It all started out with cram-fu, the ancient art of defying physics by putting more stuff into a small tube than physically possible. Well, people tried a lot, even though about putting a few parts into hyperspace to save more for other stuff, but at the end the realization dawned, that with certain builds the only way to manage the complexity is to reduce it.
But reducing complexity means reducing features...or not?
One of the parts eating up a lot of space is a 2nd switch (also known as aux switch). I like it and try to accommodate one, but the question I kept asking myself was whether I really had to say bye to features I love if I cannot include an aux switch?
A guy named
DJWing proved this wrong by implementing a
SINGLEBUTTON code for LSOS which only uses a single button (also known as main switch) but still keeps all FX a high-end saber must have.
Credit goes to him, this also proves how powerful an open source software can become if people pool their ideas and skills.
There is also one additional feature born out of necessity, which so far I did not see in any other saber implementation:
lockup-on-clash. By using only one button a new idea had to replace the lockup triggering by keeping the aux button depressed. The genuine idea was to initiate a lockup by a single click of the button and start the actual FX (light+sound) with the next clash. This in turn simulates the sequence leading to a lockup even better, because a lockup is always preceeded by a clash (the two blades have to clash), so timing the start of the lockup even relieves the user to combine a hack with trying to press a button at the same time. It results in a precise timing for the lockup.
I took the upgrade, consolidated the code and put a new branch to LSOS:
GitHub - neskweek/LightSaberOS at LSOS-1.4_singlebuttonI made a video demo showing how a single button can be used to accomplish everything a mid- to high-end saber must be able to do: