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1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

chrisfenton.com

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Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#11

Post by jandrese »

> The display shows a free-running simulation of Jupiter and 63 of its moons. For convenience, I just plot the X/Y coordinates of each moon in the ecliptic plane. The ephemerides come from the HORIZONS server that NASA operates, at a specified date and time. The J90 just dumps a new frame whenever the Teensy has pulled the previous one, so with a teensy (ha!) bit of calibration on the micro controller side, it would be pretty easy to have the frames dumped in ‘real time’, which, knowing the starting time and date, would allow you to not-at-all-easily infer the current time by looking at the positions of Jupiter’s moons.

Someone finally came up with a time system more difficult for people to use than Star Trek's stardates.

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#13

Post by nabla9 »

This would be a great prop for time travel scifi movie.

Protagonist travels to 1991 and tries to convince scientist to help him. When asked for a proof, shows Gray C90 Wristwatch. "Our real computers are different, but I show you this because it does not pollute the timeline."

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#15

Post by Someone »

jandrese wrote: post #11

> The display shows a free-running simulation of Jupiter and 63 of its moons. For convenience, I just plot the X/Y coordinates of each moon in the ecliptic plane. The ephemerides come from the HORIZONS server that NASA operates, at a specified date and time. The J90 just dumps a new frame whenever the Teensy has pulled the previous one, so with a teensy (ha!) bit of calibration on the micro controller side, it would…

> Someone finally came up with a time system more difficult for people to use than Star Trek's stardates

I think that’s a reference to https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_longitude#Satelli... or a (late) attempt to win a longitude reward (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_rewards)

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#16

Post by resource_waste »

I am personally asking, because after decades of tech hobbies, I have a bit of a self awareness to 'fun':

I wonder what the fun part was, to them.

There is something rewarding about learning. There is something rewarding about completing things. There is something rewarding about showing other people.

I have the issue that everything I make should be practical. Either net me profit so I can make lots of money. Or useful to society so I can reduce the world's pain and increase pleasure, maybe this is a selfish way to fame.

I still get all 3 of those rewards I previously mentioned, but there is something different going on when I'm doing something for profit/others. Its a different feeling, not better/worse, just different. Better in some ways, worse in others.

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#18

Post by fentonc »

resource_waste wrote: post #16

I am personally asking, because after decades of tech hobbies, I have a bit of a self awareness to 'fun': I wonder what the fun part was, to them. There is something rewarding about learning. There is something rewarding about completing things. There is something rewarding about showing other people. I have the issue that everything I make should be practical. Either net me profit so I can make lots of money. Or use…

Author here! Most of my projects are kind of like this penny arcade comic (https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/06/13/the-hippothala...) - I saw where something was not, and said "No. This will not do." It's 2024 and a supercomputer wrist watch is possible, so now it exists =)

Re: 1/25-scale Cray C90 wristwatch

#20

Post by eschneider »

jandrese wrote: post #11

> The display shows a free-running simulation of Jupiter and 63 of its moons. For convenience, I just plot the X/Y coordinates of each moon in the ecliptic plane. The ephemerides come from the HORIZONS server that NASA operates, at a specified date and time. The J90 just dumps a new frame whenever the Teensy has pulled the previous one, so with a teensy (ha!) bit of calibration on the micro controller side, it would…

I dunno. For certain astronomy geeks, it's a completely intuitive clock.
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