I am sooo jealous of this. What an amazing project. Yes it would be front page on Hackaday but pleased it appeared here because HN is all about (IMHO) inventive and creative technology and its possibilities and applications. These sort of projects illuminate for the rest of us on what might be possible. Has inspired me to break open the boxes of parts i have and build something that works (useful or not remains to be seen), just to explore the possible. By day i work on Enterprise software, but ive had more inspiration moments when working on IoT wireless stuff at home than ever had in meetings, workgroups, or sitting in an office.
To the author and creator, a huge thank you for the inspiration, education. Like one other poster mentioned i too would like a quick donate button for this. I do use for other projects because i think its important to acknowledge people who make stuff like this. Whether is code or hardware, or sometimes even just ideas on KS, give a few bucks if you can to share the fun and inspiration and reward others.
This is a bit orthogonal, but if you're interested in the watch form factor, TI makes a really neat watch dev board for the MSP430 that has a built-in accelerometer and support for wireless sensors.
I'm not sure whether Chronos is still in production. In comparison to this chronos is large (it is significantly larger that you would expect from the pictures) and it's radio capabilities are limited (not to mention that it does not have keyboard ;))
TI also for a short time made more advanced version with bluetooth, sane industrial design and certified radio which was quite similar to Pebble.
This is one of those articles/projects where I really miss an established universal web-wide donation system. I just want to click a button on that page and send the author a few bucks as a Thank You for doing amazing things.
(And no, a Paypal link is not an answer to this problem)
I too miss posts like this, but I'm glad we've at least passed beyond the "unicorn! unicorn!!", "here's how to bother your users incessantly" phase and seem to be on an upward trend in post quality.
(Disclaimer: I'm one of the disappointed backers of his kickstarter campaign, which went nowhere...)
If there were another attempt at making a watch like this one, I'd definitely be a backer. I think this is really an ideal time for someone to start up an open-source, powerful watch platform ..
At first I thought this was a firmware mod for those calculator watches, but it's a new circuit board. Comparable in power to those TI msp430 developer watches, but with better UI possibilities.
Awesome project. I'm surprised we don't see more msp430-based watch projects. Bonus points for ham radio functionality. I'd be all over this if I didn't hate wearing a watch.
Does anyone know what the apparently pocket-sized notebook computer is? The one in the picture about halfway through the post, with the watches draped over it.
In this particular case the poster in the linked thread worked deep inside HP and lobbied hard to get an SDK released and manufacture the calculator with a nondescript set of pins inside the battery compartment that permitted reflashing.
This firmware was written from scratch - the SDK provided a functioning compiler and basic architectural info about the calculator, but no sample code. The above firmware was thus written entirely from scratch. It implements all standard functionality (re-implements, heh) as well as a number of advanced fan-built features (more info at the SF link above).
IIUC, the HP-20b is sadly no longer in active production, so getting one's hands on this interesting bit of kit is tricky. But despite the fact that this never really made headline news the whole venture worked perfectly. Thought I'd mention it.
As for what I think Casio should do: the TL;DR is that it's really, really hard to do things that are offensive or damaging from a business standpoint with a 8-char 7-segment LCD and a tiny keypad. This isn't a smartwatch with a full-color LCD. So there's that.
The real problem is that, well, what little market demand is left for wrist calculator watches is now split between the option of purchasing a smartwatch instead. So demand would be probably within the <2%-of-entire-market range.
But if there happen to have any active production lines still producing these calculator watches, I can totally see Casio being able to very cheaply swap in a PCB with something like what OP has created.
NB. Since I have no idea how far this comment could reach - by all means copypasta.
The end of the article mentions the code is available and PCB's will be coming soon. The next step beyond that is that someone has to fill in the rest.
That's pretty cool,
I plan to do something similar but with a cheap smartwatch, a lot o Chinese smartwatch are based on the same soc family, and usualy are pretty hackable.
