I worked for Timex as an engineer at their headquarters in Middlebury, CT from 2012 - 2019. I still live only a few miles away and have some contacts on the inside that I talk to occasionally. There is a huge stock of new and old watches at the building. Several times I went spelunking into them and it was fascinating to hear stories about their construction. One time this watch popped up and I had a few hour conversation with one of the guys who knew the engineering secrets of it. If there are any oddball watches that you want to get your hands on for a video, I might be able to pull a few strings. Of course, they probably won't be new in package. Anyhow, great video. I always jump on videos in my feed when Timex comes up.
@bloxyman22
2 жыл бұрын
Hope he read this comment.
@Sir_Uncle_Ned
2 жыл бұрын
Don't get your hopes up, he probably gets several comments like that that are not legitimate and automatically ignores them.
@donpalmera
2 жыл бұрын
>Anyhow, great video. I always jump on videos in my feed when Timex comes up. Like a crazy ex-girlfriend watching relationship status changes?
@warlockd
2 жыл бұрын
Oooh be nice if you could find the SDK kit they had for it. You could contact Timex and get a kit on how to make apps for your "enterprise" company, but never could convince them I was one:P
@JakeTheBear1
2 жыл бұрын
Upping just in case!
@dougware
2 жыл бұрын
I had the Ironman version. As an EMT, I had all the hospital ERs, department contacts, etc on my wrist. It was so cool and useful back then.
@camotech1314
5 ай бұрын
Wow just like a smartwatch is useful these days 😮
@n646n
12 күн бұрын
@@camotech1314 "Useful" is a strong word when everyone has phones.
@ethzero
2 жыл бұрын
I too owned this piece of oddware back in the mid-ninties in the UK. Memories resurfacing syncing this and having to close the curtains to reduce the glare off the monitor 🤪
@Finallybianca
2 жыл бұрын
I used one in High School for my schedule instead of the school planner we were supposed to use. The overhead lights were a pain in the butt
@TheFalschspieler
2 жыл бұрын
Oh my god I had one too... Syncing this thing was a nightmare for me... So funny to see it here on oddware
@derealized797
2 жыл бұрын
I didn't have this. But i did have an indiglo watch, and i still have it. It's sort of like a 'good luck' charm in a way. I first found it on the ground in this parking lot, must have fallen out of someone's car. And i had it for years, always accurate too for a cheap timex. It accidentally went through the washer and dryer a few times, didn't phase it at all. I lost it a couple times outside. The strap broke so i carried it in my pocket, this was before cell phones. Anyway i dropped it on the side of the road one day walking home. Thought it was gone, and it just so happened that my brother was walking by one day and heard a beep. Came home like check out this watch i found! So because of the abuse and always being found, and usually my luck is crap. I keep it in a trinket box of random sentimental value items. I carried that thing around through a lot.
@JonathanRockway
2 жыл бұрын
I had one as well. I feel like I had to sync it at a friend's house because they had Windows XP and I had Windows 3.1, but here in the video Windows 3.1 is working fine. I have no idea why I had one. I was definitely in elementary school and didn't have a lot of meetings or appointments.
@TheSimoc
2 жыл бұрын
Well, I didn't know this was even that prevalent, seemingly at least somewhat useful, and Timex. I thought it was something odder, useless novelty of never-heard brand. What I'm meaning, I had never owned, known anyone to own, nor familiarized on these, but indirect fond memories came up - I remember reading a review of one on some computer magazine in 90s. I specifically remember there was, in the text, mentioned the "flashing lines on monitor" when transmiting data, even though there were no pictures of such in the article. Interesting to see this now, and what I really love in this product is the good UI design on the software - SO lost art nowadays.
@Arkticsnowman
8 ай бұрын
I had one of these. It was an Ironman and I loved it. It had all of my phone numbers and birthday reminders. Near the end of it's life I didn't have a computer with a CRT. Kind of heart broken I got in contact with Timex to see if there was anything that could be done. To my delight, the send me updated software that fixes the refresh rate difference so it would update from my laptop screen. I was beyond happy and got another year or two before the watch finally died.
@jn1211
2 жыл бұрын
the indiglo lighting was a genuine delight though, I very clearly remember how terrible watch lights were previous to this innovation. you could really only see the corner of the screen where the light was.
@LGR
2 жыл бұрын
Yes! I had a side-lit analog watch before getting a Timex Indiglo, and it was nuts going from that tiny bulb to a full on backlit teal display.
@DerelictDan69
2 жыл бұрын
Ya my casio f91w which I have worn for the past 24 years is that side lit nonsense but hey I have only needed to replace the battery once.
@BigEpinstriping
2 жыл бұрын
@@LGR Probably your Indiglo is dim due to the phosphors going bad; They work the same way EL wire works. Both have a limited lifespan. Also, I had an organizer that used this type of data transfer. Can't for the life of me remember who made it... Casio maybe?
@jonathankleinow2073
2 жыл бұрын
It may have just been my (private, college-prep) middle school, but everyone had to have a Timex Ironman Indiglo in 1995-1996 when I was in sixth grade. It got to the point where they had to make an announcement at assemblies to turn the beep off, or the whole commons area would just become a crowd of chirping watches for a good 90 seconds (since watches didn't automatically sync to any sort of time signal).
