🤔 The circuitry inside a Casio watch isn't too complex, maybe I could measure it and manufacture a replacement with more features.
Oops somebody already did it! Way better than I would have!
The "Pluto" watch, which re-purposes the case and LCD from a Casio F91-W, includes a compass, infrared programming, RTTTL ringtone (musical) alarms, generates RFC 6238 one-time passwords, open source, and runs for a year on a standard watch battery! Wow!! 😮
more cybrepnuk than Pebble imho
@datagrok Cool. That looks way more populated than the Chinese F91-W clones
@datagrok Is the board available to purchase?
@satchmoz (I'm not affiliated with the project, I just happened upon it and think it's cool.) I don't see any storefronts but all the files you need to manufacture it yourself are there.
I saw someone in the linked forum offering to sell extra copies of the PCB they ordered but I don't remember how old that post was.
A PCB that small shouldn't cost very much to manufacture though, even in small quantities!
@datagrok @cypnk
https://github.com/travisgoodspeed/goodwatch/blob/master/README.md
Travis Goodspeed also made a good F91 drop in
@datagrok ah, that's the Casio watch that gets you double-checked at airports, right? (because the circuitry isa favorite among terrorists). Given my Arabic name, I'm afraid that watch is not for me...
@hisham_hm
Two I was going to post that. Bomb makers love it
@datagrok
@catdad @hisham_hm ugh idk what to say about security theater. I imagine that even if you're careful not to wear the wrong watch they'll make up some other excuse to harass people 😩
Have you heard of Star Simpson? MIT student who went to an airport with some blinky leds in her jacket, security lost their minds, and the school basically threw her under the bus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQdl_JdTars
It's absolutely disgusting
@datagrok whoa what
this is super relevant to my interests
I went to a good bit of trouble to get a Casio DB-31 to match the one I had in grade school. It's basically the Ideal Watch, except it doesn't have a backlight. Casio's replacement model would be better except there's a button that you can hold to switch on/off DST which is one of the worst anti-features I've ever encountered.
I'd love to be able to drop in a better board...
😮 here's another Casio PCB-replacement, this one for a calculator watch. The author reports ✨5✨ years of battery life. And it's got a heckin' ham radio built-in! https://goodwatch.org
These two modded watches, one with a reverse-polarization LCD hack, in front of a GPD Pocket! This is just pornographic 😳
TYVM @rrix for the link!
@datagrok How do you find the Pocket? They look cute as hell
@datagrok Aha, just realised that was from the link. Reading comprehension skills 0/10 over here 😂
@datagrok have you seen https://goodwatch.org/ ? features include:
- hex editor
- disassembler for the watch's own firmware
- amateur radio tx/rx for cw and several other digital modes
components are about $14 ea. for 10x
I really want to build one; hmu if you want to go in together for parts
@io I just tooted about that one too! But I'm torn--It's interesting to me but I don't really have use for the ham radio features myself. Also I don't think I have time for an additional electronics project anytime soon.
But my toots about the Pluto and the GoodWatch got quite a few boosts and favs. I expect there would be a lot of interest in a group-buy. (Especially if you can buy or do the PCB assembly of the surface mount components!)
So I'll boost this and maybe you'll get some responses!
@io you know what, for only $14, if we can get enough people interested I'd throw in for a kit too just to help it happen
i don't have time to do any organization around this though for at least another two weeks or so
@datagrok @ekaitz_zarraga I NEED THIS WITH BLE BEACON
@datagrok
That's super cool! Btw for people who do have a Pebble watch, there's an open source firmware and software project in the works called Rebble! rebble.io
@amongoose
@datagrok
There is also an open source android app Gadgetbridge that replaces the pebble app.
@datagrok I like my Pebble but I wouldn't mind trying This out either.
@datagrok Impressive 😮 😃
But... I'm quite fond of the **5 year +** battery life of the original. Keep it simple, I guess.
@datagrok holy shit
@datagrok I wish I could buy one.
@datagrok are F91-ws still made though
@a_breakin_glass you can buy them new on amazon for like $11 or cheaper used, and i see off-brand clones for $3
but part of my excitement about this project is that the author has done most of the hard reverse engineering work already, so a non-expert like me with a little bit of electronics knowledge and time could probably fork the project to do the same to other models of watch
@datagrok wow, this sounds cool! ^_^
@datagrok Indeed is. :)
@xrevan86 that's an estimate, and from a hobby project where one person writes all the power maintenance code themselves, not a giant watch company with a team of engineers. i think that's pretty good!
if it's possible to make it last longer, the project is open source, so anybody can contribute that improvement.
i've got a wireless mechanical keyboard that burns through two coin cells in 4-6 months 🤷 and modern phones and smart-watches don't even compare
@datagrok It's a very cool hack.
However one of the coolest features of the original f-91w is its little known resistance to magnets up to at least 3T. Even where the gradient is steepest, you can't affect the watch much, even waving your arm around just fades the display, and that's some *serious* flux.
Most digital watches reset at that point. Analogue break.
@datagrok Huh, I have an A158-WA, which as far as I can tell uses the same lcd panel (It's the steel version of the watch rather than black plastic). I wonder if the internal frame is the same - it might be similar enough to work with the pluto board unmodified.