Omnimaga
Calculator Community => Discontinued => Major Community Projects => UberGraphX => Topic started by: uberspire on January 24, 2011, 05:44:12 am
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Let me introduce UberGraphX which is an attempt to build a open source graphing calculator that the community will be able collaborate on, one that's truly inspiring and prizm shattering. (Puns intended) In other words, this calculator runs Linux, has massive flash storage, WiFi enabled, a 1GHzMHz ARM Cortex A8 processor with a 16 million color touchscreen LCD display. O.O Complete specs can be found here: http://www.uberspire.com/?page_id=53 (http://www.uberspire.com/?page_id=53)
I've been working on it and planning it out for a while, funding the project myself. My main impetus for this project is the desire for a calc that's incredibly way more "open" than anything else on the market and by open I mean:
1) Powerful hardware allows more flexibility in what programs can be created
2) Runs Linux, so you have a POSIX compliant operating system which makes it easy to port or create apps if you're familiar with programming on UNIX systems
3) All software packaged on Project Paradise will be open source
4) You can program in Java, Python, C, C++, Lua, BASIC, Assembly, etc.
This means you don't have to depend on any SDK or do any hacking (like Ndless) to get apps running on it, you have complete freedom to run whatever program you want on it.
Here's the current specs of the UberGraphX versus other models: here (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHdRQ0tFUllTX2ZlbUZVN3VnUXk5d1E&hl=en&authkey=CLmF0NgB).
Here are some screenshots of an early prototype of the UberGraphX running with a GUI:
UberGraphX running a Java app and plotting some functions:
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/cache/GUI%2BTest_graph.png.small.jpg)
UberGraphX on the web:
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/cache/GUI%2BTest_browsing.png.small.jpg)
UberGraphX's desktop (X11 - Angstrom):
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/cache/GUI%2BTest_homescreen.png.small.jpg)
You can read and check for the latest updates here on our main site: http://www.uberspire.com/ (http://www.uberspire.com/)
Status:
April 17, 2011 - We're in the prototyping stages as of right now. Plastic prototypes for the casing should arrive back sometime in mid May. Hardware needs to go over one last check before it gets signed off.
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Wow! I this the first time you are making your own calc/computer? It seems like a pretty big project. But good luck!
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Woah, you seem to have great expectations ;D Good luck!
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This is amazing. Best of luck and keep us posted!
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This looks quite nice so far. The only suggestion I have would be to make the bottom bar a bit smaller so the icons won't look pixelated. This is an ambitious project so I hope it works out well. Have you managed to find where to get all the hardware you will need?
Also a suggestion for the OS would be to put an emphasis on maths, such as making all math tools visible first along with programs. That way it is still seen as a calculator rather than just an handheld. That said, if that works out, it would really rule if the price is not too high either, as it could even compete against some tablets/mobile devices and not just calcs.
Also, if you go for a touchpad, make sure it's responsive but not annoying to use like on a laptop. Touchscreen would be ok, or clickpad if a touchscreen is too expensive. Clickpad should really be to the right or left, though, not in the middle like the TI-Nspire.
Good luck!
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What hardware are you planning to use for this (as a base system)?
I would look at the otcalc project sub-forums. (Which starts again this summer, hopefully)
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This looks quite nice so far. The only suggestion I have would be to make the bottom bar a bit smaller so the icons won't look pixelated. This is an ambitious project so I hope it works out well. Have you managed to find where to get all the hardware you will need?
I have a board being manufactured in China right now. I'm waiting for the board to arrive (around the end of January) here so I can start assembling it and soldering all the components. It'll take me a while (a couple of weeks) to solder the board since there are a lot of components and they're really small. I also have a couple of LCD's for experimentation (5" monochrome touchscreen and a 3" color touchscreen)
Also a suggestion for the OS would be to put an emphasis on maths, such as making all math tools visible first along with programs. That way it is still seen as a calculator rather than just an handheld. That said, if that works out, it would really rule if the price is not too high either, as it could even compete against some tablets/mobile devices and not just calcs.
I agree, there needs to be a strong emphasis on math. Instead of having to wrote most of the software ourselves, I was thinking that we can already use free powerful math software available (like Maxima or Octave) and have them be packaged with the calculator/mathematical PDA.
That said, if that works out, it would really rule if the price is not too high either, as it could even compete against some tablets/mobile devices and not just calcs.
Also, if you go for a touchpad, make sure it's responsive but not annoying to use like on a laptop. Touchscreen would be ok, or clickpad if a touchscreen is too expensive. Clickpad should really be to the right or left, though, not in the middle like the TI-Nspire.
Touchscreen would make the project considerably cheaper (device will be more compact, no need to manufacturer keypad and buttons, and less PCB area). In fact, I could probably build the board and case for around $100. But there are already a lot of PDA's like that on the market and in that price range already.
My vision is that this calculator to have the power of a PDA, but in the form a traditional graphing calculator. Touchscreen would also mean that this calculator would be instantly banned from school testing.
What hardware are you planning to use for this (as a base system)?
The hardware is all designed by myself. The calculator uses a ARM9 processor @ 450MHz which has the ARMv5TEJ instruction set. There are versions of Ubuntu (xubuntu) designed to run with that architecture, but I'm pretty sure it'll bog down the processor and is probably complete overkill for a $140 mathematical PDA/uber graphing calculator.
Someone on another forum asked for pictures or drawings of the hardware. I'll be happy to take pictures of the hardware when it's working, but I'm really hesitant releasing schematics. Some Chinese company could rip off the project and make cheap clones, which would then make my time and the money I spent in this project a waste. The closest I'll ever show of the hardware internals is a routed PCB design of my development board:
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/pictures//Hardware/project_paradisepcb.png)
On the left, this board has a TV output jack. That's just for me to play around with. It's most likely not gonna end up in the final design. The main goals of this board:
1) See if it powers up
2) Boot the kernel
3) If the kernel works, try to test the peripherals (LCD, TV output, audio, USB mini port, SD card, etc.)
After I checked off those things, I'll make revisions to the board and then have another board created. I plan for the hardware to be finalized by this June.
EDIT: And if anyone is wandering where the LCD is connected to on the board, this board is a development board I designed. I have the LCD on a breakout board with 0.1" pin spacings. The LCD is attached to the pin headers on the board.
EDIT:
Wow! I this the first time you are making your own calc/computer? It seems like a pretty big project. But good luck!
I have built some calculators before, but really simple ones just for fun. I'm a second year computer engineer in college and I just thought, even if it doesn't make it to the market, it'll still be an awesome senior project.
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whoa, this is crazy how far you've gotten. if you need anything written in java/any help in java don't hesitate to ask me i could chip in with some software. this looks amazing, good luck with the rest of it
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If you need any python code I'll help you out this looks great!. Good Luck
*ruler goes to try to sell idea to chinese companies ^-^
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Thanks, any programming help would be grateful.
