LGR Oddware - Timex Data Link
Added 2022-03-09 20:45:01 +0000 UTCTIME for another episode of LGR Oddware! How timely!
This is the Timex DataLink Model 70, a mid-90s smartwatch of sorts that syncs data by gazing at your computer's CRT display. Yeah! No cables or wireless transceivers, instead it uses an optical sensor that reads data from Windows 3.1 using a series of flashing lines of light shown on your monitor. Really neat stuff I think. And NASA-approved!
The thickness measurement will read 11.2mm in the final video, thanks for pointing that out!
Comments
I mentioned that in the video, they're called WristApps. Didn't show any in action though since they were only on the Model 150 and higher.
LGR
2022-03-13 03:19:38 +0000 UTCI distinctly remember being able to install apps on these watches. Does anyone remember if that was a feature of later models? Or something you had to unlock with unofficial firmware? Of course, apps on a watch with a screen like that was mostly pointless, but it was the principal of the thing!
Andy
2022-03-12 20:47:01 +0000 UTCYep, it's kept in memory using battery-backed RAM. Thankfully that battery lasts a long time, several years. But data is indeed lost if it dies and needs replacing.
LGR
2022-03-12 16:45:13 +0000 UTCThere are times where I get self reflecting and worry that I am not at a maturity and developmental stage that I should be for my age. . . Then I watch LGR and realize I am perfectly fine. <3 Great video, sir. I never thought something like this was possible in that era of tech. Also fartz. with a Z, for fancy.
Honorary Octopus
2022-03-12 04:11:18 +0000 UTCHow does the watch store the data? I’m guessing just kept in memory, which would be lost if the battery is swapped out.
Chad Armstrong
2022-03-12 01:35:55 +0000 UTCGlad to hear! Yeah that's one reason I very rarely make Tech Tales episodes anymore, the stories I want to tell are very often woven into the narrative of things like Oddware. Like the Vendex HeadStart/King Kong Bundy episode last week, that was originally a Tech Tales!
LGR
2022-03-11 17:50:54 +0000 UTCOh man, I forgot about Indiglo clock radios. We had a little one of those on a bedstand at one point, it was so cool.
LGR
2022-03-11 17:49:34 +0000 UTCOh my god, I completely forgot that I had one of those. I would have never recalled that if I hadn't seen this. I thought that screen transfer was so awesome back in the day.
Paul
2022-03-11 08:35:28 +0000 UTCI love how these episodes are a tech tale in themselves. They never feel too long and I always learn so much. Thanks.
Gary Leigh
2022-03-11 02:21:48 +0000 UTCIndiglo was awesome! I had an Indiglo alarm clock/radio (with analog clock).
Steve Lovelace
2022-03-11 02:07:28 +0000 UTCI should've known, this seems like a David watch on all levels! Seeing this sync to a 64 would be wild.
LGR
2022-03-10 18:15:09 +0000 UTCYep, I had one of these back in the 90s. I've always planned to do a video breaking down the communications system. I want to see if I can program a Commodore 64 to output the necessary data. But it would be challenging because the CRT refresh is different, but I still think it could be done.
The 8-Bit Guy
2022-03-10 17:24:36 +0000 UTCAh, so I'm not only pedantic, but also ignorant (and that's me saying that, not anybody else). I guess today's not my day. :)
Rutger van Bergen
2022-03-10 16:16:19 +0000 UTCAs mentioned in other comments, yep. It's been fixed for the final upload. Thanks!
LGR
2022-03-10 16:10:19 +0000 UTCThis is pedantic for sure, but the thickness of the watch can't be 1.2 mm. My guess is that it's 12 mm, or 1.2 cm.
Rutger van Bergen
2022-03-10 15:08:29 +0000 UTC11.2mm, already corrected earlier :)
LGR
2022-03-10 14:58:43 +0000 UTC1.2mm thick is almost definitely wrong, you mean 12mm?
Leigh Beattie
2022-03-10 12:32:08 +0000 UTC"420" and "Tommy Tutone" references, hahaha love it. I had one and swore by it. (I also sold them at an electronics retailer I worked for) Being able to have phone numbers (inc pager numbers) back then, was absolute gold in the days of having to use a payphone when out and about. Being able to set the time and have reliable alarms was also just incredibly useful. Once the novelty wore-off with the CRT trick, I got the serial IR unit and it was just far far simpler. Great watch, after mine died in the 2000's I simply stopped wearing a watch until very recently (work requirement) and got a Garmin Vivoactive 3, mostly as it reminds me a lot of the Timex with good battery and always-on screen.
Anton
2022-03-10 07:55:58 +0000 UTCModel 70! ⌚ The thing was quite revolutionary at the time, there was nothing else like it. Even my non geeky friends were impressed.
Brandon Mingo
2022-03-10 06:47:24 +0000 UTCThat's excellent! One of these Model 70s or a later one?
LGR
2022-03-10 04:08:15 +0000 UTCYeah I totally wore one of these in high school which would have been 1996 to 2000. My dad got a newer model and gave me his sadly I lost the watch but I still had the software. I got one on Goodwill auctions last year and finally replace the battery and I'm wearing it proudly!
