[Feature] Add "address" and "light" to class "remote"

[falk12]

Hi all,

the features "address" and "light" are discussed/planned , but yet not implemented in class "remote"

Use of "address"

• connect desired remote to the hub
• reconnect same remote to hub as before
• espacially on exhibitions where you have many active devices

Use of "light"

• show different modes of the program/remote
• i.E. switch from Port A/B to B/C with a technic-hub via "center" button
• i.E. alarm battery level of hub connected to
• i.E. status of devices etc.

Perhaps discuss a "disconnect" for the remote?

[dlech]

Perhaps discuss a "disconnect" for the remote?

What is the use case for this?

[falk12]

What is the use case for this?

• drive a train, stop it, disconnect, start another train with same remote
• having a GBC with many motors running with a certain speed, but connect and disconnect one remote to the different hubs to adjust speed (by pressing hub button and remote center simultaniosly)

Edit:

• or the Liebherr, using one remote for both hubs.
  There were some more ideas here:
  [Feature] Powered Up Remote Control #186 (comment)

[laurensvalk]

Perhaps discuss a "disconnect" for the remote?

👍

Another case was even used in our own video. But since disconnect() was not available I cheated and just turned the whole hub off instead 😄

[laurensvalk]

Setting the light color seems relatively slow. Would it be faster if we didn't use RGB mode, or is two extra bytes negligible given the overhead data?

EDIT: This seems to be primarily the case when used in a loop. So we can just document it and recommend not to change it too fast. Single changes look fast enough.

[laurensvalk]

As a minor note, remote.light.on(Color.YELLOW) is pretty much green. More so than, say, Technic Hub.

[laurensvalk]

The remote seems to remember the light used last. Maybe we can add call self.light.on(Color.WHITE) Remote.init() to get a clean state, which is consistent with re-connecting when re-starting the script.

[dlech]

This is available at https://beta.pybricks.com now.

[falk12]

Hi dlech

yes indeed, thanks a lot!
But I expected and hoped that you could specify a MAC-Address when connecting to be sure to have the appropriate one ?
No?
So I would have to rename remote to MAC .....

[dlech]

It is possible to give each remote a unique and meaningful name. We hoped this would be nicer than using the Blueooth address.

And if you can be sure that only one remote is advertising at a time, then you don't need the name at all.