This is getting away from being a calculator, and more towards a portable media device. Also, realize that the beagleboard is for prototyping, and testing software. A calculator does not need a 1ghz cpu. We will need to keep the cost down, to at least under $150, otherwise no one will buy it.

Quote from: matthias1992 on August 07, 2010, 05:49:19 pm

I keep recommending 50.

The argument that it drains batteries is to my belief false, mostly because of all components in a PC the processor consumes the least. We could better take off the real killer, the screen. Just remove the backlight and add in the juice. I know a calc isn't a pC but just saying proccesor consume little to no power.

The argument that it costs more is also 'debunked' price difference is ~$5

So please vote for 50mhz! It adds greatly to resale value!

It depends of the country. Last time I checked, rechargeable batteries costs around $13 for 2 batteries here. The charger costs $23 and that's if you get the crappiest one. Now if you are a programmer, you need at least 8 batteries (assuming the calc uses 4 at once and you use both sets every day). That makes it $75 total. If for $1.68 you can get 12 cheap disposable batteries and each set of 4 lasts two weeks, after 5 years you spent $50.80 on batteries while with rechargeable ones, you would have spent $75. I gave 5 years as example because rechargeable batteries lasts around 5 years with heavy usage and almost everyone stop using their calcs after 5 years.

So for some people, that $5 would be more like $25. Note that I include taxes in my prices, though. I also live in Canada (Quebec)

Regardless, if the calc can be set to support two CPU speeds, it would be fine, I think. If somebody programs a game, for example, he should probably set it to run in 20 MHz mode for menus and if it's not a very intensive game, I don't think 50 MHz is necessary at all. For math operations, 20 is enough for almost everything except graphing .

Also I changed my vote to 50 MHz.

Batteries are that expensive? I know you have prices in canadian dollars, but still, I can get a pack of 4 AAAs here for 10 bucks.

I say 20 mhz. Remember that eZ80 processors are about 4x as efficient as ordinary z80s, so its like having an 80 mhz z80.

With the beagleboard, can it be uunderclocked?

BrandonW was working on a program to emulate a fat filesystem for an 84, but I don't think it ever got released.

http://calcg.org/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?t=8443

The processor is going to be fast enough that we can just write an 8x emulator.

We could have the calc act like a usb mass storage device, eliminating the need for linking software.

So does the HP 49g+ and 50g.