SpudFiles

...comes the Hexclock!

A hexclock is the implementation of a system of time that works based on hexidecimal numbers. Instead of the arbitrary 24x60x60 second method, hexidecimal time divides the day into 65,536 individual "hexseconds". 24h is exactly 0x10000.

So without further ado, here are some pics:







What sucks is that the "8" being displayed is the only thing that can be displayed there. When I was transferring the board into that case, the chip controlling that digit got fucked up, and I won't be able to get a new one for a while.

Environmentalists would also hate this, it draws about 450mA since the display is "live". The time setting feature is the collest part, imo. It is set by a computer, through the parallel port

I don't get it how do you tell the hexadecimal time with only the three digit display

any damage pics?

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So your saying a day is 10,000 seconds long?

so this system is base 10 system multiplied by a thousand?

jrrdw wrote:So your saying a day is 10,000 seconds long?

No, 65,536 hexseconds.

hexidecimal time divides the day into 65,536 individual "hexseconds"

A day lasts about 60*60*24=86 400 seconds
It also lasts 65,536 hexoseconds.
That means that one hexosecond will last:
86400 / 65,536 = 1.318 seconds.


Because its hexadecimal, you count like this:
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, 10, 11, 12, ....., 19, 1A, 1B ect
10000 hexadecimal = 65,536 in decimal

whats the point of letters?

What uses this kind of time count?

@magnum

Because we have no digit characters except from 0 to 9.
Computers usually count hexadecimal. It probably has something to do with the binairy code (01010101).
A set of 4 bits (one byte) has 2^4 possibilities, wich is 16.
The G (the last digit in hexadecimal) is equal to 16 in decimal.
10 is not an outcome of an 2^x
2^3=8 means that a set of 3 bits to define one byte would not work, since then it would need to use an octagonal system.
And if your using 4 sets, why not use all 16 of it?

@jrrdw

Computers, and nerds ofcourse.


Damn I didnt know I knew so much of that hex stuff

Im almost looking smart 8)

magnum9987 wrote:whats the point of letters?

Hexadecimal is a base 16 counting system. Our normal system is base ten, so we only have 10 different symbols to represent numbers. So they use the first 6 letters of the alphabet to represent numbers since the symbols and their order are already known by many people.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal

Edit: psycix - 8 bits is a byte, 4 is a nibble. Also hex only goes to F

The person who invented this must have had nothing but time on his hands......

Wow, so many replies, and replies to replies

The hexidecimal numbering system is simply a way of writing binary code in shorthand. Since a 4-bit code can be anywhere from 0-15, the ordinary 0-9 numbering system was rather cumbersome. Therefore, hex was invented.

Now the hexclock has a few advantages over a regular clock:

-It doesn't need arbitrary conversion factors like 24 or 60, just move the decimal point to convert between days, minutes, hours.

-Less of the time is counted in the seconds (which aren't displayed on mine, just like on a regular clock), so the resolution is actually higher.

-It looks cool.

*Note: "0x" preceeding a number means that number is in hex. 0x10000(hex) is the equivalent of 65,536(decimal).

clide wrote:Edit: psycix - 8 bits is a byte, 4 is a nibble. Also hex only goes to F

Darn! I knew I wasnt all correct the whole time.
I should have added the "Correct me if im wrong" disclamer.

The hexidecimal number system wasn't really invented per se, it just is. It's a natural extension of the binary, 1's and 0's system. You can extend binary numbers out far enough to represent larger numbers, say to 11111111 (which equals 255 decimal, FF hex). Instead of 1s 10s 100s 1000s, etc, you have 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s, 32s, 64s 128s. Add all these numbers and they add up to 255.

Thus here's where hex numbers come into play. You have 16 different numbers you can represent in 4 bits. If you stopped at 10, you would be wasting roughly 1/3 of your number or address possibilities per nibble. So the following:

0000 - 0
0001 - 1
0010 - 2
0011 - 3
0100 - 4
0101 - 5
0110 - 6
0111 - 7
1000 - 8
1001 - 9
1010 - A / Decimal would start over here being 0001 0000 (10) wasting
1011 - B / these extra "address" locations...had to name the "extra
1100 - C / numbers" something, just went with A - F.
1101 - D
1110 - E
1111 - F

Keep in mind, numbers in a computer system represent memory or disk addresses not just data.

Did I lose a few people here....

Re. Hexclock, it is also just as arbitrary as the 24/60/60 second method. To be accurate within the period of a solar day, the clock is still dependant on the time accuracy of the increment counter. Also, a hexclock really isn't very useful in human interface applications, more so as a potential timing source for machinery or software. Still, it could get unnecessarily confusing when converting to regular time for us humans.

Nice academic project however! and nice tweek to the enviro-nazis...

Computers usually count hexadecimal.

Anal attack....

Computers don't usually count in hex. They count in binary. Hex just sucks 4 binary digits up into a single digit. There are relatively few computers that actually use 4 bits for anything. The smallest common word size in modern computers is 8-bits. Most modern computers don't even use 8-bits as a logical unit anymore, usually it is at least 16 or 32 bits.