I just got an email today about an inventions contest being held by my university and the timing couldn't be any better. I don't know if it's plain chance or faith, but this is probably the big break that Project Paradise needs that will enable it to be pushed into a real product that will compete against TI, Casio and HP. The judges are investors looking for good commercial ideas and I believe this project has a good chance at winning this contest (or at least a spot, so my project can receive some funding) just as long as I can show that this project makes business sense. They want a working prototype finished and a presentation ready by April (which is two months earlier than I planned for the hardware to be finalized), so I have to speed up everything and I'm in a frenzy now. These next two months will probably determine whether this project makes it or breaks it.
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All right, just let us know if we can do anything. I'd be willing to help here and there.
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:AMAZE:
so, what exactly are your plans for this if it doesn't make it to the market proper?(not that i'm being doubtful here...)
do you think you could build and sell a few on your own/release the schematics in private?(i am salivating a bit at the thought of this) regardless, best of luck to you!
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Nice ideas. As for the math softwares just make sure to not violate any distribution license, lol :P
As for selling it, would it be like the Pandora?
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My development board came in on Wednesday and I got halfway through assembling it. Still waiting on other parts to arrive. The board seems to power on all right, so hopefully I should be able to get the board up and running in the next couple of weeks.
so, what exactly are your plans for this if it doesn't make it to the market proper?(not that i'm being doubtful here...)
do you think you could build and sell a few on your own/release the schematics in private?(i am salivating a bit at the thought of this) regardless, best of luck to you!
As for selling it, would it be like the Pandora?
If someone wants a board, they could order one from me and I'll have one built. However, the processor on my development board doesn't have enough pins for a keypad since I'm using a LQFP variant which is easier for me to solder. The final design requires the processor in the BGA package which has more pins, but I don't have the tools and skills to solder that type of package. For that, I have to get a company to build those boards. So if someone wanted to buy a board right now, it'll probably cost around $300-$400 US and it won't be guaranteed to work as I myself haven't built a BGA version of the board.
Looking at my budget, I only have enough money to build two more improved versions of my development board using the LQFP package. A BGA version is out of the question for now. If I could win this contest at my university, I would get enough funding to finish prototyping the project, designing the enclosure and probably get a couple dozen of these units manufactured. I'm fairly confident my project would win in the technical area with just my prototype, but the judges are most likely gonna doubt that people would want to buy it or that a market exists for this. All I need is a killer presentation and I think I've got this sealed.
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Awesome! Do you think you will take pictures soon?
And yeah I guess it can be understood. If something is assembled by hand and you didn't do such thing before I guess mistakes can occur or you can accidentally break something. If it got popular it would most likely need to be done through some sort of chain production I guess.
And yeah money can be an issue for such project. For the OTCalc project we dealt with much weaker hardware, but we even discussed about multiple people (who're part of the project) contributing money to it. There's also risk: if it won't sell at all, you lose a lot of money.
I really wish you good luck on this project and the contest.
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Truthfully this should work for anyone who really knows about calculators this is a good idea. If you can get it working and set it up to start being sold you should be able to sell it quite well.
*ruler starts saving up money for paradise calculator
EDIT: About how much would these be?
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Well the ones he would make by hand would be $300-400 but I'm not sure what sale price he's aiming for for the factory-produced ones, if any. I hope it's not too expensive either, but I am certain for the hardware and software the price will be much more reasonable than TI's.
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I hope it will be under $200 That's all I can afford.
*maybe ruler will get a discount if he helps program it
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HOLY SHIIIIITTTT I SUPPORT THIS ALL THE WAY!!!! :D :D :D
This looks so insanely awesome... Have yuo gotten any hardware working yet? Today, computers are getting easier and easier to build, so... I speculate it shouldn't be a tremendous job to do. More of the coordination and the mass production actually....
Though if this ever goes far I'll definitely make multiple apps for it :D
EDIT: need a killer presentation? I can help with that if you need ;)
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I hope it will be under $200 That's all I can afford.
*maybe ruler will get a discount if he helps program it
I also hope it won't cost 50% higher outside USA. :P In Canada, despite the exchange rate being the same as USA currency, we still pay like $50 more for calcs. X.x
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Just to show that I'm not slacking off, here's some pics of the first working prototype showing the calculator's desktop, going on the internet and playing Doom in color: http://uberspire.com/gallery/index.php?twg_album=1st+Prototype (http://uberspire.com/gallery/index.php?twg_album=1st+Prototype)
I wish I had a better camera (with video) because these pics don't do it justice and I really want to show you guys a video demonstrating the power of this calculator. All the software runs very smoothly. This calculator can run VLC, playing video at 320x240 @ 30 FPS with no lag and has great audio output. Screen contrast is also great and is very viewable even in bright light.
I'll use this prototype to show to the judges for the contest. After playing around with the prototype, I'm now making upgrades to the hardware which will not only make it more powerful, cheaper but also at the same time more energy efficient: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHdRQ0tFUllTX2ZlbUZVN3VnUXk5d1E&hl=en&authkey=CLmF0NgB (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHdRQ0tFUllTX2ZlbUZVN3VnUXk5d1E&hl=en&authkey=CLmF0NgB). The parts I was using were old, so they tended to be power hungry and were not really efficient. Upgrades are now a 533MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, 1GB of flash and the inclusion of a USB standard port which will allow you connect USB flash drives, hard drives, keyboards and mouses to your calculator. I'm pretty confident that this will be the final specs.
As for how much it's gonna sell, it's too early too tell. The more people are interested and want to buy it, the cheaper it'll get. Building them one by one currently will cost between $300-$400 each. If built in batches, they will get considerably cheaper. I plan to get a batch developer boards manufactured by June so people can actually start programming for this thing. We'll see how much they cost. Whatever the price will be, I'll try to make sure it will be priced reasonably.
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This is awesome :D For the contest you are also planning to have the outside case too, right?
Also I love the specs. Will the calculator be useable as a mass storage device like the Prizm?
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This is amazing. If you can manage to get the cost below $200 I'll definitely buy it(I might buy it anyways, It looks awesome). My offer for help with any python programming still stands.
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WOWOWOWOW!!! O_O
This.... is just AWESOME! :D
Will the final product be fully touchscreen? If so, you should make it iPod Touch like, sans restrictions and only for educational purposes.
(Teachers hate everything, typically.)
I suggest getting familiar with Clutter (http://www.clutter-project.org/). It's a very decent UI framework (note I say UI, not GUI/toolkits).
Key to having success in this field is a good GUI, and Clutter can do that for you. :)
A couple other things:
- Same or even better battery life compared to a TI-83/84 is a must!
- Pricing should be under $160 due to competition prices.
- Do not merely toss software onto the device (I'm sure you won't, but just as a reminder). You will need to find a way to wrap around the libraries with some seriously productive (and pretty) GUI.
- Desktop clicking != touchscreen tapping. Be careful! :)
- It should be AA/AAA battery powered to keep with current standards (and habits, per say)
This is a very decent idea and hardware! :D If this becomes successful, we will back it up (and maybe make it OTARM?)!
And speaking of that... you must be an expert at this stuff, as you've developed hardware all by yourself! :D
Could you please assist us in the summer for OTZ80 and OTARM? (Obviously, 2 calculators - one powered by Z80s, another by ARMs!)
Finally - is this project for educational purposes (a project a school?) or just for fun?
