Data Runner Watch Prototype – Modded Casio F91W

https://n-o-d-e.net/datarunner.html

by pabloem • 6 years ago

199 50 6 years ago

n-o-d-e.net

hwj• 6 years ago

Here's another F-91W mod:

https://github.com/carrotIndustries/pluto

JackMcMack• 6 years ago

I built one of these, modified the firmware to show leap seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQaPtOPP09U

cculpepper• 6 years ago

I ended up making an "app" to do hundredths of seconds for TSD rallies. Awesome project. My build is 2-4 years old (IIRC), so it has some power issues, sometimes I'll catch it waking itself up more than usual, and I can hear the wakeups in the piezo which doesn't help.

holstvoogd• 6 years ago

I like how it takes 10s to render any text because the font's don't load ;)

But cool project!

Abishek_Muthian6• 6 years ago

Wow, apart from obviously cool project I'm super impressed with the minimalist website design, aesthetics, effort put in the video to match the aesthetics and all without any JS.

Either this is the first time I'm visiting this site or I don't remember; But I wonder how they are managing to compete with Node.JS in the search engines with that name. Google doesn't respect even N-O-D-E, where as DDG brings up the site as first result for N-O-D-E. Not to mention there's another famous Youtube channel by the name Node by Corridor Crew.

They seem to sell some items based on their design along with the stuff they make at their store of the same name, I would like to know how they reach out to their audience from any regular subscriber of their work.

victorbojica• 6 years ago

Found this gem a few weeks ago and was also completely blown away. Especially the YouTube videos.

What i'm thinking is that popularity and SEO issues are not really a concern since it looks like a very closed community type of thing.

Abishek_Muthian6• 6 years ago

Especially the YouTube videos.

Couldn't find the channel, what's the name?

classichasclass• 6 years ago

I also liked the transcript below the video so you can read along. I wish more sites would do that. I'm not hearing impaired (though it's definitely a boon if you are), but it's a lot more convenient to just see the words sometimes.

Abishek_Muthian6• 6 years ago

I agree. I think transcripts beside graphical formats are absolutely necessary or at least it's empathetic.

Self plug: I have a startup related site which is text only and occasionally I draw some comics which always consists of transcription.

[1]https://hitstartup.com/tags/comics/

komali2• 6 years ago

Could do with a little css to make it more readable on mobile though. Wouldn't take much, one or two lines.

Abishek_Muthian6• 6 years ago

Anything specific, I feel that line-space could be increased on my mobile.

core_dumped• 6 years ago

I found N-O-D-E a few years ago when I was just starting to get into programming. Their early raspberry pi gadgets were so cool and encouraged me to go out and try to make my own stuff. On top of that their channel used to do semi regular tech news updates, and after a bit of a hiatus it appears as though they're posting again which is exciting.

Abishek_Muthian6• 6 years ago

I assume their videos got buried by the YouTube algorithms now as it doesn't conform to typical tech (read marketing) videos shot with RED cameras and Robots rigs.

remarkEon• 6 years ago

Looks like the whole website is the same aesthetic, and I just spent over an hour going down the list of this guy's projects. Pretty fun.

A highlight: https://n-o-d-e.net/nano_server2.html

kingosticks• 6 years ago

To me, the name of this sounded like it was going to be squeezing some kind of running/sports watch functionality into a Casio F91W (and ideally GPS!). But it's not that, it turns out (a few paragraphs later) that it's adding NFC for close-range data sharing and some other cool mods. Which makes more sense considering how small the watch is.

wil421• 6 years ago

Neat mod. I like the nod to Johnny Mnemonic.

The mod could be used by spies to authenticate each other on a data drop. NFC powers the device and validates the key is correct. Once the two users are validated the data is exchanged and the data runner exfiltrates the payload.

mauricio• 6 years ago

They also have a really cool zine that's loaded with 90s hacker culture. https://n-o-d-e.net/zine/index.html

netsharc• 6 years ago

Please add a few bullet points on the top of the page, it takes way too long to figure out what functionality you added, when I open the page all I can see is you starting with "It's a mod of this model watch" and then you talk about how it looks now, and how you put it together...

etbusch• 6 years ago

Similar to Travis Goodspeed's goodwatch project, which is a replacement board for Casio calculator watches that contains a sub-GHz programmable radio. I've built a few of them and had fun writing software for it.

https://kk4vcz.com/goodwatch/

https://github.com/travisgoodspeed/goodwatch/

jasona992• 6 years ago

Does anyone know what NFC transponder they might be using? I might have filtered too much on Mouser and missed it, but I'm struggling to find an 8KB module with that case. I also can't find it on the site since there's no BOM.

kruffin• 6 years ago

Freeze the video at 1:47 and you'll see K352 4SDYU from STMicroelectronics. Dug a little and came up with M24SR16-YDW6T/2 which can be found in DigiKey here: https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=M24SR16-YDW6T%2...

That one is only a 2Kb though. They also make an 8Kb 4SFYU: https://www.digikey.com/products/en?keywords=M24SR64-YDW6T%2...

jasona992• 6 years ago

Goodness, I'm blind, completely missed that shot. Thanks!

awiesenhofer• 6 years ago

I am pretty clueless when it comes to NFC, does adding such a chip mean i could copy my Mifare Classic card onto the watch? That would be neat!

jonpurdy• 6 years ago

This is awesome. As I watched the video I was thinking how great it’d be to have an NFC chip for payments and transit in my watch. Of course, I remembered shortly after that my Apple Watch does this already but I never use it for NFC because it’s easier to hold your phone up to a reader than to twist your wrist and arm.