@drummerdoingstuff5020
2 жыл бұрын
Lol, you just brought me back. I had totally forgot how hilarious “tech” was back then..
@khristanne
2 жыл бұрын
That 4/20 appointment is the all day kind of appointment
@_..-.._..-.._
21 күн бұрын
Amirite amirite amirite amirite? 😜😜😜😜😜😜😜😜
@ObsidianShadowHawk
2 жыл бұрын
My dad still daily wears a datalink watch, still syncs like a charm!
@UNSCPILOT
2 жыл бұрын
Not gunna lie, that's actually pretty cool that he's kept using it, does he still keep an old PC around for the sync or does he have the software on a more modern system?
@ObsidianShadowHawk
2 жыл бұрын
@@UNSCPILOT He has an old CRT for this.
@dantheman070
2 жыл бұрын
When I was in high school I found one of these randomly on the ground in a parking lot. I could never figure out how to make it work and it wasn't until much later that I figured out you needed software to make it work with the computer..... yea the 90s was a simpler time 😃
@smartperson1
2 жыл бұрын
Clint thanks for continuing to make Oddware happen. I know I have some nostalgia for this era, but I think Oddware is interesting for more than that: I have so much respect for engineers and designers of that era. They could see the future, it was right within their grasp, and they had the resourcefulness to use what little tech was available to create something that works. As an engineer and tinkerer these days, we have it easy.
@smartperson1
2 жыл бұрын
Oh also my sprinkler system is connected to wifi. In order to configure the SSID and passcode to it, I had to run their app on my phone and hold the phone up to the sprinkler controllers optical sensor. The app then modulated the phone screens brightness in rapid succession to transmit the wifi connection info over. Almost the same concept, but in the modern day!
@matthewnewton8812
6 ай бұрын
The thing that’s most nostalgic for me is the advertising insert with tagline- “the watch with the biggest ‘you’ve gotta be kidding me’ factor ever recorded”. That is absolutely pure vintage 90s marketing. Reminds me of boating magazines with images of some Hunter series 23 footer with the tagline reading- “comfort that follows you around the world” or something similar. You could stare at those for hours, imagining what some far off corner of the world was like. God, what a time, the 90s. Everything seemed like it was just about to become possible. A world full of possibilities.
@Seeyuhslime
2 жыл бұрын
I had a datalink when new, was a nerdy kid but man I remember buying it at K-Mart and being mind blown by how it moved data with no wires!
@dkmediaproductions
2 жыл бұрын
I got mine at a K-Mart too. I was fascinated how it worked wirelessly. Really cool stuff at the time and that watch lasted forever it seemed.
@patrick3876
2 жыл бұрын
I also had one of the watches. Don't remember how I got it. I was in high school at the time. I remember I was having difficulty remembering some of the periodic table of elements for a test coming up in science... I put in the information I needed into the watch and just covertly accessed it during the test. Teachers didn't even know about this watch back then. So it just appeared like I was looking at the time. Not my proudest moment, but I never got caught either lol
@heatshield
2 жыл бұрын
Did the computer display look the same at home as it does in this video? I'm wondering if it had multiple thin lines like we see here or if it was something different that his camera just didn't pick up completely. The reason I'm curious is, knowing that would help me understand how the sensor worked.
@dkmediaproductions
2 жыл бұрын
@@heatshield from what I remember, it did look like that.
@LeoInterVir
2 жыл бұрын
I had a data link too. Got it from Kmart as well. Really liked it. Still have it in some random drawer. They also made a separate transmitter for the watch if you didn't have a CRT.
@silverchairx
2 жыл бұрын
I love how such basic functions such as auto clock sync was considered a huge selling point back in the day. Now smartphone manufacturers are running out of reasons to buy the latest iPhone or galaxy
@WR3ND
2 жыл бұрын
No they aren't. Most "smart" phones are designed to self-destruct after a few years one way or another, like incandescent light bulbs. Just put 5 cameras on the back and charge a grand for good measure. Makes me think of the early experimental planes with like 5 wings on them. "Smart" - LOL.
@rocketsmall4547
2 жыл бұрын
it folds. it has no edge on the fone. it have alot of cameras on it. it has 1 more cam than the last one. its slightly bigger. it will do the same thing as a 100$ phone!
@WR3ND
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, I should have clarified. The gimmicks are to distinguish them and the walled garden ecosystems to try and lock people in (among other things), but they insure that you will need to get new phones every so often one way or another. As a last resort they even change cellular service connectivity eventually, like 2G and 3G going away in the US.
@hermitgreenn
2 жыл бұрын
Every phone since 2000 gets time from the cell network. For a watch, auto setting is still a feature.
@silverchairx
2 жыл бұрын
@@hermitgreenn actually it's an extremely useful one when my alarm clock runs out of batteries and by the magic of radio waves somehow it gets its time (RDS I'm guessing)
@metfan4l
2 жыл бұрын
11:22 That Indiglo demonstration was hilariously underwhelming, haha. I don't know what I expected.
