Author Topic: eZ80 Hardware Discussion  (Read 51995 times)

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Offline fb39ca4

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #15 on: August 07, 2010, 12:57:56 pm »
We can have a 192x128 screen, so it scales perfectly.

SirCmpwn

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #16 on: August 07, 2010, 01:00:12 pm »
I like the idea of a slightly larger screen, however, I think that the screen's size in inches should stay the same, or close to it, but the pixels should be scaled down.

Offline alberthrocks

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #17 on: August 07, 2010, 01:01:20 pm »
SirCmpwn: I like that idea! :) Old calc emulation can just enlarge the pixels. The question is - will it slow down at all?
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SirCmpwn

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #18 on: August 07, 2010, 01:03:10 pm »
Yes.  However, it will slow down on the bigger screen without the smaller pixels, too.  Which brings me to my next question: clock speed?

Offline jnesselr

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #19 on: August 07, 2010, 01:08:26 pm »
About 20-30 mhz?

Offline fb39ca4

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #20 on: August 07, 2010, 01:10:58 pm »
It needn't be too high, because apparently an eZ80 is four times as efficient as a Z80 at the same clock speed. 20mhz should be sufficient.
 
Here's the user manual I got that from.

Offline program4

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #21 on: August 07, 2010, 01:20:39 pm »
So, the LCD should be around 3 inches x 2 inches, and we need to decide on a resolution. Personally I prefer 216*144 or 180*120, because the numbers have a lot of factors, which can be important when finding a perfect size for the numbers and letters (maybe 9*12 pixels and 6*8 for small text). I think that the clock speed should be around 24 mhz. And yes, the keyboard should definitely be ABCDE format. I am already better with that than QWERTY.  ;)

Offline alberthrocks

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #22 on: August 07, 2010, 01:40:45 pm »
Hehe, I like 50 mHZ better than 20.... ;) But, I assume 20 MHz is enough speed, right?
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Offline calc84maniac

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Re: Hardware Discussion
« Reply #23 on: August 07, 2010, 01:46:40 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.
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Offline matthias1992

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Re: eZ80 Hardware Discussion
« Reply #24 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.
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Offline matthias1992

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Re: eZ80 Hardware Discussion
« Reply #25 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!
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Offline alberthrocks

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Re: eZ80 Hardware Discussion
« Reply #26 on: August 07, 2010, 02:49:29 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. :P
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.
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Offline Happybobjr

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Re: eZ80 Hardware Discussion
« Reply #27 on: August 07, 2010, 02:51:59 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?
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Offline matthias1992

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Re: eZ80 Hardware Discussion
« Reply #28 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. :P
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.
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Offline Happybobjr

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Re: eZ80 Hardware Discussion
« Reply #29 on: August 07, 2010, 02:55:28 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. :P
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.

are we going to have a higher rez, and same size screen
or
same rez and larger screen size?
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