Keep up the great work! :D
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WOAH THIS LOOKS AWESOME!!!!!!!!
Is the internet connection wired to a PC or Wi-Fi/Etc.?
EDIT: I'm waiting for a video ;D
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Hopefully wifi. I'd be interested in buying it if it wasn't too expensive. What's the cheapest you think you can get it?
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I would totally get this, if the price is right. I think my teacher would freak though (not take-it-away freak, but holy crap that's awesome freak)
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My math teacher would do that^ He's actually a pretty good teacher helps me with my math when I don't confuse him too much
My IDS teacher would probably confiscate it. I still say if the price goes under $200 I'm definitely getting it.
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Wow, this is gonna be long.
This is awesome :D For the contest you are also planning to have the outside case too, right?
Well, I'll just probably place it in temporary plastic case. I'm broke as of now and cannot have a case manufactured.
Also I love the specs. Will the calculator be useable as a mass storage device like the Prizm?
Yes, I think that will be the best and easiest way for the user to transfer his/her files. Making the user install a driver and then some software would just be a hassle. That would also save me the trouble of having to develop the link software and driver.
This is amazing. If you can manage to get the cost below $200 I'll definitely buy it(I might buy it anyways, It looks awesome). My offer for help with any python programming still stands.
What's the cheapest you think you can get it?
Looking at the quote from my manufacturer, if I can have at least 50 made, they'll very likely be under $200. My best estimate for if everything is going incredibly great, is maybe as low as ~$140. Those are rough estimates and that's assuming that I've got the money to stock up the parts for production (which I don't have as of now). But to reiterate it'll highly be under $200. I guarantee that I'll try my hardest to make this calculator not only technologically competitive, but also price wise. I don't believe it will be fair for me to place ridiculously price markups like TI. I was kind of hoping that when I finalize the hardware and can get some of these made, you guys who have the calculator could then help patch up the Linux distro (operating system, software, etc.) The total price of the calculator will cover just the cost to make it and the funding I placed in to develop the hardware.
Will the final product be fully touchscreen? If so, you should make it iPod Touch like, sans restrictions and only for educational purposes.
(Teachers hate everything, typically.)
I was thinking of making two different versions of Project Paradise, one that's compatible with College Board testing standards, then one hardcore version for the ultra nerds (WiFi, touchscreen).
I suggest getting familiar with Clutter (http://www.clutter-project.org/). It's a very decent UI framework (note I say UI, not GUI/toolkits).
Key to having success in this field is a good GUI, and Clutter can do that for you. :)
I'll take note of that. When I finish the hardware, we can decide to put whatever software we want onto it.
- Same or even better battery life compared to a TI-83/84 is a must!
Eh... that's gonna be really hard (maybe impossible) to accomplish. :-[ My prototype currently runs on 4AAA rechargeable batteries rated at 850mAh and it's getting about 20 hours before needing recharge. However, my final design will utilize a newer processor manufactured on a smaller die, thus it's more energy efficient. I had a couple of extra stuff on my prototype, so factoring in new faster hardware and removing the extra stuff, you might at best get 40 hours. Hopefully that's good enough. The hardware in Project Paradise is just way too powerful compared to a TI-84 to have the same amount of battery life.
- Pricing should be under $160 due to competition prices.
Well, my best estimate I gave above should be some good news.
- Do not merely toss software onto the device (I'm sure you won't, but just as a reminder). You will need to find a way to wrap around the libraries with some seriously productive (and pretty) GUI.
- Desktop clicking != touchscreen tapping. Be careful! :)
I just plan to make sure I can get the hardware working. I was hoping that when enough people have the calculator, we can develop all the software and beef it up together.
- It should be AA/AAA battery powered to keep with current standards (and habits, per say)
It can run on AAA batteries. However, I was thinking of placing a Lithium Ion battery pack (with a high energy capacity rating) inside the calculator. That way, it'll have a longer battery life than typical batteries (thus lessening the battery life problem above) and can allow the calculator to be recharged over USB.
This is a very decent idea and hardware! :D If this becomes successful, we will back it up (and maybe make it OTARM?)!
And speaking of that... you must be an expert at this stuff, as you've developed hardware all by yourself! :D
Could you please assist us in the summer for OTZ80 and OTARM? (Obviously, 2 calculators - one powered by Z80s, another by ARMs!)
If my project takes off, I can use the resources to fund your projects. If I have the time, I can help you build prototypes, and manage the testing and production if you want.
Finally - is this project for educational purposes (a project a school?) or just for fun?
Both: for the community (fun) and an engineering project. I've been in the calc community for years and haven't really seen much progress on how calcs evolved. I thought it would be cool to build an ubercalculator and maybe other people would want one too. I'm also college student majoring in computer engineering, so even if the market doesn't have a place for this calculator, it make an awesome senior project (a requirement here at my university to get your degree). It works both ways, so I don't really have anything to lose working on this project.
Is the internet connection wired to a PC or Wi-Fi/Etc.?
EDIT: I'm waiting for a video ;D
Hopefully wifi.
It's WiFi. Again, the WiFi is probably reserved for the more high end.
Another idea I had, if I can make some prototypes of the final design and make sure they work, would anyone feel safe pre-ordering with a 2-3 week waiting time (for manufacturing)? I was thinking that if at least 50 people preorder, it'll be considerably cheaper than having each one built one by one. Would you guys just want the board (with LCD and keypad of course) or would also like an enclosure with it? I'm confident I can at least get some prototypes of the final hardware working by June.
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I wish I could pre-order I just don't have the money right now. I might be able to in a few months(soonest April). Also when do you plan on working on software? what do you plan to code it in? and finally what do you really want this to be able to do software wise. I would love to help program this thing.(not only for any possible discount0 This would be an amazing thing to be able to say i helped with and it would be quite a fun problem to work on. Some of these things I have never tried to do before and would be an interesting experiment to try.
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How open will this be? Will you document EVERYTHING? Also, how does the flash chip and such work? Do you have to erase entire sectors of stuff to get it to flip a 1 bit to a 0 bit?
Also, I'm most interested in the USB. Will this be a OTG port to support host mode? Or, can you do a standard A-female plug in there?
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Very promising. Thanks for clarifying things up :)
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I will buy one of these for up to $250. This could be the device I've been searching for all my life. Looks epic so far. We're all behind you. Keep being awesome.
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Wow I would really love to program this. For about how much will we have to pay to pre-order one.
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Awesome! This kinda reminds me of the pandora.
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Will the final product be fully touchscreen? If so, you should make it iPod Touch like, sans restrictions and only for educational purposes.
(Teachers hate everything, typically.)
I was thinking of making two different versions of Project Paradise, one that's compatible with College Board testing standards, then one hardcore version for the ultra nerds (WiFi, touchscreen).
Ahh, so educational edition and hacker edition. Nice! :D But make sure to hide the hacker version somewhere in a "Dev/Hacker" section - you don't want teachers or testers to think that it's evil. :P
EDIT: AND clearly mark the dev device as one.
I suggest getting familiar with Clutter (http://www.clutter-project.org/). It's a very decent UI framework (note I say UI, not GUI/toolkits).
