The Commodore 64 smartwatch can now sync with your Commodore 64 desktop computer

If you have a smartwatch on your wrist, chances are you also have a device nearby that connects to it. Most modern watches will happily sync with Android devices or iPhones, and some will talk to Windows PCs as well. But what if you are using another operating system? Something like, say, Commodore BASIC? Then you might want to check out [Nick Bild's] latest project, which lets you sync your smartwatch with your Commodore 64.

Unfortunately, you can't use just any old smartwatch: the project is an extension of [Nick's] Commodore 64 smartwatch that we featured earlier. This watch can run Commodore 64 programs thanks to a custom software stack, but like most typical smartwatches, it also includes an accelerometer that counts your steps. Syncing the step counter with your computer is simple: after you get home from your daily run, just press "sync" on the watch, enter LOAD"SYNC.PRG",8,1 on your Commodore 64, and the computer will display your total number of steps.

The C64 watch communicates with the host computer via a built-in infrared port. Classic Commodore computers don't have an IR receiver, so [Nick] built one himself using an Arduino micro connected to the C64's user port. A custom program reads the data and displays the step count on the screen.

Although the feature set of this app is a bit limited, [Nick]'s project shows how the good old Commodore 64 can still perform useful tasks in today's world. We didn't need much of a refresher: after all, we've even seen it run AI applications using TensorFlow Lite.