The name Hayes was instantly recognizable though, being the inventors of the Hayes “AT” Command
Origin:
Florida
Delivery:
11-03, 09-26
datepaid:
2024-03-03
Received:
2024-01-29
Quantity:
1pcs
Price:
0.001
Shipping:
0.00
Total:
0.001
PriceEach:
0.001
set that has found a way into just about every modem since. The shape was also familiar, a bigger version of the same case used in their Smartmodem 300. This was different. It had a beautiful vacuum fluorescent display (VFD) that was showing the current time and day of the week. I was hooked. I needed to buy this. What a wonderful trophy from the soon to come BBS halcyon days.
Hayes Chronograph, Smartmodem 300 and Bell telephone
The purpose was simple– it’s a real time clock and calendar for your computer. At the time, many computers weren’t equipped with a clock or calendar. The Chronograph connected to your computer via RS-232 and communicated with “AT” commands (albeit slightly different than the modem command set). Manually set the time once from your computer and the Chronograph dutifully kept the time and displayed it on the front for you. Should your computer need to know the time, simply ask with “ATRT” and you’d get “193601” for 7:36:01 PM. Batteries inside kept the time in case of a power failure. It also has an alarm feature that will signal the computer on the “RI” (ring indicator) line. They were also designed to stack with other Hayes components, topped off with your classic Bell telephone.
As you might imagine, Hayes didn’t sell many of these at $250 each and ultimately production was short compared with their Smartmodem line.