Key to having success in this field is a good GUI, and Clutter can do that for you. :)
I'll take note of that. When I finish the hardware, we can decide to put whatever software we want onto it.
Good plan. :) Also, I'm pretty sure you'll make it pretty and not use the standard GTK theme.... right? ;)
- Same or even better battery life compared to a TI-83/84 is a must!
Eh... that's gonna be really hard (maybe impossible) to accomplish. :-[ My prototype currently runs on 4AAA rechargeable batteries rated at 850mAh and it's getting about 20 hours before needing recharge. However, my final design will utilize a newer processor manufactured on a smaller die, thus it's more energy efficient. I had a couple of extra stuff on my prototype, so factoring in new faster hardware and removing the extra stuff, you might at best get 40 hours. Hopefully that's good enough. The hardware in Project Paradise is just way too powerful compared to a TI-84 to have the same amount of battery life.
Would it be possible for it to downclock itself when not in use, and maybe sleep/hibernate (transparently, of course) after a certain amount of time? (Screen dimming too would really help, or using a screen that can work off natural light?)
- Pricing should be under $160 due to competition prices.
Well, my best estimate I gave above should be some good news.
Hehe, indeed. :)
- Do not merely toss software onto the device (I'm sure you won't, but just as a reminder). You will need to find a way to wrap around the libraries with some seriously productive (and pretty) GUI.
- Desktop clicking != touchscreen tapping. Be careful! :)
I just plan to make sure I can get the hardware working. I was hoping that when enough people have the calculator, we can develop all the software and beef it up together.
Ahh, so your plan is to basically make prototypes, get that finalized, and then with the power of FOSS create decent calculator software. Sounds like a plan to me! :)
- It should be AA/AAA battery powered to keep with current standards (and habits, per say)
It can run on AAA batteries. However, I was thinking of placing a Lithium Ion battery pack (with a high energy capacity rating) inside the calculator. That way, it'll have a longer battery life than typical batteries (thus lessening the battery life problem above) and can allow the calculator to be recharged over USB.
Maybe a AAA/internal batter pack fusion? :P It depends. My suggestions above may or may not decide this.
One negative about the battery pack is that if it runs out, and you forget to charge it, there's no way to get it on. (Hence my "fusion" idea)
This is a very decent idea and hardware! :D If this becomes successful, we will back it up (and maybe make it OTARM?)!
And speaking of that... you must be an expert at this stuff, as you've developed hardware all by yourself! :D
Could you please assist us in the summer for OTZ80 and OTARM? (Obviously, 2 calculators - one powered by Z80s, another by ARMs!)
If my project takes off, I can use the resources to fund your projects. If I have the time, I can help you build prototypes, and manage the testing and production if you want.
We would be grateful for your support! :D Pending community decisions, we could just back your project in replacement of OTARM. (It all depends - my only reason for doing that is because I don't think 2 indie competitors against each other and the big guys would work too well! :P) If OTARM does go on, we'll probably use the software developed, remove all the touch-screeny stuff, and modify it to be for buttons only.
Just curious though - you're obviously in college, but what level? (Freshman-Senior, maybe even beyond? Or professor? :P) And I'm guessing you're in the U.S. as well?
Just noticed the comments below and realized you answered that question... :P
Finally - is this project for educational purposes (a project a school?) or just for fun?
Both: for the community (fun) and an engineering project. I've been in the calc community for years and haven't really seen much progress on how calcs evolved. I thought it would be cool to build an ubercalculator and maybe other people would want one too. I'm also college student majoring in computer engineering, so even if the market doesn't have a place for this calculator, it make an awesome senior project (a requirement here at my university to get your degree). It works both ways, so I don't really have anything to lose working on this project.
Ahh, that means it really should get a decent GUI! ;) The key to a device's success isn't just power - it's ease of use too! :)
Another idea I had, if I can make some prototypes of the final design and make sure they work, would anyone feel safe pre-ordering with a 2-3 week waiting time (for manufacturing)? I was thinking that if at least 50 people preorder, it'll be considerably cheaper than having each one built one by one. Would you guys just want the board (with LCD and keypad of course) or would also like an enclosure with it? I'm confident I can at least get some prototypes of the final hardware working by June.
Hmm, I'm really getting confused - keypad AND touchscreen? or is this touchscreen only?
Pre-ordering is actually a key way to getting boards and prototypes out, so this is a must.
An enclosure is a must - it doesn't have to be the final product, but it should stay in a box. Electronic care outside of one tends to be destructive at times. ;)
Also, we might set up a "trust" fund (if you call it that way). Basically, any serious dedicated testers can get one for free if they commit to reporting bugs, keeping the prototype alive and well, and help out with the development.
Finally, to add more suggestions....
- SECURE the device. Not brutally lock it like Apple though.
What I mean is to have a special "testing mode" (much like TI's), but make sure it's uncrackable.
This could include a non-writable chip with the proper data to set one up.
You might also wish to have a "testing mode indicator", but DON'T copy TI-Nspire's one. Make it interesting too - nothing boring, maybe even accessible by developers! ;)
Finally, if the device supports OS replacement/upgrade, make sure there's something in the OS that indicates it's authenticity. Remember, acceptance into schools and testing environments is a must for this kind of stuff.
- "School mode"
Just a random idea - maybe a "school mode" to disable access to games and internet? Not sure how that would work out though, and when to unlock.
- Audio?
Probably not a good idea, but I'd like to see your opinion on it. This is also leaning towards a I/O port suggestion, but that may seem like a step backwards.
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Will the final product be fully touchscreen? If so, you should make it iPod Touch like, sans restrictions and only for educational purposes.
(Teachers hate everything, typically.)
I was thinking of making two different versions of Project Paradise, one that's compatible with College Board testing standards, then one hardcore version for the ultra nerds (WiFi, touchscreen).
Ahh, so educational edition and hacker edition. Nice! :D But make sure to hide the hacker version somewhere in a "Dev/Hacker" section - you don't want teachers or testers to think that it's evil. :P
EDIT: AND clearly mark the dev device as one.
Don't call it a hacker one. That could be an informal name but it would definitely freak out teachers. I agree with the clear marking of the two versions. It would be like the Ti-Nspire CAS and non-CAS. You would call the hacker version professional or something like that. I just think this would make people/teachers more accepting of it that way.
I suggest getting familiar with Clutter (http://www.clutter-project.org/). It's a very decent UI framework (note I say UI, not GUI/toolkits).
Key to having success in this field is a good GUI, and Clutter can do that for you. :)
I'll take note of that. When I finish the hardware, we can decide to put whatever software we want onto it.
Good plan. :) Also, I'm pretty sure you'll make it pretty and not use the standard GTK theme.... right? ;)
A custom GUI for this is a must it would not be nearly as good if it was default.(this would definately be something I'd like to help with). Your UI would definitely need to be easy use and custom. more of a good brand recognition thing You know
- Same or even better battery life compared to a TI-83/84 is a must!
