Omnimaga

Calculator Community => Other Calculators => Topic started by: DJ Omnimaga on May 13, 2010, 10:14:40 pm

Title: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 13, 2010, 10:14:40 pm
I just saw this on TI-BANK:

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Ftibank.forumactif.com%2Factualites-f7%2Fconsole-de-jeux-ti-t5494.htm&sl=fr&tl=en

:O

EDIT: According to brandonW, it's more some alternate form of the TI-View Screen, though, just using a TV instead.



But it still seems kinda cool, providing you can afford it... and have a 84+ (for 83+SE you need viewscreen model)
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on May 13, 2010, 10:17:30 pm
BrandonW found it on Ti's site: http://education.ti.com/educationportal/sites/US/productDetail/us_ti_presenter.html

This is really cool and could let us stream video from our calcs (in theory)! ;D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 13, 2010, 10:21:54 pm
Yeah true XD

Plus no need to find a projector. On top of that I think you can record videos on something like a VHS tape or DVD (if you got a recorder). I'm not sure, though.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: Builderboy on May 13, 2010, 10:26:49 pm
Wow, is this for reals? O.o Lol TI is finally realizing that the only revenue in calculators is in gaming! ^^
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on May 13, 2010, 10:35:51 pm
I just bought it. (It's the TI Presenter.)

The 84+/SE OS has built-in support for this device and directs the LCD contents to it. I'm hoping to write a driver that lets us write whatever we want to it instead, potentially working even better than the actual LCD.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 13, 2010, 11:04:56 pm
lol nice Brandon :D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: Builderboy on May 13, 2010, 11:08:50 pm
Wow! Haha so its not quite a game console thingy ;) Heh but it serves a dual purpose! If the TI can send LCD in real time, i wonder what can be done with assembly hacking :O
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 14, 2010, 12:15:05 am
I wonder if the calc runs much slower when connected to this, though...
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: Eeems on May 14, 2010, 01:26:38 am
My math teacher has the correct calc for this and the overlay for a projector. From what ive seen the slowdown is negligable if any.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on May 14, 2010, 04:10:28 am
The slowdown on an actual ViewScreen model is non-existent as it's just connected to the LCD controller hardware; the processor has no hand in it whatsoever.

I think he means the 84+/SE and 89Ti, which have to constantly output data to the direct USB port. As far as the answer...I don't know. :) We'll find out soon enough.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: Galandros on May 14, 2010, 04:25:14 am
WOW, even better would be to be possible making graphics on tv other than 96x64...

I saw a calculator with the odd cable next to the usb one in my school. What is it?
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 14, 2010, 09:01:48 pm
probably the viewscreen model
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: willrandship on May 15, 2010, 01:13:57 am
Does the viewscreen have a higher resolution than the regular calc? USB ones might, for 92 and 84+ cross compatibility, but I don't think the ones with the inch-long plug have a different resolution. That'd be cool, if we could have a TI-84+ with a TI-89 screen attached.

BTW for just a bigger screen stick some paper behind the viewscreen and it's nearly as bright as a regular calc screen, and much larger.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: TIfanx1999 on May 16, 2010, 06:45:42 am
O_o This is pretty interesting, but I 'll bet it's expensive as all hell.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: calcdude84se on May 16, 2010, 08:31:51 am
yeah, it's ~$230-$260
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 16, 2010, 07:45:36 pm
Congrats to BrandonW if he can get that one he saw for $99 (if he didn't get it already)
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on May 22, 2010, 01:32:00 am
I did get it, but unfortunately UPS didn't deliver it to me today like they were supposed to, so I'll have to wait until Monday to hook it up and tinker with it.

I did get the TI Presentation Link adapter however, and I'm having trouble communicating with it via direct USB. It's one of the more stubborn USB devices I've come across. I think that with the TI Presenter though, we'll end up with a deeper understanding of direct USB on the 84+/SE and maybe have more compatibility with more devices. There are several usb8x bugs to be fixed.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 22, 2010, 07:31:07 am
Ouch, I did read about the delivering issues in #ti and it seemed like the one delivering it fails hard at it x.x

The good thing is that it arrived somewhere at all. In one occasion I bought something online and never received the item x.x
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: TIfanx1999 on May 22, 2010, 07:54:17 am
I think that with the TI Presenter though, we'll end up with a deeper understanding of direct USB on the 84+/SE and maybe have more compatibility with more devices. There are several usb8x bugs to be fixed.

