How can the Peak Meter be disabled?

[Marcel]

Peak Meter can be configured in Settings/General Settings/Display/Peak Meter, but there is apparently not an option to disable it here? Very poor design IMO. Rockbox manual says that "To save battery runtime you should switch this feature off (see section 4.3.2 (page 32))", but section 4.3.2 does not say how. So how do I disable it?

[saratoga]

If your theme turns it on I don't think you can disable it.  Either use a theme that doesn't include it, or edit the theme.

[AlexP]

Very poor design?  Please.  Themes are free to include it or not, and you are free to use what theme you like.  The default theme (the only one that is contributed by Rockbox) does not have it either.

[Marcel]

Very poor design?  Please

Yes. Needing to edit a configuration file to disable a feature is very poor design. This is 2013, not 1993.

[AlexP]

You don't need to edit a configuration file.  You chose to use a theme with a peak meter, that was your choice.  Should we also provide a config option to not use ID3 tags?  To show a progress bar or not?  This is the point of a theme, to set these options.

Manners would also help.

[saratoga]

Very poor design?  Please

Yes. Needing to edit a configuration file to disable a feature is very poor design. This is 2013, not 1993.

Its not a configuration file, its the theme you've installed.  Its not feasible for you to edit themes on a device with a couple buttons, so you should do that on PC. 

[Marcel]

You don't need to edit a configuration file.  You chose to use a theme with a peak meter, that was your choice.  Should we also provide a config option to not use ID3 tags?  To show a progress bar or not?  This is the point of a theme, to set these options.

Manners would also help.

It find it bizarre that you are even making such an argument. There is no good design reason not to include an override to disable the peak meter in Settings/General Settings/Display/Peak Meter whether a particular theme has it or not. Telling a user to choose another theme or go edit it on a PC is a cop-out.

[saratoga]

There is no good design reason not to include an override to disable the peak meter in Settings/General Settings/Display/Peak Meter whether a particular theme has it or not.

We may have actually had this setting at one point, I can't remember.  But no, it doesn't make sense to include it now given how themes work.  If you disable it you're just going to make theme look weird, or else force themers to design their theme around multiple possible settings.  This isn't good design. 

[Marcel]

If you disable it you're just going to make theme look weird

Huh? It would just make the area where the peak meter would appear empty. As there already are UI options to configure it with a number of parameters, there should also be one to turn it off. Just straightforward UI design to give a user the option to do so.

[bluebrother]

There is no good design reason not to include an override to disable the peak meter in Settings/General Settings/Display/Peak Meter whether a particular theme has it or not.

And then having to handle user complaints / "bug" reports because the "peak meter doesn't work even if the theme enables them"?. No thanks.

Just because you don't like a decision that has been made years ago (and nobody complained!) doesn't make it "bad design". I would like to disable this "select whole line (but context menu only if you're on the filename)" feature in Windows Explorer's "details" view but there's no option to do so. Does this make it "bad design"?

[[Saint]]

There is no good design reason not to include an override to disable the peak meter in Settings/General Settings/Display/Peak Meter whether a particular theme has it or not.

And then having to handle user complaints / "bug" reports because the "peak meter doesn't work even if the theme enables them"?. No thanks.

I kinda hate to say it, but, that shouldn't even really be a consideration.

The theme .cfg itself could enable/disable (though a theme would only ever want to enable it, I imagine, disabling it via a theme is useless) the peak meter if it was indeed a configurable setting (themes can include any setting a .cfg allows, but the theme site only allows a subset {which could be changed}). You could even make the theme engine include the smarts to turn the peak meter on if it is disabled in the settings and a theme uses it but doesn't specify to turn the peak meter on in the theme .cfg. (so that older themes would still "just work").


Now, let me clear this up:

Do I think it should be configurable? No.

Could it be? Yes, certainly.


[Saint]

Lots of edits later: I like brackets.

[saratoga]

If you disable it you're just going to make theme look weird

Huh? It would just make the area where the peak meter would appear empty.

Which is why its a bad idea. 

[Crafty]

hmmmm....my guess...
the manual is referencing the setting that stop the Peak Meter routine from running when the backlight is off is:

settings>general>settings>display>peak meter>Clip Counter

If it's not counting how many times the amp clips, there is no reason for dev to have the routine running when the backlight is off.

[Marcel]

There is no good design reason not to include an override to disable the peak meter in Settings/General Settings/Display/Peak Meter whether a particular theme has it or not.

And then having to handle user complaints / "bug" reports because the "peak meter doesn't work even if the theme enables them"?. No thanks.

Just because you don't like a decision that has been made years ago (and nobody complained!) doesn't make it "bad design". I would like to disable this "select whole line (but context menu only if you're on the filename)" feature in Windows Explorer's "details" view but there's no option to do so. Does this make it "bad design"?

Your arguments are bizarre to say the least. No UI option to disable the peak meter can be implemented, because the empty space where the peak meter used to be would look "weird" or demented users would disable it, forget and then complain (lol). But if they are demented, perhaps they edit a theme, forget and then complain (lol). You are just rationalizing your personal biases and can't give a sound justification for a design choice. If you Google "Rockbox peak meter", Google suggests "Rockbox disable peak meter". That Rockbox users have to Google something as basic as this enough for it to show up as a Google suggestion should give you pause. Or perhaps Rockbox users really are demented.

[saratoga]

If you Google "Rockbox peak meter", Google suggests "Rockbox disable peak meter".

All old threads probably from back when we had the peak meter on by default.  Now its only enabled when a user chooses a theme with it.

That Rockbox users have to Google something as basic as this enough for it to show up as a Google suggestion should give you pause.

Nah, you just don't understand the context behind your question. 

Anyway, since you realize why this is a bad idea and are just repeating the same point over and over, there is really no point in discussing this further.