[mythtv-users] LEDs as an output device, was: Revo 1600 looks even better now

[Brian Wood]

On Tuesday 23 February 2010 07:12:54 am Greg Oliver wrote:

> 
> The 1600 has a white power light..  Only light on the machine - I
> covered it with electrical tape :)

Whatever happened to the old LED color code? Green means something that should 
be on, red means something you need to investigate.

Then there are those annoying blue LEDs that seem to be everywhere. Another 
case of "let's do it just because we can".

Then there's the green bar on the Cobalt Qubes, almost bright enough to read 
by. Some releases of Debian for the Qube used that bar as an HDD access light, 
resulting in an almost psychedelic display.

LEDs are to convey information to the user, not be used as marketing devices 
in stores or lighting for Disco parties.

Maxtor made some external HDDs that had a flashing bright white light that 
flashed at the same rate no matter what it was doing. Great idea, spend more 
money to convey even less information to the user.

Its amazing how much you can tell about what a machine is doing just from a 
simple LED, and disturbing how many ways the marketing types can find to 
eliminate this important source of information.