[new clock] configurable analog clock (preview)

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  • I've looked into your code and made a special four-fold clock face for my new Analog Clock Construction Kit (see elsewhere in this forum) which should be compatible with your fonts.

    Documentation is still pending, but for the moment:

    • set your font once(!) and then
    • add { Font:'custom', FontScale:1 } (or a different scaling) to the Settings
  • Brilliant - just a note on the fonts that I used. I am not sure how well they scale. I typically find to get a font to look nice it is better (wen using the font converter tool) to convert it to the size you want it to look like based on the a scale of 1. I'm not sure if you can pass in a % or decimal as the code looks like the generated code does shift operations on the scale value.

  • Thank you very much for your comments!

    You may already have seen my new "Analog Clock Construction Kit" (elsewhere in this forum) where I try to summarize my findings of the last few days (as the time I may spend to Bangle.js development comes to an end).

    This kit allows to plug-in a custom "clockwork" which is also responsible for display updates. The default one shows seconds whenever LCD is "on" and hides them when LCD is off.

    This approach may also already solve any visibility problems of the seconds hand.

  • If you like, you may try my new Analog Clock Construction Kit. Using that kit would reduce your implementation effort to just writing code for drawing the desired clock face.

  • That problem should be solved by using the smart Clock Size Calculator as part of my Analog Clock Construction Kit

  • The following screenshots should illustrate the benefit of not just using Bangle.appRect, but investing a little bit of processing capacity (once!) in order to make a circular clock face as large as possible (its already small enough)


    2 Attachments

    • smartClockSize.png
    • simpleClockSize.png
  • Have you seen "Analog Dark" in the app loader? That watch already seems to mimic the square look of the Braun design - as best as it can be done with 176x176 pixels and just 8 colors...

  • Indeed, I try to "overwrite" both widget areas in order to keep the analog clock as large as possible - this is done using a smart clock size calculation - what an impressive word for a little bit of geometry and equation solving...

  • well, I just launched AC-AC (A Customizable Analog Clock) - a name which is hopefully interesting enough...

  • In my opinion, both the name and the app are great! Theoretically, AC-AC can be expanded indefinitely. I expect to see Roman numerals someday, as well as support for the first version of Bangle.js, if possible :)

    Hope you keep experimenting with Bangle.js! And you will have enough time for this.

    Do you plan to somehow connect hacking Bangle.js with lectures?

  • damn...I forgot: roman numerals are already supported - I forgot them in my customizer, sorry

  • Wow, that was fast :)

  • just good luck - but now I'll have to go to bed. Tomorrow will be a new day!

  • Yes, I have; I wish though that the lines could be more slender and you could colour the hands. I might see if I can learn more and help out.

  • Well, unfortunately I have to earn my living and, thus, to concentrate on other things now. I had hoped to create more within the time I had but ACCK and AC-AC do not look all too bad for the beginning.

    Concerning Bangle.js 2 and my CS lectures: well, definitely not during this semester (exam phase will start in three weeks).

    At the beginning of this semester, I gave a away a few "Maker UNO"s and now hope to see what my students did with them by tomorrow or next friday.

    For the next semester, I plan to concentrate on the RasPi Zero 2 as it covers everything - from "hardware computing" over development with Linux to Linux administration.

    Bangle.js programming is based on JavaScript - and (although I personally prefer JS over Java) this creates a problem: at "my" university, students will learn Java as their primary programming language - some of them will start as pure beginners in that area. And even if it makes my heart bleed, I strongly recommend NOT to learn JS and Java at the same time - otherwise you wouldn't be able to do either of them really well.

    Therefore, I will definitely introduce the Bangle.js 2 as an example of what individuals or small groups can achieve today - but I doubt that I will start any projects for my students with it. Perhaps, however, I'll call for a small competition (letting students develop and publish their own software and/or hardware projects or even found their own small start-ups) and offer my Bangle.js development clock as a prize...we'll see

  • roman numerals may now be configured as well (now available in the official App Loader)


    1 Attachment

    • romanNumerals.png
  • @Andreas_Rozek Yes, I understand. In any case - thanks for the projects :)

    I wonder why you prefer JS over Java?

  • Well, I hate boiler plating - and Java often requires that (which is why I was heavily working with Groovy in a professional environment around a decade ago). On the other side, plain JavaScript is too unregulated, which is why I actually prefer "TypeScript" (very well done, Microsoft!) - hoping that I do not have to write too many nested asynchronous functions (as the handling of asynchrony is the biggest design flaw of JavaScript today - here is Java much(!) better)

    Another big argument for JS: it's the "lingua franca" of the web and well supported even in older browsers (in older tablets, smartphones, PCs etc.) in contrast to WASM - including debugging.

    Additionally, as far as I remember: JS is even supported by some microcontrollers - and, finally, by some smartwatches. I can hardly remember, but allegedly there was an environment called...Espruino? And I've heard of a smartwatch called "Bangle.js" (or similar) which is supposed to support JS.

    (Just for the records: there is an alternative called Kaluma available for the Raspberry Pico - sometimes, you actually need the performance of an RP Pico, and in that case, Kaluma seems to be a good choice)

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[new clock] configurable analog clock (preview)

Posted by Avatar for Andreas_Rozek @Andreas_Rozek

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