Newbie with a project

Need help choosing/creating desktop

from WinCustomize Forums

I am starting a project to adapt a Panasonic Tuffbook with an 8" touchscreen to an automobile entertainment/information device. Current mobile in-dash entertainment systems with touch screens will do gps mapping, play cds, mp3s, dvds etc but do not have an internet connection. I will add a broadband card to the Panasonc so that I am connected all the time while I am on the road. I want to

Recieve internet radio
Map my position
See real time traffic maps
See real time traffic cams
Play mp3s and cds.
Check email
Surf the internet while parked.

I want a touch screen control with very big icons and menus that I can click at a glance. I have downloaded desktopx and loaded the Playground Desktop that was in the samples. The playground has a big start button with big menus, large buttons for starting programs and a pull chain to turn the machine off. This is the sort of functionality that I am looking for. I my also want to have some sort of menu tree system, where I can flip through desktops. (Maybe a separate media desktop, with playlists etc.). Can someone start me in the right direction? I do not think I need a fancy theme or windowblinds and the background is not important as it will be covered in buttons.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Philip Macafee

21,802 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Why not just use a dock with different icons pointing to what you want to do.?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
the background is not important as it will be covered in buttons.
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*Pixeleo is reminded of the iPhone*

What you want is that all these features are accessible on the touch of a button and available on your desktop, so you don't need menus, but you also want a menu tree system to change desktops?

*Pixeleo is confused*
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Wow, incredibly fast responses!

vStyler: Right, I have been using objectdock on a touchpanel hometheater pc for about a year. But I have to move my finger down the menu and read each as they expand, probably not safe in a car. Right now my problem is just getting a handle on all the tools available at wincustomize and understanding which is the best. My needs are simple and some tools and feature sets seem to overlap. I am not sure if I need a desktop or dock or something else.

Pixeleo: I am concered if I add to many buttons to the screen I will run out of room. I may want to add many internet radio stations and there are about 15 real time streaming traffic cameras. Maybe one of the icons could point to a different desktop, say an internet radio desktop, and then another would point towards a traffic cam desktop. Is that possible?
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm no developer, but a combination of virtual desktops and DestkopX might help you. Still, I can always be wrong ;)

Wow, incredibly fast responses!
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Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am not sure I understand the difference between a virtual desktop and desktopx. Where do I get virtual desktops?
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What I meant is that you're worried about desktop clutter, right?
Then how about multiple desktops? I mean that different desktops for different functions and environments. DesktopX is probably the same thing, but it's like more suited towards widgets/objects than virtual desktops.
I'm sure you know about Mac OS X's Spaces feature, which allows for more than one desktop. And you can switch desktops through the mouse and keyboard.

And you can have, suppose, an Internet Explorer window in one desktop, a Photoshop and MS Paint window in the other and a media player in the third, and a folder in the fourth.

And when you're in the first desktop, you've got only IE open to browse the internet. Suppose you want to switch to the media player in the third desktop, but you can't see it in your current one because it's an entirely different interface. You switch to that desktop and see only the media player.

That was just an example above. What you do with more than one desktop is reduce clutter.

My idea was that if you want different sets of buttons, like a media set to contain your radio station links and watch DVDS, your web set to contain your internet links,etc and you think your desktop might run out of space because of a billion buttons, you should try some sort of virtual, multiple desktops.
So then you can have more than one desktop. In one you'll have your media player, or radio station open, and it will have the buttons you need for media.
In the other you'll have the web browser icon, your email, etc, and all the web windows will open in that window, and so on.

I'm not sure how this is possible in Windows so there's no clear cut way to get this. If someone knows something I've missed,they might correct that.


I am not sure I understand the difference between a virtual desktop and desktopx. Where do I get virtual desktops?
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There are many ways to do that, but I don't use them, so I can't recommend any particular one.

Try the Microsoft Powertoy for virtual desktops [third to last option] or try VirtuaWin...

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
And I thought all I had to worry about was the folks on cell phones in their cars. :LOL:
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I am not sure how to do virtual desktops in Windows, so I will keep poking around in desktopx. I will copy the Playground desktop and then assign one desktop to one of those icons (widget/gadget?) on the other desktop to see if I can easily switch between them. Still not sure where to get the icons that I see on the Playground desktop or how to make my own, but the are movable and seem to do what I want.

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