Indicator LEDs

[WizardStan]

Then why is it that Exophase and everyone else said it was impossible before?

Pretty sure you're mistaken on that. Maybe Exophase said something (in which case he'd have been wrong) but notaz was definitely aware and made a couple posts about it over the years. That's how I knew it existed and built my poc.

 

[God Ginrai]

Then why is it that Exophase and everyone else said it was impossible before?

Pretty sure you're mistaken on that. Maybe Exophase said something (in which case he'd have been wrong) but notaz was definitely aware and made a couple posts about it over the years. That's how I knew it existed and built my poc.

Yea, I don't know about notaz, but I specifically remember at separate times both Exophase and Squidge commenting on the issue saying it couldn't be done.

-God Ginrai

 

[WizardStan]

The fact that I did it proves that it could be done.

 

[God Ginrai]

The fact that I did it proves that it could be done.

I would be very interested to see this in action. Where can I find this?

-God Ginrai

 

[Grench]

Correcting and updating this since there are apparently 4 RGB LEDs to make annoying disco patterns with.

4 RGB LEDs, one on the front by the power switch, one in the back of the lid.

Lid LED - reserved for alarms and notifications while lid is closed. I.e. be able to trigger it into flashing/disco/whatever from a cron job or whatever. Maybe have it pulsate fire during boot - and have the option to have it cycle colors during run time if you want to show off to the people across the bus isle.

That leaves three - power and left and right between the nubs.

By power switch: Power/Battery status LED.  

Off if the unit is 100% powered off and unplugged (rare).

Light/pale green:  standby

green:  on - connected to mains, battery full

orange:  on - connected to mains, battery charging

red: on - battery error (missing?)

slow pulsating green:  on - battery discharging >=50% capacity remaining

slow pulsating orange:  on - battery discharging >15% and < 50% capacity remaining

slow pulsating red:  on - battery discharging <= 15% capacity remaining

Other battery states?

Between nubs left:  Network I/O RGB LED.  Flashes a different color for each network I/O path's activity. User settable in a simple data file.

WAN purple

WiFi orange

Bluetooth blue

Between nubs right: Hardware I/O RGB LED. User settable in a simple data file.

NAND red

SD1 orange

SD2 yellow

microSD green

USB OTG 3.0 blue

USB2.0 1 purple (they're on the same hub)

USB2.0 2 purple (they're on the same hub)

eSATA white

Optional/assignable?:

serial activity on charge port

HDMI,

headphone left

headphone right

mic left

mic right

speaker left

speaker right

screen signal

other???

Modes that can theoretically be assigned:

color

falloff (min length of glow on activity)

fade in/out (intensity)

fade in/out speed

cross fade two or more colors?

flash

flash rate

alternating flash of two or more colors

fade by signal intensity

colors by signal intensity

Just for fun settings?

*left & right follow in brightness to relative volume in a sound track - single LED audio meters

*disco - all 4 LEDs flash random colors and brightness

*pong - right LED lights until right nub is clicked in, then left LED lights until left nub is clicked in, repeat

*cowbell - LED colors and intensities driven from the microphone input

 

[God Ginrai]

That leaves three - power and left and right between the nubs.

Actually, the other 2 are on either side of the power switch, not between the nubs. He didn't particularly suggest where the "power button LED" resided, but the way he worded it sounded like it was under the power button as a special backlight for the button.

-God Ginrai

 

[WizardStan]

I would be very interested to see this in action. Where can I find this?

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/7711-pandora-overlay-menu//URL]http://www.openpandora.org/rebirth/overlay.pnd

Be aware that I literally hacked this together in a couple days right before the contest deadline so it is far from polished. The exact opposite of polished. Very jagged. It was also written back when we were on 1.5something, so no promises that it'll work as is, but it should.

I've also been told the backup is broken, so be prepared to reflash when you want the old kill window back.

 

[God Ginrai]

I would be very interested to see this in action. Where can I find this?

http://boards.openpandora.org/topic/7711-pandora-overlay-menu//URL]http://www.openpandora.org/rebirth/overlay.pnd

Be aware that I literally hacked this together in a couple days right before the contest deadline so it is far from polished. The exact opposite of polished. Very jagged. It was also written back when we were on 1.5something, so no promises that it'll work as is, but it should.

I've also been told the backup is broken, so be prepared to reflash when you want the old kill window back.

Thanks for the links. If I backup op_menu.sh myself, I should be able to avoid a reflash, right?

EDIT: Just curious, tho'. Your post in that topic makes it sound like you had bigger plans for it. Did Real Life suck away your time soon after or something?

-God Ginrai

 

[WizardStan]

Yeah, there were a lot of plans. Real life interfered just a little bit and then it was hard to get back in the zone. I'm mostly a lazy sack when it comes to finishing anything.

