Demo of new user interface [now available in v1.154]

jksjks
edited January 2018 in Problems and Issues

Here is a demo of a new user interface under development. There is no antenna connected at present. http://kiwisdr.jks.com:8073/


Changes:

  • New "option tab" bar that categorizes controls and status information.
  • Frequency history next/prev buttons. Up/down arrows to right of frequency entry field. Keyboard users: press return key when desired frequency appears. If no selection with return key is made within 3 seconds frequency field will return to current frequency. Mobile device users: this feature is not useable at the moment.
  • Added numeric value (in dBm) to S-meter.
  • Add URL parameter wf={0, off, 1, 1hz, s, slow, m, med, f, fast}. E.g. kiwisdr.local:8073/?wf=1hz
  • Removed “less buffering” and “compression” buttons until working.


KA7U

Comments

  • KA7UKA7U
    I like it. Very nice.
    Ron
    KA7U
  • GaryGGaryG

    I think it's an improvement, the "option tab" for selection does simplify the look and does unclutter the screen.

    I did notice that it took two 'return' presses with Edge browser to switch frequencies; using the Brave browser it was only one - I do normally use Brave with my KiwiSDR.

    Gary In Vancouver, BC


  • SWLJO43SWLJO43
    Hello John,
    I love it. It is very easy to use.
    Under Audio / Volume is no "%" indicator like "Noise trheshold".

    Dirk
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    edited December 2017
    Hi John,

    That's a neat fix. It's a lot better than the current layout, and it has a dBm indication on the S-Meter too Yeah :-)

    I have had a good play with it and it seems to work well.

    Some (very minor - and somewhat picky) observations for further discusssions:-

    Would the S-Meter look better at the top of the control box rather than the bottom ?

    Should the dBm display have a slightly different shade of grey background box around it to distinguish it better from the rest of the S-Meter scale ?

    Should the 'spectrum' button now be in the WF tabbed screen ?

    Could the Audio and WF buttons be swapped around so that it's quicker to find the Audio button when the sound is at too high a level when the browser first starts up ? 
    Alternatively could the GUI open up with the Audio panel initially on display ?

    The new tab buttons seem a bit 'bright' to me and draw my vision from the rest of the screen, could these be toned down a bit so that they are more pastel shades ?

    Maybe pressing the currently selected tab button for a second time would could perform the function of the OFF button and leave space for a future tab ?

    Good job John.

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ


  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    looks good

    I hope we'll see mode pulls downs soon
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    edited December 2017
    "I hope we'll see mode pulls downs soon"

    Maybe they should be on another tab ?

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    Martin...

    I had a post about my idea a week or so ago. 
  • VE3SUNVE3SUN
    edited December 2017
    Looks good John. I like the coloured buttons.

    I miss the MUTE button on the top layer. When I first load and it blasts sound into the room when someone is sleeping nearby (as this morning), it is good to have a button on top that I can hit quickly. Although once I know where it is, I can find it :)

    I agree with WA2ZKD on the mode pull-downs. You could use bigger buttons like the WF... ones now if you went that way.

    I would like to see with WF rate set to 0 that the waterfall and everything else goes invisible and the control panel fills the screen in a responsive way that would work well on a phone size screen. When the URL option wf0 was implemented, a phone size interface would just appear.

    Instead of the OFF button, you could have a little circle X to close the slide down extra controls window. Leaving real estate for something else. If you do like the OFF button, it should say something else or not be visible when it doesn't do anything.

    I have been meaning to ask for a circle ? icon to put beside the circle X at the top right of extensions (and the extra controls and perhaps elsewhere) that linked to a web page with help and explanations suitable for newbies for the given function or window. (I volunteer to help create those help pages and I am sure others would also help).

    Title tags on all the buttons and functions to help newbies.

    - Peter




  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    OFF is moot when it is already off. Why not make OFF into MUTE when is it is in the state of off.
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi Jim & Pete,

    "I had a post about my idea a week or so ago. "

    Yes I saw that. I wasn't disagreeing, I just though that putting the modes on a separate tab would provide more space for the drop down, and any other enhancements.

    "OFF is moot when it is already off. Why not make OFF into MUTE when is it is in the state of off."

    I think that would work, but the mute button would need to be duplicated on the audio page too.

    "Title tags on all the buttons and functions to help newbies."

    I think a small explanation 'bubble' when the button is hovered over would reduce the need for a separate 2nd guide as the existing guide pop out guide already provides a lot of information for new users. Maybe a new user / expert button could enable / disable display help screens / options ?

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ




  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    related thought....

    A mobile version would be wonderful but I know that's a ton of work. In the meantime, setting the waterfall to off if a mobile is detected might be nice
    KA7U
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi John,

    Would it be possible to add a 'high contrast' button on the new waterfall tabbed page so that the 
    ?sqrt=2 (and other ?) option could be selected directly from the GUI interface in addition to a URL extension ?

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ
  • jksjks
    edited December 2017
    Some new items on the waterfall (WF) tab:

    "Auto Scale" button sets WF max/min by taking one waterfall result, sorting the resulting FFT bins, calling the 50% bin the noise level and the 98% bin the signal level. Then WF min is set to the noise level -10 dB and WF max the signal level +30 dB. Works best when zoomed out so there is a variety of signal levels. The sort/bin idea is from Pierre, who uses a similar idea for SNR scoring at http://rx.linkfanel.net and http://rx.linkfanel.net/snr.html

    "Slow Dev" button is for mobile and other under-powered devices that have trouble keeping up when the spectrum display is on. "Not keeping up" means audio drop-outs or "stuttering" but with no corresponding audio underrun message which would indicate the network is at fault. I noticed this issue recently on my old 3rd generation iPad. The inclusion of the dB scale colors in the spectrum display requires a lot of processing power, so it is replaced with a single fixed color. Also the waterfall update rate is set to medium if it had been set on fast.

