4 ms·

Could someone explain why is this project interesting? I’m not familiar with electronics or hardware programming.

by thih9 5y ago

nickhalfasleep 5y ago
In an age of ubiquitous accurate time, an intentionally misbehaving clock points out the folly of watching a clock
- dylan604 5y ago
  Thinks back to days in high school just willing that minute hand to move
teraflop 5y ago
I think the main technically interesting thing is that it adds custom functionality to cheap, mass-produced hardware. If you wanted to build a clock completely from scratch, it would be a significant amount of work to design something that works as well as a $10 wall clock from Walmart. If you just figure out the right way to interface with that hardware, you can do interesting stuff a lot more easily. It's a little bit reminiscent of how people figured out that you could use cheap USB TV tuners as software-defined radios, although obviously this project is a lot simpler than that.
bayindirh 5y ago
Clocks are amazing pieces of hardware. They're surprisingly simple, but deterministic, also very monotonous because of the work they do. An arhythmic clock which looks like broken, but keeping the time correct is interesting in many fronts. First, it looks broken, but it's not. Second, if the movement is a bit noisy, monotonous tick-rocks will become irregular, hence interesting for our brain. In other ways, it's delightfully non-conventional, but working as intended at the end. As a result of this, it's kinda delicious as it's interesting. That's a good combination. Lastly, all of this is packaged as a de-facto standard wall/desk clock movement. Consider if you change your meeting room's big wall clock to this. Lazy, Whacky or Tuney would be fun. Very fun.
- pbhjpbhj 5y ago
  Now I'm wondering if times I couldn't sleep because of a ticking clock were due to arrhythmia in the clock - low batteries, extreme temperatures, dirt, spider mite sitting on pinion - that somehow prevented my brain from filtering out the sound. Probably more likely a lack of sync in my brain (I have very little sense of rhythm).
  - alias_neo 5y ago
    Interesting point. I have a fairly loud ticking wall clock in my living room. When I have guests stay on the sofa I have to remove the battery, it drives them insane. I never notice it ticking at all, I just don't hear it, it's ticking right now because I'm thinking about it. What I would love is a clock with a consistent sound, mine makes a slightly different tick for some odd positions and that bugs me.
    - entropie 5y ago
      > it drives them insane Dinner room at my Moms home has like 6 different ticking clocks, some more than 100 years old. It absolutely kills me everytime.
      - alias_neo 5y ago
        I'm not sure if that sounds amazing is terrifying!
    - nsayer 5y ago
      Generally the movements come with a rubber gasket that you're supposed to put over the shaft before attaching it to the back of the face. The rubber cuts down on the ticking noise. Of course, if you buy a Crazy Clock that has novelty firmware, you probably _want_ to hear it.
lucideer 5y ago
With zero knowledge of electronics or hardware, the product description seems to outline why it's interesting pretty clearly (and quickly; the lede is not buried). TL;DR: > Novelty clocks: > > Whacky clock - ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second, so it's arhythmic. > Wavy clock - tick frequency is proportional to a sine wave. Sort of looks like it's "surging." > Lazy clock - picks a random interval and then ticks that number of seconds very quickly and then just stops. > Crazy clock - runs at three different speeds - slow, normal or fast. Much more subtle than it sounds. > Vetinari clock - runs slightly slow, but adds a periodic "stutter" tick to make up for it. > Warpy clock - runs 10% fast for 12 hours, then 10% slow for 12 hours. Makes the days just fly by. > Early clock - keeps time anywhere between 0 and 10 minutes fast. For those who like to set their watch ahead to avoid being late. This clock keeps you from trying to "compensate," because you never know how early it is at the moment. > Tuney clock - ticks normally most of the time, but occasionally will tick out "songs," like shave-and-a-haircut, or SOS in morse...
- Cd00d 5y ago
  I do wish there was more detail on the "more subtle" crazy clock. I'm having trouble imaging what it means. It may be obvious, but I missed it - do I buy one kit, but then I can load all these firmwares, or is the goal to have me buy one kit per novelty?
  - bshep 5y ago
    From the hackaday link you can load alternate firmawares but its not so easy due to the coil potentially interfering with the programmer.
  - IIAOPSW 5y ago
    >I do wish there was more detail on the "more subtle" crazy clock. I'm having trouble imaging what it means. In more subtle mode the clock just works normally. The crazy part is the shared delusion of time. Subtle isn't it?
fossuser 5y ago
I think it's more about the whimsy and fun-ness of the hack while still keeping proper time. I love these kinds of playful projects - feels like the core of 'hacker spirit'.
adrianmonk 5y ago
It subverts your expectations about clocks.
tantalor 5y ago
Click "product description", it is collapsed by default for some strange reason

