Virtual Control Panels?

Comments on these observation from the more-experienced would be
appreciated.

The (few) industrial cnc machines I've seen sport control panels where
most of the surface is covered with buttons, switches, and knobs,
while the display - lcd in more recent machines- is relatively small.
This is true even when the actual controller is an ordinary tower pc
tucked in the back.

On homebrew cnc (which I've only seen in pictures) there are NO
switches and knobs, but instead a fair sized monitor, keyboard, and
(sometimes) mouse.

What are the trade-offs involved with these approaches, beside the
obvious cost factor?

Speculating for a moment, I'd guess that dedicated industrial type
control panels must make routine tasks simpler & faster, and that they
stand up better in a HD machine shop environment. On the other hand,
virtual control panels displayed on a monitor must offer flexibility &
can be customized easily thru software. But keyboards and/or mice must
be truly lousy input devices in a world of grease, coolant, and heavy
sharp objects. And crt's out in the open are perhaps implosion risks as
well?

In this list's files can be found info on hacking old keyboard
controller chips to allow dedicated buttom/switch input to masquerade
as keyboard input, and perhaps this would allow a hybrid dedicated/
virtual control panel. Has anybody felt the need to do this?

The issue of operator interface seems critical for reliablity and ease
of use, even (or perhaps, especially) at the home shop level, but I've
seen no discussion of it here, in print, or at any of the web sites.

Especially interesting would be comments from people who have used both
industrial and homebrew cnc machines.

TIA,

Steve Clay-Young