Omnimaga
Calculator Community => OTcalc => Discontinued => Major Community Projects => [OTcalc] Z80-Software => Topic started by: alberthrocks on August 15, 2010, 11:45:28 am
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Since I saw some great OTZ80 software ideas in the hardware section, I've decided to make a new topic here dedicated to software discussion.
Please remember to not bash anyone for their ideas, and that your suggested ideas are not final. They are also subject to hardware limitations as well.
With that said, discuss the OTZ80 OS/software features here! :)
A couple of ideas moved from the hardware topic:
- Preloaded with Axe and math programs
- Calculus support (??) (Note: Derivatives, etc. maybe?)
- 3D graphing (??)
Feel free to elaborate on these or build on those ideas.
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No CAS, or at least a non-CAS version.
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I think that if CAS is used, the calculator won't be allowed on SAT tests.
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on Calculus, I would like to see some actual symbol manipulation, instead of just numerical approximation
on 3d graphing, I think parametric (in addition to function) graphing is a must
edit: I just googled CAS (silly of me to not know what it meant). symbol manipulation should be disable-able
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Maybe higher number accuracy would be good, like Cabamap except for non-integers as well (have the ability to view pi to 100 digits if you want).
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thoughts of arbitrary-precision arithmetic and the like are flying through my head..... not evaluating fractions past lowest terms until explicitly asked..... hold sqrts in symbolic form through calculations until a decimal approximation is requested........ is this feasible for the speed of the processor?
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Hmm I think 3D grpahing is quite intresting for say....derivatives. i think calculus support is quite a good idea. I think we should provide functions for users to solve the problems but no "solvers" that you just throw in a couple of variables and then..whoosh, there is your answer. We need them to program these for themselfs :P right?
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No cas, please. As for 3D graphing, is it really necessary for hi school/college maths?
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No CAS? Why not? It's planned for KOS.
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I thought we were planning to have a calc with no CAS and one with a CAS? It was the plan since the beginning if I read correctly. We wanted the OTZ80 calc to be allowed on SAT tests and whatever tests CAS is banned from.
If you absolutely want a CAS in, you'll need to figure out a very secure protection that lets teachers effectively disable the CAS completly before tests, no matter how hard hackers tries to break this protection. Otherwise, the OTZ80 calc project is a waste of time, since its primary goal was to compete against the 84+, while still being allowed at tests.
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The only problem there is that the Z80 (and the eZ80 IIRC) has no "supervisor mode." This means any program can take full control of the calculator, pretending it's the official OS. The only solution I can see is to have a certain key combo or a special "push-to-test" button that would interrupt to read-only firmware that would put the calculator in PTT mode, preferably disabling ASM and possibly programs entirely (like PTT mode on the 84+(SE) OS, but with a simpler, foolproof invocation). Having hardware-based protection to try to protect certain things, like TI's protected ports on the 83+ Series, doesn't work very well since there are holes in the official OS (i.e. I could write a program for an 83+ Series calc that writes to flash)
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Ouch, well I hope there's some sort of way to make sure those calcs won't get banned x.x