NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/sys/handheld/2759

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-28 | 6.7 KB

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From: [e-mail] (John Diamant)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: High Teck Watches
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 27 Jan 93 21:24:48 GMT
References: <[e-mail]>
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Anthony J Stieber ([e-mail]) wrote:
> There is one data bank watch with a serial port
> that is sold by Mac Warehouse.

They call this the WristMac, but it's actually a Seiko RC-4000 (and a couple
other related models) together with the Mac cable and software.  Since Seiko
stopped manufacturing the watch, the company that made the WristMac bought out
the existing Seiko inventory.  The company's name is ExMachina and they're
in New York (212-831-3142).  They also have some old PC software and cable
(with a normal DB-25 on the computer end, so it's much more useful if you're
connecting to anything other than a Mac).  If they haven't run out, they're
willing to give those away with the WristMacs they sell.

> It displays a couple lines of text at a time out of perhaps a few dozen
> pages.

It displays 2 lines of 12 characters each at one time, and can have up
to 80 entries in up to 12 separate categories (scheduled alarms, weekly
alarms, or any lists with your own titles), where each heading takes up
one of the 80 entries.  It has 2K of memory in it (the 80 entries
account for almost all of that).  Only uppercase, numbers and some normal
printing non-alphanumerics are supported (not a full character-set, but good
enough -- it's obvious it's Japanese because the yen symbol is one of them).
Alarms only allow 12 characters of text with them because the other 12 are
occupied for the day or date and time.

>  It apparently can only receive data, not send,

They used to sell an adaptor to allow it to send also (the port is
bidirectional) but I'm not sure any of those are left (you can ask
ExMachina or Mac Warehouse (if they're still carrying the WristMac at
all)).  But, all it is is a converter from TTL levels to RS-232 levels
(5 volts to 12 volts) because there was no room on the watch for that
circuitry (or maybe inadequate power).  You could build one yourself if
you really wanted it (don't ask me for the plans -- I'm not a hardware
engineer and I never got plans from someone else, but it should be
pretty simple).  However, I doubt you'd really want to send from it,
because entering large amounts of data is quite awkward (see below).

>  and has no user input.

Actually, it does.  Once you enter the data entry mode (by pressing a button
on the side of the watch), you have 3 keys to enter text with:

1) a next character key
2) a previous character key
3) an advance key (starts over after the 24 characters are entered)

By the way, the next/prev keys allow you to advance through the alphabet to
the character you want, and then you press the advance key to go to the
next position.  If you hold next or previous down for a couple seconds, it
speeds up, so it's not as bad as it sounds.  It has the distinct advantage
of not looking like a watch with a keyboard since it only has 3 keys on the
face.  You tend to learn to abbreviate when you're entering data.

>  Changing any data in the watch means downloading the entire dataset again.

No, as I said, you can edit data from the watch.  However, you cannot
repartition memory between the up to 12 lists you've set up (each list is
downloaded with a fixed number of entries available in it, and you can't
change that without downloading).  I work around that by adding a couple
blanks on to the end of each area for on the fly use.  I really wouldn't
want to use this for data to be uploaded, but it is useful for adding
an alarm that I need before my next opportunity to download.

I use this for downloading my appointments from my workstation (I also
upload and download them to an HP95LX, but I turn the alarm beep off on
the 95).  This way, the watch, which is always with me and alarms are
easily turned off, either individual alarms which just require a tap of
any key on the watch face or all alarms (there's a master alarm disable
just by pressing two keys on the front of the watch simultaneously --
useful when you go to the theater).  I use the 95 for checking my
schedule and adding appointments when away from my desk.  This handles
the cases when an alarm would go off and I don't have my 95 with me and
also makes it much easier for me to quickly turn off an alarm.  They
work quite nicely together, and I rarely miss not being able to upload
from the watch (I just enter the needed data into the 95).  I would
never consider using a databank watch for something as volatile as
appointments without a download capability, because I'm not willing to
waste time entering the data into a watch manually and repeatedly.

>  Some company did sell a wrist
> computer years ago with an optional external keyboard but I haven't
> heard about it since.

That was also Seiko.  I don't remember the model number, but I didn't find
it very interesting because it didn't support alarms at all, and that's my
primary use for the watch.  To me, it was just a gimmick -- they said it
supported BASIC programming but that was actually in a computer built into
the keyboard and using the watch only for display.  The programs couldn't
run on the watch once disconnected from the keyboard.

FYI, the WristMac/Seiko RC-4000 (aka PC Datagraph) is a bare-bones watch other
than download/databank capabilities.  It has no backlight, no stopwatch, no
fancy features like tone dialing or calculator.  By leaving extra blank
(disabled) alarms in the scheduled and weekly alarm areas, you can recover the
normal on-the-fly alarm features of an ordinary digital watch.  They do
support downloading some alarms disabled, so you can have things in your
schedule that don't beep (but they won't flash either -- they're primarily
useful if someone asks if you're busy at a certain time and you can just step
through your appointment entries to see).

FYI, if anyone decides to get one, it's worth getting together an order of
4 or more because they have volume discounts starting at 4 watches (and their
price was pretty steep otherwise when I last checked -- $200 each for the
water-resistant/metal case version / around $100 with the volume discount).

John Diamant
Software Engineering Systems Division
Hewlett Packard Co.        ARPA Internet: [e-mail]
Fort Collins, CO        UUCP:  {hpfcla,hplabs}!hpfclp!diamant

This response does not represent the official position of, or statement
by, the Hewlett-Packard Company.  The above data is provided for informational
purposes only.  It is supplied without warranty of any kind.