I hope you're right, that would prove very usefull! =D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on May 22, 2010, 12:36:36 pm
There are several usb8x bugs to be fixed.
Can any of these bugs affect communicating with a flash drive?  What are the bugs you've found?

It's cool that you're learning more!  This is going to be very neat! ;D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on May 22, 2010, 04:10:49 pm
There are several usb8x bugs to be fixed.
Can any of these bugs affect communicating with a flash drive?  What are the bugs you've found?

It's cool that you're learning more!  This is going to be very neat! ;D

Not just yet -- there are bugs like being able to send "large" (>128) byte control packets, which affects the Bluetooth driver. It can't be released until usb8x is updated first.

EDIT: I've found that the TI Presenter is Flash-upgradeable, through an I/O port no less. I extracted the firmware from education.ti.com -- it's only 75KB, which means we can upgrade it FROM a graphing calculator. Not only that, but I don't see anything verifying the image, with signing keys or anything. If we could determine what CPU is inside, we might actually be able to disassemble it and replace the firmware with whatever we want, all oncalc, truly making it a "gaming console."
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 22, 2010, 07:28:52 pm
wow nice! Now if only it wasn't that expensive...
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on May 23, 2010, 10:33:23 am
Wow, awesome! That's really great news.  If only it wasn't so expensive. =/
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 25, 2010, 04:26:32 pm
[16:23:23] <BrandonW> I'm not sure anyone cares, but I'll be streaming the TI Presenter unboxing at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/brandonlw-live .

\o/
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on May 25, 2010, 04:27:34 pm
It'll be at 9PM Eastern if anyone wants to see.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 25, 2010, 04:28:28 pm
woops lol forgot to post the time. My bad :P
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: Raylin on May 25, 2010, 04:29:08 pm
Win.
Will you play some games on the TV with it?
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on May 25, 2010, 04:30:50 pm
I'll do whatever you guys want me to do with it...I take requests. :)
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 25, 2010, 04:33:54 pm
It might be best to define one spot for the discussion, though, because the Livestream chatbox requires to login and it won't let me for some reasons. #ti channel seems like a good bet since the stream will most likely be calc related, but last time it happened in #cemetech, so I'm not sure which one to choose.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: TIfanx1999 on May 25, 2010, 06:43:14 pm
Cool, I might check it out if I'm not busy!
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on May 25, 2010, 08:08:52 pm
That's cool!  I hope I can check it out tonight. :)
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 25, 2010, 09:00:08 pm
It's started now

Beware of the lag :P
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: calcdude84se on May 26, 2010, 07:10:48 am
Meh, I missed it. :( Is there any way to watch it now?
I'd comment on how it went, but, of course, I can't
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on May 26, 2010, 07:57:17 am
That was really neat!  BrandonW, I hope you do more sometime.  I liked all the background info you gave.  It was pretty interesting. :D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 26, 2010, 12:53:41 pm
There are people who claimed the show was available for download after it's done but I could never find such option on Ustream. Maybe they just meant they recorded it and will put the avi/mov/mpg/mp4 file online

Unfortunately, a cable was missing from his TI-Presenter package (most likely the seller fault or TI fault) so he couldn't demonstrate it fully (with calc hooked up to it and the screen showing up on TV), but it was still cool altough near the end I could barely understand anymore cuz of the ASM talk XD (altough I kinda got the context most of the time). It might have been because I was working on that video at the same time, though (which had sound :P)

Hopefully when he gets a cable (or make one) maybe there will be another live stream?
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: TIfanx1999 on May 26, 2010, 01:08:45 pm
Yea, it'd be nice to actually see it in action. I really can't believe that they didn't include a cable with it...
*edit* I think he ended up ordering one online IIRC.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 26, 2010, 02:39:14 pm
Yeah, from ebay. He showed us the page. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380171911505&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT

