20-27" lay-flat touchscreen computer/tablet as board?
Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2016 2:48 pm
There have been various discussions on different sub-forums of this site in the past about using touch-screen interfaces (usually for the on-line clubs like KGS or IGS) but most common tablets/phones are small, and most discussions I found were old. In the past few years a niche category of computer hardware has come along that involves *large* touchscreens, ~20+". A small subset of these can lie flat on a table. Some of these are now large enough to be essentially as big as a full-size 19x19 go board (eg, 27"-diagonal models are now available with multi-point touchscreens).
These either run MS Windows (lately 8.1 or 10) or Android, though the Android or dual-boot ones seemed to be more from a few years ago. The ones I see looking around now are the Lenovo Yoga Home 900 (27"), and prior models Lenovo Horizon 2s and Lenovo Horizon 2. The Dell XPS 18 preceded those. The hardware is not absurdly expensive either, less than $600 today for a Horizon 2s (which is less than some physical go board/stones sets), or less than $1500 for the 27" Lenovo. To just see a video of what the hardware looks like and see someone touching it, though not playing go, check out for example: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/lenovo-yoga ... 21736.html
I predict people will be using such super-sized "tablets" to play across from each other more commonly in the future, in addition to using them for KGS, IGS, or the like. Obviously many people will still prefer physical stones and boards, but automatic scoring, built-in timekeeping, and the ability to save and review the game even for beginners who can't recall all the moves are some obvious advantages of using a computer as the board.
I'm very curious what it would be like to play on a large lay-flat touch display where the stones and board are actually life-size. I've no idea if any of the goban software out there runs on such computers in a way that makes the touch interface reasonable for go.
Anyone tried it? Is there reasonable software for Windows (the OS most of these all-in-one type computers run) to serve as a goban and function correctly with the touch screen interface?
These either run MS Windows (lately 8.1 or 10) or Android, though the Android or dual-boot ones seemed to be more from a few years ago. The ones I see looking around now are the Lenovo Yoga Home 900 (27"), and prior models Lenovo Horizon 2s and Lenovo Horizon 2. The Dell XPS 18 preceded those. The hardware is not absurdly expensive either, less than $600 today for a Horizon 2s (which is less than some physical go board/stones sets), or less than $1500 for the 27" Lenovo. To just see a video of what the hardware looks like and see someone touching it, though not playing go, check out for example: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/lenovo-yoga ... 21736.html
I predict people will be using such super-sized "tablets" to play across from each other more commonly in the future, in addition to using them for KGS, IGS, or the like. Obviously many people will still prefer physical stones and boards, but automatic scoring, built-in timekeeping, and the ability to save and review the game even for beginners who can't recall all the moves are some obvious advantages of using a computer as the board.
I'm very curious what it would be like to play on a large lay-flat touch display where the stones and board are actually life-size. I've no idea if any of the goban software out there runs on such computers in a way that makes the touch interface reasonable for go.
Anyone tried it? Is there reasonable software for Windows (the OS most of these all-in-one type computers run) to serve as a goban and function correctly with the touch screen interface?
if I were rich I’d try to get something like that into the little public park right across my window 