861–870 of 1001 posts
It’s either space shuttle controls vs touch screen. There are just too many features to fit it in all hardware buttons
Operation critical controls are best delivered with buttons. The remainder can go on a screen that discourages use while driving - where most folks can safely ignore them forever (the same way they do for over-featured smart appliances).
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Our Subaru has a physical volume knob. Its position is only a "gentle suggestion" to the software to move volume up or down. At times, especially when starting the vehicle, there is major latency in the software processing the knob movement.. Also, if the knob is moved too fast, the sw gets the wrong reading. This results in volume being way too high for serveral seconds as well as many other frustrating, dangerous s…
I guess that's what we get when a rotary encoder is much much less expensive than a 4-6 gang potentiometer. And I also feel your pain with the car "booting up" phenomenon. I don't even have a particularly tech-heavy vehicle and upon starting the car the entire infotainment system feels like booting up a packard bell in 1996.
Do you have some examples of makes/models that used potentiometers for volume control?
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Most of my time looking at the screen is because I need to look to know where the button is. That's a huge thing, I should NEVER have to take my eyes of the road. Big woop? it absolutely is. Things are still mediocre, and I do admit the lag time should be criminal. but yes, this is a win that could possibly be saving a few lives.
Indeed. Touchscreens are extremely flexible interfaces, but they are not superior in certain use cases, especially where eyes must be kept elsewhere.
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Our Subaru has a physical volume knob. Its position is only a "gentle suggestion" to the software to move volume up or down. At times, especially when starting the vehicle, there is major latency in the software processing the knob movement.. Also, if the knob is moved too fast, the sw gets the wrong reading. This results in volume being way too high for serveral seconds as well as many other frustrating, dangerous s…
I guess that's what we get when a rotary encoder is much much less expensive than a 4-6 gang potentiometer. And I also feel your pain with the car "booting up" phenomenon. I don't even have a particularly tech-heavy vehicle and upon starting the car the entire infotainment system feels like booting up a packard bell in 1996.
Also a rotary encoder doesn't age in the same way as a potentiometer. A potentiometer can wear out the area being used most heavily while simultaneously developing oxidation on the areas not being used. Eventually this leads to crackling, dead areas on the dial, and other misbehavior.
A rotary encoder on the other hand doesn't wear out in a practical sense. The only part that even could wear is the bearing or bushing supporting the rotating assembly, and if that's specced appropriately for the application it's effectively a lifetime component. It's possible to build a crappy rotary encoder that falls apart earlier than desired, and of course they can still be damaged by abuse, but a well built one should outlast the useful life of the device it's installed in by multiple orders of magnitude.
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I just checked and I could reach and operate aircon knobs (3x), radio volume and phone answer/hangup buttons without looking, fast. Granted most of these are on the wheel, but even aircon controls would be a no go on a touchscreen.
IMO there's a lot to be said for a well done knob. It sticks out, so is easy to find with your hand without having to search. As long as you don't have so many that it can be ambiguous. I'm a fan of the climate knobs on my F250, which for example turn the temperature up and down incrementally, but it has a momentary switch at the end of the travel so you can just spin it until it hits that, then spin just a little mo…
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> I briefly have to look at the console, find the button, and press it. Are there no buttons on your car's steering wheel? Really, not even a horn? These can be pressed without even taking your hand off the wheel. And what about indicators, gear shifter, lights, parking brake? Do you "briefly have to look at the console" to find those?
> Are there no buttons on your car's steering wheel? Really, not even a horn?
I live with somebody who glitches many touch screens. I don't know if its fingernails, softness of touch, tremor, press time, strength, hesitency, its just not a good experience for them. Ever. They are the best driver. By far. Distance separation, 3-cars ahead aware, road wise, maintains situational awareness. They got driving. I do the touch screen shit. Its voice activated, let my fingers do the walkin' Seriously…
Do they avoid participating in rolling roadblocks? When at a traffic light and at the front of the right-lane - do they pull to the left to allow folks behind to make their right on red? This is how a True Master drives. The rest of us schlubs can only realize our lesser skills.
I drive a 2008 Hyundai Elantra, and with the addition of a bluetooth adaptor, I really have everything I want in a car. It's got no idea what's going on, and I like it that way.
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Even as someone who believes in the indefensible bloat of modern software, I'd say TI-OS on my 84+ (from using it in high school and college several years ago) is not exactly the fastest to use: - Graphing a plot was slow due to slow CPU and high-precision math libraries (could take 3-10 seconds depending on function complexity and detail) - MathPrint mode slows down printing expressions to an extent, IIRC even movin…
I beat Doom on a TI-84. I'm not sure I buy this.
Not really though. You played a different game using a much simpler sort of engine (probably a raycaster, similar to wolf3d) with much simpler level geometry (probably square on a grid, and probably without stairs, windows through walls, elevating platforms, etc) There are several games like that on the z80 line of TI calculators, for instance Gemini: https://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/247/24742.htm...
But the real Doom isn't a simple raycaster, it uses an engine that exists in the space between a raycaster and a true 3d game like Quake. A so-called "2.5D engine". The level geometry had height data, but couldn't overlap itself (so no navigable bridges unless you fake it using raising and lowering platforms (or teleport the player to another part of the level, like the Build engine did.) Rooms could have arbitrary polygonal shapes, walls weren't all at right angles to each other, which complicated the process of rendering and necessitated the use of BSP trees to traverse the level geometry efficiently.
I know of one instance of such a game engine being created for the 83/84 z80 lines of calculator, detailed in a series of blog posts here:
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3720656
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3724115
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3725786
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3728004
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3729994
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3735869
http://www.benryves.com/journal/3739423
AFAIK these gifs represents the pinnacle of a Doom-like engine on the z80 line of calculators:
http://www.benryves.com/images/nostromo/bsp/2010.11.28/Movin...
http://www.benryves.com/images/nostromo/bsp/2010.11.07/Walkt...
With. A. Passion. Other touch screens (or similar things) I dislike: - the controls on my stove top - the controls on my monitor - the controls on my tv - the controls on my thermostat - probably more All of these should have physical buttons for the limited number of functions required. Or, at a minimum, for navigation and confirmation. Touch screens there suck. My wife's car has a touch screen on the control/infota…
Problem #2, which makes Problem #1 ten times worse, when when you get crap like Tesla does where the UI changes every month. They don't have any genuine functionality improvements to make, so they just move buttons around and hide or eliminate buttons "in preparation to make the car driverless". I never use Autopilot, much less Partial-Self-Driving. Give me back my UI from five years ago.
