That was a super idea George! I did something in between, but still down this road. Attached is a picture from KiCad of what my VGA color resistors look like. As you can see, I have the option to switch from resistors to diodes. I checked both formats on falstad.com and they seem roughly the same in intensity. Resistors make more pastel lights and darker darks, diodes make brighter lights and even darks.
Great! Another option I should have mentioned is to add jumpers or DIP switches to either short or isolate some of the components, if you want to keep it configurable.
(I still can barely use the UI on my newer car...)
Car interfaces are quite horrible but it would be very worthwhile for an interface designer to spend 20 minutes learning a bad user interface. It is significantly safer to have tactile buttons which can be used without visual confirmation. As noted in Reddit's Futurology section, Please Make A Dumb Car:
Reddit's KenJyi30 on Mon 31 Jan 2022 wrote:
They banned phone use while driving and immediately baked the same disaster recipe into the car functions!? I always hated having to look at a screen to see what I’m doing, 10x worse while driving.
Clueless drivers want all that electronic crap, not understanding there is a sometimes-steep learning curve associated with it, and not understanding the costs involved in fixing the electronic gimcrackery when it goes on the fritz. Also, there is the distraction aspect. Fiddling with the built-in GPS does as much to deflect your attention from maintaining control of the car as does fiddling with a smartphone.
Unfortunately, the same sort of thinking that has led to cars having touch screens, etc., has started to infect aviation. Airliners, in particular, are sprouting all sorts of electronic crutches, thanks to airline management that is more concerned with economical operation than safe operation (these are the same people who’d like to eliminate pilots from the cockpit). As a friend of mine who is a captain for a major airline has pointed out, when the electronics crap out while airborne you still have to fly the plane. You can't just pull off the road, flip up the hood (bonnet) and wait for help. The problem, he says, is basic “stick-and-rudder” skills are poorer with new pilots, due to an over-reliance on electronics to manage all aspects of flight. If stick-and-rudder skills are subpar, the pilot is going to be in for a rude shock when the electronic crutches fail at 40,000 feet.
Car manufacturers have hit a critical mass where adding a tactile button costs more than adding a menu item. Take it or leave it. The problem is that tactile buttons are safer and with the volume of vehicles sold and the circumstances where they are used, the lack of tactile buttons is guaranteed to cost lives. The quote from Reddit shows the hypocrisy of banning one dangerous interface while permitting something very similar elsewhere.
BigDumbDinosaur on Thu 26 May 2022 wrote:
As a friend of mine who is a captain for a major airline has pointed out, when the electronics crap out while airborne you still have to fly the plane. You can't just pull off the road, flip up the hood (bonnet) and wait for help.
An ex-manager had a pilot license and I learned huge amount from that guy. Unlike taking a road trip in a car, aircraft require significantly more forward planning. Most importantly, you cannot do the equivalent of a road trip where you'll get fuel somewhere on the way. You always require enough fuel and you always have to know where you'll get more. You also have to fly in worsening weather with instrument failure.
