Topic: Quick channel change
I'm looking for a way to quickly change channels, without the multiple steps of hitting the top button, changing channels with the control panel UI, then tapping again to exit the control panel.
Basically, my thought process is this:
I have written three widgets so far, and I use several others. They are all passive and the Chumby is great cycling through them as it sits on the table. Now I want to write a widget that will let me do some things interactively, specifically interact with my home automation server. But the whole design of cycling through passive widgets doesn't work very well when you want to interact with a specific one *now*.
I want to be able to access my interactive widget as quickly and with as few steps as possible. Then, when I'm done, it can return to passive cycle mode. When cycling, I would prefer that it not spend any time on my interactive widget at all.
So I figure I'll put my passive widgets in one channel, and my home automation controller in another. Then I just need the Chumby to switch channels. What I need is a way to switch channels more directly than going through the control panel. I'm willing to sacrifice some features (such as the tilt sensors) to do this. I'm OK if the tilt sensor is not available to widgets and becomes dedicated to my channel-change function. Using the top button would be ideal, but I gather from other threads this is tied pretty directly to the control panel, and I wouldn't want to lock myself out from getting to the control panel.
I know I can change channels with the easter egg file. I need some suggestions about how to detect a local event on the chumby (tilt sensor, touch screen, other?) which my code can monitor and then cause the channel change. I'm comfortable with Linux and Flash development.
Any ideas?