Some PCBs, holidays, a new case revision and a theme

[Silent-Hunter]

Aren't red LEDs cheaper? They are cheaper to make than white, from what I have heard.

 

[WizardStan]

Also use less power, but that's because they're generally not as bright as well.

which is another reason to suggest red over white: red doesn't blind you in the dark the way white does. Of course, that's a moot argument if the light is diffused through red filtered rubber.

 

[rygD]

Good point, WizardStan, which may be why the remote that inspired me uses red.  The down side might be the difficulty of seeing the markings when a bright backlight is needed, whenever that might be.

Oh, and red helps retain night vision, so you can see the key markings and not be blinded when you are typing on your Pyra in the dark.

 

[Kiga]

Great idea! Would be awesome for exemple to remember keys that are used in a game, or if you want to compose some music it would be very useful to have different coloured keys so that you could easily play music, change instrument while keys are changing color, we could make homebrew game that use keys colors etc... there is unlimited possibilities.

Um, your keys won't change colour without you changing keymat, which is a matter of you powering down, removing the battery, unscrewing the bottom, disconnecting the LCD cable, removing the board and changing the keymat, if it's anything like the Pandora

Well, I read the Fusion_Power post too quickly. I was about transparent letters and RGB led (like on the first pcb).

Also use less power, but that's because they're generally not as bright as well.


which is another reason to suggest red over white: red doesn't blind you in the dark the way white does. Of course, that's a moot argument if the light is diffused through red filtered rubber.

You can adjust the light power with white led, with red you will need to settle higher. Also what's the point with being blinded by a keyboard while you have a screen in front of you.

 

[Orz]

*switches to pyra theme*

 

[_wb_]

The problem with a single-color keyboard backlight is that we need the labels to have (at least) two different colors: one color for the normal key labels and one color for the Fn/Meta key labels. With e.g. a red backlight you can only get shades of red on the labels (remember, light is additive, not subtractive like paint), which would make it hard to distinguish the two sets of labels.

I'm personally in favor of white and orange/red (flame-colored) labels, something like this laptop keyboard:

 

[DaMummy]

And what would the advantage be to use red LEDs instead of a red printed label on the keyboard...?

nothing? thats why i said either/or. though imo, red light coming from keyboard is more appealing to me. have red on my laptop as well, and im sure theres some anal person who could tell you that red is easier on the eyes in a dark environment than white....probably?

edit: oh. it turns out WizardStan is our anal person. also, are the keys planned to just have light go through the letter itself or also shine around the individual keys as well, or just?

 

[thatgui]

I'm personally in favor of white and orange/red (flame-colored) labels, something like this laptop keyboard:

My favourite, matte black case with some mild orange acentuation and the orange labels. Actually, not really my favourite, that would be orange combined with purple, but I guess this is too far off

 

[EvilDragon]

Also use less power, but that's because they're generally not as bright as well.


which is another reason to suggest red over white: red doesn't blind you in the dark the way white does. Of course, that's a moot argument if the light is diffused through red filtered rubber.

But the brightness of those LEDs can be set in the OS, so they will not blind you.

 

[pmprog]

If you use white labels and a red led - some hacker, if they so chose, could switch the LED colour - if you have White, you're stuck with what's on the keymat.

(I'm assuming we're still talking about the backlit keymat)

 

[sebt3]

The fact that poste doesnt seems to have a header and the blue "like This" buttons are puzzling

EDIT: and the edit box is also still light blue

EDIT2: the button logo doesnt differentiate enough, so I can hardly tell if I have posted in this updated thread or not

 

[WizardStan]

oh. it turns out WizardStan is our anal person

giggity.

But the brightness of those LEDs can be set in the OS, so they will not blind you

It's not the intensity, it's the band. Even at the same power levels, white affects your vision more than red does. Brightness of the white could even be a little lower than the red and it would still be more blinding than red.This is one of the reasons blue LED headlights are simultaneously desired and banned in some areas: for lower intensity they appear brighter, allowing you to see more, but they also screw up the vision of opposing traffic.

But as I said, moot point since it's being diffused anyway.

 

[comradekingu]

You dont need a different colour for metas, only a positioning system that makes sense.

White and black has the most contrast, and it looks stylish, it can be used to seperate typewriter-keys from the rest too

http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com/#/layouts/75c1dba0bb2e239f857d961223cbbe76

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Well, if they use white, you could just turn it down until it's at a similar intensity to the red.

 

[WizardStan]

Well, if they use white, you could just turn it down until it's at a similar intensity to the red.

No, even at lower intensities white is still more blinding than red, and blue is more blinding still. You can turn the intensity way down so that it isn't more blinding than red but then the light is very dim and you're not getting the same benefit.But again, it's entirely irrelevant because it'll be put through a filter.

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Oh? I guess I don't know how it works.

 

[WizardStan]

Eyes are cool and weird.

 

[levi]

Unless you're planning to use it in the dark with the screen off, I don't see how it affecting your dark adaptation is of any significance at all. True, white LEDs are more complicated than red ones, thus more expensive and less efficient, but for a couple of keyboard backlight LEDs I don't think that's a significant concern either.

 

[WizardStan]

I don't see how it affecting your dark adaptation is of any significance at all

It isn't. I've stated in every single post I made on the subject that it's a pointless argument, moot, irrelevant. It's just a minor bit of trivia that someone MIGHT want to use to argue against white LEDs.

 

[deadofmind]

I am rather unable to come to a conclusion whether I would prefer white or red LEDs.

On the one hand, white light can be filtered to be any color, but uses more power than red.

On the other, red preserves night sight, which is pretty much what the LEDs are used for if you're using them on a keyboard. But you can't filter it to different colors if you want to.

If we use white LEDs, and can filter them to red, would we have to use more, the same, or less energy to get the same intensity as red LEDs?