Rockbox Technical Forums

Support and General Use => User Interface and Voice => Topic started by: Badfer on October 06, 2010, 03:32:40 PM

Title: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: Badfer on October 06, 2010, 03:32:40 PM
For example I listening to music in the dark with backlight disabled, sometimes switch to next track, that don't need to backlight turn on 'cause I dont look at screen. But when I need to see what track is playing or navigate to other directory I had to get up, turn on the room light and then see. So just idea for developers to make backlight turn on for few seconds with some button combination, without entering backlight options?
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: Lope on October 06, 2010, 04:11:54 PM
Sounds cool to save power on players with standard LCD. I think its a good idea. I often had that problem with my creative Zen Micro.
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: Llorean on October 06, 2010, 04:13:23 PM
One good option is to set the player up so that the backlight is enabled on "hold." This way you can toggle the hold switch to turn the backlight on, but otherwise not waste power on it. During the day when the player might be in your pocket and the hold switch serves a better purpose, just disable it until night again.
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: torne on October 06, 2010, 05:50:08 PM
Alternatively, set the backlight to "first button press enables backlight only" then you can press *any* button to turn the backlight on.
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: Lope on October 07, 2010, 07:21:22 AM
torne: I think you misunderstood the OP's request.
The problem is on some players you don't need the backlight during the day. At night you do need the backlight, but are unable to navigate menus in the dark to turn it on. This means you either waste power in the day, or you can't use the player at night, without a source of light to enable the backlight.

He wants some type of hotkey, or series of keypresses to activate the backlight, that can be performed from any menu etc.
Simply turning on the backlight when any key is pressed wastes power during the day.
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: torne on October 07, 2010, 07:37:21 AM
The power used by having the backlight on for 15 seconds, or whatever you set the timeout to, really isn't very much at all; you probably wouldn't notice the impact on battery life.
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: Badfer on October 07, 2010, 10:53:50 AM
The power used by having the backlight on for 15 seconds, or whatever you set the timeout to, really isn't very much at all; you probably wouldn't notice the impact on battery life.

Yes, but when I listen to music in the dark I don't much like when backlight turns on each time I press buttons to rewind, forward or other.

What I meant is backlight turned off, but sometimes I need it on for few seconds to navigate or see track name, and than don't need it again when I press buttons :). Seems  backlight is enabled on "hold" is solves problem, thanks Llorean and other for help :)
Title: Re: Is it possible to enable backlight for some time by pressing some buttons?
Post by: [Saint] on October 08, 2010, 09:50:52 PM
Yes, but when I listen to music in the dark I don't much like when backlight turns on each time I press buttons to rewind, forward or other.

What I meant is backlight turned off, but sometimes I need it on for few seconds to navigate or see track name, and than don't need it again when I press buttons :). Seems  backlight is enabled on "hold" is solves problem, thanks Llorean and other for help :)


It would almost certainly be possible to add this functionality to the existing HotKey function so you can just set "Backlight" as the "WPS HotKey" option.
Perhaps some time in the near future I'll get bored enough to have a look into it.



[St.]