Some folks are wondering why I’m going to all this trouble designing front panel logic this complicated. The reason is that I want it to be easy to understand and use, minimizing the number of switch presses wherever possible.
Look at all these front panels and note the variety in designs. You’ll note that many have locking toggle switches, making you have to switch them all back to zero every time you move to the next entry. You’ll also note that only a few have switches for both address and data -- a handful do double duty. Some don’t let you access specific addresses, and instead give you an auto-increment feature to facilitate data entry.
I ask: why not have both? Why not be able to hop to a specific address and then increment from there? Some of these also have push button data entry, but usually that means you have to clear out the entire byte and start over. I’m adding momentary toggles, but letting you modify the byte you’re currently working on just a bit or two at a time to make life easier.
You’ll note how many have massive switch paddles to make it easier on your fingers.
Do you have a favorite front panel design?