Omnimaga
Calculator Community => OTcalc => Discontinued => Major Community Projects => [OTcalc] Z80-Hardware => Topic started by: alberthrocks on August 25, 2010, 01:18:12 am
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As the title says: do you want to have wifi in the OTZ80 calc or not?
Consider any regulations, power usage, etc. for this feature.
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I think wifi, while nice, might be an unnecessary luxury for a simple calculator. What *are* the pricing/power usage/regulations?
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I'M not sure about this. Would this be power intensive? I heard on the PSP, the battery power got eaten very fast when Wi-fi was enabled.
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Wifi is rather power intensive.
I say if we do have Wifi, make it an optional add-on.
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Wifi is a good idea in theory, but if we had it, it will drain the battery like anything. My PSP won't even charge when wifi is turned on.
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No who honestly Doesn't want to surf the web in grayscale eh?
:D
I think it is a optional. I am tinkering to change my vote but for the moment I am slightly more in favor then against, convince me that it is not neccesary!
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No who honestly Doesn't want to surf the web in grayscale eh?
:D Good point. I still think it's a bit too much for a *calculator*, though. What kind of math function would need an Internet connection?
Plus, if we included Wi-Fi, it'll probably be disallowed at all the major standardized tests :P
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If this is supposed to be a calculator, then its main function should be math, which certainly does not need wifi. And wifi drains the battery, too.
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If Wi-Fi was included it wouldn't even be allowed in almost all everyday tests (including non-math tests).
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True. Maybe don't include it in the Z80, and include it in the ARM version. It should be able to be completely turned off. We need to find a way to deal with those testing agencies though. If there is any way to communicate with them, they are banned.
Why not have an attachment that works with the usb plug or something. They can plug it in, and have wifi access. Also, you wouldn't need the USB with it, because you have wifi. Thoughts on this? This way, the test giver could easily see if an adaptor was attached, and a school teacher could see that they are not using wifi, because the plugin is not attached.
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If we do end up keeping this and other, um, controversial features, we should probably add a Push-to-Test or something similar. Still gotta keep the teachers happy somehow. It's still an educational product, anyway.
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Yes, that's true. But we don't want the ACT/SAT to see "wifi", and freak out. What other options where we thinking about adding that were controversial?
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Voted no wifi. I don't think it's necessary. It also drains battery life much quicker when in use and it would likely exclude this calc from standardized tests. Unless it was an add-on, but I still don't think it's necessary.
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Yes, that's true. But we don't want the ACT/SAT to see "wifi", and freak out. What other options where we thinking about adding that were controversial?
Dvorak, Qwerty and Azerti
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As much as I like wifi, I voted no wifi because as people said standardized test agencies would disallow this calc.
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Yes, that's true. But we don't want the ACT/SAT to see "wifi", and freak out. What other options where we thinking about adding that were controversial?
Dvorak, Qwerty and Azerti
You mean azerty?
Anyway, I think that an alpha-lock will solve that. As for wifi, maybe an extension, but not built in to the calc. My vote is no for including it, though.
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Ah right, yeah. Thanks for the correction
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Wifi would not only ban the calculator on sat and act tests, but also from school in general. Wifi is a type of radio signal, like a cell phone. Making any device intended for school with wifi defeats the purpose. This shouldn't even be a question
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Something I worry about, too, is interferences with other devices. Couldn't someone send answers from a cellphone to calc format or even from calc to calc when he finishes an exam? We never know sometimes with students...
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I vote for yes, wifi. Assuming we can turn it off and on when we want it, and the PTT mode will disable it
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Ya all convinced me, changed my vote to no. We MUST be allowed on major tests in order to even possibly sell more then TI, just my two cents...
What we definetely could consider (in my opninion) is to allow such a feature to be added quite easily but with such a extend of knowledge that 99% of the students wouldn't even know it's possible. If we add the possibility in without advertising it...well I might give it a second chance then...
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Well if it was there and not advertised, the issue is that if teachers discovered about it, they might try to get the calc blocked. Even if not widely advertised, it should be made so it can be disabled by teachers.
Also if somehow Wi-fi is included, I think the connection should drop/wi-fi get disabled if no online activity occurs during an extended period of time, in case the user forgets to turn it off and eat all his batteries. That said, it could be made an option. Anyway, my vote is still no for now since we are trying to keep the OTZ80 calc as cheap as possible and focus on the memory/processor/LCD performances.
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*bump*, I mean, **CRASH!!**
How about making it a plugable extension? Or maybe go for HSDPA, 3G connection? Maybe a SIM option isn't that bad of an idea, you could receive messages in class hehe that would be so cool...
If it is possible to do it within budget range (altough I am not sure what that range is) and if it is hardware technically possible, then, yes. We do need to consider however the power of the eZ80, no matter how skilled this community is I still think an eZ80 will be brought to its knees with wifi or 3G.
Actually I personally now build a computer using a propellor chip, I think this is a very interesting platform, it's easily extendable and musters a powerfull 8 cores, so true multitasking! It's about $8 per piece in DIP-40 format also comes in 44-pin QFP format. The more I think of this the more ideal it seems for the task, hell, $8 is almost nothing! I actually think we could have two or four of those chips in there!
Each propellor runs at 20 mips per cog and since there are 8 cogs (cogs=core) that is 160 mips if we implent two, or three of these we get 320 and 480 mips respectivally.
Also, video out is supported (there is hardware for that in each cog) audio is supported...and they can withstand drops, heat and freezing cold, bloody small too. My thumb nail is smaller then the 44-pin version...
Architecture: 32-bits
System Clock Speed: DC to 80 MHz
Global RAM/ROM: 64 K bytes; 32 K RAM / 32 K ROM
Runs at 80mhz after a multiplier, the external oscillator should be between 4 and 8mhz
Still not convinced? Here:http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerChips/tabid/142/ProductID/334/List/0/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName
Parallax has a very lively forum too and a very good customer support record!!
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As the title says: do you want to have wifi in the OTZ80 calc or not?
Consider any regulations, power usage, etc. for this feature.
Would Wifi through an SD card slot with an Eye-Fi card be possible?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye-Fi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye-Fi)
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Aaah! Why not? seems a valuable option, the only objection I could possibly have is that I dont know if the read and write cycles of an SD card are fast enough + can it be infinitely overwritten? IF so then why not make it the main memory as well? Cog with I/O brigdges/peripherals + Eye-fi + LCD + Case + Other junk = calc
But geez lcd's are expensive! I now know why TI uses a crappy lcd! I can't really blame them...
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I don't like having our main memory being an SD card. and I don't think that SD card would work well. Doesn't it only support pictures?
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I don't like having our main memory being an SD card. and I don't think that SD card would work well. Doesn't it only support pictures?
SD cards are like any other flash memory.
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I don't like having our main memory being an SD card. and I don't think that SD card would work well. Doesn't it only support pictures?
SD cards are like any other flash memory.
right, but this is a wifi-SD card. So do you write to the card and then have that transferred out or what? I guess what I'm asking is would you talk directly using a wifi protocol or does the chip maintain that, and you just give URL and data and just do a POST or something.