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US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

theverge.com

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Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#111

Post by TaylorAlexander »

cletus wrote: post #110

Great. If only monitor manufacturers would do the same thing. I have a monitor with exactly 2 inputs (1 DP, 1 HDMI). What do I need to do to switch between them? 1. Press the Menu button 2. Move the option to Input Source 3. Select Input Source 4. Move from one to the other 5. Press Select Some monitor will compress 1-3 into a single Input Source option. Still, 3 presses? Why does literally NO ONE make a monitor with…

I really believe we would be better off if every piece of technology we used was open source. All the display manufacturers really want is to make displays. Making the OSD doesn’t have to be their doing, and an open source community could build a common interface with some basic button requirements. We could maintain a list of supported manufacturers and before long you know to avoid devices that don’t support it. This doesn’t happy because open source is uncommon in non-software industries, but I truly believe no one is maintaining any competitive advantage with their proprietary OSD. They could share their source with, I believe, no negative impact on competition. In fact the industry would be healthier because consumer friction would be lower.

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#112

Post by blackflame7000 »

joshgachnang wrote: post #90
blackflame7000 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, when you take your drivers test in the US, you have to demonstrate your ability to know where all those functions are before you even pull away to start your test.

Even if that were true everywhere, people drive vehicles other than the one they used for their drivers test in their lifetime.

And just like when they learn to use the shifter, they need to learn what that thing on the other side of the steering wheel does too before driving off whether it's tested or not.

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#113

Post by reilly3000 »

cletus wrote: post #110

Great. If only monitor manufacturers would do the same thing. I have a monitor with exactly 2 inputs (1 DP, 1 HDMI). What do I need to do to switch between them? 1. Press the Menu button 2. Move the option to Input Source 3. Select Input Source 4. Move from one to the other 5. Press Select Some monitor will compress 1-3 into a single Input Source option. Still, 3 presses? Why does literally NO ONE make a monitor with…

Amen! Why can't that be software? I'd be happy to hook up a second cable or a BT connection to send control signals.

If not that, how about a simple Dpad at least!?

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#114

Post by gruez »

inflatableDodo wrote: post #109
dmix wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure the vast majority of FPS players are using controllers...

I suspect there are more PC gamers than console gamers and FPS shooters will lean towards PC compared to the overall distribution.

>I suspect there are more PC gamers than console gamers

Source for this? Random search yields this:

>Steam now has more than 65 million active accounts. [...] Microsoft's Xbox Live has 48 million accounts [...] and Sony's PlayStation Network claims 110 million.

https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/30/5045830/steam-65-million...

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#115

Post by Animats »

A key issue for the Navy is that they have multiple stations which can control steering and propulsion, and they are not tied together with force feedback. There's at least one airplane crash of an Airbus that came from that situation, and a crash between a ferry and a NYC dock for the same reason.

What the Navy is looking for is available off the shelf. Force and position feedback ship throttles are available.[1] Move one lever and all the other ones move to match.

[1] https://www.kongsberg.com/globalassets/maritime/km-products/...

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#116

Post by reilly3000 »

jaclaz wrote: post #74
liability wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because when the sensor goes screwy I don't want my car to start flipping shit like the defroster on when it's not needed? Because manual controls make such automation totally unnecessary? Because even if the automated system were designed to be "fail safe", the state that's 'safe' is actually context dependent, therefore manual controls will be necessary anyway? It ain't broke, so stop trying to 'fix' it.

>It ain't broke, so stop trying to 'fix' it. Sure, but the marketing department had to fill a few blanks in the "bad weather options pack" (optional but casually installed on all cars in production that will be available in the next six-eight months) for a mere US$ 3,000: 1) self-learning wipers (using AI to set automatically an appropriate wiping speed, including economode, that only wipes the right side of the wind…

Interesting this patent literally just expired today: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5412296

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#117

Post by inflatableDodo »

gruez wrote: post #114
inflatableDodo wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect there are more PC gamers than console gamers and FPS shooters will lean towards PC compared to the overall distribution.

