Final final Pebble project ========================== In the last post I wrote about side project of watchface for Pebble smartwatch. Lome time later things escalated into 4 projects. It's an addiction. I clearly have an issue. Anyway, all projects got completed long ago. I nearly forgotten to write about them. So here is the full story. PDC Editor ---------- It started on November 15, when I began my work on new watchface for Pebble smartwatch. That would be my third watchface and first to be created outside of Rebble hackathon. Everything was going well until I hit a wall. I had trouble working with Pebble vector images called Pebble Draw Command, PDC for short. And just like that I started a side project within side project, the PDC Editor [1]. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe It's a graphical web editor for PDC image binary format [2]. I first started by writing few prototypes in C but soon after everything was moved to web as having it easily available everywhere with possibility to share with community is a big win. UI is extremely primitive as I have made first version in just 3 days and only for myself. It's not a "product" but works very well and thanks to it I managed to continue my work on new watchface. In the end this project gave me most satisfaction and pride than watchface itself. Eventually I've used it for 2 more projects. About that later. One project down, three more to go. Naive ----- With PDC Editor in place I continued my work on new watchface, which was eventually called Naive [3]. Thanks to PDC images code was simpler than in Brutal [4] (my previous watchface). I especially like the design of small font and overall proportions. It was very well received by the community [5][6] but to me the PDC Editor, the side project of side project, was the highlight. Plans are fragile things and life often dashes expectations to the ground. - Kreia Two down, two more to go. Jealous ------- Even tho release of Naive was a success I felt unsatisfied. Something was missing. All because right after finishing it I learned how to easily implement weather with free Open Meteo API [7] and how to work with bitmap fonts in Pebble SDK. Despite just finishing 2 side projects that I never meant to start I decide to do one more. But this time secretly, just for myself. Without telling anyone and as quickly as possible. Only the way a man is when he is hidden is how he is. - Uru, Kadish Tolesa Age This is how Jealous watchface was born [8]. It had all that Naive and Brutal lacked, the simple and well crafted PDC images for big numbers, small proportional font made in BDF [9] with fun icons, and above else - weather. It was designed to fit as many and as little information on the screen at the same time. All thanks to dynamically scaled PDC digits. This meant that it worked better than Naive and Brutal in Quick View (when part of the watchface screen is obscured by popup notification). It had all the features and the simplest code yet. It was perfect! Community favor Naive over Jealous but to me, release was still very successful [10] and it was my goto watchface ever since. I finally felt satisfied and was ready to put Pebble aside and focus on other programming projects. Three down, one more to go. Brutal v5 --------- It was nearly end of the year when yet another intrusive idea manifested in my mind: now with all that I learned making Jealous it's possible to make Brutal watchface great again. Even with 2 more loved watchfaces in my portfolio, people still liked Brutal the most. But it was the weakest project because of complicated implementation and missing features, mostly lack of weather support. So I decided: before the year ends I will rewrite Brutal from scratch using proper techniques making code simple and adding missing features. This isn't even my final form! - Brutal watchface And so in 12 hours, with few breaks, in the last day of 2025 and first of 2026 I remade Brutal making it the dream watchface for many thanks to weather support [11]. Whats more, I recorded the whole thing from start to finish [12]. Recording is not that great but it might be useful to someone. One day after release someone discovered a bug [13] but it was quickly fixed. Community enjoyed the v5 release [14] and I was happy to finally put all Pebble projects behind me. Four unplanned side projects are done. Final final final ----------------- It's a pleasant feeling to bring definitive closure to a project. Was a hell of a battle at the end but it was worth it. Felt similar after receiving black belt in Aikido. I encourage everyone to put a final "final" to your "final final" projects. For every battle won, a greater battle takes its place and so it goes until we fall. And in the end we all fall. Even the gods have their time. - Druth, Hellblade Recently Pebble community got more active as release of Pebble Time 2 smartwatch is getting closer. But I'm not planning on returning to that world. A new greater battle awaits me. [1] http://irek.gabr.pl/pdce.html [2] https://developer.rebble.io/guides/app-resources/pdc-format/ [3] https://forum.rebble.io/t/watchface-naive/137 [4] http://irek.gabr.pl/brutal.html [5] https://apps.rebble.io/en_US/application/69469023828bd90009075f2d [6] https://redd.it/1pro3p1 [7] https://open-meteo.com/ [8] https://apps.rebble.io/en_US/application/69514fb711ece50009816c83 [9] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyph_Bitmap_Distribution_Format [10] https://redd.it/1pxulll [11] http://irek.gabr.pl/brutal.html#v5 [12] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBUDKuvdEArXqxrfxVXivqkYmbbCh4JCZ [13] https://github.com/ir33k/brutal/issues/3 [14] https://redd.it/1q1d6c0 Written: 2026-04-18 EOF