Colorblindness and IT

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Sage2k

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 25, 2002
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I have issues when trying to troubleshoot hardware sometimes...for example on cisco switches, I cannot tell between green and amber LED's. I know I can just console in and check logs, but it'd be nice if I could tell right off the bat...

Sometimes on server hardware I cannot tell between green and amber also.

Just wondering if any of you guys have any tips for this. My eye doctor suggested using yellow or orange tinted sunglasses and learning to differentiate that way, but I havent tried it yet and I don't really wanna carry sunglasses around.
 
I think the point of the amber tinted sunglasses would be to negate amber light, enhancing green light. Putting on the glasses would be a very temporary thing. Maybe carry a bit of amber cellophane or make an amber monocle?
 
RocketTech said:
I think the point of the amber tinted sunglasses would be to negate amber light, enhancing green light. Putting on the glasses would be a very temporary thing. Maybe carry a bit of amber cellophane or make an amber monocle?
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This^^^ is a very good idea.
 
Might try using a camera phone viewfinder? It might be easier to tell the difference that way. Although the monocle sounds way cooler.
 
Doing IT work like a sir. :)

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A co-worker of mine is severely color-blind, and has the same issue with green and amber lights. Also cat5e cables, he can't make them because the green and brown look the same.

So he's learned to not be bashful about asking anyone else around him to tell him what color something is.

If you're alone, the amber anti-color-blind glasses might work. You'd need to see an eye doctor about that. You can also tell the difference sometimes by how intense the light is, but that doesn't always work, depends on the device.
 
Just get two pieces of clear acrylic, about the size of a quarter. Sandwich a piece of amber cellophane and green cellophane in between them so that half of the acrylic is one color and half the other. Glue it together and finish it however you choose. Keep it in your pocket when at work so you can quickly and easily use it.
 
Well this is an interesting topic. I don't think tinted glasses would be odd to wear. I used to have a co-worker who wore pink tinted glasses to negate the effect of the office lighting on his eye health. Thinkgeek is selling yellow tinted glasses that are supposed to help reduce eye strain for people who work in front of computers all day. If you want to carry around tinted plastic gel, something like this made for camera flashes would be pretty durable.
 
Red/blue colorblind here. Had never really been tested for it until I went to MEPs to join the military, and I had scored very well on my ASVAB. Recruiter told me I could have any job I wanted due to the score, so I was stoked. After only correctly seeing 1 out of 13 in that damn color dot book and failing depth perception as well, my options got reduced from any job I wanted to pick from these 13. Luckily computer operater was one of them :) Almost 10 years later and it hasn't affected me at all in the workplace, or life in general.
 
Arpawocky said:
Red/blue colorblind here. Had never really been tested for it until I went to MEPs to join the military, and I had scored very well on my ASVAB. Recruiter told me I could have any job I wanted due to the score, so I was stoked. After only correctly seeing 1 out of 13 in that damn color dot book and failing depth perception as well, my options got reduced from any job I wanted to pick from these 13. Luckily computer operater was one of them :) Almost 10 years later and it hasn't affected me at all in the workplace, or life in general.
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yea but you're still a cripple
 
Yeah, wear a monocle instead of glasses, because that's entirely more reasonable. :rolleyes:
 
Q1DM6 said:
Yeah, wear a monocle instead of glasses, because that's entirely more reasonable. :rolleyes:
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A sense of humor is very..........oh never mind.


I think the colored cellophane idea would work well. You could carry that in your wallet or...man bag if you prefer.

EDIT: New Idea: make an app for this. :)
 
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Q1DM6 said:
Yeah, wear a monocle instead of glasses, because that's entirely more reasonable. :rolleyes:
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It is IMHO. Instead of having to carry glasses around with you all the time you can slip a small monocle in your pocket or wallet even. It's not like you would need to use it all day. Just pop it out for a second to look at the status lights and put it away again.
 
I can tell a VERY little difference. I hate being color blind. I have to look at it closely, but I still get it wrong sometimes. I haven't found a work around. :(
 
i did a search in the android app store "color picker camera" and came up with a list of real time color identifier apps. There might be something there that would work out. I'm sure there would be something similar if you have an iPhone.
 
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