Eh... that's gonna be really hard (maybe impossible) to accomplish. :-[ My prototype currently runs on 4AAA rechargeable batteries rated at 850mAh and it's getting about 20 hours before needing recharge. However, my final design will utilize a newer processor manufactured on a smaller die, thus it's more energy efficient. I had a couple of extra stuff on my prototype, so factoring in new faster hardware and removing the extra stuff, you might at best get 40 hours. Hopefully that's good enough. The hardware in Project Paradise is just way too powerful compared to a TI-84 to have the same amount of battery life.
Would it be possible for it to downclock itself when not in use, and maybe sleep/hibernate (transparently, of course) after a certain amount of time? (Screen dimming too would really help, or using a screen that can work off natural light?)
If you look at phones, PDAs, and portable music players they all have a screen dim function a hibernate function and usually a few other optional functions that work to conserve energy. These are musts if you don't have a good battery life it reduces the market value by a lot.
- Pricing should be under $160 due to competition prices.
Well, my best estimate I gave above should be some good news.
Hehe, indeed. :)
I do like this idea :D
- Do not merely toss software onto the device (I'm sure you won't, but just as a reminder). You will need to find a way to wrap around the libraries with some seriously productive (and pretty) GUI.
- Desktop clicking != touchscreen tapping. Be careful! :)
I just plan to make sure I can get the hardware working. I was hoping that when enough people have the calculator, we can develop all the software and beef it up together.
Ahh, so your plan is to basically make prototypes, get that finalized, and then with the power of FOSS create decent calculator software. Sounds like a plan to me! :)
You should definitely set it up so that The Community can improve and make apps for it. Much like what has happened with the TI-84 and 83. this is definately a good plan :)
- It should be AA/AAA battery powered to keep with current standards (and habits, per say)
It can run on AAA batteries. However, I was thinking of placing a Lithium Ion battery pack (with a high energy capacity rating) inside the calculator. That way, it'll have a longer battery life than typical batteries (thus lessening the battery life problem above) and can allow the calculator to be recharged over USB.
Maybe a AAA/internal batter pack fusion? :P It depends. My suggestions above may or may not decide this.
One negative about the battery pack is that if it runs out, and you forget to charge it, there's no way to get it on. (Hence my "fusion" idea)
Do much like what they have with the Ti-Nspire have it regularly powered by AAA batteries and have an optional(possible extra cost) battery pack. this should let everybody win.
Just one suggestion don't make the battery pack be overpriced like TI does with theirs
This is a very decent idea and hardware! :D If this becomes successful, we will back it up (and maybe make it OTARM?)!
And speaking of that... you must be an expert at this stuff, as you've developed hardware all by yourself! :D
Could you please assist us in the summer for OTZ80 and OTARM? (Obviously, 2 calculators - one powered by Z80s, another by ARMs!)
If my project takes off, I can use the resources to fund your projects. If I have the time, I can help you build prototypes, and manage the testing and production if you want.
We would be grateful for your support! :D Pending community decisions, we could just back your project in replacement of OTARM. (It all depends - my only reason for doing that is because I don't think 2 indie competitors against each other and the big guys would work too well! :P) If OTARM does go on, we'll probably use the software developed, remove all the touch-screeny stuff, and modify it to be for buttons only.
Just curious though - you're obviously in college, but what level? (Freshman-Senior, maybe even beyond? Or professor? :P) And I'm guessing you're in the U.S. as well?
Just noticed the comments below and realized you answered that question... :P
I don't have much to say here. I think it would be good for you to help others ;)
Finally - is this project for educational purposes (a project a school?) or just for fun?
Both: for the community (fun) and an engineering project. I've been in the calc community for years and haven't really seen much progress on how calcs evolved. I thought it would be cool to build an ubercalculator and maybe other people would want one too. I'm also college student majoring in computer engineering, so even if the market doesn't have a place for this calculator, it make an awesome senior project (a requirement here at my university to get your degree). It works both ways, so I don't really have anything to lose working on this project.
Ahh, that means it really should get a decent GUI! ;) The key to a device's success isn't just power - it's ease of use too! :)
this is definitely a good thing. see my comments above for more of my opinions
Another idea I had, if I can make some prototypes of the final design and make sure they work, would anyone feel safe pre-ordering with a 2-3 week waiting time (for manufacturing)? I was thinking that if at least 50 people preorder, it'll be considerably cheaper than having each one built one by one. Would you guys just want the board (with LCD and keypad of course) or would also like an enclosure with it? I'm confident I can at least get some prototypes of the final hardware working by June.
Hmm, I'm really getting confused - keypad AND touchscreen? or is this touchscreen only?
Pre-ordering is actually a key way to getting boards and prototypes out, so this is a must.
An enclosure is a must - it doesn't have to be the final product, but it should stay in a box. Electronic care outside of one tends to be destructive at times. ;)
Definite enclosure it would be fragile otherwise. Me and many other people would end up killing too quickly. ;D Is the touchscreen for the pro version and the keypad for the regular? Because to me that is what makes sense. It would comply with standards that way wouldn't it. the keypad might be useful on the touchscreen version. I don't really like touchscreen keyboards they are never as good.
Also, we might set up a "trust" fund (if you call it that way). Basically, any serious dedicated testers can get one for free if they commit to reporting bugs, keeping the prototype alive and well, and help out with the development.
I would absolutely love this i do not have the money to pay for one now but i would love to help program and test. If you needed/wanted me to I could slowly pay for it, but please let me help with this.(I would even promise to keep it in one piece ;D )
Finally, to add more suggestions....
- SECURE the device. Not brutally lock it like Apple though.
What I mean is to have a special "testing mode" (much like TI's), but make sure it's uncrackable.
This could include a non-writable chip with the proper data to set one up.
You might also wish to have a "testing mode indicator", but DON'T copy TI-Nspire's one. Make it interesting too - nothing boring, maybe even accessible by developers! ;)
Finally, if the device supports OS replacement/upgrade, make sure there's something in the OS that indicates it's authenticity. Remember, acceptance into schools and testing environments is a must for this kind of stuff.
definitely some kind of press to test mode that is safe and cannot be hacked. It would be a big problem for it being accepted on standardized tests. I don't like those versions but they are a must on any version that should be accepted on standardized tests
- "School mode"
Just a random idea - maybe a "school mode" to disable access to games and internet? Not sure how that would work out though, and when to unlock.
this is the only thing I have a problem with on the standard version you might want to make it possible to disable internet but is an accepted fact of calculators that they have games. I don't believe they should be disabled except in some kind of press to test mode
- Audio?
Probably not a good idea, but I'd like to see your opinion on it. This is also leaning towards a I/O port suggestion, but that may seem like a step backwards.
Audio should only be on the pro version I don't think it would be accepted on any standardized test otherwise.
Well there is my two cents on how it should be made and developed. Feel free to disregard any comments I have and rule my a raving maniac. Lots of people do that anyways.
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A teacher mode is a must, IMHO, otherwise no one would be able to use this at school.
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Here's the features for the different versions of the Project Paradise: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHBQN25xSThlbklTMXhRcUphaEdyRkE&hl=en&authkey=CM2a3fEK (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHBQN25xSThlbklTMXhRcUphaEdyRkE&hl=en&authkey=CM2a3fEK)
The development version is most likely what the first preorders are gonna be and is the version which the developers in the community will use to develop the software for this calculator. The development version is basically the same as the Professional version, except it lacks WiFi and the integrated battery pack. This will keep the costs under $200 which is what you guys seem to want. The WiFi module and integrated battery is just too expensive I believe for most of us now anyway. I need to think about it more and look around if I could make it any cheaper. If you decide to preorder a development version and you really want WiFi though, you may be able to add in WiFi later on using the expansion port built into the calculator.
