Steve,
I am fairly certain that there is other operations being done at run time as far as the way the channels are being handled by the firmware, some being global (independent of the type of strings being used) and some being specific to the type of string. This is the information I am seeking, finding out what process(es) are put in place at run time. If it turns out it is a wash, then it doesn't really matter which way you go (pre bake the swap to be done by your sequencer vs doing it at run time), the performance will be equivalent. If it isn't, then, I'll stick with a pre baked method rather than a run time one. That is great to have the flexibility, let everyone make their own decision based on their own knowledge base.
Jim,
I don't think there is a confusion about the two. The initial problem is the difference in configuration of the 'flex strings' vs the 'smart strings'. One ends up assigning the channels sequentially as GRB (channel 0,3,6...are Green, 1,4,7...are Red 2,5,8...are blue) and the other as RGB. There is (at least) 2 solutions to handle this. One involves setting up the SSC using RJ's 'smart string utility' (which by the way does ->not<- require the use of the pickit) and will swap the color channels on the fly at run time, the other is by prebaking the swap in the configuration of your controller in your sequencing program (LSP in my case).
I definitely am not asking for a modification or a rewrite of the firmware. It's awesome that this option is available, as it does help many people, me included. I am a 99% software guy and those are the kind of challenges I have been dealing with for the past 30 years. When I see one in front of me, I cannot help it but to start weighting the different solutions. This is just one of those cases.