Posted at 28 Dec 2006, 13:15:05 GMT: About a month ago I bought a wireless Thrustmaster dual trigger rechargeable game controller. It has a simple docking station with a rather bright blue light on it. Now this blue light isn't completely purposeless as it blinks if it has signal problems. My controller has a feature to switch itself in power save mode if unused for over 5 minutes. Now this all sounds perfectly nice except that if I don't use my controller for 5 minutes my receiver will trigger this as an error and will start blinking rapidly. Even if my controller is laying in the recharging dock you see a red recharging/green recharged light telling the controller is correctly placed on top of the docking station as well as a fast blinking blue light telling me it can't find my controller.
This got me to think about how annoyingly many lights there are burning on my desk.
The power light of my PC naturally
My monitor power indicator and my screen
The power light of a power switch for all my other stuff
The power light of the power surge protector
The receiver light of my wireless keyboard and mouse receiver (it blinks every time I press a key or move my mouse)
The receiver of my old wireless rechargeable mouse as a backup in case my current one fails.
A green status light on my USB hub/cup heater. (burns 24x7)
A blue power light pointing out that an other USB hub is powered and running. (It blinks if systems use power)
The green light that my batteries are recharged of my wireless controller (I unplugged the wireless receiver)
The red light that my 5.1 speaker system is activated
The green light that my webcam is powered (burns 24x7)
The green power, ethernet, DSL and internet light indicator of my DSL router
My power light of my printer scanner copier
A green power indicator at the back of my PC pointing out Ethernet cable is plugged in, simulary twice at my router and once at my parents PC
4 lights indicating our phone central works, is powered, our ISDN central works and is powered
A red light indicating the actual phone recharger is powered.
The red light from my parents optical mouse which is transparent at the sides, there keyboard numlock light, monitor, speakers, PC power light, there PC power switch and there webcam.
A miniature Christmas tree with 20 lights, happy holidays everybody.
The point of this lengthy list is to point out how annoyed I'm with all these lights non stop. Why does every single hardware manufacturer have to put a status light on there product and why do these light blink under normal circumstances? The only hardware on my desk without a light is my microphone and I'm pretty sure that's because it has no power source.
Anyway, how many lights do you have burning around your PC?
Bacteria 2