Published Widget Compatibility Matrix and "Out-of-the-Box" Telemetry/Mapping Enhancement

[andy-hoy]

Overall, I've been very impressed with Edge TX, starting with 2.6 and moving in to 2.7 and 2.7.1 on my TX16S. In addition to the amazing core Edge functionality, I have also taken interest in Yaapu Lua scripts, most specifically the mapping app, as well as the telemetry for my ELRS gear, but this has not been without challenges.

Unfortunately, I have spent days doing "trial and error" installations and modifications with the Lua scripts and Edge, even trying to downgrade to 2.6 to eliminate problems with font / background color changing / data management / screen flickering that I experience with both Yaapu maps and the telemetry tools, watching lots of tutorials and googling through lots of forum fragments. At present, I am still struggling to get this working well together.

Obviously, the management of vast range of hardware, software, and communications protocols is no small feat for developers, and perhaps all the more so for an "average" user (being less technically familiar). Which makes me wish--wish that there was a central authority that was responsible for overseeing integration between these amazing FOSS technology, and giving the end users a greater assurance of inter-platform compatibility, whereby third or fourth-party developers could participate.

I know that the Edge team does do change logs with new releases, but as a user this doesn't give me instant assurance of software compatibility and functionality of various versions--without taking up the role of software historian. These are fractional snap shots in history, but does not offer a concise summation of which version works with what (which makes a lot of video tutorials have a useful shelf life that is inferior to some dairy products).

Given this reality, I think it would make great sense to put this into a published/controlled/maintained compatibility matrix, which would not only help record, track, and convey the capabilities of the current Edge release, but would also be useful in community debug/testing/feedback. IMO, Github is a disaster of a platform for anyone attempting to perform true product configuration management, especially given the complex nature of and interdependencies with other widgets and addins that are being developed apart from the Edge team.

As for dev team priorities, I saw a June snapshot of a 2.8 beta. I personally have limited appreciation for touch screens and am indifferent about improved functionality, and prefer to have as much useful information on a single screen as possible. With a product as sophisticated and complicated as Open/Edge TX inherently is, I think the 2.6-2.7 layouts are far more user friendly than the new 2.8 concepts (and as such would prefer the touchscreen changes were either a fork or a setting I could control as a user). But my greater wish is that the Edge team would make the mapping and telemetry monitoring to be built-in features, given their great popularity and importance.