I'm thinking of making the Professional version have a portrait display (240x320), with a smaller and simplified keypad to compensate for the cost of the WiFi module. However, programs and software that are dependent on how the screen is rotated would be affected. I suppose you could rotate the Professional version by 90 degrees if you need the landscape orientation.
@ruler501, I'm not gonna be doing preorders anytime soon (maybe months). I was just wandering if anyone would be ok pre-ordering this calculator, when it's proven that the final design works. I need to have some prototypes of the final design made and then checked to see if it's working great. Then I need to design a enclosure (casing) that will fit the board, LCD and keypad. All of this will require some funding to have these made, which I'm trying to find right now. When I get the final prototype working of the development version, it'll be shown to you guys and then you can decide if you want to preorder it then.
How open will this be? Will you document EVERYTHING? Also, how does the flash chip and such work? Do you have to erase entire sectors of stuff to get it to flip a 1 bit to a 0 bit?
All the hardware is taken care of by the Linux kernel. You can look at the kernel sources and the drivers I've written when I get around to uploading them into a repository. Pretty much, programming this thing feels just like how you would program your computer. You can write your programs in Java, Python, C/C++, whatever. You don't need to depend on any SDK or hack it to get some code running. It's that open. If you have questions, I'm here and will be glad to answer them. That being said, you don't really need the schematics as they are not necessary to do programming for this calculator. You guys have been able to program your calculators, computers and laptops without any schematics as an example. Also, I don't want clones or cheap ripoffs being made. It would make all the effort, time and all the money I fed into the project a waste.
@alberthrocks: This calculator will downclock itself since CPU frequency scaling is supported in the Linux kernel. The new processor which I plan to use will even go a couple of steps forward and disable and power down certain blocks of the CPU when the hardware is not in use further using less power. Plus, it's also manufactured on a smaller die. You will also have the option to turn off the backlight and dim the brightness of the LCD.
As for a testing mode, I have to think more about that. The problem with this calculator is that it's just too open and flexible, software wise. I'm pretty sure whatever "lock" I can place on this calculator, someone will find a way to circumnavigate it. What I could do probably is place in a hardware switch that shuts off power to SD slot and expansion port, disables the USB and disable access to some regions of Flash memory with an LED indicator that the switch has been flipped.
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Seems cool, but for the standard version would the audio jack always remain disabled with no way to enable it? If so, then it might be best to just not put any audio jack at all in that version. :P
As for the different screen on the pro version I think it should remain compatible, although I guess the screen could be rotated, assuming it's not too hard to play games and use software with the calc sideways. X.x
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I'm assuming that you will go over how to create a cross-compiler for C? Java might be a little much, unless the ARM processor supports it natively.
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I hope that the "ultimate" version will have compatibility with programs for the less powerful calc versions that use the keypad/screen in unique ways.
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But what's the point of having Java if it's only on one real platform?
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Well java would be cool since some people like it. Ashbad do you mean it's only available on one of the 3 Project Paradise calcs? I am confused ???
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I'm assuming that you will go over how to create a cross-compiler for C? Java might be a little much, unless the ARM processor supports it natively.
Yes, I plan to have a wiki by the time preorders are ready. As for Java, I've been using OpenJDK and all the Java programs I ran seem to run fine on the first prototype. The final design has a faster processor and more RAM, so everything should be ok. Plus the processor has Jazelle. I'm not sure though if OpenJDK supports Jazelle.
@DJ_Omnimaga, I think Ashbad was referring to graphmastur's post. All three versions will be software compatible with each other.
Some good news, I might be able to get funding to build a prototype of the final hardware design soon. This should be exciting as it will be a good indicator of when preorders can start. I will keep you guys updated.
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If I could raise enough funds, (or convince my parents that it would be a good b-day & Christmas gift), I would totally pre-order one.
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The development version is most likely what the first preorders are gonna be and is the version which the developers in the community will use to develop the software for this calculator. The development version is basically the same as the Professional version, except it lacks WiFi and the integrated battery pack. This will keep the costs under $200 which is what you guys seem to want. The WiFi module and integrated battery is just too expensive I believe for most of us now anyway. I need to think about it more and look around if I could make it any cheaper. If you decide to preorder a development version and you really want WiFi though, you may be able to add in WiFi later on using the expansion port built into the calculator.
Let's keep the Wifi for professional/dev version. One of the things is that the "Pro" version will (and must be) designed differently. Here, you're aiming for a VERY (and I mean VERY) sweet spot - scientific research. Besides it being a calculator, it can also become a sensor for data collection! (Scientists have used the iPod Touch a LOT for data collection - via not so pretty ways, mind you. The headphone jack comes to mind...)
The "expansion port" must be standardized, or have open specs on usage. Otherwise, it won't look too appealing.
Also, the "pro" version should be pretty thin - the physical keypad can be hidden under the touchscreen and pulled out as needed.
I'm thinking of making the Professional version have a portrait display (240x320), with a smaller and simplified keypad to compensate for the cost of the WiFi module. However, programs and software that are dependent on how the screen is rotated would be affected. I suppose you could rotate the Professional version by 90 degrees if you need the landscape orientation.
For what purpose? I'd think it could be multidirectional if needed. Again, it's all about software and a bit of GFX acceleration to perform text rotation. Regular can just be locked to landscape, but pro should have an option. Remember, we're not making an iPod Touch here! ;)
How open will this be? Will you document EVERYTHING? Also, how does the flash chip and such work? Do you have to erase entire sectors of stuff to get it to flip a 1 bit to a 0 bit?
All the hardware is taken care of by the Linux kernel. You can look at the kernel sources and the drivers I've written when I get around to uploading them into a repository. Pretty much, programming this thing feels just like how you would program your computer. You can write your programs in Java, Python, C/C++, whatever. You don't need to depend on any SDK or hack it to get some code running. It's that open. If you have questions, I'm here and will be glad to answer them. That being said, you don't really need the schematics as they are not necessary to do programming for this calculator. You guys have been able to program your calculators, computers and laptops without any schematics as an example. Also, I don't want clones or cheap ripoffs being made. It would make all the effort, time and all the money I fed into the project a waste.
I can respect your decision here. Software is pretty easy to make, and will be FOSS, but HW is a bit on the edge. I do ask though that you provide a standardized expansion port. If not standard, provide open specs and examples. Any interfacing and such with the USB must also be open. (This includes charging, etc.)
@alberthrocks: This calculator will downclock itself since CPU frequency scaling is supported in the Linux kernel. The new processor which I plan to use will even go a couple of steps forward and disable and power down certain blocks of the CPU when the hardware is not in use further using less power. Plus, it's also manufactured on a smaller die. You will also have the option to turn off the backlight and dim the brightness of the LCD.