@tetsujin_144
2 жыл бұрын
Electroluminescent backlights don't put out a ton of light but in my experience they're great for low light levels where you can't read the display otherwise. Particularly if it's the type of display where the light shines through the "white" parts of the display (in the early 2000s it became common for the light to shine through the "black" parts of the display - which meant it was legible in light environments, legible (but inverted) in dark environments, but in low-light environments, you could get into this weird territory where the backlight shining through the "black" parts of the display was too close to the level of ambient light reflecting off the "white" parts of the display, rendering the whole thing illegible...)
@LGR
2 жыл бұрын
It was WILD in 1993 though, haha. I was so proud of my cheapo Indiglo as a kid, rapidly running down the battery by constantly lighting up my watch in the backseat on an overnight road trip.
@microbuilder
2 жыл бұрын
@@LGR Youre not kidding, I remember my buddy showing up in class with one, I was so jealous lol Compared to the normal side-lit watches of the day, Indiglo was amazing in comparison. Love the NIN shirt too, btw!
@tetsujin_144
2 жыл бұрын
@@LGR Accompanied by lightsaber noises...
@natsume-hime2473
2 жыл бұрын
@@LGR Ah the joys of growing up in the 90s. I had a few indiglo watches back then as a kid and as girly as mine were, even the boys were jealous. Quite a silly typically kid thing to be overly proud about. I wanted and even saved up for a Timex Datalink watch, but never managed to find one before I grew out of my 486, then forgot that they existed.
@rodrigocastro2005
2 жыл бұрын
13:20 Clint's 1st priority and ONLY thing he is supposed to do today is just hilarious.
@bintobox
2 жыл бұрын
Smart tech being done before the smartphone revolution is always the coolest
@DavisMakesGames
2 жыл бұрын
Your mention of data being transmitted/stored visually reminded me of Williams tubes (aka CRTs being used as RAM). Very cool concept, actually generated visible patterns on the CRT to store the data
@PiotrMichniewski
2 жыл бұрын
With LCDs it's not that the refresh rate is too low. It's the fact that the watch relies on the raster itself, just like the Nintendo light gun. Basically when the CRT is scanned, pretty much only a single point is lit at a time. The software just displays static lines spaced appropriately and the CRT does the rest. After a few refreshes the lines are moved to another spot.
@AaronOfMpls
2 жыл бұрын
The NES Zapper _doesn't_ rely on the raster though,* at least not in Duck Hunt. What kills it on a modern TV is display lag. The TV takes too long to process the signal before displaying it, and old NES games have no provision for dealing with that lag. Basically, when you pull the trigger, the screen goes black for 1 frame, then a white box appears for 1 frame where the first target is, then another box for 1 frame at the 2nd target, and so on. Then the screen goes black for one more frame before showing the game again. Display lag throws off this timing; the sensor in the gun sees the light at the wrong time, so the game thinks you missed. EDIT: The 8-Bit Guy did a video about this process in 2016 -- kzitem.info/news/bejne/r6tjrqOgbXd6nYo :/EDIT I suppose a homebrew game could deal with this by adding a calibration screen at the beginning of the game. Hold the trigger at it, and the game puts out light and dark flashes of differing length, then times how much lag there is in the gun sensor seeing the same pattern. * though there were light guns on _other_ systems that _do_ rely on seeing what scan line is being drawn
@ZapAndersson
2 жыл бұрын
Exactly. A set of lines on a crt becomes a blinking pattern over time just by virtue of being displayed, since the electron beam sweeps line by line. No LCD does so this will never work on an LCD.
@ZapAndersson
2 жыл бұрын
See this video to understand how a crt works... kzitem.info/news/bejne/lHiAu2aaq6SldoI
@Coolman13355
2 жыл бұрын
@@AaronOfMpls I've always heard the lag AND the way CRTs work are the problem.
@DecibelAlex
2 жыл бұрын
@@AaronOfMpls it's not just display lag, otherwise it should technically work on a modern gaming monitor, but it doesn't. the sensor in the gun sees only IR, which led monitors and tv's do not emit. on some high refresh rate plasma tv's it works if you stand close enough
@Zanpaa
2 жыл бұрын
There are still watches today that work similarly! The new Longines VHP can sync the time and time zones with a smartphone app, despite not having bluetooth. The app flashes the flashlight of your phone and the watch has an optical sensor of some kind behind the dial.
@Leatherargento
Жыл бұрын
Oh, wow!
@maxpool162
2 жыл бұрын
They are even more powerful, I had Timex Expedition with datalink years ago. You could write your own code for them, they had around 2KB of RAM and Timex provided header files.
@garytill
2 жыл бұрын
I had the later datalink USB. Dot matrix display made simple games like Tetris and "Mario" possible.
@nevellgreenough404
2 жыл бұрын
I still wear one of these! By now its a hybrid of guts, case and band from various models. It has the loudest alarm of any watch I know. Thanks for the vid!
@TheAtoll
2 жыл бұрын
Oh man! I remember mom had one of these!
@greatamericanbrocast
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks so much for this blast from the past, Clint! I just replaced the battery in the luxury version of this - stainless steel/gold band with an actual glass crystal face. Would love to get it working like it did 20 years ago with calendar and alarm data loaded on it. Awesome video as usual.
