Rockbox.org home
release
dev builds
extras
themes manual
wiki
device status forums
mailing lists
IRC bugs
patches
dev guide



Rockbox mail archive

Subject: Buttons in Hold Mode

Buttons in Hold Mode

From: Rob Purchase <rob.purchase_at_googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:24:16 +0100

Morning all,

There has recently been some discussion and patches on Flyspray about
allowing button combinations using the HOLD switch, on players with
limited hardware buttons (eg. Cowon D2). An example usage is the option
in the D2 retail firmware to use the +/- buttons to skip tracks while in
hold mode, thus making the player usable while in a pocket or otherwise
out of sight.

When this has been brought up in IRC or on the tracker it's usually been
instantly dismissed without any real reasoning other than "I don't like
it". What I'd like to do is get some real discussion around the issue
and come to a decision about whether we can accept this.

One common response is "hold should stop all buttons working". I see it
slightly differently: the reason for it's existance is surely "hold
should stop unintended button presses". I've been using a D2 with this
feature enabled in the retail firmware almost every day for nearly 2
years, and have never once had it unintentionally skip a track while
using this feature - so this purpose is maintained (it still causes the
touchscreen to be ignored).

As far as I see it the advantages/disadvantages are:

Advantages:
- Allows in-pocket use on players with limited physical buttons
- Allows Rockbox to further its goal of being a full firmware
replacement, by implementing one of the OF's most useful features
- Keeps users happy (there is real demand for this, evidenced by the 3
separate FS tasks that implement it!)

Disadvantages:
- Potential for unintended button presses (not an issue on the D2, as
stated above)
- People may start to expect it on other targets (but is this a problem?)
- I've heard "Support" mentioned as a reason not to implement this, but
what exactly is the issue? It can be documented like everything else,
and can be hidden behind an "enable track skipping in hold mode"
setting, disabled by default if necessary.

So, what I want to establish if there are any other objections, or
whether the above minor disadvantges are enough to keep a useful feature
out of Rockbox (and if so, why?).

Any thoughts please?

Rob.
Received on 2009-10-22

Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy