tluteran@bbn.com (Thomas Luteran) (03/28/90)
In article <BLK.90Mar26094919@vanity.mitre.org> blk@mitre.org (Brian L. Kahn) writes: ... >Fun Magazine, that Computer Shopper. Anyone out there own the bizarre >"wrist PC"? Looks like fun for $30! > Brian, YES, I've got one! It's pretty neat! I was thinking about getting a Portfolio, Wizard or BOSS to help me keep track of alarms, but I saw this for 1/10th the price and figured I'd give it a try first, for kicks. It includes a nice program on the IBM PC that lets you compose your "pages" - the watch can store 80 "pages" of 2 lines x 12 characters each (I think it has about 2KB of memory!). It comes with a simple cable has a DB-25 male connector on one end and a special connector on the other end that is easily snapped around the watch, making contact with the metallic watch back (ground, pin 7) and a small metallic spring-loaded button contact (receive, pin 2 (i think!)) on the left side of the watch. _____________________ / SEIKO \ [===] -- "chicklet"-style rubber | _______________ | buttons _| / \ | # -- indicates the single daily / | | # 90 03/27 P | | alarm is set RS-232 > | | | TUE 01:54 12 | | receive \_| \_______________/ | TIME button returns to time display connection | | LOCK button allows setting times or |WRIST TERMINAL RC1000| downloading of data to watch | | ALARM selects daily alarm display | TIME LOCK ALARM | | [===] [===] [===] | | | SELECT and SET buttons are used | [=^=] [===] [=v=] | to scroll through page groups or |SELECT TERMINAL SET | to set time or alarm displays \_____________________/ TERMINAL is used to select a group There are five types of pages: - label pages - memo pages (straight text, like phone numbers) - world time pages - scheduled alarm pages - weekly alarm pages. Text that you enter is upper-case only, and not all non-alphanumeric characters are allowed (I don't remember which right now). You can keep groups of memo pages separated by using one page at the beginning of the group as a label page. The world time page allows you to enter some text in the first line and a numeric time zone in the second line. Then, whenever you display that page, it gives you the line of text on the first line and the time in that zone on the second line. The main reason I need something like this is to remind me of important dates/activities BEFORE they happen. That's what the alarm pages are for. They both allow you to enter text on the first line, and the second line is used to enter the date at which the alarm will sound and the page will be displayed, until any button is pressed or it times out. The scheduled alarms pages are for one-time events, say my wife's birthday or our anniversary, although they could also be used as annual events since you can't put in the year. The weekly alarm pages allow you to set the day of the week and the time at which the alarm should go off (take the garbage out on Wednesday morning!). One thing I'd like to have in addition or instead of the weekly alarm is a weekday daily alarm to remind me of things I have to do every weekday, like get up or leave work in time to get train. Less important would be a weekend daily alarm for setting a different time to get up in the morning (although with kids, it's really not that different! ;-) ). I can use the weekly alarm pages to approximate these situations, by using a separate page with the same reminder for each day of the week, but this will use up 5 weekly pages for each weekday alarm and 2 weekly pages for each weekend alarm. Once you 've set up your pages on the PC you download to the watch by putting it into receive mode (TERMINAL, then LOCK buttons). The PC program lets you store your pages for recall and editing later on. Downloading takes just a few seconds. Alas, I haven't yet had time to hook the PC up to a terminal to see what they are using for a protocol so that I can write some C code for my system at work to allow me to update my watch there - but I expect to get to it soon! It's got to be pretty simple since it is only one-way communication, from PC to watch only - probably some control characters, followed by delays. I'll keep you posted! I don't think we should hold our breath waiting for someone to write an X server for it, though! The watch is a little bigger than a simple Casio digital watch that I've been wearing for the last five or so years. It has a light. It is not as easy to read as the Casio, but it's display is made up of dots (pixels) not bar elements, as in most digital watches, so that's understandable. It also has an hourly chime that can be toggled on or off. The SEIKO RC-1000 watch has been around for about 4-6 years old - I think it was just too far ahead of it's time! They were bought up as salvage by UnderWare, and I think they've been sitting around for a long time, so you may need a new battery ($2.00 at Radio Shack). One caveat: The first watch I got from UnderWare exhibited a problem with the display elements (pixels) getting scrambled occasionally, maybe a refresh problem? I replaced the battery, since the light was very low, but this did not solve the problem. I called UnderWare and they sent a replacement that has been working fine for the last five days. Underware was prompt and courteous - my only additional cost was to ship the defective watch back (~ $4.00?). It's a neat watch - don't let this stop you from getting one and experimenting! Dick Tracey, Beware!!! Tom Luteran BBN Software Products Corporation Cambridge, MA
silvert@cs.dal.ca (Bill Silvert) (03/29/90)
