of the  screen, where as the Airbar would be like an oversized chin.

 

Am not too bothered about closing the laptop lid - since the laptop might just get dismantled and fit inside a toy car or something (if I find something that's suitable for this project)

 

What would your recommendations be? What do you guys think? Yay or nay?

[VK707]

In my admittedly limited experience single edge solutions like that Airbar tend to have accuracy issues the further you get away from em.

 

If you have more dainty buttons to press on screen you may wanna go with the IR solution but if you got chunky robust stuff say 4 big zones on screen either will do fine

[razaldo]

18 hours ago, VK707 said:

In my admittedly limited experience single edge solutions like that Airbar tend to have accuracy issues the further you get away from em.

 

If you have more dainty buttons to press on screen you may wanna go with the IR solution but if you got chunky robust stuff say 4 big zones on screen either will do fine

Thanks for that point of view

 

Seems that going with the IR screen is the way to go to avoid any input hassles