Could someone explain why is this project interesting? I’m not familiar with electronics or hardware programming.

by thih9 5y ago

Could someone explain why is this project interesting? I’m not familiar with electronics or hardware programming.

nickhalfasleep 5y ago

In an age of ubiquitous accurate time, an intentionally misbehaving clock points out the folly of watching a clock

dylan604 5y ago
Thinks back to days in high school just willing that minute hand to move

teraflop 5y ago

I think the main technically interesting thing is that it adds custom functionality to cheap, mass-produced hardware. If you wanted to build a clock completely from scratch, it would be a significant amount of work to design something that works as well as a $10 wall clock from Walmart. If you just figure out the right way to interface with that hardware, you can do interesting stuff a lot more easily. It's a little bit reminiscent of how people figured out that you could use cheap USB TV tuners as software-defined radios, although obviously this project is a lot simpler than that.

bayindirh 5y ago

Clocks are amazing pieces of hardware. They're surprisingly simple, but deterministic, also very monotonous because of the work they do. An arhythmic clock which looks like broken, but keeping the time correct is interesting in many fronts. First, it looks broken, but it's not. Second, if the movement is a bit noisy, monotonous tick-rocks will become irregular, hence interesting for our brain. In other ways, it's delightfully non-conventional, but working as intended at the end. As a result of this, it's kinda delicious as it's interesting. That's a good combination. Lastly, all of this is packaged as a de-facto standard wall/desk clock movement. Consider if you change your meeting room's big wall clock to this. Lazy, Whacky or Tuney would be fun. Very fun.

pbhjpbhj 5y ago
Now I'm wondering if times I couldn't sleep because of a ticking clock were due to arrhythmia in the clock - low batteries, extreme temperatures, dirt, spider mite sitting on pinion - that somehow prevented my brain from filtering out the sound. Probably more likely a lack of sync in my brain (I have very little sense of rhythm).
- alias_neo 5y ago
  Interesting point. I have a fairly loud ticking wall clock in my living room. When I have guests stay on the sofa I have to remove the battery, it drives them insane. I never notice it ticking at all, I just don't hear it, it's ticking right now because I'm thinking about it. What I would love is a clock with a consistent sound, mine makes a slightly different tick for some odd positions and that bugs me.
  - entropie 5y ago
    > it drives them insane Dinner room at my Moms home has like 6 different ticking clocks, some more than 100 years old. It absolutely kills me everytime.
    - alias_neo 5y ago
      I'm not sure if that sounds amazing is terrifying!
  - nsayer 5y ago
    Generally the movements come with a rubber gasket that you're supposed to put over the shaft before attaching it to the back of the face. The rubber cuts down on the ticking noise. Of course, if you buy a Crazy Clock that has novelty firmware, you probably _want_ to hear it.

lucideer 5y ago

With zero knowledge of electronics or hardware, the product description seems to outline why it's interesting pretty clearly (and quickly; the lede is not buried). TL;DR: > Novelty clocks: > > Whacky clock - ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second, so it's arhythmic. > Wavy clock - tick frequency is proportional to a sine wave. Sort of looks like it's "surging." > Lazy clock - picks a random interval and then ticks that number of seconds very quickly and then just stops. > Crazy clock - runs at three different speeds - slow, normal or fast. Much more subtle than it sounds. > Vetinari clock - runs slightly slow, but adds a periodic "stutter" tick to make up for it. > Warpy clock - runs 10% fast for 12 hours, then 10% slow for 12 hours. Makes the days just fly by. > Early clock - keeps time anywhere between 0 and 10 minutes fast. For those who like to set their watch ahead to avoid being late. This clock keeps you from trying to "compensate," because you never know how early it is at the moment. > Tuney clock - ticks normally most of the time, but occasionally will tick out "songs," like shave-and-a-haircut, or SOS in morse...

Cd00d 5y ago
I do wish there was more detail on the "more subtle" crazy clock. I'm having trouble imaging what it means. It may be obvious, but I missed it - do I buy one kit, but then I can load all these firmwares, or is the goal to have me buy one kit per novelty?
- bshep 5y ago
  From the hackaday link you can load alternate firmawares but its not so easy due to the coil potentially interfering with the programmer.
- IIAOPSW 5y ago
  >I do wish there was more detail on the "more subtle" crazy clock. I'm having trouble imaging what it means. In more subtle mode the clock just works normally. The crazy part is the shared delusion of time. Subtle isn't it?

fossuser 5y ago

I think it's more about the whimsy and fun-ness of the hack while still keeping proper time. I love these kinds of playful projects - feels like the core of 'hacker spirit'.

adrianmonk 5y ago

It subverts your expectations about clocks.

tantalor 5y ago

Click "product description", it is collapsed by default for some strange reason