In article <54152@bbn.COM> tluteran@spca.bbn.com (Thomas Luteran) writes: >>Fun Magazine, that Computer Shopper. Anyone out there own the bizarre >>"wrist PC"? Looks like fun for $30! > > YES, I've got one! It's pretty neat! I was thinking about getting >a Portfolio, Wizard or BOSS to help me keep track of alarms, but I saw >this for 1/10th the price and figured I'd give it a try first, for kicks. I bought and liked one too, but then I bought a Casio 7500 which I much prefer. It is however convenient to have the info on your wrist, the tradeoff is the greater functionality and clarity of the organizer vs. the small size and portability of the Seiko. > Once you 've set up your pages on the PC you download to the watch by >putting it into receive mode (TERMINAL, then LOCK buttons). I've had lots of trouble with the connector on mine and usually have to try the download about a dozen times. Keep in mind that you HAVE to use the PC to load the Seiko -- you cannot program it on the fly. With my Casio I can enter new telephone numbers at any time, but with the Seiko I have to use a PC and have the software and cable with me. There was another comment about the protocol in use -- the Seiko software is written in BASIC, so you have the source code. It runs fine with GWBASIC, but not with QuickBasic. > The watch is a little bigger than a simple Casio digital watch that >I've been wearing for the last five or so years. It has a light. It is >not as easy to read as the Casio, but it's display is made up of dots (pixels) I found mine very faint and hard to read, even with a new battery. It is worth the price, but I would now prefer an organizer. Lots more power in something that fits in a shirt pocket. Since the smaller Casio's now run about $125 in Canada and are presumably a lot less in the US, unless you really want the power on your wrist, the Seiko may prove more of a pain than it is worth. Still, having that kind of programmable alarm is nice -- however, my wrist watch, also a Casio, has three programmable alarms (with the feature that they can be set to go of daily or weekly), all that the Seiko adds to the alarms is: 1) You can program a single alarm up to a year in the future, which is great for remembering things like theatre dates... 2) You can read a short reminder of what the alarm is for... 3) You can have up to about 80 alarms. -- Bill Silvert, Habitat Ecology Division. Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, NS, Canada B2Y 4A2 UUCP: ...!{uunet,watmath}!dalcs!biomel!bill Internet: bill%biomel@cs.dal.CA BITNET: bill%biomel%dalcs@dalac
tluteran@bbn.com (Thomas Luteran) (03/30/90)
In article <1990Mar28.182248.23185@cs.dal.ca> bill@biomel.UUCP writes: > >I bought and liked one too, but then I bought a Casio 7500 which I much >prefer. It is however convenient to have the info on your wrist, the >tradeoff is the greater functionality and clarity of the organizer vs. >the small size and portability of the Seiko. > I agree; again, it doesn't cost a lot of money. I still plan on getting one of the organizers for all of the reasons Bill mentions. >> Once you 've set up your pages on the PC you download to the watch by >>putting it into receive mode (TERMINAL, then LOCK buttons). > >I've had lots of trouble with the connector on mine and usually have to >try the download about a dozen times. Keep in mind that you HAVE to use >the PC to load the Seiko -- you cannot program it on the fly. With my >Casio I can enter new telephone numbers at any time, but with the Seiko >I have to use a PC and have the software and cable with me. My cable works okay, first time out. > >There was another comment about the protocol in use -- the Seiko >software is written in BASIC, so you have the source code. It runs fine >with GWBASIC, but not with QuickBasic. > The BASIC program that is included is just a loader program that peeks and pokes some assembly (machine?) language code into the PC - you can't (at least I can't) read this directly to determine the protocol. My idea is to figure the protocol out by connecting a terminal to the PC serial port instead of the watch and watching (sorry!) what comes down the line when the PC is downloading. Then I can write a C program that I can run on my UNIX system at work that will operate in a similar manner. Another thing I am wondering about :-) is whether or not you can address the individual pixels on the display or not - maybe it has some format for loading a raster image??? - instead of just downloading characters into one of the memo pages. Each character is 7 pixels high by 5 pixels wide, but the characters are separated by about 1 pixel of blank space on a single line and by two pixels between the two lines: xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx I guess I need to get the Technical Reference Manual (Programmer's Guide?) from Seiko :-). Tom Luteran BBN Software Products Corporation Cambridge, MA
hyatt@udel.edu (Glenn Hyatt) (03/30/90)
In article <54257@bbn.COM> tluteran@spca.bbn.com (Thomas Luteran) writes:
[ . . . a rave review of his Seiko wrist PC.]
Tom, you sold me on these gadgets, so I called Underware this morning to order
one. They ran out last week. Damn!
--
Glenn Hyattalana@sidd.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Alan Albright) (03/30/90)
In article <54257@bbn.COM> tluteran@spca.bbn.com (Thomas Luteran) writes: > > [stuff deleted] > > > The BASIC program that is included is just a loader program that >peeks and pokes some assembly (machine?) language code into the PC - >you can't (at least I can't) read this directly to determine the >protocol. My idea is to figure the protocol out by connecting a terminal >to the PC serial port instead of the watch and watching (sorry!) what >comes down the line when the PC is downloading. > [more stuff deleted] > I too, have one of these interesting devices (bought from Underware, very good service, by the way), and since I don't have a copy of GWBASIC that matches my copy of MS-DOS, I used my SHARP PC5000 to create an ASCII (text) file and then compiled it with QBasic 4.5 under DOS 3.20. Works great; the PEEK is to determine which type of video adaptor is on the system, they then use the BLOAD to directly load to the screen either a monochrome or CGA image file. I no longer have the simple mods that I initially made, but only a combined file with some added capabilities. The basic (sorry!) problem is to eliminate the CHAIN command in line 1510 by merging the two files (after renumbering one or both under GWBASIC). As for the data flow to the watch from the program, I did look at the data and it was recognizable, but I really don't remember the format. It shouldn't be too hard to use any standard ASCII (text) editor to edit the data file, and use only the part of the program that reads the data file and updates the watch (around line 7615 in RC1000.SYS). Hope this helps, ========================================================================= Alan Albright "all of the above has no basis in any reality that my company acknowledges" ===========================================================================