In my mind, i'm looking to do the most advanced handeld tool in math. So Cas system is the main feature of that tool.

So main target should be engeneer, maths teachers, ...
But to not disqualify to exams, i'll do my best that for each country.
But one thing, i won't set a exam mode, because it's like a small computer.
It can be hacked. So cas will stay ever.

About how it looks, i already conceded some stuff for price and for us exams.
nothing is closed yet, but that i want for this, is a really big screen. When we need
a calculator is often for complex equations, and they aren't small.

And i want integrate a simulink tool too. So it's not 100% already done to be like this.
I can change my mind with good arguments.
I don't have any drawer yet.
And nobody that is a doomday guy in blender.

& teachers won't see in it a game-boy, DS, PS VITA, whatever , if you don't play in front of them.
& teachers after try it will not use anything else, ...

-- for maxima and octave, let me some time to verfy that, because i know a lot of tools but not each one in full detail.
But as far i've seen yet, maxima don't have them. I'll explain all in detail fully later, just let me some time.

Just a few questions:

Any ideas for the GUI design?  Will it end up being just like a Linux OS and then you will be able to launch a math application or is going to be mainly a math tool and then you can run other programs on it kind of like the Nspire?

Is a mouse going to be included?

Are you writing a fresh Linux Distro or is it just going to be the included distribution modified for the calculators purposes?

Is this supposed to be a gaming machine too?

Gui will be done by us.

no mouse. ( gui will work without but there is usb host )

distro included with our gui work.

no it's not a gaming machine. but we'll not ban gaming on this.

& please i wait for the faq, cause i'm getting tired

Personnaly, I disagree for the touchscreen : too breakable, and it would make the calc too close to a smartphone

I prefer the idea of a thumb stick and a D-pad on the other side.

Just FYI guys the clamshell (DS like) design has been used by Casio in a calculator before, so that's not an issue.

ok i've read the part of source code from octave & maxima that i'm interested in. ( source code is open. ).

Maxima is set in Lisp, this is bad because, it's hard to find good programmers today in Lisp. ( myself i don't know so much ).
Maxima has a very minimal definition of his primary types. ( this is a real problem ).

I don't have looked inside for auto simplification, but i think it should be inside.

Something like this :

(x+1)/((x+1)*(x+2)).

if you don't set a mod auto [on] for simplification for eigenvalue, it should STAY like that.
( For some kind of calc, it generate a lot of error if you don't care about ).

finding the code and change that is more work than doing a better one.

And Lisp is a too old language.

Octave is C++ and is not perfect writed but well writed.
Auto simplification is set by default and can't be stoped.
Class are used, but not enough for what i have in mind.
And use only a part of this code is not possible, it's gonna generate more work,
and may cause problem of licence.

And after all. Don't be worry. I have some kings in C++ coding.
And i'm not bad after all.

The octave project is around 1Mo of real source code for the engine.
It's not a easy task but not a hard one.

And knowing your code is far better, than using one that you don't understand.

I don't think capacitive would be the right thing, seeing that the display is probably going to be pretty small (3 inch-ish), and that only really works with a stylus.

what will the calculators name be?

I don't think having a removable qwerty keypad is a good idea, since people will rely on it for calculations and stumble in the exams. QWERTY isn't necessarily an ideal layout anyways, given that you're only using thumbs, and that we're not using typewriters anymore. (QWERTY was designed so that you would avoid typing on the same side as often, to prevent jamming keys. Hence, common sets like he, or, le, etc. would be on opposite sides of the keyboard.)

Plus, why is the keyboard on the bottom? That's terrible, ergonomically. While I appreciate the idea of having a separate qwerty keypad, even Alpha modifiers are better than that.

By using a different layout, you are also freed from that design shape. A tall, thin shape would ideally have a tall, thin keypad.


Now, no more criticism for this post.


I like how you're trying to use an existing CAS library. That will save a lot of work down the line. I'd recommend focusing on writing the majority of the software portion before working on any hardware development, since that doesn't require any funding. If you can pull it off, it would be a very nice calculator. I would probably buy one.

Oh, and if this thing will be powerful enough to run Debian Linux, then its C++ coding will blow the TI-84+'s Asm out of the water. However, it would have to be quite powerful to compile that C++ on the calculator within any reasonable time frame.