Brandon Mingo
2022-03-10 03:58:36 +0000 UTCI was trying to figure out how it could read a several lines of data using a single-point sensor, I totally forgot to consider the raster scan! That totally makes sense!
kalleboo
2022-03-10 03:30:17 +0000 UTCBLAZE IT
Travis
2022-03-10 02:53:11 +0000 UTCAlso, also wik: "BLAZE IT"
Mark Bender
2022-03-10 01:53:35 +0000 UTCAlso -- "Cheap Timex roses". I need to use this phrase in dialog somehow. It's a thing. Or, maybe it should be a thing.
Mark Bender
2022-03-10 01:48:41 +0000 UTCClaaaaaasic
Mark Bender
2022-03-10 01:44:29 +0000 UTCNothing like an unexpected LGR Oddware video with soothing "MUZAK" background tunes to bring me back to that feeling of "aaahhhh" after a long day at work. Thank you, Clint, as always.
Mark Bender
2022-03-10 01:43:35 +0000 UTCHah! Nice.. I have one of those things! I loved it back in the late 90s .. not sure which model I had or not (probably the Ironman Triatholon one)
Evan B
2022-03-10 01:32:05 +0000 UTCThe protocol itself is cute. The reason it won't work with LCDs and NT is roughly the same reason light guns won't work with LCD displays: It's actually reading the scan lines as individual flashes, and since LCDs don't do scan lines, the watch has no hope (and NT adds enough layers between the drivers and display to make apps that "race the beam" basically impossible). Oh, and the sync frame it sends to start things is just 3 bytes, I wouldn't be surprised to learn all sorts of modern light sources get close enough to freak it out.
Scott Seligman
2022-03-10 00:09:52 +0000 UTCWishing you the best with the new job, that sounds like it could be kinda fun!
LGR
2022-03-09 23:00:40 +0000 UTCThe W-225 is a nice piece! Although it's not a Data Link watch :)
LGR
2022-03-09 22:59:55 +0000 UTCNow that is a tragic story, jeez! I would've been heartbroken for ages. Here's hoping this provides the opportunity for some sort of closure.
LGR
2022-03-09 22:59:32 +0000 UTCI have one, right now, metal band, Right, Timex W-225. Haven't used it for a long time.. I got it of my brother when he was tired of using it.
SantaClaw
2022-03-09 21:45:07 +0000 UTCMy grandparents got me the 150 for Christmas pretty late in its lifecycle, maybe 1999 or 2000. I remember there were a few sites where you could download some hobbyist apps. There were a few very simple games, I remember blackjack, draw poker, and a donkey.bas type thing. There was even a very rudimentary scratchpad type thing that let you tap out notes one letter at a time. IIRC you just had to program it in assembly for whatever chip was in it so I never even dipped my toes into actually programming for it, though I remember there were some very good guides available. Being a high school student at the time I didn’t really have any use for the thing except occasionally cheating on tests. Fun to mess around with though!
Evan
2022-03-09 21:27:31 +0000 UTCOh. My. God... I actually feel like crying. OK, so it must have been around 2001 or so and I'm around 11 years old. For Christmas my dad got me a Datalink watch and I absolutely loved it. I cannot tell you exactly why, but the idea of a watch that connected to the PC and stored all sorts of data was absolutely fascinating; also it was my first 'real' watch. So, I'd been wearing it for around 5 days and on New Years day it snows so me and my friend go sledding. The watch was one of the ones that had links in it, so it had some removed so it fit me but it was still not great at keeping 'locked' or whatever. We go to the local golf course and sled all day. Then, I eventually realise my watch has come off my wrist and I AM FREAKING OUT. I spend about an hour or so, trying to look in thick snow for it on a golf course; needle in a haystack. I remember crying and having to walk home, absolutely crushed that I'd lost my christmas gift. It's the kind of memory that doesn't come up often because in the UK, this is probably one of the least talked about tech items I can probably imagine. Honestly, I didn't even know what the name for it was until this video. I have never told anyone this lame story, but I thought if there was ever a time to confess my christmas tragedy it was now.
Novel
2022-03-09 21:19:58 +0000 UTCOf course the To-Do list has farting. Never change Clint
Zachary Outen
2022-03-09 21:15:29 +0000 UTCOh, wow! I had one of those - around 1995, I think? Forgot all about it. Mine'll be lying around somewhere - I come across it every now and then without really realising what it was. I found it useful in the days before mobile phones but once I put all my numbers on it, I rarely updated it as I found it a pain to do. A Packard Bell 14" CRT I had at the time worked the best, I found.
Brett Garfitt
2022-03-09 21:14:39 +0000 UTCWhoops, will fix!
LGR
2022-03-09 21:12:36 +0000 UTCAt around 11:00 in the video you put 1.2mm thick, but I think you meant 11.2mm
Elliot Reid
2022-03-09 21:10:55 +0000 UTCyoooooooo thats a cool watch. ive never seen it before and its so cool to know something about it now. 10/10 video would pay more but am broke rn. (not for long, got a job as an arcade attendant)
CupcakeComrade
2022-03-09 21:00:59 +0000 UTCI always wanted one of these as I was bad about remembering multiple phone numbers, but I ended up cutting the cord and going cell phone only route instead.
Carey Brown
2022-03-09 20:55:26 +0000 UTCBeen pumped to see this since watching the Feb recap video. Love odd ware
Cody
2022-03-09 20:48:37 +0000 UTCMy roommate in college had one of these! I always thought it was pretty rad
Jeremy Abel
2022-03-09 20:48:07 +0000 UTC