[+] [-] zoom6628|8 years ago|reply
To the author and creator, a huge thank you for the inspiration, education. Like one other poster mentioned i too would like a quick donate button for this. I do use for other projects because i think its important to acknowledge people who make stuff like this. Whether is code or hardware, or sometimes even just ideas on KS, give a few bucks if you can to share the fun and inspiration and reward others.
[+] [-] alunaryak|8 years ago|reply
http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/EZ430-Chronos
[+] [-] dfox|8 years ago|reply
TI also for a short time made more advanced version with bluetooth, sane industrial design and certified radio which was quite similar to Pebble.
[+] [-] yoodenvranx|8 years ago|reply
(And no, a Paypal link is not an answer to this problem)
[+] [-] chc4|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bruncun|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sorenjan|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] manigandham|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Aloha|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] omn1|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bastijn|8 years ago|reply
@author (if here). Thanks, fantastic read and an even better gadget. You made me feel “O my, I need this!”.
[+] [-] sundarurfriend|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codinghorror|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] passwordqq2|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dessant|8 years ago|reply
I'll hold this thought dear for the rest of my life, thanks for sharing this amazing project.
[+] [-] mmjaa|8 years ago|reply
http://www.gabotronics.com/oscilloscopes/oscilloscope-watch....
(Disclaimer: I'm one of the disappointed backers of his kickstarter campaign, which went nowhere...)
If there were another attempt at making a watch like this one, I'd definitely be a backer. I think this is really an ideal time for someone to start up an open-source, powerful watch platform ..
[+] [-] brncsk|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sly010|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wepple|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] limmeau|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] AlliedEnvy|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zokier|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vr46|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bringtheaction|8 years ago|reply
Casio digital watch with built-in infrared remote for your TV
Good times. Actually not very useful but they looked so hot back then and I remember just laying on the floor looking at the pictures of such watches.
[+] [-] coupdejarnac|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ctkrohn|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] detaro|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mknapper1|8 years ago|reply
https://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_613003.html
[+] [-] jdietrich|8 years ago|reply
https://www.amazon.com/LANRUO-Pocket-Aluminum-Windows-x7-Z87...
[+] [-] tzs|8 years ago|reply
I wonder why two thousand years? All the common day of the week algorithms should work as long as the current leap year pattern [1] continues.
[1] (year % 4 == 0) && ((year % 100 != 0) || (year % 400 == 0)
[+] [-] pmarreck|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] j7ake|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] exikyut|8 years ago|reply
Someone should tell Casio about this, and forward them http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv018.cg... as an example of what can happen when insiders successfully pull strings.
In this particular case the poster in the linked thread worked deep inside HP and lobbied hard to get an SDK released and manufacture the calculator with a nondescript set of pins inside the battery compartment that permitted reflashing.
The result was the "WP 34s" firmware: https://commerce.hpcalc.org/34s.php is a basic overview (unknown if clicking Order works, email first) and https://sourceforge.net/projects/wp34s/ has full source code, details - and emulators for Linux/Windows/macOS that Just Work™, I might add.
This firmware was written from scratch - the SDK provided a functioning compiler and basic architectural info about the calculator, but no sample code. The above firmware was thus written entirely from scratch. It implements all standard functionality (re-implements, heh) as well as a number of advanced fan-built features (more info at the SF link above).
IIUC, the HP-20b is sadly no longer in active production, so getting one's hands on this interesting bit of kit is tricky. But despite the fact that this never really made headline news the whole venture worked perfectly. Thought I'd mention it.
As for what I think Casio should do: the TL;DR is that it's really, really hard to do things that are offensive or damaging from a business standpoint with a 8-char 7-segment LCD and a tiny keypad. This isn't a smartwatch with a full-color LCD. So there's that.
The real problem is that, well, what little market demand is left for wrist calculator watches is now split between the option of purchasing a smartwatch instead. So demand would be probably within the <2%-of-entire-market range.
But if there happen to have any active production lines still producing these calculator watches, I can totally see Casio being able to very cheaply swap in a PCB with something like what OP has created.
NB. Since I have no idea how far this comment could reach - by all means copypasta.
[+] [-] mathgeek|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] andrenotgiant|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hexmiles|8 years ago|reply