Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!newstop!texsun!letni!rwsys!merch!cpe!hal6000!nemesis!uhclem
From: uhclem@nemesis.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.tandy
Subject: Re: Nonvolatile time/date for 1000TX
Message-ID: <-31054@nemesis>
Date: 18 Mar 91 11:42:08 GMT
References: <148427@pyramid.pyramid.com>
Lines: 30
Nf-ID: #R:pyramid.pyramid.com:148427:nemesis:-31054:000:1472
Nf-From: nemesis.UUCP!uhclem    Mar 17 11:09:00 1991


<>
>One must enter the time and date everytime one powers up or resets this
>beast.  The Radio Shaft (I can call it that 'cause I worked there years
>ago ;-) ) catalog lists a $40 option that keeps the time when the machine
>is powered down.  I think that it's just a chip, but it may be a plug-in
>board. I'd rather not have to enter this info everytime I power up the
>machine, but $40 sounds a bit steep to save a few extra keystrokes.

The part is called a SmartWatch, and is made by Dallas Semiconductor.
The actual part number is DS1216E.  When you look at one, the DS1216 is
on the chip, and the "E" is on the PCB that the chip is soldered to.
These are available from retailers other than RS, but the price runs between
$35 and $40 just about everywhere.  They last anywhere from 5 to 10 years,
depending on how you use it.

You plug the SmartWatch into a ROM socket in your system and then plug the
original ROM into the socket in the SmartWatch.

>Is there a third-party chip or board that performs this same function
>at a lower cost?  I've recently seen some ads for third-party stuff for
>Tandys, but this item was not among them.

As above.  Note that Dallas Semiconductor has sooo many patents on this
that nobody has come up with an equivalent yet.


Frank Durda IV <uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org>|"How do I know?  Been staring
...letni!rwsys!nemesis!uhclem	            | at a messed-up one for the
...decvax!microsoft!trsvax!nemesis!uhclem   | past week."