Ahh, but it *won't* downclock itself automatically. ;) It's SUPPORTED, but not really "turned on". You will need to download cpufreqd or cpufrequtils, and play around with them to get true support working. THEN you'll see that battery life improvement. ;)
As for the power down of the screen, backlight, etc... a couple of things:
- Aim for a non-reflective screen. They're annoying, and if you execute it properly, you can get the backlight off (or almost off) and still be able to see the screen in a classroom.
- A daemon will need to be written to control this.
- For powering off...
--> If left on standby, screen should fade down in 30 sec - 1min, then the screen should turn off in 30 sec - 1 min, then go to sleep in 1-2 minutes, then hibernate in 5-10 minutes.
--> If turned off via button(s), screen should turn off immediately, and the system can go to sleep in 30 sec - 1 min, then hibernate in 3-5 minutes.
--> These settings are all user controllable. The numbers specified above are pretty conservative - the software should practice aggressive power management. It must be better than the Nspire AND the iPod Touch at battery life. Reason? Obviously, for the calc market, better life is a good thing, and then if an iPod Touch that plays music, surfs the web, etc. continuously beats this.... then it's obviously not a good thing either. :P (iPod Touch can do 40 hours of continuous music, not sure about Nspire battery life.) Of course, the iPod Touch has a decent battery inside, so we'll be a bit nicer. ;)
As for a testing mode, I have to think more about that. The problem with this calculator is that it's just too open and flexible, software wise. I'm pretty sure whatever "lock" I can place on this calculator, someone will find a way to circumnavigate it. What I could do probably is place in a hardware switch that shuts off power to SD slot and expansion port, disables the USB and disable access to some regions of Flash memory with an LED indicator that the switch has been flipped.
Ahh, that's like saying all FOSS is insecure because they're open source/HW, eh? ;)
Case in point: OpenSSL and OpenSSH. Both are purely FOSS, and a quick search yields the source code in seconds. But as much as you read it, it's pretty impossible to hack it. And for exploits that have been found - they are found by the best security researchers in the field, not some amateur hackers like us. ;)
You get my point here, right? Here are some ideas: (can be combined or separate)
1) Separate the testing mode into a immutable flash chip, and with a simple HW flag (and a file on the data side of the writable chip), lock it as such. This needs LOTS of testing for the testing OS, since it can't be changed afterwards.
2) Have a encrypted signature check just to see if an official OS is installed or not. If not, turn on a flag that indicates a third party OS is used and warn the user that installing the OS will make the calculator unusable on the test.
3) The bootloader has a hook that when the keys are pressed, takes over the display and shows the dialog asking the user about going into testing mode. This replaces the OS's key detection, and can be used with #2.
4) Lock the test lighting with an AVR/some little chip with encryption and such, and the testing OS can only access it. (This seems to be a bad idea...)
Seems cool, but for the standard version would the audio jack always remain disabled with no way to enable it? If so, then it might be best to just not put any audio jack at all in that version. :P
As for the different screen on the pro version I think it should remain compatible, although I guess the screen could be rotated, assuming it's not too hard to play games and use software with the calc sideways. X.x
Seconded - I/O ports are an oldie these days. See below for my opinion on screens...
I hope that the "ultimate" version will have compatibility with programs for the less powerful calc versions that use the keypad/screen in unique ways.
And a rotatable screen would be nice. Incompatibility is not very well liked in the dev community, and you want a lot of people to adopt it! :)
(The scientific people in general are watchful for compatibility, and doesn't take anything but it.)
I'm assuming that you will go over how to create a cross-compiler for C? Java might be a little much, unless the ARM processor supports it natively.
It shouldn't be too hard, but this is a must have as a wiki document or something for this project. Maybe even include it in the manual!
But what's the point of having Java if it's only on one real platform?
Well java would be cool since some people like it. Ashbad do you mean it's only available on one of the 3 Project Paradise calcs? I am confused ???
I think Java is just as a portal to the innerds of UberCalc, including the interface, I/O, and possibly the math part too.
However, Java is NOT to be used as the core. It's not very pretty if it's just used for everything, since it's pretty slow, especially without ARM accelerated support. Android is an example - you need at least 1 GHz to have a jitter free experience.
I'm assuming that you will go over how to create a cross-compiler for C? Java might be a little much, unless the ARM processor supports it natively.
Yes, I plan to have a wiki by the time preorders are ready. As for Java, I've been using OpenJDK and all the Java programs I ran seem to run fine on the first prototype. The final design has a faster processor and more RAM, so everything should be ok. Plus the processor has Jazelle. I'm not sure though if OpenJDK supports Jazelle.
@DJ_Omnimaga, I think Ashbad was referring to graphmastur's post. All three versions will be software compatible with each other.
Some good news, I might be able to get funding to build a prototype of the final hardware design soon. This should be exciting as it will be a good indicator of when preorders can start. I will keep you guys updated.
Java is OK as long as you don't use it as a core or GUI. I would stick with Python or C/C++.... heck, I wouldn't even recommend Python! You have to have a fast and stable core, and then branch out with APIs for languages like Java, Python, Perl, etc. (and of course, BASIC! :)) We emphasize on the speed factor here as it's part of the marketability of this product.
I'm going to assume you mean this Jazelle (and not one of the older specs):
http://www.arm.com/products/processors/technologies/jazelle.php?tab=Jazelle+Architecture
Jazelle might be supported, sourcing the following links of hope:
http://www.bugcommunity.com/wiki/index.php/Try_openjdk_with_jazelle
http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/distro-pkg-dev/2008-July/002748.html
Jazelle is proprietary, and can be costly (so I've heard) for licensing with Java, so beware.
And congrats on your funding sourcing success! :) I hope to hear more about this project in the upcoming weeks/months!
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The specs of the expansion port will be outlined of course.
For why the Professional version will have a portrait display, I was planning something kind of like the ClassPad or the HPXpander (where they both have touchscreen, but a simplified keypad). It would be kind of pointless and expensive to have touchscreen and a full keypad on the same calculator. All versions of Project Paradise actually have a portrait LCD (240 width by 320 height) to reduce costs. The screen is just easily rotated by configuring the X11 settings in the development & standard versions.
For the "testing mode", I wasn't saying that open source is insecure. I don't think your OpenSSH example applies in this particular situation. We're not trying to break into something, we're trying to add in an "artificial feature." Since all the software is gonna be open sourced, anything that can be added into the software, thus can also be removed. Add in testing mode, someone will just remove the code and recompile the software. Someone could also just modify the software to "fake" testing mode since they have access to the code. The bootloader can also be easily reprogrammed. Anything done software wise will not guarantee authentic "testing mode." The only way I see it and the easiest, is to add in extra hardware logic while will cripple some of the hardware when the switch is flipped. It's pretty much impossible for anyone to modify the hardware. I still have to think more about this, the standard version is not coming out for a while anyway.