@kFY514
2 жыл бұрын
I remember back in the day, as a kid, exploring all menus of MS Office and finding this sync feature in Schedule+ or some early Outlook versions. I even triggered those flashing barcodes without anything to receive them. It's nice to finally see this in action properly, some 25 years later ;)
@elliot9634
2 жыл бұрын
the "[chuckes in paperwork]" closed caption made me lose it
@Noid
2 жыл бұрын
Some of these videos you do are super cool, to see strange tech with ideas *WAY* ahead of their time, and maybe still are in a way.
@BadWallaby
2 жыл бұрын
Imagine for a second what it was like. You had NEVER seen or heard of a cell phone. Your watch is how you know when to be somewhere and you have to either be home before you call someone or you need an organizer on your wrist to keep your schedule 🤣
@jimb12312
2 жыл бұрын
@@BadWallaby This was 1994. Cell phones were sold since 1983. Everyone knew about them in 1994.
@VictoryHighway
2 жыл бұрын
@@jimb12312 maybe so, but not many had them then.
@jimb12312
2 жыл бұрын
@@VictoryHighway Relatively few had them but everyone knew about cellphones. They were common enough. By 2000 almost everyone had a cellphone.
@desiv1170
2 жыл бұрын
I still have my Model 70 at home... I do miss that watch at times... :-) Looking forward to this vid!
@cringedefender5264
2 жыл бұрын
This watch is pretty awesome. It is so fascinating to see these weird 90s precursors and compare them to what we have and use today. Back then it seemed like you really did not need it. now a simular concept with better tech is used widely today
@sithyarael6807
2 жыл бұрын
A lot of 90's stuff was a few decades ahead of it's time.
@cringedefender5264
2 жыл бұрын
@@sithyarael6807 yes too bad the tech wasn't ready for it quite yet
@maxpool162
2 жыл бұрын
And Seiko UC2000 was 10 years before of that. With wireless keyboard with Basic, ability to upload software from ROM packs, doing back-ups and lots of other things.
@KyleFN
2 жыл бұрын
I had two generations of this watch, and friggin' loved it. I was in high school (1996 graduate) when I had it was probably one of my favorite pieces of tech in that time.
@tetsujin_144
2 жыл бұрын
I still use the USB version (there it is, at 5:08!). Getting a little bit complicated over time - I own three of them and one developed a screen fault after a heavy rainstorm - and another one the backlight failed the day I bought it at retail... And the wristbands have all fallen apart. But I still have one working one. The USB cables are a bit of a problem as well, they tend to fail over time. I bought the Datalink USB around 2009 or so because I found out that you can load your own programs onto it. I really liked the idea of having a programmable wristwatch with a versatile display, but with battery performance more like a regular watch. (i.e. battery life measured in *months*, not *days*) I got the free assembler for it (and found/corrected a bug in it!) and developed an app for it, called "T-Minus" - a countdown/countup timer I use to keep track of upcoming events and various memorable dates. Oh, and the tagline from the Datalink USB, "The wristwatch that thinks it's a PDA", is itself a relic.
@warlockd
2 жыл бұрын
Still, at the time we didn't have cell phones. How else do you remember all the phone numbers you need heh;. Yea those straps were crap. I always wanted to find the metal band version, but the only store that carried them was Incredible Universe and they closed up about the time Timex stopped making them.
@tetsujin_144
2 жыл бұрын
@@warlockd With the USB version there were a few different style/wristband options. The Ironman style with the metal band actually still used resin for the links, over time the links would crack and break down just like the resin wristbands. I had to repair my metal wristband a bunch of times using spare parts until finally I ran out and made a paracord wristband for it instead.
@rpp1965
2 жыл бұрын
Love your channel and your content. I was born 1965. Had all type of video game consoles , pc’s , audio, video…..etc. I’m a geek just like you and your subscribers. That being said….the passion and excitement you show when opening OEM! You are the king of geeks and nerds! Keep up the good work!
@thomasbland6428
2 жыл бұрын
If I’m remembering correctly, the sounds were created by a pizo transducer which was mounted on the back cover. I think I had to adjust a contact from the circuit board to make a better connection after changing the battery the 2nd or 3rd time when the sounds stopped.
@Mrshoujo
2 жыл бұрын
Piezo
@tetsujin_144
2 жыл бұрын
On the USB model the piezo transducer is mounted to the metal back-plate of the watch - so if you changed the battery but rotated the back-plate before reinstalling it, you wouldn't get sound any more...
@LGR
2 жыл бұрын
@@tetsujin_144 Ah fascinating. I'll have to double-check the backplate on my silent one!
@Kumimono
2 жыл бұрын
That sounds like, well, every watch with a beeper I've ever owned. A little conductive spring on the mechanism. :)
@VincentVazzo
2 жыл бұрын
@@LGR There was a small hole inside the case with a little spring that went from the circuit board to the backplate. It probably fell out when you changed the battery. It's weird the things you remember!
@rescuegirl
5 ай бұрын
I had one of these watches! I completely forgot about these, so thank you for the reminder! Feeling very nostalgic.
@TechTimeTraveller
2 жыл бұрын
LGR: "Flerp Nerp, put my lights out." Flerp Nerp: "Duuhh okay boss.." (Fade to black, sounds of scuffling)
@stephengnb
2 жыл бұрын
Do you know what voice assistant he uses? I want to remember my voice assistant Flerp Nerp.
