Choosing the right hardware for an interactive kiosk [closed]

Question

My goal is to develop an interactive kiosk with only touchscreen available to visitors for a local museum. I must admit that I'm a freshman in this part of hardware world, but I really like the sound of this challenge, so I need to get some info/advice first about kiosk's components.

Regarding to the software part, I'm going to use an Arch Linux OS and develop my own kiosk software for the most minimalistic framework possible. I opt for making an app based on WebGL (because I believe this is my forte), so WebGL Hardware Acceleration must be supported by GPU. In case WebGL would be too heavy, my emergency plan is to build a good HTML site or a standalone Java app (which could be the hardest way, but more efficient).

So now about the hardware: The first thing that interests me the most are touchscreens - is there a special type of them, i.e. industrial ones, that are appropriate for this purpose? Where to find them and which one would you recommend me?

Next, what about the computer? I thought about something like Hummingbird i2 or Cubox-i4Pro so it would support at least OpenGL 2.0, Wi-Fi adapter, keyboard and all those things and which would be ready to install the OS on it. Also it needs to be compatible with the chosen touchscreen.

For now that's all I have on my mind, I'll add more questions later if needed. I'm open for suggestions!

Answer 1

In the spirit of "DoTheSimplestThingThatCanPossiblyWork" don't try and reinvent the wheel here.

Run with some easily commercially available and stable platform (EG iPad is a fairly universal thing, decent build quality, known form factor, etc.) as your job is not to invent some new hardware platform but to make a kiosk that presents some content. You cannot make a small-volume touchscreen kiosk device for less money than Apple of Samsung can sell you a tablet or even full blown laptop or desktop computer, and you will waste huge amounts of time & money trying (and no-one will thank you or pay you more for doing so).

Doing it in a web browser (HTML + JS + video) locked in kiosk mode means your software/content, such as it is, can transfer to almost any other device with little effort.

Edit to add: Because it's relevant, and because he's a hero, check out Tim Hunkin's website, he's made all manner of interactive kiosks, displays, and arcade machines and has some good insights. My favourite being the dog walking simulator.