Backlight - two stage dim

[ew]

Don't know if this has been suggested before, or if this is possible, but I though a two stage, or secondary dim, would be useful.

I have an e200 with the backlight set at 20s.  After the timeout, the lcd is totally off and there is no way to see that the e200 is working, other then pressing one of the keys.

What if there was a secondary setting that would kick in after the first one.  So after the primary backlight setting time, a secondary backlight setting (with its own brightness level and timeout) would kick in.  For example, the primary setting is a brightness level of 6 with a 20s timout.  The secondary setting could have a brightness level of 1 with a much longer timeout.  That way, there would be *some* visible sign that the device is working (albeit very dim).

The real question is the effect on battery runtime.  If the secondary setting is costly from a power perspective, perhaps it is of no real benefit.

What do folks think?

[JdGordon]

I think this has been rejected a few times already. the backlight is really only useful when you are usising the buttons, otherwise its usually in your pocket and you have no need to know whats on the screen.
the best answer is to have backlight set to "on" and backlight on hold set to "off", no other compromises makes any logical sense

[Serenity]

I'm addicted to the "Caption backlight" option, personally.  It's just neat, and I really miss it when I have to use my wife's (non-Rockboxed) iPod.

[ew]

It may be true that some people keep their player in their pockets unless they are pressing buttons, but I would also suppose that others may use it the same way as I do.  I also use the "caption backlog" which is great, however...

I listen to classical music and the tracks tend to be quite long.  It would be helpful to be able to glance at the player and see progress without having to press buttons (in my opinion).

Anyway, I just looked at the patches and noticed that a new patch has been posted that does exactly this.  Apparently this is a feature of the ipod OF.  There must be at least one other person that finds this to be a beneficial item.

I hope it makes its way into the codebase (I don't want to build my own for alot of reasons).  But perhaps others will not agree...

[saratoga]

Is this what you're asking about?

http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/10862

[ew]

Yes.  Believe it or not, it just appeared as a patch as I was composing my original suggestion.  What timing.

[robin0800]

Personally I use "First Button Press Enables Backlight" So if player is on but no backlight any key will turn it on. If player is off its a great method for seeing if this is true. Also knowing player is on I can hit forward button twice knowing it will skip.

[mcuelenaere]

RE FS#10862: this patch needs testing on all targets, please report in the Flyspray item.