@Joonsky5991
2 жыл бұрын
@@stephengnb Alexa ? I guess ...
@stephengnb
2 жыл бұрын
@@Joonsky5991 I didn't think you could change the wake word for Alexa beyond a few options Amazon gives. I wouldn't be surprised if maybe Clint voiced-over the wake word because he knows how annoying it can be to have a video activate your voice assistant. Unfortunately I don't watch LGR/Clint enough to know all his tech setups.
@phreapersoonlijk
2 жыл бұрын
This was so much fun ! Very clear you had fun too, Clint !!
@nataliekate2176
2 жыл бұрын
Oddsware episodes are always my favourite! What a cool watch, I can only imagine how impressive this was back in the day 🤩
@DustoMan
2 жыл бұрын
I loved this watch! It's probably my favorite smartwatch I have ever used. I was already a big fan of Timex Ironman watches so a "smart" version for a techy person like me was a instant buy. I wore it for many years and bought a couple versions until it became too much of a hassle to update using the old software.
@sedrosken831
2 жыл бұрын
That pricing for the basic model actually isn’t anywhere near as bad as I was expecting. Yeah, after inflation that probably equals at least 250 bucks now, but that still is pretty competitive with modern smartwatches - ones of any quality anyway.
@johnmickey5017
2 жыл бұрын
My apple watch was more than that, and it’s been worth every penny. It’s the only thing that keeps me on track for attending meetings on time. Honestly this is an amazing price for the technology.
@warlockd
2 жыл бұрын
Yea back then the price was good. Your looking at paying that much for a watch with a keyboard but no water proofing.
@SierraSierraFoxtrot
2 жыл бұрын
And the price was the same for the pager version, which is very nice indeed.
@undercover6110
6 ай бұрын
Just came across this video. Still have mine and use, the 75 and also have to 150 and the infrared adaptor. Still works a dream, just have to use on my old laptop that has a serial port :)
@kwc2086
2 жыл бұрын
I used to have a small keychain "PDA" that synced using a similar system, but it used two black and white flickering boxes EDIT: It was called the "Z-Touch"
@AsamiImako
2 жыл бұрын
HOLY HELL THANK YOU. I had one of these and this video reminded me of it, I couldn't for the life of me remember what it was called. Been searching for hours lol.
@user-zq6gc8fx5z
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for this! I remember always kind of wondering what the Data Link watches were but never looked into it and forgot. This scratched an itch I didn't know I had.
@michaelabdelmalek
2 жыл бұрын
Love it when you feature something that I owned as “Oddware”… thanks for making me feel old 🤣
@donovans.5241
2 жыл бұрын
Not old... just odd. Lol
@Adam-jw3uz
2 жыл бұрын
Oh man I remember the eBrain! I thought that would be too darn obscure for a video like this, but I didn't realize that the technology behind it was so special! Appreciate the mention and thanks for reminding me of a small part of my childhood!
@SnakeByteStudios
2 жыл бұрын
Really nailed the wardrobe in this one, Clint. I feel called out. 😄 I had a very similar gray plaid jacket, that exact same NIN shirt, and a green and brown Timex with indiglo back in the 90s--frequently worn together. Nice work (as usual).
@MK-of7qw
2 жыл бұрын
I used to have one of these watches. I had the metal band one, the one before that leather watch strap one. Was a good watch and used it for years even as just a watch when i didn't have any CRT's left to sync it with. Then it finally broke.
@donovans.5241
2 жыл бұрын
I remember wanting one of these so bad when I was a kid! Never got one tho. Thanks for featuring it. I had totally forgotten about it.
@Zerbey
2 жыл бұрын
Same! I remember seeing it advertised and thinking how awesome it was, but I could never afford it.
@kethernet
2 жыл бұрын
Same here. Never got one, and I'm sure if I actually did, I wouldn't have had much use for it, but it just seemed cool.
@mathgasm8484
2 жыл бұрын
My dad had that watch as a kid. He was a computer scientist for the government at the time.
@adamweb
2 жыл бұрын
Started to comment the exact same thing and saw yours! Seeing this now in 2022, what would I have even done with this as a kid?! Maybe store my Grandma's contact info?
@viscountalpha
2 жыл бұрын
You didn't miss much. It was a cool idea but it didn't work that well.
@bkzach
2 жыл бұрын
Before you turned the LED lights back on I was gonna try and get one lol, after hearing it spazz out I can't do that to myself, who knew a smart bulb would prevent me from getting an old watch lmao, awesome video and thanks for sharing this little gem with us
@RwingDsquad
2 жыл бұрын
Your mic is amazing. Fantastic audio. Do whatever you did in this video, in terms of audio, in all videos.
@zh84
2 жыл бұрын
Very interesting. I had never heard of this technology, though I lived through that period.
@obsoletebutneat
2 жыл бұрын
I've got one of these that still works. Quite a piece of machinery in its day.
