1 (edited by huckfinn 2008-02-09 04:46:04)

Topic: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

At first I thought this was a bug, but then I read through the release notes and found this comment. I have to ask was this intentionally done or a result of making the alarms more reliable? Now I may be doing something the "hard" way, so please help me out here.

I had several alarms set up to do things like go into night mode and change channels. They worked perfectly with the previous beta. Now I have the alarm screen pop up. Which at 6:00 AM this morning was really bright as the screen goes to full brightness for the alarm. So for these alarms I had it set as follows.

When: Daily
Time: at 6:00 am
Audio: for :00, play "Beep"
Snooze: snoozing for :05
        ...and then..
Action: change channel to "Default"

Set: YES        Don't show alarm screen: YES

I would assume that the Snooze setting is irrelevant as I would never be able to hit the snooze button with the alarm screen hidden. So with the 2.6.67, the "Don't show alarm screen" setting was grayed out due to me using a default sound. So for this I need to set it to either a local audio file or an audio stream? With a duration of "00" will it even try to start the stream? I do not want any sound to come out of the unit, just have it do the action. Is there an easier way? I played around with all of the options for a little while and can not find anything. It would be nice if there was a "NONE" option under Audio settings, this would clarify this completely.

I tested out setting it to a stream, and it does work how I want - ie no sound just do the action. This is just really painfull to set all of these as now I have many extra menus and screen taps just to get no sound. Hit shoutcast, then hit done, then hit the stream I don't want to hear, then hit select, then hit done. There has to be a simpler way - please. With a setting of "00" for the duration, if the stream is not online will it cause it to crash?

Thanks

-HuckFinn

Re: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

With the three built-in sounds, the alarm screen cannot be disabled, because otherwise there's no way to stop them.  The other alarm audio sources, which are based on music sources, can be stopped from the Music screen.

I'll talk to Product Management about the special case of a built-in sounds and a duration of :00.

Re: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

Duane, thanks for the quick response. Some times it amazes me how often you are on these forums - it is much appreciated. Instead of having a duration of :00, could you simply have a <NONE> option for sound? I would think this would be much more intuitive.

-HuckFinn

Re: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

I agree. The end goal is the ability to use alarms as an event scheduler. For example when I leave the house for work, I'd prefer to have the alarm (event handler) turn on "night mode" at 9am and then go to "default" channel at 5pm. If nothing else, this saves a lot of energy when Chumby is playing to an empty house. Then my Chumby would be green. :-)

Chumby Fan in AZ

5 (edited by wayn3w 2008-02-10 06:48:52)

Re: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

Duane wrote:

With the three built-in sounds, the alarm screen cannot be disabled, because otherwise there's no way to stop them.  The other alarm audio sources, which are based on music sources, can be stopped from the Music screen.

Duane,  are you implying that if we use a different sound source with a duration of zero (my music files, for instance), then the "Don't show alarm screen" checkbox will be enabled?  That would be a good work-around, if that's the case.

Would it be possible to make the text for "Don't show alarm screen:" also disabled (gray,whatever) to make it very clear the feature is disabled?  It took me a while to figure out that it was disabled.

I also opt for NONE for a sound choice, not just the duration -- I suggested that a while ago.

Thanks,
wayn3w

PS HuckFinn, that was an exemplary description of the problem.

Re: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

wayn3w,

From my testing if you set the audio source to any other source (my streams in my case) the "Don't show alarm screen" is available to check. In fact if you set a duration of :00 it seems to know what you are trying to do and will check that option by default. If you have selected one of the three builtin sounds as the audio source, that option is greyed out and the check box is unchecked and disabled.

-HuckFinn

Re: Can't disable alarm ring screen if using builtin alarm tones on 2.6.67

There is an open enhancement request to Product Management to add the "None" alarm audio source.