I am trying to make a slide sensor. Something like the volume control in some HP laptops. It is just a simple board and when you slide the finger on it it increases/decreases the volume. Probably it uses capacitive sensors but I am not sure. Are there any premade boards like this or can I make one myself?
You could use a regular slide pot.
Or you could use on of these (they come in various sizes) from Sparkfun.
Another choice might be to use a resistive touchscreen stolen from an old dead PDA or Gameboy. You should find some postings here on the subject. There aare also some about it in the Playground.
The "touchpads" used on some laptops are also available separately, as recycled or spare parts.
Ran
I am not talking about the touchpads or touchscreens. I am talking about this:
Maybe it is a membrane potenciometer but I don't think so.
Given the size, I'd say it's very likely that it's a membrane pot: it's hard to get capacitive sensors that small.
Ran
I have one of those slide sensors on my laptop, it doesn't seem to be a membrane. It's probably using capacitive sensing with a chip like the Qtouch series from Atmel. The QT1106 lets you create a slider object and a number of pushbuttons with the correct PCB design.
I have seen that chip before. It probably is something that I want but I would like to get a sensor board premade. Because I have no idea how to make a sensor board like that. So while it probably is something that I want it is a little to complicated to use.
I am actualy starting to build a multitouch table and I would like to add a capacitive sound control as a cool factor :). Something like you slide your finger and the LEDs turn on ;D.