{"id":7048521,"date":"2026-08-26T23:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/making-an-lcd-ui-look-more-like-classic-indicator-lamps\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T23:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:45:32","slug":"making-an-lcd-ui-look-more-like-classic-indicator-lamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7048521","title":{"rendered":"Making An LCD UI Look More Like Classic Indicator Lamps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-1143004\">\n    <!-- .entry-header --><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p>The TermDriver 2 is a USB-to-serial interface with a twist\u2014it has a built-in screen for displaying relevant information. It can run at anywhere from 100 bit\/s to 2Mbit\/s, while showing you what\u2019s happening on the wire. [James Bowman] worked on the TermDriver 2, and paid special attention to one feature\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/excamera.substack.com\/p\/way-too-much-detail-about-the-blinking\" target=\"_blank\">the visual look of the status indicators on the display.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>[James] had hoped to make the status indicators look a little more old-school, a little more <em>analog. <\/em>His inspiration was the classic indicator panels from Apollo-era space hardware, which used bulbs behind plastic indicators. Incandescent bulbs don\u2019t switch instantly on and off; they take time to warm and cool. This behaviour is both more pleasant, visually speaking, and would aid in making short-duration events on the TX, RX and other indicators more visible. Thus, [James] set about giving the LCD UI elements sixteen steps of brightness from off to fully on. The simulated bulbs get brighter the more rapidly activity is happening on a given pin. The indicator graphics, while tiny, are also given a nice superellipse shape, to recreate the warm centered glow of an incandescent indicator.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a UI fanatic who loves to make things as visually pleasing as possible, the work [James] has done is well worth looking at. We\u2019ve featured other great GUI projects before, too, <a href=\"https:\/\/hackaday.com\/2025\/09\/29\/creating-python-guis-with-gimp\/\">like this particularly visually pleasing effort.<\/a> If you\u2019ve had grand ideas in this space, be sure to tell us over <a href=\"http:\/\/hackaday.com\/submit-a-tip\">on the tipsline.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-content --><\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .entry-footer -->\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The TermDriver 2 is a USB-to-serial interface with a twist\u2014it has a built-in screen for displaying relevant information. It can run at anywhere from 100 bit\/s to 2Mbit\/s, while showing you what\u2019s happening on the wire. [James Bowman] worked on the TermDriver 2, and paid special attention to one feature\u2014the visual look of the status [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7048522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[211158,211159,211160,126945,211157,211161],"tags":[214,35859,16141,853,2167],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7048521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gui","category-indicator-lamp","category-lamp","category-serial","category-tech-hacks","category-usb-to-serial","tag-classic","tag-indicator","tag-lamps","tag-lcd","tag-making"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Making An LCD UI Look More Like Classic Indicator Lamps - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7048521\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Making An LCD UI Look More Like Classic Indicator Lamps - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The TermDriver 2 is a USB-to-serial interface with a twist\u2014it has a built-in screen for displaying relevant information. 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