Indicator LEDs
- Thread starter Binky
- Start date
thatgui
Advanced Member
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2009
- Messages
- 3,048
Maybe this answers your question:
I like one RGB led more than 3 single-color leds. With 3 single-color leds you can easily distinguish 2^3 = 8 distinct combinations (assuming the leds have different colors, because from a distance it's hard to tell the position if only one of them is burning). With an RGB led I can distinguish more than 8 different colors, especially if the color is spread onto a relatively large area (as will be the case with the logo). Even if the single-color leds can have an arbitrary brightness, it is still easier for me to distinguish e.g. ◼ from ◼ than ◼◼◼ from ◼◼◼.
The color-blind are better off with positioned leds though.
One other thing I don't like about single-color leds is that you can't change their color. If you like to customize the color scheme to fit your preference, it's impossible.
Here is a more detailed comparison of one RGB led versus 3 single-colored ones:
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
The color-blind are better off with positioned leds though.
One other thing I don't like about single-color leds is that you can't change their color. If you like to customize the color scheme to fit your preference, it's impossible.
Here is a more detailed comparison of one RGB led versus 3 single-colored ones:
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
◼ vs ◼◼◼
Neelix
Insecticidal Maniac
First, I have to say I consider the distance viewing argument to be irrelevant in this use-case considering that the Pyra is a hand-held device. If I'm far enough away from it that I can't tell one LED from another then I'm not particularly interested in the specifics of what they are indicating.
Secondly, (and to me more importantly) while that sounds good in theory, I've found that it falls down in practice. When I was working tech support I had to deal with many different makes of router. One of the most memorable for being one of the nastiest to deal with used a single red-green LED to represent the status of both the low level DSL link and the higher level TCP/IP link. An issue with one was indicated with a red light, an issue with the other was indicated with an orange/amber light. (red+green) Very rarely could the customer tell me *which* of those two states it was in, unless it actually changed from one to the other while they were watching it.
That issue presented itself with what I would consider to be two very distinct colours, (and I'm pretty sure the customers weren't all red/green colour-blind) yet your example of little coloured dots suggested that you would be happy to assign different meanings to even similar shades and that just sounds like a nightmare to me. In that list of shades you posted, I only counted eight, perhaps nine groupings that I would consider distinct enough to represent different meanings, and that's just for my own usage.
I don't particularly care about being able to change colour of the indicators. That's cosmetic fluff, nice to have, but of no real importance.
- Neelix
Caine
Hardcore Member
If it is software controlled they can just change it to colours which they can easily distinguish.
levi
Still fresh, damnit!
Agreed. The eye is much more sensitive to green than it is to blue or even red, so it overwhelms those colours if they're only used in moderation. Telling the difference between 00FF00, 88FF00 and 00FF88 is nigh on impossible.
Distance viewing is pretty important considering that we're talking about a status led that has to be visible when the lid is closed, meaning you're probably not using the Pyra as a hand-held at that moment. On the Pandora I can easily tell whether wifi is enabled from a distance, but don't ask me which of the two SD slots is being active.
I get your point. However, in your example. those status leds are basically the only source of information so any potential ambiguity is a huge problem. On the Pyra, you would probably use the screen or the serial USB to troubleshoot, not really the leds.
Neelix
Insecticidal Maniac
Again, If I'm that far the pandora, I probably don't care which of the SD slots is active, just that there is activity worth investigating. (or not) Same with the radios, I don't care if its bluetooth or wifi that's active unless I want to do something about it, in which case I'll still come close enough to find out before I actually have to act on it.
That may be true in some cases, but it's not really a good reason to give up such a valuable diagnostic tool. The LEDs lose their value in that regard if there is any amount of ambiguity as to what they are actually indicating.
- Neelix
OK, but you can always assign two very different colors to the two configurations you want to distinguish. Yellow and blue for example. I can see how it can be hard to distinguish red from orange without seeing them next to one another, but I don't think anyone will have a hard time to tell whether something is yellow or blue.
Neelix
Insecticidal Maniac
True enough, and that might work well if you are only trying to load 2 or 3 indicators, but the more indicators you load onto the same LED the harder it's going to be to tell individual indications apart, especially when you have some colours blinking and multiple things being indicated at the same time. Considering the things I want to have indicators for, putting them on a couple of RGB LEDs is going to make some of them very hard to distinguish.
The blinking effects might even be counter-intuitive... Lets say you have Red=3G and Blue=Wifi... and each flashes to indicate activity. This works well when you only have one radio turned on but lets say you have both switched on, resulting in a Magenta indication. Some program transmits some data through wifi so the blue starts flashing. Except that what the user sees is that the usually Magenta indicator is flashing RED - which would seem to suggest that something is using the 3G. oops!
- Neelix
levi
Still fresh, damnit!
Hmm, it's counterintuitive that flashing magenta is the same as alternating red and blue, or worse, a lightly that flashes in turn red, magenta, blue, off, red, magenta etc. Logically it's exactly the same, but it's worth making sure if we have flashing lights that they're synchronised imo.
Edit: And double good point that wifi activity with 3G on would mean flashing magenta and red. Ugh!
Edit: And double good point that wifi activity with 3G on would mean flashing magenta and red. Ugh!
Last edited by a moderator:
Caine
Hardcore Member
Sounds like the indicator LEDs are going to be a disco ball 
That's totally up to you.Sounds like the indicator LEDs are going to be a disco ball
You can also keep them single color, if you like.
But that would be a waste.
Neelix
Insecticidal Maniac
Not if you want to indicate a number of different status with just two or three LEDs.That's totally up to you.Sounds like the indicator LEDs are going to be a disco ball
You can also keep them single color, if you like.
Also I would expect there to be a default way that most things are indicated, (which I expect most people would not normally change) and frankly if there are only two or 3 indicator LEDs + the one in the lid to handle all the various indications, then I think disco ball is going to be a good description of how it will end up looking in the default configuration.
- Neelix
levi
Still fresh, damnit!
Thinking about it, if one LED is handling 3G, wifi and BT on one LED as red, green and blue I think I'd prefer it if the LED alternated between red, green and blue rather than combining any of the colours at any point. It does mean you can't continuously observe activity on a specific channel, but I'm not too bothered about that. I would like an indication of whether wifi is connected to a AP or not though - I'm fed up of picking up my Pandora only to find out it's dropped off the network silently.
