Live data from Hacker News

Open Source Smartwatch

pine64.org

111–120 of 251 posts

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#111
The cost is crazy low. Any insight on if this will function as a standard smartwatch (ie buzz for alerts) out of the box, or do I need to write my own bluetooth driver for this to be useful?

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#112
post #54

I’m not so sure if this is significant other than for the fact that it’s being distributed by PINE64. There are plenty other junk reprogrammable “smartwatch kit” that reuse Huami/Xiaomi-brand smartwatch enclosures while genuine Huami goes on to collect data more strategically at a larger scale. Recently I got a Mi Band 5 and learned they transfer BLE pairing over platforms - they make devices generate new MAC when un…

I like Pine64's spirit, but are they good at delivery? I was excited by the PineTab and wanted to buy a few for wall-mounted displays. But they've been out of stock for 6 months at least, with very spotty updates. It made me reluctant to buy anything from them.

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#113
post #97
post #94

Ok, just to make sure I understand this correctly. - This is basically a commercial smartwach (the Colmi P8) that is based on a well documented SOC, the nordic nRF52832 - The open source version comes with an enclosure that is not glued shut, so that it is easy to access testpoints on the pcb. - Development is done by accessing the nRF51 SWD interface with pogo pins or similar. The programming interface can be a stan…

:) not sure it's up to anybody to do it. To me "nRF51 SWM interface with pogo pins" means absolutely nothing, same for nRF52832 or STLink.

I think GP means the SWD interface, which is a standard ARM programming/debugging connector.

I would advise against the ST-Links though as they expose a more high level protocol and don't always work with non-STM chips. FT232H dongles make for a more versatile programmer.

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#114
post #54

I’m not so sure if this is significant other than for the fact that it’s being distributed by PINE64. There are plenty other junk reprogrammable “smartwatch kit” that reuse Huami/Xiaomi-brand smartwatch enclosures while genuine Huami goes on to collect data more strategically at a larger scale. Recently I got a Mi Band 5 and learned they transfer BLE pairing over platforms - they make devices generate new MAC when un…

I like Pine64's spirit, but are they good at delivery? I was excited by the PineTab and wanted to buy a few for wall-mounted displays. But they've been out of stock for 6 months at least, with very spotty updates. It made me reluctant to buy anything from them.

The folks at Pine64 are amazingly transparent about what they are working on and the state of their products, but you have to follow their monthly blog posts to see that. I believe they have been having massive issues around display sourcing that have kept a few of their products out of stock for most of this year. Where they don’t have that specific issue, they are reliable.

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#115
post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you complaining about the lack of a walled garden on a post titled "open source smart watch"? Yes, open source leads to experimentation and individualization which leads to fragmentation. It's a trade-off, but and there are already plenty of other smart watches going for a less fragmented but less open ecosystem

I am complaining that they don't provide one single OS experience. I didn't mention anything about walled gardens.

Why do you expect them to restrict what you can put on it (i.e. enforce a single OS), when the point seems to be for people to do whatever they want with it?

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#116
post #3

Promising specs! I'd rather have multi-day battery life than fancy graphics, maybe even an e-ink display.

Agreed. I moved from smart watches back to an old Casio sgw-100. Battery life is the main reason. It's nice just to always have a watch that works, and be able to go on camping trips and really be able to rely on the device. I've changed the battery once in 2 years (and that was simply preventative). The fact that it just keeps on working for years at a time is a nice contrast to basically every other modern device.

Highly recommend the so-called "hybrid" smart watches from Fossil, Withings, etc. The're analog watches with a minimal digital display and all the basic functionality of a smart watch. But since they don't waste power on a big color screen, wifi, or other extravagance, battery life is on the order of a month.

I love mine. I get my notifications, pulse, step, and sleep tracking, in a classy looking package with a grown up battery life.

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#118

See also the TTGO T-Watch-2020 which is based on an ESP32 processor. [1]: https://www.tindie.com/products/ttgo/lilygor-ttgo-t-watch-20... [2]: https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/TTGO_TWatch_Library

That looks great, does anyone have one of them? What's the battery life like? The ESP32 isn't very battery-friendly.

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#119

See also the TTGO T-Watch-2020 which is based on an ESP32 processor. [1]: https://www.tindie.com/products/ttgo/lilygor-ttgo-t-watch-20... [2]: https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/TTGO_TWatch_Library

Does it the watch have support for Lua? It's popular language around ESP32 but it's not mentioned on any product materials. Is the size some standard? I would prefer some other belt but don't know how to search for it?

I've been using ESP8266es and ESP32s for years and Lua isn't really that popular. The original NodeMCU did come with Lua, but I've never used it (I just flashed something else as soon as I got them) and I don't know of many people using it either.

I'd say that MicroPython is more popular than Lua at this point.

Re: Open Source Smartwatch

#120
post #94

Ok, just to make sure I understand this correctly. - This is basically a commercial smartwach (the Colmi P8) that is based on a well documented SOC, the nordic nRF52832 - The open source version comes with an enclosure that is not glued shut, so that it is easy to access testpoints on the pcb. - Development is done by accessing the nRF51 SWD interface with pogo pins or similar. The programming interface can be a stan…

There ya go: https://github.com/daniel-thompson/wasp-os
Post reply on HN