Author Topic: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D  (Read 19352 times)

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Offline shmibs

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Re: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D
« Reply #15 on: April 19, 2013, 10:18:27 pm »
NECROPOST, MY FRANNS!
I'm somebody who takes interest in this stuff.
I could find uses for an SD card capable, Wifi using, super calculator. I'd design it for Debian ARM or something.
Where did this project ever go?

please don't necropost, particularly when you know full well that you are doing so and even shout it within said post.

Offline alberthrocks

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Re: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D
« Reply #16 on: April 19, 2013, 11:22:18 pm »
NECROPOST, MY FRANNS!
I'm somebody who takes interest in this stuff.
I could find uses for an SD card capable, Wifi using, super calculator. I'd design it for Debian ARM or something.
Where did this project ever go?
Gah, and I thought someone had interest in, you know, actually taking over this project.... :P

Debian ARM designing? That's probably harder than designing a Z80 calc! And Wifi using? Good luck convincing CollegeBoard.

This project is 99.9% dead. After taking a Digital Electronics class, I kinda realized that the skills I were learning isn't enough to design, say, a Z80 calculator. It'll take another 4 years in college to do that! ;) (Talk to me in 4 years if you really want me to work on this. Chances are that I'll either be busy considering grad school or actually working...)

As for now, I have 0 motivation to work on this project, lacking any skills myself and any potential assistance for this project. I've also kinda moved away from calculator development in general, so... yeah, consider this dead until further notice.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D
« Reply #17 on: April 20, 2013, 03:48:34 am »
I had my hopes up, thinking this was revived, only to find out someone necroposted.

As for the following, I wouldn't be surprised if it was heading the same path too:
Similar

Simply because that's what happened to every new calc project since the last decade or so. It can't work if there isn't a team of users who are guaranteed to have at least 20-30 hours of free time per week, no exception (basically, you have to drop out of school and only work part time with a fixed schedule), and that the entire team is online at the same time, again with no exception except maybe 2-3 days a week. Even with guaranteed free time, it also requires lots of skills and dedication, the latter which sadly many people lack (otherwise many calc games like Zelda would be finished long ago).

Offline Dapianokid

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Re: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D
« Reply #18 on: April 20, 2013, 10:00:19 am »
Motivation and skills are the two things we lack.
That's how the calculators we love are made, though. Those people go to school for years and become super smart and then people pay them to be the genius they need.
Keep trying.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D
« Reply #19 on: April 21, 2013, 01:21:46 am »
Yeah but getting paid is the key word, not to mention they are hired by millionaires to make the calcs. To start even making a calc at all you need to plan everything and then making it and that cost thousands and thousands of dollars in the end.

Also the fact that for most calc users calc programming is a secondary/third hobby rather than first and that all hobbies are far behind school/life stuff has a big impact against their dedication. Notice how most people here only stick around for 1 or 2 years then vanish completely.

Offline Spyro543

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Re: OTZ80 - Remember it? :D
« Reply #20 on: April 21, 2013, 08:46:46 am »
Why can't we use a PIC? A PIC micro has almost everything we'll need to make a calculator (a bigger EEPROM would be required though). A display wouldn't be too hard to do either. For a text only display (for a scientific calculator), a 4 line by 16 character display using a Hitachi 44780 are really easy to work with. For a graphical display, I have a small, 128 wide by 64 tall pixel LED display with no screen blur at all, and plus, it's really bright!