I was one of the early adopters of smart watch ecosystem with OG LG G Watch, but lately I have stopped wearing watches altogether as they're sweaty and that I've become weary of having devices with large batteries closer to my body especially those with connectivity.

But the LG G Watch has found a new use as a smart clock attached to my desk thanks to FOSS smart watch Operating System - AsteroidOS.

AsteroidOS is a high quality, resilient open-source project with support for large variety of smart watches and a great community. I have forked the AsteroidOSLinux client which syncs Linux OS(time, notifications, media player) with the AsteroidOS smart watch to add smart clock specific features.

I have implemented MQTT publish on the AsteroidOSLinux so we can send MQTT message to the clock as a notification and not just the desktop notifications. I plan on using the smart clock for those occasional alerts via notifications which needs my attention.

mosquitto_pub -h 192.168.1.10 -m "{\"summary\":\"Alert from Server 1\",\"body\":\"CPU is toasty\"}" -t house/smartwatch

I will showcase more specific use cases in the upcoming posts.

Caveats

Power

• When the smart watch is converted to a smart clock, the battery will degrade as it's always plugged-in. If battery couldn't hold the voltage the clock will not be able to power on. Possible solution for this could be to do away with the battery and use direct power supply with a step down voltage convertor. I will be trying this in the future, Suggestions are welcome.

• Easier way for an average user could be to have a clock mode on the AsteroidOS which can extend battery life by limiting the charge threshold and optimizing the charge cycles for longevity. Please get involved with the project if you would like that to happen.

Compute

• When on direct power supply, the smart clock's compute power could be leveraged using the versatility of AsteroidOS platform. Say like a Raspberry Pi Zero SBC but perhaps more powerful.

P.S. Write to your government about the need to have repairable compute devices with replaceable batteries and the ability to power them without the battery. I understand that the manufacturer incurs a cost to implement them(Nothing to innovate, that's how devices were earlier) but it's a cost we should be paying so that our future generation don't find these devices in landfill while desperately digging for water.