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The biggest issue with touchscreen is that the tech they are using is likely going to disappear in a few years at best, and getting replacement parts is going t

The biggest issue with touchscreen is that the tech they are using is likely going to disappear in a few years at best, and getting replacement parts is going to be a mess. Fun fact, Olkiluoto's EPR and Flamanville, the upcoming French power plant, must use 4/3 screens because all the GUI stuff where design for this kind of display, but in the retail market such a screen format has long been replaced and now they are already struggling to get spare parts.

toast0 3y ago
If they have room, most monitors let you put a 4:3 signal in and will pillar box it for you with the proper settings. They may stretch by default, and if you need the visible portion to be a specific size, you've got to have a lot of extra room for the blank section... So I can see how that might not fit... I have seen some new 4:3 displays around 25" sold on amazon for arcade machines... Price is too high for me, but I'm not a power plant.
ssl-3 3y ago
A quick Google search shows no particular shortage of 19" 4x3 touchscreen monitors for sale, in a variety of forms: Desktop, VESA-mount, open-frame, and 19" rack-mount. (Other sizes were also shown to exist, but this was not an exhaustive search.) It seems like a thing that is unlikely to disappear soon, since a lot of industrial customers -- globally -- are very comfortable with rack-mounted displays, and 16x9 rackmount screens are kind of meh compared to 4x3.
Gare 3y ago
> The biggest issue with touchscreen is that the tech they are using is likely going to disappear in a few years at best, and getting replacement parts is going to be a mess. This issue is even worse with physical buttons.
- gregoriol 3y ago
  It is pretty easy to build a new physical button if you have the one not working on your hands. It is not easy to build new software/screen if you have a non working screen on your hands.
  - littlestymaar 3y ago
    It's not that economical to build physical button either, especially in small number, but you're right that it's still much easier than a complete screen.

toast0 3y ago

If they have room, most monitors let you put a 4:3 signal in and will pillar box it for you with the proper settings. They may stretch by default, and if you need the visible portion to be a specific size, you've got to have a lot of extra room for the blank section... So I can see how that might not fit... I have seen some new 4:3 displays around 25" sold on amazon for arcade machines... Price is too high for me, but I'm not a power plant.

ssl-3 3y ago

A quick Google search shows no particular shortage of 19" 4x3 touchscreen monitors for sale, in a variety of forms: Desktop, VESA-mount, open-frame, and 19" rack-mount. (Other sizes were also shown to exist, but this was not an exhaustive search.) It seems like a thing that is unlikely to disappear soon, since a lot of industrial customers -- globally -- are very comfortable with rack-mounted displays, and 16x9 rackmount screens are kind of meh compared to 4x3.

Gare 3y ago

> The biggest issue with touchscreen is that the tech they are using is likely going to disappear in a few years at best, and getting replacement parts is going to be a mess. This issue is even worse with physical buttons.

gregoriol 3y ago
It is pretty easy to build a new physical button if you have the one not working on your hands. It is not easy to build new software/screen if you have a non working screen on your hands.
- littlestymaar 3y ago
  It's not that economical to build physical button either, especially in small number, but you're right that it's still much easier than a complete screen.