@jochenschreiner8491
2 жыл бұрын
Awesome video. You should add a message to other Timex Datalink owners by adding a sync barcode at the end of the video. Sure, not many people will watch this on a CRT, but it would add a nice level of interactivity
@casoblantly
2 жыл бұрын
Totally missed the chance to call this "odd wear"
@CapnKetchup
2 жыл бұрын
Did not know this existed! But totally appropriate for the era. Thanks for showing us how it worked!!
@techur2763
2 жыл бұрын
I remember seeing tech like this trying to gain traction with a toy called E-Brain, it was a computer toy that you could program to do certain games and functions through the monitor. Really interesting and weird piece of tech, sounds up your alley.
@garry12gg
2 жыл бұрын
He showed it later in the video.
@techur2763
2 жыл бұрын
@@garry12gg I saw that and I was really amazed people even remember that technology considering it was only sold at toy store. As soon as I saw the first few minutes of what the data link did it made me remember that, so that was a pleasant surprise.
@AndrewSP37
2 жыл бұрын
Wonderful to see you cover this! I had the Ironman Triathlon version of the watch as a teenager, I thought it was really cool to see it communicate wirelessly like that at the time. I wore it all the time until sometime before 2004 when it finally died on me. Still kinda miss it in a way.
@LeoInterVir
2 жыл бұрын
I had the Ironman Triathlon version with the silver band and black links. It's the one on the far right in the video. I too got it as a teenager and wore it everyday until the band broke and I couldn't find any that were compatible. I still have the watch in a drawer.
@areoborg
2 жыл бұрын
I had an ironman triathalon back in 90s and that was the coolest thing. However, I found out the hard way that the early flat screen monitor didn't work making a feature I barely used absolutely worthless. But the indigo light was the coolest thing ever.
@techsture
Жыл бұрын
Had this is the mid-90s! As a 15 year old computer geek it was amazing, even though I had no data to transfer to it. It was mostly helpful if you had friends and a social life.
@RichardHartness
2 жыл бұрын
I LOVED this watch as teen. I had no use for it, really, but I loved it regardless. I was such a nerd.
@virus2003
2 жыл бұрын
Was? ;)
@RichardHartness
2 жыл бұрын
@@virus2003 Once a nerd, always nerd though it might not always be so evident!
@SimmeringPotpourri
2 жыл бұрын
I had one of these. I got it at the Microsoft store and I used it for a while. At some point, that watch had an issue that allowed me to take advantage of the warranty so I sent it back but got the USB version, which I still have but the band broke and was unique to the watch itself so now it just sits in a drawer. Around 2004ish, Microsoft was about to release their next version of Outlook. Since we were all using this "dogfood" version, I reached out to Timex to tell them their plugin didn't work but they'd didn't seem to care. I think that was probably the end of the life of those watches. It was a pretty cool thing to have back then and very useful.
@scrumpeldwarf
2 жыл бұрын
Oddware is my favorite. These are the types of things my parents would buy in hopes to "get with the times"
@z32_workshop52
Жыл бұрын
I had a data link back in highschool and my first year of college. I loved it and thought it was hella cool. most people couldn't believe it, and thought it was amazing.
@tehlaser
2 жыл бұрын
Well that hits me right in the nostalgia. I had a watch without the “link” part of this where you had to enter everything with clunky buttons on the watch. A, B, C, D, E, F…. Spent a lot of time messing around with that thing while bored. I remember seeing ads for the data link version and wanting it so bad.
@MrRaineth
2 жыл бұрын
IIRC, the sensor on the Data Link was basically a 1-pixel camera with a very fast refresh rate. When receiving data from a CRT, it is dependent on the vertical retrace process to "see" the light level going high (for the white line) and low (for the black lines between). At higher refresh rates, the software will space the white lines further apart to keep the data rate (the number of milliseconds between white lines being drawn) roughly constant. This is also why it doesn't work on LCDs -- as far as the watch can see, all of the data bits (white lines) effectively turn on and off simultaneously on an LCD, and there's no dark period (vertical blanking interval) because the backlight is on constantly. I guess the high-speed flicker of modern LED lights looks a lot like an electron gun drawing some horizontal lines to the watch.
@maxrobe
2 жыл бұрын
I suspect the reason it doesn't work with NT based systems is that it was directly accessing I/O registers, (which you could do with 3.x because you just a layer on DOS), without all that messing about with actually writing a proper driver with appropriate 'security' measures like wot you have to do nowadays. Happier simpler times.
@hyoenmadan
2 жыл бұрын
Nah... It uses a VxD DCI driver (TIMEX.386 and TIMEXI.vxd). That's why a Win95 version came directly bundled on Win95 CD versions, as old versions of the software came with old VxD DCIs which don't work on Win95. The only way to do the same thing with WinNT display drivers is using DirectDraw or DXGI on NT6+, which didn't exist until Win2000 with DirectDraw7.
@markjames8664
2 жыл бұрын
Yes. Windows NT wasn’t built for gaming or anything with real-time graphics.
@rootbrian4815
2 жыл бұрын
@@markjames8664 At the time, no, it wasn't. Now it is. :P
@rootbrian4815
2 жыл бұрын
@@hyoenmadan Virtual machine would solve that one. ;)
@bltzcstrnx
2 жыл бұрын
@@markjames8664 huh? NT runs my games just fine.