>I suspect there are more PC gamers than console gamers Source for this? Random search yields this: >Steam now has more than 65 million active accounts. [...] Microsoft's Xbox Live has 48 million accounts [...] and Sony's PlayStation Network claims 110 million. https://www.theverge.com/2013/10/30/5045830/steam-65-million...

Here's one -

>"After reading the interview, I went back to my own conversation with Raptr CEO Dennis Fong, who reminded me there are a staggering 900 million PC gamers worldwide. Contrast that data with global consoles sales of, say, Nintendo's Wii, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Sony's PlayStation 3: About 262 million units. Combined. Granted, that's according to VGChartz which isn't a perfectly reliable snapshot, but even with a considerable error rate that tells a compelling story. The most popular game console to date is the PlayStation, with estimated global sales of 157 million."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2014/04/28/as-gl...

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#118

Post by da_chicken »

cletus wrote: post #110

Great. If only monitor manufacturers would do the same thing. I have a monitor with exactly 2 inputs (1 DP, 1 HDMI). What do I need to do to switch between them? 1. Press the Menu button 2. Move the option to Input Source 3. Select Input Source 4. Move from one to the other 5. Press Select Some monitor will compress 1-3 into a single Input Source option. Still, 3 presses? Why does literally NO ONE make a monitor with…

> Some monitor will compress 1-3 into a single Input Source option. Still, 3 presses? Why does literally NO ONE make a monitor with hardware input source buttons? WHY?

Because they want to use essentially the same chassis case when they have 2 inputs or 20, and they have dozens of models over the life of the tooling to support. It's much easier to swap out the die for the backplate or to use a snap in backplate than it is to have a variable number of buttons, knobs and dials. The zero-bezel design craze is what makes them really difficult to use because they're a line of tiny, poorly labelled buttons on the front, or an awkward line of buttons on the back with tactile bumps.

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#119

Post by tiborsaas »

cletus wrote: post #110

Great. If only monitor manufacturers would do the same thing. I have a monitor with exactly 2 inputs (1 DP, 1 HDMI). What do I need to do to switch between them? 1. Press the Menu button 2. Move the option to Input Source 3. Select Input Source 4. Move from one to the other 5. Press Select Some monitor will compress 1-3 into a single Input Source option. Still, 3 presses? Why does literally NO ONE make a monitor with…

I have the same annoyance with my monitor, but to be fair it at least asks to switch if I plug in a new source.

The problem with these manufacturers is that they don't give a shit about UX. It would be trivial to implement 3 clicks on the menu button to switch inputs or long press to switch input immediately.

Re: US Navy will replace touchscreen with mechanical controls on its destroyers

#120

Post by reilly3000 »

watwatinthewat wrote: post #30
situational87 wrote: post #4

I'm having trouble visualizing exactly how this works from the text, but it sounds like a total nightmare. Some sort of complicated list of steps for transferring control screens between different stations on the ship, and it's not clear why or when you do this at all. I'm guessing the Navy doesn't spend a lot of time on UI/UX, which is ironic since these long, high-stress shifts with lives on the line is exactly whe…

I work at a Navy research center. We don't try to be profitable but take DoD clients to cover costs, trying to break even yearly. The point there is we are mission or tax funded but work for customers. The projects in my department take customer data, process/develop it in some way, and push it back out. Since we don't deal with the display at the end, there is a constant push for slides, demos, etc., from management…

If they are going to own mission critical software they need to have a UX budget. The buyer has to pay for UX or they shouldn't expect to get anything but afterthoughts. If fact one could argue that a UX package should be the spec in an RFP.

It would be VERY cheap to invest in training procurement teams in how to buy and own effective software, especially in light of the billions that get wasted when they can't articulate their needs to the point that a vendor can't be successful.

There isn't really room for iteration and continual feedback on a warship. It has to be done right the first time then maintain stability in every conceivable scenario and reduce the need for ongoing training after updates.

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