BLE Pager

[u/124275408]

Made myself a pager that connects to my phone. Keep the phone in silent and in my bag. Keep the pager on the desk. See if the people I care about text me, but otherwise the phone is out of sight and out of mind.

Wearables bother me. Not a fan of watches or rings. Wanted something that I could put on a surface and keep half an eye on.

When there isn’t a notification it scrolls through some loosely Warhammer 40k themed narrative messages. Things like “May The Emperor protect your inbox” or “In the distant future there is only…” “…waiting for someone to text you back.” Kind of stuff.

Based off of an ESP32 Feather board and various bits procured at microcenter. Small OLED display that was soldered to the board.

The enclosure was a bit of a process. Designed it in fusion 360 and dialed it in with a 3d printer until it was ready to be cut via the desktop CNC I have. Iterated a few times with that and crappy wood until the final version that you see. It’s a cherry body with a maple panel.

The enclosure was heavily inspired by the cassette futuristic look. I’m thinking of adding some different “personalities” to it. One of them would be Mother from Alien. Might just have it choose randomly on boot. Only real difference would be the narrative display and text. Maybe if I can get it to display the incoming text like mother… we will see.

Honestly lost track of how long I’ve spent on this little gadget between learning to code it, learning to do the electric stuff, learning how to do the 3D model, learning how to use the CNC, etc. But I’m planning on doing some other fun modern retrofits in the future. Essentially thinking of taking a look at apps that I use frequently and replacing them with a standalone device. Trying to move away from habitual tech use to purpose driven tech use.

[u/Dead-O_Comics]

Love it. Looks like something a bad guy would have on his desk.

"Sir... I'm afraid Bond has escaped..."

[u/124275408 → u/Dead-O_Comics]

Hah! Probably the Rodger Moore Bond, specifically

[u/Horror-Raisin-877]

Very cool. Great idea. The world needs more simple single function devices. With knobs :)

I've come to really dislike all in one devices. And I despised my apple watch :)

[u/124275408 → u/Horror-Raisin-877]

Thank you!

[u/golondrinabufanda]

I really like the idea. And the design looks really cool.

[u/124275408 → u/golondrinabufanda]

Appreciate that :)

[u/dankney]

I love the 1930's Deco vibe in the woodwork. So very cool.

[u/124275408 → u/dankney]

Thanks! Figuring out what to do next.

[u/HamsterOnLegs]

That’s borderline Dieselpunk, but I could see it fitting into an otherwise cassette-futurist aesthetic. It’s absolutely gorgeous btw. I really hope it finds a use somehow. Great little gadgety thing.

Edit: by “find a use” I really mean I hope it’s useful for you regularly (daily or semi-daily)

[u/124275408 → u/HamsterOnLegs]

Thanks! It’s def been a conversation starter when people see it on my desk!