@gyrfalcon7332
2 жыл бұрын
Absolutely fantastic ride down memory lane. Our IT guy had one of these in 1996. I remember being fascinated by it. The lines flashing on screen immediately recalled my sense memories of his office and the first time I watched him update the watch. I’m a watch freak now so your video tickled that obsession too. Thanks for the ride!
@PatrickFreeland1983
2 жыл бұрын
Love the NIN shirt… already thought you were awesome, but now in my opinion you’re one of the best! Thanks for your great content and the diligence put into your delivery
@peteharding8573
2 жыл бұрын
This is literally one of the coolest thing I've ever seen. For it's time it seems incredibly useful
@unlikelyninja8345
2 жыл бұрын
You got my like from that intro alone. WELL DONE SIR!!
@hyoenmadan
2 жыл бұрын
"Why doesn't work with WinNT/2000/XP?" I remember Timex software installing a Display DCI VxD (.386/.VxD) in order to drive the display adapter in the way Timex needs it. VxDs will not work with NT OS kernels. My thought is that would be possible to use DirectDraw as alternative to VxD vdds to drive the display in the way the Watch needs... But at time we got a DirectDraw version which doesn't suck (DirectDraw7), Timex Datalink was already EOL and obsolete.
@big0bad0brad
2 жыл бұрын
Honestly if it's just drawing a few horizontal lines, you don't need a special driver. You just need a good vsync detection, nothing interrupting your program execution for too long, and ability to get a chosen resolution & refresh rate running. The overhead of drawing and erasing the lines is pretty minimal even if you go through a pretty indirect API and it should be pretty easy to draw or erase the whole set of lines each frame.
@hyoenmadan
2 жыл бұрын
@@big0bad0brad Remember this was done on Win31 days. MS was experimenting back then with Non-DOS accelerated APIs for upcoming Win95. Win31 GDI by default is too slow for this sort of usage, so they decided give their upcoming DCI (which would merge later with DirectX to become DirectDraw) display interface a real case usage. The only shortcomings is that Timex software would only work in Win31 386 mode, and this isn't compatible with certain video drivers (I've got TIMEX.386 bsods with nVidia Win31 drivers for example). Windows 95 has a revamped DCI interface, so TIMEXI.vxd is less prone to BSoD, unless you have one older versions of SiS display drivers.
@big0bad0brad
2 жыл бұрын
@@hyoenmadan GDI couldn't even draw 540 horizontal lines a second?
@rootbrian4815
2 жыл бұрын
Two words: Virtual Machine
@bas133
2 жыл бұрын
I have been wearing one for almost three years and I love it so much! Restored mine to new condition (150)
@Formulka
2 жыл бұрын
I still remember getting my Casio Illuminator watch, felt so damn cool.
@muticere
2 жыл бұрын
This is one of those vague memories I have when I was a kid of my dad being excited about this watch he saw that could sync with a monitor and now years later for the first time I'm seeing what he saw lol.
@jdatlas4668
2 жыл бұрын
Ooh, this sounds like a really fun piece of tech. This entire era of digital watches gaining more and more features back then is immensely fascinating to me.
@CaptainMojo
2 жыл бұрын
I received this watch for a Christmas/going to college gift in '97 (running theme, I got a Casio Cassiopeia for a HS graduation preset). Aside from some initial tests, I used the data link maybe twice. It was, however, a fantastic watch. Sturdy and reliable, it survived a truly stupendous amount of youthful follies and adventures that would have destroyed many lesser watches. I used it until 2002 when I got my first cell phone and stopped wearing a watch, but I still have it. I've often thought of replacing the long-dead battery and giving it another go...
@SpunkMonkey
2 жыл бұрын
I used mine until finally getting a smart phone, ('08 or 9?) and can confirm it did work with NT4.0 without the adapter. To be fair I probably had to run it in a mode emulating 95 or something; that much I cannot remember.
@DeLorean4
2 жыл бұрын
I'd love a cerebral implant that's compatible with this system. Every morning, I'd get up, stare at a CRT for a few moments, and instantly know what my appointments are.
@vjcodec
2 жыл бұрын
oddware is always my favorite! where we take a look at hardware and software that is odd, forgotten and obsolete!
@TurboGreen
2 жыл бұрын
i just put a fresh battery in my datalink. it was the first watch i ever got as a teenager and i still have it almost 20 years later :)
@billcahill4218
2 жыл бұрын
I had one of these! I always wondered how the data was encoded. It looks like a parallel 8-bit (with some sort of a frame bit) yet I always thought that the sensor on the watch looked like a simple phototransistor that wouldn't be able to see the individual lines. It would be interesting to use one of those multi-input USB analyzing oscilloscopes connected to some phototransistors adhered to the right spots on the screen to see if the analyzer could decode the data. Thanks for the memories, Clint!
@ZapAndersson
2 жыл бұрын
It is just a photoresistor. It can "see" the individual lines because a CRT draws top to bottom and the lines fade out even before the next line is drawn. It's your eyes that trick you into it being a continuous image - that's an illusion. It's blinking like mad and it's that blinking the watch sees.
@ivanabrenica
2 жыл бұрын
Seeing Made in the Philippines electronic used by US market warms my heart. From Analog Devices, Texas Instrument, early Intel processors, to this. As always, great content.
