S2240T, Mac OSX Touchscreen Drivers?

Hi Folks,

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In searching for an Apple OS X touchscreen solution, a Google search also brought me here. While initially disappointed by Dell’s official position – "We do not test our monitors with any apple proprietary hardware or software” – I can nevertheless confirm that the Dell S2240T not only makes for a great OS X multitouch monitor, but also that I'm actually adding this answer from an on-screen touch keyboard [1] on the touchscreen of my own Dell S2240T, attached to a 2008-vintage MacBook Pro running OS X 10.9.5. 

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The vital linking component is an OS X driver, which takes the multitouch events signals (arriving at the MBP’s USB 2.0 port from the Dell S2240T’s upstream USB 2.0 port, via the USB cable included with the Dell S2240T) and serves them up to OS X in ways that make the touchscreen work as a multitouch monitor. AFAICS, the world leaders in developing such touchscreen drivers (for multiple OS’s) are Touch Base [2], and with their Universal Pointer Device Driver (UPDD) and ‘UPDD Gestures.app’ I’m enjoying what Apple obstinately refuse to contemplate: OS X on a multitouch monitor, where all the familiar trackpad multitouch gestures just work on the Dell S2240T touchscreen.

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Caveats

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(A) Evaluation For Free – you’re welcome to try-before-you-buy, by ordering up an evaluation copy of UPDD from the Download Centre webpage (single touch) [3]; by email request, you can also try out an evaluation copy of Gestures (multitouch). Pre-sales email support was top notch.

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(B) Multitouch Utility – while it’s true that OS X isn’t designed for touch (unlike Android or iOS, for instance), I’m finding that OS X is as easy to use under touchscreen control as the Windows 8.1 desktop environment (which isn’t touch-optimised either). Given that right-clicking, scrolling, task switching, etc., can occur using the same multitouch gestures on-touchscreen as Mac users are already familiar with from trackpad use, I’m very pleased indeed to have been able to transcend beyond a physical keyboard and trackpad.

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(C) Cost – at the time of writing (Sat 28 Mar 2015) a single commercial UPDD licence costs £95.00 / $171.00 / €133.00, while the cost for a single home/personal/educational use UPDD licence is £57.50 / $109.00 / €90.00 (to which VAT must be added, as appropriate). So in the UK, I paid £57.50 + 20% VAT = £69.00 via PayPal invoice (see their ‘Prices’ webpage for details of bulk pricing reductions, means of payment, etc [3]). While this may seem pricey for a "mere" driver, IMHO it’s well worth the investment for the multitouch rich utility boost it brings, and just compensation for all the programming expertise that’s gone into so elegantly working around Apple’s obstinate ‘No OS X touchscreens!’ dogma. 

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So if you too would like to be using OS X on a multitouch monitor, I can personally recommend the Dell S2240T with the Touch Base OS X UPDD + Gestures driver suite.

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Peace-&-Love,

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Tim Jones

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[1] An on-screen touch keyboard – KeyUp:

»  http://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/labs/

The built-in OS X ‘Keyboard Viewer’ works too, and other Virtual Keyboards are also available – see, eg:

»  http://www.touch-base.com/documentation/Virtual%20Keyboards.htm#_Mac_OS_X

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[2] The world leaders in developing touchscreen drivers (for multiple OS’s) are Touch Base:

» http://touch-base.com

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[3] Order up an evaluation copy of UPDD from the Download Centre webpage (single touch):

»  http://touch-base.com/download.asp

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[4] Touch Base’s ‘Prices’ webpage:

»  http://touch-base.com/prices.asp