One possibility to allow independent brightness settings without eating more flash memory bits is to allow the user to adjust the brightness from the front panel, but to only display (not store) the setting. Then you know what level to configure when you next upload config.ini.

Not as nice as remembering the setting in flash, but then, compromises are never as nice as having it all.
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Toby Speight
030103016 (80GB Mk2a, blue)
030102806 (0GB Mk2a, blue)