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Casio F-B100W-1A

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Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#251

Post by thewhitetulip »

MicrosoftShill wrote: post #249
Ductapemaster wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I empathize with your feelings about lock-in, I encourage you to see that we live in an amazingly empowering era. I would wager that with $20 in credits for the LLM flavor of the week and and an equally expensive BLE-to-USB dongle (try the nRF52840 dongle), you will have the protocol reverse-engineered overnight. BLE protocols are often very low-hanging fruit for this type of effort. Yes, it's annoying this stu…

Is it really as easy as you say? I have one of these Casio watches and plenty of spare Claude credits. Wouldn’t mind doing this but no idea where to begin.

Even I am curious about how people are doing this

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#252

Post by [deleted] »

teachrdan wrote: post #102
Papazsazsa wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not quite as simple as "if you have one of these you're a terrorist" of course; it's one indicator based on long-standing patterns, but never used as sole proof. AQ training/bomb-making manuals from the 1990s–2000s recommend cheap, reliable digital watches like this as timers for IEDs as they're extremely inexpensive and widely available worldwide, durable, water resistant, and easy to modify as delay timers. Of…

> Ramzi Yousef (Philippine Airlines Flight 434) and Ahmed Ressam (the 'Millennium Bomber') both had them. This is like a statistics 101 question. Google says that Casio has sold over 100M F-91W's since 1989. Let's round down to an average of 2.5M a year, or 25M over the 10 peak years of the global war on terror (GWOT). You named two terrorists who wore them. Let's say that's an understatement by 200X. Some quick math…

[deleted]

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#253

Post by NDlurker »

ilikeitdark13 wrote: post #209
SwellJoe wrote: post #161

Casio has been leaving a lot of money on the table in terms of nostalgia products. There's been a low rumble of demand for the Casio CZ series of synthesizers for a decade or more, and a bunch of non-Casio companies have cashed in on it (Behringer makes CZ-1 Mini, Arturia has CZ V, several other phase distortion synths exist). It's incredibly cheap to replicate, a simple early digital synthesis algorithm that'll run…

Completely right about the synths, Casio has been missing out. Their new Sampler looks really nice, and has been a surprise in the music world.

That sampler looks so fun and I want to buy it but I already have a PO33 and SP404 MK2. So I really don't need it. Probably keep an eye out on reverb in the next year or so

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#254

Post by ajxs »

SwellJoe wrote: post #161

Casio has been leaving a lot of money on the table in terms of nostalgia products. There's been a low rumble of demand for the Casio CZ series of synthesizers for a decade or more, and a bunch of non-Casio companies have cashed in on it (Behringer makes CZ-1 Mini, Arturia has CZ V, several other phase distortion synths exist). It's incredibly cheap to replicate, a simple early digital synthesis algorithm that'll run…

It's a really good question why Casio didn't continue making synths after the 80s. It's possible that the entire CZ-line was intended to be a one-off response to Yamaha's breakaway success with the DX7. After the CZ-line, it looks like Casio tried to keep up with Yamaha for a few years, but exited the market after Yamaha launched the SY-line. From what I understand, the CZ-series were great sellers then, but even with all of the nostalgia they'd never move large numbers now.

For what it's worth, Yamaha aren't particularly nostalgic about their cult-classic synths either. I guess that from their perspective, the DX7 and CZ-101 were already obsolete within a few short years. By 1990 the sound had already become quite dated, and technology had moved on. Now that they've become popular again as a cult-classic, the margin just isn't there anymore because of the market share of software, or cheap independent FM/PD synths.

Shameless plug, in case anyone is interested, I've done some work reverse-engineering some of these synths:

- https://github.com/ajxs/casio_cz101_rom_disassembly

- https://ajxs.me/blog/uCOM-87_The_Strangest_Architecture_Youv...

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#256

Post by richstokes »

Ductapemaster wrote: post #235
wpm wrote: post #199

BIG Warning to anyone thinking about purchasing one of these You cannot connect the watch to Bluetooth without a proprietary app, and that proprietary app will not let you use the Bluetooth feature without some bullshit called a "CASIO Account". Their privacy policy is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser too. The absolute state of things.

