--- Sellam Ismail <foo_at_siconic.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Ethan Dicks wrote:
> I bet with as much work as you described in setting up an infrared
> communications network to beam the time signal to machines around the
> room (cool idea BTW :)
Thanks.
> one could take an old Hayes 300/1200/2400 modem,
> dump the EPROM, hack the code to replace various AT commands with the
> Chronograph AT command set, add a clock/calendar chip to the board
> somewhere, and roll your own Chronograph. You'd still have to add the
> digital readout on the front
I noticed from the picture from the cover of the manual that it is the same
style as a 1200-baud modem, but taller (to accomodate the display). It
looks about the same size as my Tecmar T-Disk case. I'd have to go look,
but it depends on which style of extruded aluminum case they used if it
could be expanded vertically. The width would be fixed by the size of the
top and bottom plates, but it might be possible to fit side risers.
In any case, I'm not sure where I'd get a compatible display. I also play
with LCD (and VFD) displays with the LCDproc project (lcdproc.omnipotent.net)
I have one 20x4 VFD and a couple 20x2 displays (so-called "Pole Displays"
for cash registers - RS-232 and 6VAC to drive them). It wouldn't look like
a Chronograph, but I could fit an IR emitter to the top of the Pole Display
(under a red lens) and set up receivers to pick up the time that way. I
presume if I used a carrier other than the one used by IrDA, I could still
use the link between my laptop and desktop. I suppose I would have to write
a PalmOS app to read the time.
This would be easy to prototype with a Pole display and a Linux box
with a few serial ports. I could at least do a proof-of-concept
prototype. I've also thought about turning an iOpener into a wall clock.
Then there is this wall-mount 486 I have with a 10" screen, two PCMCIA
slots, an ISA slot, internal HD, etc. I was just contemplating getting
a set of Diamond HomeFree cards (cheap) but didn't know if there were
Linux drivers for it or not.
> ...or maybe you can turn the status lights into a binary clock output?
I'm an old hand with Binary Clocks (I've built several and even have
an interrupt driven software one for the PET that fits in the cassette
buffer and "draws" the clock face in the upper-left corner of the screen
that I wrote when I was 13 ;-) I'm even looking at one now on top of
my monitor at work (you should hear some of the comments I get).
So... while it's a nice idea in theory, unless you rotated the time through
a modem faceplate digit by digit, I don't see how you could fit it into
the case for a 1200-baud modem.
> In the very least, it would make one killer exhibit for the VCF to show
> what someone can do in their copious free time to reconstruct computing's
> past :)
It would be all of that. Now if only I could get some time off when one
of the VCFs is running. :-(
Lots of ideas, plenty of ways to roll it. No time.
-ethan
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Received on Tue Jul 24 2001 - 12:36:39 BST