 

[_wb_]

The point is: we can show stuff on the screen if we want, even if the application is using a raw framebuffer. And a screen is superior to leds to show information.

 

[God Ginrai]

The point is: we can show stuff on the screen if we want, even if the application is using a raw framebuffer. And a screen is superior to leds to show information.

Well, honestly, while you have proven this possible, the fact that this kind of thing never made it past a proof-of-concept on the Pandora just makes it seem unlikely that it would get used for this purpose, if at all. (While I certainly hope that we can have something like XMB for the Pyra now that I know it is possible)

Also, you have to take into account that some people may want notifications that don't block their view of their content.

-God Ginrai

 

[thatgui]

The point is: we can show stuff on the screen if we want, even if the application is using a raw framebuffer. And a screen is superior to leds to show information.

Which isn't always helpfull, especially with the screen beeing off. I often use my Pandora in USB-Mass storage mode, with the screen automatically turning off after a while. How should I see wether I left WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G on or wether there is SD-activity or not ?.
What if I want to use the Pyra in the dock ? Why do I need to inconveniently search for status in a taskbar, applet, whatever, If I could have all the info I need by just looking at a certain area of the Pyra ?.

And this isn't a big problem if use the "middle ground" some here already brought forward: 3 RGB and three single color leds. This way you can have your fancy christmas tree (which I would not want in a device I use in public, the flickering probably drawing my attention away from the screen, and with a pattern I probably need weeks to memorize) and "we" can have something that is conveniently usable, easy to understand, not cumbersome to use and won't cost ED a lot more (some traces and two additional holes I guess).

But leaving, were to put them as a problem - I would still prefer a place were they can be seen independtly from the lid status. I personally would prefer the Thinkpad way - in the display lid (lower part) with a hole on both sides and transparent overlays over it (http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/diagnose-and-fix/detail.page?DocID=HT003713) or like Acer did (does?) on some models, with the LEDs beeing visible "over the edge" (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bluetooth_Logo_on_notebook_(with_LED).jpg).

But both options don't seem very probable though (due to costs and mechanical/wiring problems).

 

[Saber]

Felt it more constructive to keep my opinion for moi only. 

Carry on.

 

[Binky]

Could we have LEDs on the front edge of the base like so?

 

[EvilDragon]

No, there's the antenna.

 

[Yoyobuae]

How about using a scheme based on time slots?

LED colors would indicate function (SD, Wifi, Bluetooth, 3G, GPS, etc)

LED blinking would indicate activity

Then each LED is divided up into timeslots of say, 0.5 seconds. For example lets say there's SD card activity and Wifi are both Bluetooth on:

• For 0.5 seconds both LEDs would light up green (green = SD card) and blink depending on either left SD or right SD activity
• For 0.5 seconds the left LED would light up orange (orange = Wifi) and the right LED blue (Blue = bluetooth) and show respective activity
• Cycle repeats indefinitely

When closed then the lid LED could take over those functions, again using 0.5 second timeslots. Left/right SD card activity could be merged, so three timeslots would be needed to display the above info.

The power LED could show battery status somehow.

The good thing is that such a scheme would be a bit more flexible, since new functions could be inserted by using additional timeslots and colors.

 

[God Ginrai]

No, there's the antenna.

Did we ever get an explanation for why they can't be in the hinge like on the Pandora? o_ô

-God Ginrai

 

[Natsu]

No, there's the antenna.

Spoiler

Could you move the volume switch to the side and put the leds there? Also, what is preventing

the leds from being on the hinge like the Pandora?

Did we ever get an explanation for why they can't be in the hinge like on the Pandora? o_ô

-God Ginrai

You h34r: . D:

 

[EvilDragon]

No, there's the antenna.

Did we ever get an explanation for why they can't be in the hinge like on the Pandora? o_ô

I can give you multiple explanations, here goes:

1. It would be more expensive, both in production (additional mold needed, tool for drilling the hole) and in assembly (takes a bit to put the lightpipes in). We're trying to simplify all of that to be able to produce as cost effective as possible.

2. We are looking for better hinges and don't know yet how much space they actually need. It could very well be that they need more space to be more robust.

3. We've got four shoulder buttons now. The two extra buttons are on the PCB where the LEDs were before and the plastic buttons would go right through the lightpipes...

While 1. is a simple cost thing, 3. is a bigger problem...

No, there's the antenna.

Spoiler

Spoiler

Could you move the volume switch to the side and put the leds there? Also, what is preventing

the leds from being on the hinge like the Pandora?

There's no space at the side - and I don't think you want to accidentally turn the wheel while playing games

 

[Natsu]

There's no space at the side - and I don't think you want to accidentally turn the wheel while playing games

That goes for putting the leds on the side too?
I never had that problem with other devices with the volume switch on the side.