Out of the Pack - Seiko RC-1000 Watch Terminal <Â– Atari RS232 connecti

RSS Bot · July 28, 2015

Back in the day, I started writing Atari BASIC software to edit and transmit data to a Seiko RC-1000 Wrist Terminal Watch. This may have been the only time an Atari 8Bit, 850 interface, and RC-1000 were in the same room and if it happens again, you may want the following information to write a proper editor.

The RC-1000s are being listed on eBay for around $250 to $2,500; I got mine while Seiko was liquidating their inventory at around $50. There were Apple, Comm.64, and IBM software versions and that truly made me feel left out as an Atari owner. I was hoping to get the software running and submit it to Seiko but it never caught on and the product line was dropped.

Seiko was contacted for information that would help get the project started. They sent me a packet of pages containing the data structures, communication protocols and a printout of the IBM version of the software. These two documents are attached and will be of great help.

I got the program to the point where it would read DATA statements entered with the proper format for text, time zone and alarm data. The computer would assemble the data and then dump it to the watch. The serial cable for the RS-232 connector required some modification for the 850 interface. I’m not sure which was the bigger problem; getting the data in the right format or configuring the serial connection.

The following is the BASIC code example for the data structures.

 


An article was written for the Western New York Atari User Group newsletter that contains some information about data, cable modification, and the BASIC listing of the test software.

The watch had reached the end of its short lived product life cycle and the strap broke thus diminishing my drive to finish the project. But now with the success of the iWatch, Seiko may want to re-release the watch as a retro alternative (yah, sure), and you’ll have the information to write the interface program for your Atari computer.

Attached thumbnail(s)