Another development update on Timechief. See video below.

Note the sound at the start of the video is produced by sound synthesis through a passive buzzer (PC Speaker). This unit has REAL imitation 80s sound effects.

I have solved many issues related to the device. Namely these, I quote from a previous post:

• Generate disk images
• Client update mechanism
• Hardware RTC support
• Client side database, currently everything comes through the web, which gives a poor UX experience on startup as we wait for first data
• Client side configuration GUI i.e. for Wi-Fi keys

Are all done, alongside many other features.

I even had time to iterate on aesthetics and added a new design and a CRT filter.

The look and feel of the device is very much 90s hacker. Kanji loading spinners, oh my! I do intend to add more themes before launch.

I was thinking one theme could be “scrap booking”. Particularly the ultra-neat super-detailed type of scrapbooking done by people like @MeganRhiannon.

I can imagine the widgets that I have created already would correspond well to a kind of virtual scrapbook. They are squares. I have squares. I have not experimented yet, however.

My other plan was silent movie era. You know those cards you get between scenes? With the art-deco squiggles?

Let’s see how things work out!

However, for now, I’m turning my attention back to the configuration app and API. Things have gotten a bit of a mess, particularly as I started with the API for this project and was not sure what I was building at first. So I want to tidy things up, integrate something like Auth0 so I can register users, and set up a shop front.

Once enough boxes are ticked off to make practical for someone to order one, then we start a beta program and get proper feedback. I am aiming for early next year.

By the way, one of the interesting things that came out of this was me learning to create custom Linux distributions. I ought to devote a blog to the topic. It’s a lot easier than you might think!