Hard Drive Icon Toggle?

Since the recent advent of the hard drive seemingly always being spun up, the icon stays in the upper right corner pretty much 80% of the time that I'm listening to music... I know there have been some posts as to why the hard drive seems to "never" spin down even when listening to a single playlist without advancing tracks, but what would be nice is perhaps a way to toggle if the hard drive icon is even displayed at all, as it tends to bring attention from the visuals...

Kind of a small request.....

(O|||||O)

the hard drive seemingly always being spun up

There appear to be two statuses that are reflected by the icon:
1) most of the time it is a box with a shaded horizontal line in side
2) sometimes the horizontal line is displayed brighter

I've always assumed that the 1) indicated a search (disk active / no read) with 2) for actual reads from disk. Is this (still) true?

If a toggle to selectively display the indicator cannot be implemented soon, I suggest that the indicator's size is reduced. The line without the surrounding box would suffice, wouldn't it.


Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

Yes. An empty box indicates that the disk is spinning up. A box with a grey "light" indicates that this disk is spun up but not currently being accessed and a box with a white "light" indicates the disk is actually being read or written. This is all done in software so there may be some times when reality and its representation don't agree :)

Actually, if you're running developer then you can turn it off. There's just no way of doing it from emplode yet.

Try this:

# rwm
# cd /empeg/var
# echo "[display]" >> config.ini
# echo "caching=0 >> config.ini
# rom

Since this is stored on the music partition you can put consumer back on afterwards and it will persist.

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

What else can go in config.ini - is there anyway to switch off the flashing led?

Pretty boring stuff. Turning off the disk indicator is the most interesting.

We hope to be able to make the LED stop flashing sometime soon.

--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

is there anyway to switch off the flashing led?

Be careful when you do this as you will not be able to tell whether Emma has finished playing a playlist or has been turned off. I have my Empeg permanently wired on 12V (in the car) and one week-end the amp completely drained the battery when emma was keeping it alive with a (end of playlist) black screen.

You'd want a 'end of playlist' message on Emma, before you kill the flashing light. I remember that I too initially did hate the light. Today I hardly notice it (have emma on all the time )


Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

An empty box indicates that the disk is spinning up.
Try:
# rwm
# cd /empeg/var
# echo "[display]" >> config.ini
# echo "caching=0 >> config.ini
# rom

I'll certainly PIP this into Emma, tonight. Will let you know if this crashes her

Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

Try this:

# rwm
# cd /empeg/var
# echo "[display]" >> config.ini
# echo "caching=0 >> config.ini
# rom

Shouldn't there be a closing " in caching=0
like this
# echo "caching=0" >> config.ini


Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

Shouldn't there be a closing " in caching=0
like this
# echo "caching=0" >> config.ini

Umm, yes. Whoops.



--
Mike Crowe
I may not be speaking on behalf of empeg above :-)

Actually, if you're running developer then you can turn it off. There's just no way of doing it from emplode yet.

Sweet. Having features already supported before they're even requested is the best.

I'll let ya know if I have any problems with it.

Thanks,

(O|||||O)

I concur with ClemsonJeep; the icon should be toggleable (from Emplode). I recommend that the default icon state be "off" during playback. If possible to toggle it on during syncs and then back off after a sync that would be best. In this way the indicator lets you know that your sync is running but doesn't detract from visuals unless you want it to do so.

I also agree with all that's been said about the flashing LED.

- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

I disagree with your default setting. I normally wait for the icon to disappear before pulling the unit out of the car.
However, in later versions, it seems to spend more time in the on position anyway... =)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

I disagree with your default setting. I normally wait for the icon to disappear before pulling the unit out of the car.

However, in later versions, it seems to spend more time in the on position anyway... =)

Well, technically the only time you could do any "damage" to the drive is when the drive is actually doing reading (the bright icon), and even then, chances are you're not going to hurt it.

You don't have to wait for the icon to disappear to pull the unit out. When the icon is dim, it just means the drive is spun up, which is perfectly fine to power down and/or pull out the unit. When you shut your PC off, chances are the drives are still spinning at the current time... they spin all the time (unless you have power saving modes turned on and they power down after a certain amount of time)

Either way, I think the icon should be off as default... when this thing goes public, the masses aren't going to care if the hard drive is spun up or not... Hell, half of them probably won't even understand what a powerful machine they actually have at their disposal. :)

(O|||||O)

Yeah, in my pc they spin all the time...
But I don't have to pul my pc out of a narrow slot just in front of the gear stick (which I have hit on occasion).
I'd rather not have the discs spinning down whilst I'm ripping it out of the cage (I have the problem of the front locating bumps making the unit jump when being pulled out too)

Jazz
(List 112, S/N 00030, 4 gig blue)

I doubt your situation is common; i.e. I suspect 80% or better of the Empeg owners won't encounter what you're encountering. Hence, you'd be one of the folks who would want to chage the default setting from "off" to "on"...

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca