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Messages - matthias1992
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286
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:29:00 pm »
I think SirCmpwn and some other developers can just write a new OS for the new calc. If the base is vastly different, then we should just write a new one, but use KnightOS as reference.
Exactly! I completely agree. Don't underestimate the effort of writing a OS though! (I don't think you do but your text can be interpreted like that)
287
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:26:25 pm »
We won't halt. We'll continue on with the OS building and hardware. But when we're done, we will eventually need to design a compat layer or converter. I really don't mind as long as Axe gets ported.  But for the other students at school? They will be wanting that "Mario" or "Pacman99" game from the other person's TI, and when they try transfering it (or downloading and installing it), they would be kind of pissed that the calc can't run it. Again, just my 2 cents on the topic.
Maybe converting can be done on-calc? then as soon as it recieves a TI-Basic program it will auto-convert it, conversion can also be done manually of course. Seeing what Axe can do I don't think it's as impossible as it sounds. I do recommend giving a warning stating that since this is not the native programming language for the calc errors may occur or something like that. We want them to develop for our platform but be able, just 'be able' to use old programs. Second, If people like our calc then we are sure to get tons of games within no-time! we could even provide those by the masses with the release (not pre-installed but downloadable from a site). Is anyone in for pretty-print functionality? I personally am altough I hated the speed decrease with ti's version, I am sure we can do better then TI though. For a student it would be a big plus too I think!
288
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:19:35 pm »
I'm still not so sure it would be such an easy task to just port KOS to a new hardware platform. I am almost certain that the memory layout will be massively different (24-bit addresses, no page swapping) and all the hardware you are familiar with on the TI will not be the same at all. I think it would work much better to start from scratch with the OS on our new system. Have you looked at the eZ80 documentation? I recommend giving that a read: http://www.zilog.com/docs/um0077.pdf
Again I agree with you, this thing is NEW and so should everything we make for it be. Now KOS isn't 'old' strictly spoken but indeed you can't port it over with great ease, not to discourage you! I greatly support KOS and I would love to see it on the OTeZ80 but once again I suggest taking KOS for the TI-8x as a reference, not as a template, or worse.
289
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:13:57 pm »
Why are people so opposed to the fact that new software can/will be written for this device? Nobody made such a big deal when the TI-83+ came out and we couldn't run TI-86 games on it. Perhaps someone could eventually write something like Emu8x if we want to use TI-83+ software, but I don't think we should make it such a big deal when designing this device. This is NOT TI. We might be throwing away "fun games", but games aren't the point of this device anyway. People can write new games if they want, taking advantage of how much better this device is than the TI-83+.
I couldn't agree with you more. Yes I know this is contradictonary with the fact that I jsut argeed with alberthrocks on the comp. layer but this is actually more my point of view then that, I just don't want't to halt process beacuse of this.
290
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:10:47 pm »
I guess it somewhat smaller then the Nspire. I don't think size should be our main concern, if we can fit everything in there neatly with space left then we can shrink it down but otherwise...
291
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:07:46 pm »
Albertrocks: very true.
Maybe at one point we can have someone that knows what they are doing, write a windows program tha will change something in ti-basic into kos format?
Good idea. Plus it will actually change the program so the calculator it self doesn't have to do the scaling which saves on speed, altough these programs are going to be bigger because you can't optimize 'em to the max. But size isn't much of a problem anymore.
I agree on >20Mhz
As for RAM:16mb?
Flash-Rom: Also 24mb? maybe more, depends on OS size.
The eZ80 can only address up to 16MB of memory total. Unless we want to include memory-swapping support like in the TI-83+, which I'm not completely opposed to. It might complicate things a bit, though.
Aah I forgot about that, lets make 'em both 16 then shall we? everyone agrees? (I think we don't want to make this one too complex, we might enlarge the flahs and do page swapping there but I strongly suggest the ram being within the eZ80's range)
292
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:05:54 pm »
Sorry for not finishing the Xaos yet! I am at 75% but I am quite busy with the OT-calc stuff now. Sorry, but don't despair, it will be done soon. I'll take a look at ce the the next week, I expect a release at about >=20 august.