Seeing as it is used, then it's the seller that didn't include the cable. I hope BrandonW can find one eventually. He should put a vid of the presenter in action on Youtube.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: meishe91 on May 26, 2010, 02:54:17 pm
I thought he just bought one off TI? Either way I hope it works though.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 26, 2010, 03:31:27 pm
Nah he got it from Ebay fro $99. From TI it costs over $200
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: meishe91 on May 26, 2010, 03:39:01 pm
Oh, I meant the cable. Not the presenter. I knew he got the presenter from eBay.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on May 26, 2010, 04:07:14 pm
I don't remember if he actually bought one from them. Maybe he did during the stream. At one point I did not listen as much since I was editing a video at the same time and it had music
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: meishe91 on May 26, 2010, 04:21:20 pm
Well I remember he bought one, just don't know from where.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: TIfanx1999 on May 26, 2010, 05:00:36 pm
Yea he did, that's what I was saying earlier. =D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 02, 2010, 04:09:02 am
For people who missed the streams, Brandon recorded some videos of the TI Presenter in action

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7379873
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7379859

Sadly the TI presenter has trouble displaying most games (that uses ASM) at decent speed and some got the wavy screen.

However, a few minutes ago, he just managed to display stuff on the TI presenter different from the calc LCD. Eventually he could most likely display whatever he wants on the TI Presenter, from a calc.

And quote from him in #ti just now:

Quote
[04:06:33] <BrandonW> We flash the firmware on this thing and we totally own this device.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on June 02, 2010, 04:40:32 pm
I wish I was able to see the streams.  What happened at the end of the second video?  It was just starting to get exciting. =/

Is brandonw doing another stream anytime soon?
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on June 02, 2010, 07:45:19 pm
I intend to make real clips of the thing in action.

I'm open to doing streams whenever.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: calcdude84se on June 02, 2010, 07:46:14 pm
Can we make announcements of these streams? Maybe in the topic on #omnimaga? I always seem to miss them... :(
At any rate, I hope we (well, brandonw) will be able to find out more about this device.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on June 03, 2010, 09:59:54 pm
Can we make announcements of these streams? Maybe in the topic on #omnimaga? I always seem to miss them... :(
At any rate, I hope we (well, brandonw) will be able to find out more about this device.
Me too.  I'm looking forward to the next stream!  What I've scene has been really cool! :D
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on June 04, 2010, 03:40:49 am
I posted a 7-minute YouTube video demonstrating the TI Presenter at
.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 04, 2010, 03:49:12 am
Well that goes in my favorites for sure!

Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: TIfanx1999 on June 04, 2010, 04:55:14 am
Thanks for posting this. That's some really awesome work you're doing there! I can't wait to see more advances with this. This could open up some really neat possibilities in the future.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: calcdude84se on June 04, 2010, 07:49:57 am
Nice video.
Quote from: BrandonW
This shows off the device, how to use it, how it works, and how to do some neat things with it that TI would rather you didn't.
lol. :)
Okay, now you know the basics of the protocol. Learning about this thing seems to be happening relatively quickly. Keep up the good work!
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: ztrumpet on June 09, 2010, 04:53:35 pm
Wow, nice video!  I hope you get some more info on it.  What has the different delay?  The Presenter link or the Presenter itself?
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: BrandonW on June 09, 2010, 06:17:35 pm
Wow, nice video!  I hope you get some more info on it.  What has the different delay?  The Presenter link or the Presenter itself?

I would say it's the USB Presentation Link adapter, as the OS is coded to allow for more LCD delays when it detects that it's attached. The ViewScreen calculators run exactly the same OS as normal calculators and therefore don't have more delays.


It's impossible to really say, though...delays could be happening in the hardware in one or both situations.
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: critor on June 09, 2010, 07:05:55 pm
Good work!

We're definately turning this device into a game console ;)
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 09, 2010, 11:14:30 pm
I remember the viewscreens in hi school (around 2001-03) and usually things looked pretty fine on them if I remember.

And I agree with critor ^^
Title: Re: TI game console?
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on July 13, 2010, 09:43:43 pm
Btw there's another livestream going on at the moment, if anybody is online right now.

For new members, it's livestream from BrandonW (and his cat) :P