Over the summer MacCentral brought readers news that LCD display maker Planar Systems Inc. planned to bring its new line of touch screen LCD displays to the Mac. Since then, MacCentral has confirmed that the previous report was in error.
Select from lists above to find files. The Planar® Helium™ Series is a line of 22”, 24” and 27”, Full HD resolution (1920x1080) interactive 10-point touch screen LCD monitors. Designed to take advantage of Microsoft Windows® 10 features, Planar Helium Series touch monitors are ideal for software developers and designers, corporate power-users and retailers.
The line as introduced last August consisted of 15, 17 and 19-inch LCD screens with resolutions ranging from 1024 x 768 to 1280 x 1024 pixels. Planar aimed the new displays at applications like information kiosks, point of sale terminals and other spots where users would prefer to directly contact the screen rather than interact with a mouse or a keyboard.
“Planar is working on the drivers and expects to have full Mac support across its PT line in three months,” a spokesman told MacCentral at the time. Recently, MacCentral followed up with Planar to find out the status of that support, and received disappointing news.
No drivers are needed for basic touch screen operation, but for advanced features, drivers are quickly loaded using the easy to follow, step-by-step instructions. The Planar PT1510MX monitor comes standard with a deskstand and is compatible with other mounting options using the 75mm VESA standard hole pattern on the back of the monitor. As it turns out, only one touch screen system in Planar’s arsenal — the PT1503NT — sports Mac OS support. And unfortunately, the driver software is limited to Mac OS 9 support only.
“Regarding the drivers, we provided you with an estimate that wasn’t in our control to deliver upon, so we apologize for any confusion this might have caused. Planar would love to offer Mac drivers and support Mac users, but in this particular case, we don’t actually develop the software. The touch screen drivers that interface with the touch panels themselves are sourced from the people who design and manufacture that component,” explained a Planar spokesman.
As it turns out, only one touch screen system in Planar’s arsenal — the PT1503NT — sports Mac OS support. And unfortunately, the driver software is limited to Mac OS 9 support only. That particular model uses resistive touch technology developed by ELO Touchsystems, which is why it works on the Mac, said Planar.
In all other cases, Planar’s touch screen displays utilize technology developed by Fujitsu or 3M, according to the company, and those developers do not offer the Mac any touch screen driver support.
Planar Touch Screen Monitor Drivers Windows 7
Users interested in customizing their Mac systems with touch screen input may want to drop by Troll Touch’s Web site. The company manufactures custom solutions designed to work with Mac displays and provide support for Mac OS X and Mac OS 9.
Supported OS | Singel&Multi-touch | Supported Technologies | Interface | Supported Touch Controllers | Driver Download | Version | Notes |
Windows | |||||||
Windows XP/7/8.1/10 | Multi-touch | PCAP | USB | PCTC609U, CT612U, PCTC703U, PCTC701U, PCTC702U | iUniTouch_Tool_Setup_V1.2.1.0.zip | 1.2.1.0 | The Driver is optional since these HID touch screens are PNP with Windows7 or later. And this is a mouse emulation driver, supports multi-tp and multi-monitor.? |
| Windows XP/7/8.1/10 | Singel-touch | IR/SAW | USB/Serial | SAW:All single touch controllers IR:All single touch controllers | GTDrv4.2.2.1SU_WINXPAL3_EN.exe | 4.2.2.1 | GenTouch Software User manual.pdf |