293
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:03:00 pm »
Well, we're not going to throw away every single fun game written for the TI-8x series, are we? 
I like the converter idea though. That would be very efficient, and avoid even including any of TI's stuff.
We would still need a Basic editor for TI (er, OT) Basic. Something similar, but with more features.
I hope you mean similar in terms of ease of use? Because Ti-basic lacks alot of features, I think we need to give OT-Basic a very, very good thought!
294
« on: August 07, 2010, 03:00:21 pm »
How are we going to make a compatibility layer without including the whole TI-OS? Face it, all programs made for TI-83+ rely on the TI software in some way.
True but happybobjr just offered the solution, converting converting converting. Won't work flawlessly but It will do. Secondly the asm programs will have little trouble being ported over, they only need to be enlarged or centered not entirely converted. I think a windows program could easily convert say: Disp into something that KOS understands. When it comes to optimized basic-routines though..I dont know..
295
« on: August 07, 2010, 02:56:48 pm »
Albertrocks: very true.
Maybe at one point we can have someone that knows what they are doing, write a windows program tha will change something in ti-basic into kos format?
Good idea. Plus it will actually change the program so the calculator it self doesn't have to do the scaling which saves on speed, altough these programs are going to be bigger because you can't optimize 'em to the max. But size isn't much of a problem anymore. I agree on >20Mhz As for RAM:16mb? Flash-Rom: Also 24mb? maybe more, depends on OS size.
296
« on: August 07, 2010, 02:53:37 pm »
And you guys are missing my point. We can do a bigger screen, assuming we just enlarge pixels.
But you still have 2 things to consider:
1) Teacher/student friendliness. We need to make it so that teachers can accept it, students can buy it without complaints, and the testing board can allow it. Having a super big screen isn't going to really help. I'm not against enlarging the screen a little bit, but don't make it into an iPod Touch.
2) TI compatibility. That's something interesting, eh? Although we are more or less trying to be better than TI, are we really going to throw years of ASM, Basic, and other TI-8x stuff away? This calc has the potential to run over TI's calcs. If we ever want to see some good stuff from TI-8x programs and applications without endless porting, we need to create a compatibility layer. Of course, programs designed specifically for KOS will do MUCH better, and will even look better too.
Ok, agreed with the compatibility. How about 188x124? (more or less) Something that is in the 3:2 ratio but definitely >100 in both width and height.
297
« on: August 07, 2010, 02:44:12 pm »
New design more Ti-8x ish but I demand my bigger screen (see OTcalc>eZ80 hardware discussion) EDIT screen resolution hasn't be decided on yet...
298
« on: August 07, 2010, 02:40:21 pm »
I'm still not sure about that though. We actually need to mimic TI to get the calculator to sell. If it's cheaper but doesn't look like a TI-8x, people will think it can't do anything.
As for screen size, I still think the 96x64 is a good size to work with.
Since we want the old TI programs and others to still run, how are you going to do that with a bigger screen?
Centering it isn't exactly interesting, nor is scaling it up.
What old TI programs? I thought we were making a new calc here, and we're worried about compatibility with TI-83+? You heard xkcd, we need a bigger screen resolution for sure. Remember, we're going for better than TI.
exactly!
299
« on: August 07, 2010, 02:39:34 pm »
I think a bigger screen is a must. 128x192 is the lowest I want to go. I mean we ahve to offer them something new besides the new processor, nobody but the usual geeks will get excited about that, yes of course we have new software as well but a big screen allows for say, multitasking. I have often see people running out of time on math tests because some graphs were slow, if they could do other calculations in the meantime...
I don't think we need the old programs to run on it, it is a new device, not a clone with some slight upgrades. Really trust me big screens are quite inexpensive and they add greatly to resell value. (and overall looks). 96x64 is outdated.
300
« on: August 07, 2010, 11:43:59 am »
Ok I am redesigning now, but it very soon looks like a Ti84/83
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