@tangelogee
2 жыл бұрын
I had one of the newer ones with the cable connection. It was nice for its time.
@tetsujin_144
2 жыл бұрын
I still use one of those. I just like having a programmable watch with a battery lifetime measured in months...
@pw9267
2 жыл бұрын
I had one of these as a kid, I believe it was of the ironman variety. Used with windows 95 on a packard bell…Fun times, thanks for the trip down memory lane.
@s.h.v.c2865
2 жыл бұрын
Awesome watch, I never knew it existed. Imagine if they made a version with the phone dialer capability of a Casio DBA-80/800.
@SVader11
2 жыл бұрын
I worked on this project and the succeeding iterations. It was fun! If you have the plastic strap with the 1s and 0s, there's an easter egg there. 🙂
@Darxide23
2 жыл бұрын
If you didn't grow up in the era, it might be hard to understand just how impressive and "futuristic" optical data recognition like this was on a consumer device, especially something as small as a watch.
@GoldSrc_
2 жыл бұрын
Gotta love the charm that late 90's early 00's technology had lol. They were throwing anything at the wall to see what stuck in the 90's.
@xliquidflames
2 жыл бұрын
Dude! I had a Timex with that exact same strap but it wasn't very smart. It's big selling point was "Indigo" (said with a space echoey voice effect). Indigo was all the rage back then. The brown leather and dark turquoise strap is so reminiscent of that era.
@valley_robot
2 жыл бұрын
Do you mean indiglo? The green light on the watch?
@ionstorm66
2 жыл бұрын
They called it ingigo because they used the brand spanking new indium tin oxide coating to make it efficient.
@ChristianHegele
2 жыл бұрын
I literally had this exact watch growing up. Syncing was a hilarious, but intriguing, process.
@AdamIsUrqed
2 жыл бұрын
I went to high school with a rich kid who had one of these as well as a watch with a docking station keyboard that could be used to put in calendar info as well as sync from a PC. I came so close to using a week's pay from Kroger to buy one. Instead, I purchased Magic the Gathering cards that I wish I still had. I could probably retire off of them.
@zetneteork
2 жыл бұрын
That is so cool to transfer data over CRT monitor. I've never seen such kind of cool think.
@GTHelmer
2 жыл бұрын
I'm really surprised at how this was pretty reasonably priced. I'd love to have something like this today just for the novelty
@moconnell663
2 жыл бұрын
I like that they told you the exact test conditions they used to come up with their battery life estimates instead of just making a bold unsubstantiated claim.
@erebostd
2 жыл бұрын
I had one of the watches with integrated Pager. It was amazing back then, felt like something james bond would use. Battery life was…not good 😁. I replaced it with a mobile phone as they became more available and cheaper…
@joshuadramsey
2 жыл бұрын
Haha. The green band with the light brown leather accents takes me back. Timex used the same band on a standard "Indiglo" model in the same period, and I had one. I wore it throughout "band camp" and subsequent practices throughout summer, and at about the second week's start, I started noticing a smell that was unbelievable. It was like a rotting carcass on the road! However, I would only ever smell it when I'd put my trumpet in playing position. So, I assumed something had grown in the pipes of my instrument. I gave the trumpet an intense cleaning the first night after I'd noticed it, and the smell of the trumpet was then fine. Except the next day at practice, I put the horn up for the first time and the smell was just as bad as it had been! So, I washed it again. Again it smelled fine at home. And again, the smell was back. I then went beyond my assumption and started checking other sources. I checked my armpits, but it seemed to be the normal BO you expect for someone doing strenuous physical activity for hours in 80-100 degree heat. Finally, I found the culprit. The watch band had been soaking up sweat for over a week, and bacteria were very happy about that. I never noticed it at home because I was taking the watch off to wash my trumpet in the sink. Eh, not exactly relevant, but seeing one of those style bands in that color scheme for the first time in over 25 years really brought the memories back.
@hightechstuff2
2 жыл бұрын
My dad had one of these back in the 90's. Good memories.
@Ojthemighty
2 жыл бұрын
The two watches exactly synchronised pleased me more than it should have.
@starbucksmocha88
2 жыл бұрын
13:16 nooooo now I've got that song stuck in my head. 😂 Enjoyed this oddware video, never saw one of these watches but the Timex indiglo backlight was so nostalgic, loved my Timex watch I had as a kid.
@deanfranz
2 жыл бұрын
Hearing that watch beep like crazy when you turned all the things back on LOL
@barbequesque
2 жыл бұрын
blaze it
@gefthetalkingmongoose
2 жыл бұрын
4-20/69 😂
@mikechappell4156
2 жыл бұрын
I remember having one, forget the model, back in the 90's. I wore that for close to 10 years. I'm gonna need to find that now.
@MrDDawson
2 жыл бұрын
4/20/69 Blaze it. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
@josejopez
2 жыл бұрын
Thought i was the only one who noticed
@MrDDawson
2 жыл бұрын
@@josejopez Some of us seem to have an eye for such things. HAHAHA
@CamdenBloke
2 жыл бұрын
I saw an ad for this in popular science when I was 14 and wanted one so much!
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