TedDoesntTalk• 6 years ago

Nice to see someone hosting his own video instead of using YouTube.

Erazal3• 6 years ago

Wow I'm amazed by the option of adding a chip from a tap to pay card.

This would be a lot better than an NFC chip on a standard smartwatch as the F91W could last for years with that chip inside it.

The F91W is cheap, and really reliable. I've always fantasized about modding one, and this exactly would be my dream. Sadly, I don't have enough time on my hands.

If it were for sale, I'd buy it immediately !

codezero2• 6 years ago

Your wish is almost granted: https://n-o-d-e.shop

The link is at the bottom of the site, but it's pretty subtle, and I think these watches have the same mods.

Edit: These have NFC, but no SD card, so maybe they will show up with enhanced storage later, but anyone wanting the NFC features with the watch it looks like they are available.

Edit Edit: The NFC chip in the ones for sale is not tap-to-pay :( still neat though!

lippel82• 6 years ago

It says: "Be aware, this particular NFC chip is NOT compatible with tap-to-pay."

Erazal3• 6 years ago

Oh, thank you so much ! I'll guess I'll be adding another F91W to my collection :)

johnnycab• 6 years ago

It is possible to scavenge the NFC antenna/chip from an Oyster card or indeed any other card, which the author alludes to in their video. There are details floating around on how to do it, by dissolving the card in acetone.

However, the relevant authorities might take a dim view of repurposing the transit card in this manner and probably have certain restrictions in place, to deter people from defacing their property. On another note, the author is using a NTAG213 on the watches sold via the shop and Oyster is Mifare, from what I can remember. There might be issues with response times regarding the proximity to the reader, if you wanted to experiment.

plutonic3• 6 years ago

While it does seem useful, I’d be curious of the security implications; does wearing such a thing on your wrist make it easy for others to scan your credentials? I’m not incredibly familiar with NFC chips, but they do seem to have a much shorter range than most regular RFID chips, which seems like it might help. However all anyone would have to do is embed a reader under/in the table you sit at (say, at work or at your local coffee shop). Maybe we can keep the circuit hidden in a faraday cage, such as another (modded) microSD card slot, and just pop out the chip when needed.

nimbius• 6 years ago

I used to buy F91W watches all the time. they were fun and practical, but wasteful.

the most shameful fact about the F91W isnt its spartan design or its affordable price, but the fact that the timepiece with its ten year battery will easily outlast its resin strap, and its springbars are nothing more than pot steel held into the soft plastic lugs by friction alone. Chances are, when you replace the band after a few years youll pay just as much as the watch to do so, and run a pretty good risk of damaging the springbars to the point of rendering them warped or broken. the simple act of removing the springbars themselves is enough to strip out the lugs sometimes.

the clearances between the lugs and springbars are also very tight, so it discourages aftermarket additions like NATO bands or third party straps.

the B650WB is somewhat more durable.

verytrivial• 6 years ago

they were fun and practical, but wasteful

I imagine the average person generate more daily plastic waste before lunch time than goes in to an average F91W.

rcar• 6 years ago

I was curious about what "pot steel" was - for anyone else who hadn't encountered it before: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_metal

plutonic3• 6 years ago

It’s nice to know all those Casio watches I’ve been wearing for years and years probably have lead exposed on them :/

plants• 6 years ago

This is hilarious, I realized the exact same thing about the F-91w after wearing them for 3 or 4 years. Another alternative is the Casio F-84w, which is almost completely identical to the F-91w. It's slightly more expensive, but the default strap has small circular rather than wide ovular notches. This seems to have completely fixed the strap weakening/breaking problem. I have only had it for about a year, but it shows no signs of letting up anytime soon.

dugditches• 6 years ago

There's been a real dip in strap quality. I remember the only thing that would kill one was complete destruction(crushing) or simply losing it.

Ones I've purchased in past 5~ years all have had straps fail. They've clearly switched to cheaper materials.

They made a new model 'W-217H', which is just a larger F91W. I enjoyed the larger face and wouldn't go back to a F91. But the strap too broke a few months after use.

And like you said, with the cheapest of straps being almost the cost of the watch, and there's no guarantee it'll easily fit.

sir_brickalot• 6 years ago

I love that watch. My biggest issue is the unintended button presses by bending the wrist and toggling 24h to AM/PM. Infuriating!

motohagiography• 6 years ago

Bought one in silver. As a massive product play, making this and other retro era watches into a fido authenticator would be the use case functionality that would make it huge.

I was going to do an Atari 2600 case based wifi router a while ago, and this idea of taking design classics and adapting them to minimalist modern use cases would be a company.

plutonic3• 6 years ago

Now I just need a TV-B-Gone on my F-91W!

https://learn.adafruit.com/tv-b-gone-kit

notJim• 6 years ago

I really like this idea. I'd prefer a more traditional or minimal looking watch, but I like some of the extra functionality I get from my Apple Watch. I would love something more in between the two.

all_blue_chucks• 6 years ago

Couldn't you put the NFC chip in the watch band and use it with whichever watch you like?

wodenokoto• 6 years ago

I’ve been wanting a fitness tracker version of this watch for some time now.

Anyway, cool to see that this watch isn’t only a favorite of terrorists.

Data Runner Watch Prototype – Modded Casio F91W

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