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Student testers of DVT HP Prime appeared

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Lionel Debroux:
Some people around the TI graphing calculators development community do already have samples, even if their handling feels different to them ;)
So far, HP has done a good job creating interest about the Prime in communities traditionally focused on TI productions, and more samples would indeed be another win-win move wrt. creating interest and garnering feedback, indeed.

DJ Omnimaga:
I like the idea of HP showcasing the calc to students. Hopefully this convinces some to choose that calc over others.

As for bug complaints, you are right when it comes to those students, but in the TI community we saw how unstable the HP 39gII could get, even 1 year after its release (even when not running any game. For example, deleting a program would freeze the calc 100% of the time even after a fresh OS reinstall), so people here are probably worrying that the Prime will just be as unstable. That said, that one (which the Prime is based on) had a brand new OS rather than a Saturn OS from the HP 48G era, so obviously it was gonna have more bugs to discover than a 84+CSE OS based heavily on the 84+SE. I guess in some ways the HP 39gII could almost be a beta of the Prime lol.

Juju:
That would be nice to give out to Omnimaga staff HP Prime prototypes so they can review it, that would indeed help spark interest on the Prime on Omnimaga.

DJ Omnimaga:
Well, the thing right now is that the calc is coming out near the end of September, so with the shipping delays and stuff, it would give very little time for testing, not to mention HP might be more willing to get the calc tested in terms of school related stuff rather than programming, since school stuff is the most important part of the calc. But of course it would definitively be nice to be able to test it so we can send suggestions or bug reports.

As for the interest, one thing I hope I keep motivation, health (and time) for is making some more games and maybe starting some bigger projects. If the calc already has a small library of games at release time this could be enough to get some students interested in buying it. Although they buy the calc for maths, they might also want to play some games on it during their spare time. Of course in United States it will be harder to sell the calc, though, because it has a CAS, so the userbase will be generally older, unless they get the calc only to code, and in general older people tend to have moved on from calc stuff long before.

As for games, though, I am not as much into the big classics like Frogger and Snake so someone else will have to do them. :P

SpiroH:

--- Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on August 16, 2013, 05:38:49 pm ---Well, the thing right now is that the calc is coming out near the end of September, so with the shipping delays and stuff, it would give very little time for testing, not to mention HP might be more willing to get the calc tested in terms of school related stuff rather than programming, since school stuff is the most important part of the calc. But of course it would definitively be nice to be able to test it so we can send suggestions or bug reports.
...

--- End quote ---
I'm afraid i do not completely agree with your take on the 'HP Prime Gift to Omnimaga'  idea. Here are some arguments that cross my mind:
1. Quite possibly the first HP Prime version to be released will include some bugs; 2. Detecting those bugs will require a lot of testing and some expertise that most of the target school students simply do not have.
3. Adding gaming features to a calc is IMO a strong selling point from HP's POV. Developping good calc games is not for noobs; 4. Publicizing HP Prime usage through free third party reviews including performance evaluation
is quite a good (cheap) deal in exchange for a couple of calc samples; 5. The Omnimaga community (with due respect to other companion sites) is already worldwide known and does attract lots of both end-user students and some more seasoned calc programmers as well; 6. Last but not least, IMO you are being too modest here. Let HP read these requests and let them decide what's best for both parties.
Maybe we get lucky. ;)

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