The ViewTouch application is served to all of a local area network's displays.
The ViewTouch Desktop features 16 icons launching a useful collection of Linux 'userland' programs. Power Down, Reboot, FireFox Browser, FileZilla, TimeZone, File Update, Raspi-Config, Synaptic, Print Settings, Raspberry Pi Configuration, PDF Document Reader, ViewTouch Wiki at Github, Compile, Link & Install new ViewTouch Binary, Update ViewTouch Graphics, Hardware Information, Terminal
ViewTouch touchscreen monitors/displays require 1920 x 1080 resolution. Acer's elegant thin bezel UT241y is the recommended 24" touchscreen for ViewTouch point of sale.
Click on the pictures of the RPi computers to download either (top picture) a 32-Gb uncompressed ViewTouch point of sale bootable image file or (bottom picture) a 5.2-Gb compressed bootable image file.
If you downloaded the uncompressed bootable image, skip this section.
If you downloaded the compressed image file, from a terminal command line, type
zstd -d RPi.viewtouch.img.zst to decompress the compressed image file, RPi.viewtouch.img.zst
After decompressing, use the
lsblk command to determine the name of the microSD card which is the image file's target.
Use ddrescue or cp command to write the image file to a class 10, 32 Gb (or larger) microSD target.
If using ddrescue:
ddrescue -f path/to/RPi.viewtouch.img /dev/sdx where 'x' is the microsd external storage 'device', likely 'a' (i.e., sda).
Experienced users may make use of Partition Editor to expand the sdx2 partition of the 32Gb image to the full size of any microSD card larger than 32 Gb.
You now have a 32 Gb uncompressed bootable image file. Copy the file to an external device hosting a 32-Gb MicroSD card.
Use the
ddrescue or cp command
lsblk (to identify your external device)
ddrescue -f/or/cp (space) path to the uncompressed image file (space) /dev/sda (sda or your external device)
Upon completion the MicroSD card with its bootable image is inserted into a Raspberry Pi microSD slot and the Raspberry Pi's power is turned on. If you have the ViewTouch all-in-one computer, insert the MicroSD so that the contacts are facing the front, display side of the 'Push-Pull' card slot. When the ViewTouch all-in-one is given power, an orange light appears at the lower right of the display. Select the Power button on the lower edge of the display, immediately to the left of the orange light. The light will become a green light and the computer will boot into the ViewTouch desktop in about 25 seconds.
The images offered on this page are current from November 3, 2023.
'Ready to use' microSDHC cards are available from ViewTouch for $25. Fully developed Restaurant Menu workups for your restaurant are also available from ViewTouch.
24/7 support is available for $69 monthly.
The ViewTouch application can be updated from the desktop. A single touch of the desktop's 'Blue Orb' icon located on the right margin automatically downloads, compiles, links and installs the most recent code. A touch of the desktop's Download button
Users of ViewTouch point of sale can use a USB flashdrive to preserve existing menu pages, data settings and data history when upgrading to another Raspberry Pi ViewTouch computer. The following is an auxiliary support image which can be written to a USB flashdrive. This flashdrive image has scripts which transfer ViewTouch data from one Raspberry Pie ViewTouch computer to another Raspberry Pie ViewTouch computer.
Click on the picture of the USB FlashDrive to download this auxiliary support image file to your computer.
This auxiliary support image is not compressed. Use the
ddrescue or cp command to create this tool by writing the image to a USB flashdrive, understanding that the contents of your flashdrive will be overwritten by this 2Gb image.
Run the programs on the USB flashdrive by clicking on the icon which appears on the desktop when the USB Flashdrive is inserted into the RPi's USB port.
The performance of ViewTouch on the Raspberry Pi can be improved safely and dramatically by a bit of tweaking. The RPi image on this page does include this. These changes in the /boot/config.txt file: over_voltage = 6, arm_freq=2000 and gpu_freq=825 . GPU Memory is increased from 76 to 512. CPU temperature of the Broadcom SoC will typically remain at less than 110 Fahrenheit. Android Tablets or Smartphones which support video resolution of 1920 x 1080 or better can readily be used as ViewTouch Point of Sale displays when a Raspberry Pi is running ViewTouch on a local network. This QR Code downloads the ViewTouch Xserver (remote display program) to any Android tablet or smartphone.
This newer version may be required on some Android tablets or Smartphones with newer versions of Android.
ViewTouch source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3 and is available at github.