Show HN: A Commodore Amiga Workbench Style Smart Watch with Mod and Say Support | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: A Commodore Amiga Workbench Style Smart Watch with Mod and Say Support

thedorkweb.substack.com

122 points_b8r016 comments

In case anyone's interested, the source for the watch and all of the bike shedding along the way like the raytracer and emulator is here: https://github.com/stevelord/AWatch/

I'm waiting for the 2020 edition of the TTGO T-Watch, then I'll do another rewrite from the ground up with better code and hopefully support for external apps.

My wife has tried to get me to get a smartwatch but I wasn't sure what I'd do with one. I hadn't considered there were DIY options out there. This has me thinking of more projects I don't have time to do.

There's a new version of the TTGO watch which includes face recognition: https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/06/03/ttgo-t-watch-k210-k2...

At this point, you have to really look at it and say actually, this'd be really good for robotics - esp32, add a motor shield, 6axis sensor, motion depth sensor, k210 with camera, wifi, BT, lipo capable, grove connector, all in one unit!

Even the product page has an idea for a robot on it... http://www.lilygo.cn/prod_view.aspx?TypeId=50036&Id=1256&FId...

There's a code sample in the library for a robot. That must be where it's from.

There's also heaps of daughterboards and even a keyboard add-on!

Considering the Vultures who own the trademarks are still exploiting AmigaOS and have no plans on open sourcing anything, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a not-so-kind letter from a lawyer.

https://aros.sourceforge.io/

The open-source AmigaOS is called AROS.

It's not AmigaOS, it's AROS, a different system.

It has its own problems; Messy licensing and poor support for the real (68k Amiga) hardware are two of them.

Ok. This is one of the more awesome things I saw on HN ( even when nostalgia is factored in ).

I haven't worn a watch in forever and now I kinda want to..

You can get them off Aliexpress or Banggood for <$60. When it arrives just set up the Arduino IDE, Clone the repo, copy the AWatch folder into your Arduino project directory, install the libraries referenced in the repo, connect it over USB and hit upload.

They're interesting bits of hardware and worth playing with. The sample code on which the phone was originally based is quite... convoluted for what it is. I'm going to spend some more time playing with FreeRTOS and seeing if I can build something a bit more professional after looking at the Rebble code.

I really love these hacker projects. Also your enthusiasm. I usually order the parts but after the some failures I give up and the land in a box. Ok, in most of the cases the project have no real life use, so there's not too much motivation.

However, the most important question : is your partner using the watch or ordered one?

Commodore went bankrupt but the IP kept being bought out and Hyperion makes AmigaOS now: https://www.hyperion-entertainment.com/

If you don't have an Amiga you can use AROS on your PC or in a VM that is the open-source version of AmigaOS 3.1 rewritten: https://aros.sourceforge.io/

I'm part-way through porting Oricutron to the PineTime developer watch. I just have to work out how to solve the keyboard issue, and then I'll be sporting Oric Atmos as a time piece.

Also, the Oscilloscope Watch is supposed to be shipping now, finally. That's gonna be a hard watch to not add a synthesiser module to.

This is beautiful! I'm glad they got the job done - but also now I really want an Amiga watch: if you could make the casing look like an Amiga500 (or C64, or ZX Spectrum, or Apple //) I'd throw money at it!

They actually do them in white too on Aliexpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33038999162.html

If you order one, you'll need to use the Arduino IDE and install the libraries listed on the Github but it's all done over USB so it's pretty easy. If anyone wants to buy a black one, I'd really appreciate it if they used my banggood affiliate link: https://www.banggood.com/custlink/3GKvwc2lad but do check the price against Aliexpress first as one may be cheaper than the other.

Huh, there's even one with a keyboard here! : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000910537648.html

This is positively fantastic, thank you for showing this.

While I'm not big on the 1.X color scheme and UI, it should be easy to go from this to 2.X style.

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