While I empathize with your feelings about lock-in, I encourage you to see that we live in an amazingly empowering era. I would wager that with $20 in credits for the LLM flavor of the week and and an equally expensive BLE-to-USB dongle (try the nRF52840 dongle), you will have the protocol reverse-engineered overnight. BLE protocols are often very low-hanging fruit for this type of effort. Yes, it's annoying this stu…

Having the LLM run the proprietary app through ghidra (which I think even has an MCP now), would likely give it some useful clues too

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#257

Post by dredmorbius »

yegle wrote: post #90

Upon seeing "Bluetooth" and "Daily steps" I'd assume this is another watch that requires daily charging, but wow 2y battery w/ CR2016!

Several of the G-Shock models (lacking BT and pedometer) advertise up to 10 year life.

Either way, vastly more appealing than a charge-it-daily "smartwatch" IMO.

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#258

Post by gregsadetsky »

MicrosoftShill wrote: post #249
Ductapemaster wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I empathize with your feelings about lock-in, I encourage you to see that we live in an amazingly empowering era. I would wager that with $20 in credits for the LLM flavor of the week and and an equally expensive BLE-to-USB dongle (try the nRF52840 dongle), you will have the protocol reverse-engineered overnight. BLE protocols are often very low-hanging fruit for this type of effort. Yes, it's annoying this stu…

Is it really as easy as you say? I have one of these Casio watches and plenty of spare Claude credits. Wouldn’t mind doing this but no idea where to begin.

Responding to you and @thewhitetulip

If you ask Claude how to do it, it might already give you some strategy that's reasonable (at least, it's good to see what it thinks)

Make sure to use Fable, and preferably have the Max plan (or plenty of credits)

LLMs can do very good work when they're unattended and optimize towards a goal that's unambiguous / for which you have a reference.

Generally speaking, in hardware, this means having a "rig" ie a testbed where the AI can send commands, observe output, and iterate on its own. You want autonomy, not babysitting (as much as possible)

In the case of this Casio watch, I would start by giving Claude Code context on what you're trying to achieve (read&decode messages sent probably over BLE, reverse engineer the protocol, get to a point where it can send valid messages itself). The goal should be a python/command line tool that can sniff packets, decode them, and send them. (step by step, starting with sniffing)

Get the nRF52840 USB dongle mentioned. Have Claude Code talk to the dongle. Ask it to list devices it sees. Ask it to see/detect the Casio watch. Use the proprietary Casio app and ask CC to record the sequence and decode the messages (explaining to it what you did in the app)

Also: have it do research - has this protocol been cracked/documented before? Is there an Android app for this Casio app which could be decompiled (usually more easily than the equivalent iOS app)?

Reach out if I can help - my offer for a dongle stands for anyone who wants to do this! It looks like a cool watch, it shouldn't be held hostage. :-)

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#259

Post by bowsamic »

MicrosoftShill wrote: post #249
Ductapemaster wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I empathize with your feelings about lock-in, I encourage you to see that we live in an amazingly empowering era. I would wager that with $20 in credits for the LLM flavor of the week and and an equally expensive BLE-to-USB dongle (try the nRF52840 dongle), you will have the protocol reverse-engineered overnight. BLE protocols are often very low-hanging fruit for this type of effort. Yes, it's annoying this stu…

Is it really as easy as you say? I have one of these Casio watches and plenty of spare Claude credits. Wouldn’t mind doing this but no idea where to begin.

> Wouldn’t mind doing this but no idea where to begin.

Literally just ask Claude where to begin

Re: Casio F-B100W-1A

#260

Post by ff00 »

wpm wrote: post #199

BIG Warning to anyone thinking about purchasing one of these You cannot connect the watch to Bluetooth without a proprietary app, and that proprietary app will not let you use the Bluetooth feature without some bullshit called a "CASIO Account". Their privacy policy is a bit of an eyebrow-raiser too. The absolute state of things.

There is an Fdroid app "Casio G-Shock Smart Sync" Not sure if it supports now but most likely may support in future.

This is an unofficial app for Casio G-Shock, Edifice, and Pro Trek watches. It allows you to control your watch, sync data, and configure settings without a Casio ID. It offers a faster, privacy-focused, and more powerful alternative to the official Casio app.

Key Features check ------------------ - No Account Required: Skip the Casio ID login entirely.

From https://fdroid.gitlab.io/jekyll-fdroid/packages/org.avmedia....

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