    "colormap" menu. The only other colormap defined at present is one from CuteSDR which was used prior to the changes mentioned in the Github issue post below. The issue of colormap definition/control is still open. Fortunately, the option bar scheme will allow plenty of space for the appropriate interface to be added.

    "contrast" menu. This selects the various contrast-enhancing schemes mentioned in this post: https://github.com/jks-prv/Beagle_SDR_GPS/issues/43 Thanks to Martin for reminding me about this.

  • VE3SUNVE3SUN
    "Title tags on all the buttons and functions to help newbies."

    I think a small explanation 'bubble' when the button is hovered over would reduce the need for a separate 2nd guide as the existing guide pop out guide already provides a lot of information for new users. Maybe a new user / expert button could enable / disable display help screens / options ?

    Just to clarify. When I mention Title tags I was referring to <title> HTML which shows up as a bubble when you hover over a control.

    The only problem is that touch interface doesn't have any hover capability, so it is for mouse based users.

  • jksjks
    Addition of classic LMS "denoiser" and "autonotch" filters:

    Least Mean Square (LMS) adaptive filters. The technique in ham radio is more than 25 years old now. But it remains a simple and sometimes effective solution, particularly for auto-notching interfering carriers. A simple and preliminary version of LMS filtering has been added to the new user interface demo. Better versions are being evaluated.

    The filter enable checkboxes are on the "audio" option tab. A "more" button opens an LMS_filter extension with sliders for some of the filter parameters. In particular the "beta" parameter can be adjusted to notch carriers without also notching CW signals since they are not transmitting continuously (but the notch will not be perfect). The denoiser does not work well for music and is better for voice-only AM transmissions. NBFM and IQ modes do not use the LMS filters at present.

    A few beta test Kiwis with better reception than http://kiwisdr.jks.com:8073 have been updated to run the new software:


    KA7U
  • WA2ZKDWA2ZKD
    mute lost from init/simple menu again (?)
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi John,

    The LMS "denoiser" and "autonotch" filters work quite well and are a very welcome addition, so thanks for that.

    However I can't open any of the three test sites on my iPad running Chrome. The URL resolves OK but I just get a blank white screen.

    A few other minor observations:-

    The purpose of the 'Slow Dev' button isn't obvious - I think it needs to be called something else

    I'd prefer the 'Slow Dev' waterfall to be white rather than a 'strange' green colour, so that it is a higher contrast display that can be more easily be seen outdoors.

    Should the 'rainbow' spectrum amplitude display bar also be in black and white when the 'Slow Dev' option is enabled.

    The mute button needs to be either on the main pane or the audio panel needs to open by default rather than the waterfall when the browser session opens.

    Why is it WFO rather than WF - what does the 'O' stand for ?

    Should the spectrum display button now be on the WFO pane ?

    If the spectrum display button is moved could a second mute button be added in it's place ?

    Should the green arrow URL button be aligned under the up and down arrow buttons ?

    I'd still prefer the S-Meter scale to be at the top of the control pane

    I still think that the new dBm reading needs to be differentiated from the rest of the S meter scale

    Could the waterfall contrast schemes be better named ? I think they correspond to:-
    • Normal Linear
    • 1. Square law
    • 2. Square law between 21% and 50% spectrum range
    • 3. Square law between 31% and 60% spectrum range
    • 4. Square law between 41% and 70% spectrum range
    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ





    WA2ZKD
  • KA7UKA7U
    John,
    So far my tests with the 3 Beta receivers have been very favorable. The Denoiser works quite well. The WF# tab is a neat feature, although I'm not real sure why the magnification level is needed there, as I can see the waterfall. Do you plan on using it with no waterfall in a mobile type setting? Or I suppose if the waterfall is stopped for other reasons, it would be a good feature. I'm speculating on this. The auto-notch reduces a CW signal to key clicks, more or less. It is an effective auto-notch. 

    I find the Beta to be very nice. I'm sure you will be tweaking it and perfecting it, but I see it as a big improvement to operating system on these receivers. Makes a nice Christmas gift. Looking forward to getting it installed on my KiwiSDR units.
    Ron
    KA7U
  • jksjks
    Should work on iPad now.

  • KA7UKA7U
    Don't know about the iPad, but it is working nicely with the new Kindle Fire 10HD. I snapped a screenshot for you to see it going.
    Ron
    KA7U


    Attachments:
    https://forum.kiwisdr.com/uploads/Uploader/b4/148359309d666b5fcce6ef53ce4a1a.png
  • G8JNJG8JNJ
    Hi John,

    It now works OK on the iPad on all three test sites.

    The mute button on the top menu is appreciated.

    However the Spectrum button now seems even more out of place to me, I think it should reside of the waterfall page next to the new 'Slow Dev' button.

    Regards,

    Martin - G8JNJ


  • g1tvlg1tvl
    One *very* minor annoyance for the UI - it would be nice if the open and close buttons for the pop-out panels were in the same place. (So after click to open, another click closes without a mouse move)

    For the main controls they are nearly but not quite in the same place.
    For the welcome panel, they are at opposite ends of the panel (though the panel closes if clicked anywhere)
    For the contacts panel they are at opposite sides (but doesn't close if clicked anywhere in the panel) - obviously not relevant to the new look UI.

    Dave G1TVL

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