As for power consumption, it's highly unlikely to have Project Paradise match the TI-nSpire without resorting to spending more money. I don't think it's fair to compare them against each other, Project Paradise has way more powerful hardware, which in respect will then consume more power. My projected calculations for power consumption of the final design of Project Paradise (on full load) are at 535mW. That would mean, with my 4AAA 850mAH 1.3V batteries, I should get at least 30 hours. Now, I believe (don't quote me) that TI and Casio list their TI-nSpire to last about 100 hours (because of battery pack) and the Casio Prizm to last around 140 hours (because of slower processor), both on full load. If we used this battery pack (http://www.all-battery.com/li-ion1865037v6600mahrechargeablebatterymodulewithpcbfreeshipping.aspx) for Project Paradise, we would then get about 45 hours with full load (which would then match the iPhone, right?) If you guys want to spend $76 bucks on batteries (http://www.all-battery.com/li-ion3-7v15600mahrechargeablebattery31059-1.aspx), this would get you 115 hours putting it in league with the TI-nSpire and Casio Prizm. The $20 rechargeable battery pack, giving 45 hours seems acceptable to me though. If you want, it can be bundled in with the first preorders.
For the audio jack, I initially had it designed with the output jack can act as both an audio jack and a link port, thus dual function. I guess you don't really need a serial link port, since you easily connect each calculator together with a USB cable.
Regarding Java, I never planned on having Java to write all the main software. I just listed it (along with Python, LUA, etc.) to show how open (programming-wise) it is because it's possible to program and run Java apps on this thing, which you can't do on any other calculator.
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THIS IS FREAKING EPIC!
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I missed this entire topic somehow. :-[
Looks very awesome, so I will just congratulate you on that and say "Good luck!" :D
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Good luck with the funding uberspire!
Also I agree with the non-reflective screen suggestion. I prefer like my computer LCD or my Casio FX-9860G rather than CRTs or my Casio Prizm. With lights around we barely see anything.
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Ok, I've spent the last week redesigning. I've taken into your guys considerations and have majorly revamped the calculator. I've also gotten a mockup design of what the calculator might look like, plus now it's final specs:
(http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/8200/projectparadise.jpg)
So what do you guys think of the design? Are the keys laid out all right? IMO, I think it looks pretty sexy. The current dimensions are 120mm (width) by 88mm (side length) by 16mm (height), so it should easily fit in your pocket.
Modifications:
* Now using a processor with OpenGL and multimedia (MPEG and H.264) hardware acceleration. OpenGL hardware acceleration should help speed up 3D graphing (and games).
* New LCD - 480x272 pixel resolution with touchscreen. The new LCD is either a transmissive LCD or a Casio Blanview, just like the one in the Casio Prizm. I'm thinking of using Blanview because it's designed to use less backlight and thus saves power. Still waiting for a response from the distributor for the pricing. If the Casio Blanview displays are too expensive, they'll be swapped out for the transmissive LCD.
* The calculator now uses for sure an integrated lithium ion battery. It's the only way to get everything to fit in the case. The battery is rechargeable through a USB connection to a computer or to an AC adapter.
The design is gonna be shipped off to manufacturer sometime this week and I should get the board back some time early next month. It'll be an exciting moment when it arrives.
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I think the "e" and "θ" keys should be switched, but otherwise...
That. Is. Epic.
:w00t:
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Good thing today is Valentines day, becuase I have fallen in love with this calc. :love:
Also does this calc have a dedicated sound proc.
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I think the "e" and "θ" keys should be switched, but otherwise...
Heh yeah, I agree with you, the numbers should have been grouped together. If you swap them, you can almost type out Euler's identity with one row of keys (except for key 1).
Also does this calc have a dedicated sound proc.
There's no dedicated sound processor, but all sound is handled by the ARM9 processor. I'm pretty sure it won't have any trouble decoding MP3 and WMV files.
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I just noticed that there's 128 MB of RAM O.O
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Wow, awesome topic, and awesome progress you've made with this thing. About the current design; isn't a qwerty keyboard a no-go with on standardized testing as they consider it a computer?
*edit* Just noticed that the specs seem (off the top of my head) very reminiscent of a PSP. :)
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Ok, I've spent the last week redesigning. I've taken into your guys considerations and have majorly revamped the calculator. I've also gotten a mockup design of what the calculator might look like, plus now it's final specs:
img removed
So what do you guys think of the design? Are the keys laid out all right? IMO, I think it looks pretty sexy. The current dimensions are 120mm (width) by 88mm (side length) by 16mm (height), so it should easily fit in your pocket.
:w00t:
10 :w00t:
Smilies aside, literally one of the sweetest pieces of hardware I've ever seen.
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Im totally wanna buy the developers edition. No hands down. How much? Whatever it is is worth it. this is beyond awesome. it's uberawesome.
How long until a possible developer's release?
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Wow! This really is the most perfect calculator ever! :D
I wish you the best of luck with this awesome and promising project. :)
One question about it though: Assuming it is produced in the United States, will it be possible to ship it to Europe, more specifically Germany? I would pre-order the developers edition as soon as possible, if shipping it over here would be possible.
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This is epic, it looks nice too. I wish you good luck getting a prototype built. It would be nice to see one in action.
On a side note welcome on the forums Defmenge. :)
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I second the concern about the qwerty keyboard, so this calculator isn't meant for use on standardized tests? Other than that tho, it looks so epic!! Its so shiny :]
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Hmm yeah I think it might be best to re-order the letters, actually, to make them alphabetical, if you plan the calc to be allowed in tests. Otherwise, if it has a CAS and the like, then it won't be allowed so I guess it wouldn't be as much of a concern. Otherwise, I wonder if a qwerty calc could be allowed if the keyboard letters can be disabled completely?
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I just noticed that there's 128 MB of RAM O.O
Yeah, programmers and developers will need it. Comes in handy if you want to run a web browser or Java app. I planned on having 256MB, but it would require more space on the board.
*edit* Just noticed that the specs seem (off the top of my head) very reminiscent of a PSP. :)
The screen resolution is the same, otherwise in other areas Project Paradise has superior hardware (except for graphics). Perhaps someone will write a PSP emulator when I finish this. :)
Im totally wanna buy the developers edition. No hands down. How much? Whatever it is is worth it. this is beyond awesome. it's uberawesome.
How long until a possible developer's release?
Maybe around June is what I'm hoping when I can allow preorders. I want to get this released before the next school year (September).
One question about it though: Assuming it is produced in the United States, will it be possible to ship it to Europe, more specifically Germany? I would pre-order the developers edition as soon as possible, if shipping it over here would be possible.
Yeah, I don't see why not if you're paying for shipping.
I second the concern about the qwerty keyboard, so this calculator isn't meant for use on standardized tests? Other than that tho, it looks so epic!! Its so shiny :]
Hmm yeah I think it might be best to re-order the letters, actually, to make them alphabetical, if you plan the calc to be allowed in tests. Otherwise, if it has a CAS and the like, then it won't be allowed so I guess it wouldn't be as much of a concern. Otherwise, I wonder if a qwerty calc could be allowed if the keyboard letters can be disabled completely?
The touchscreen and the audio jack already disqualify this calculator for testing according to the College Board. The standard edition will be a stripped down version and with a traditional case (think TI-84 or fx-9860G style). The developers edition are aimed to be the first for preordering and are targeted for developers, hobbyists and hackers. The developers edition is to help iron out the software and make suggestions for the standard (testing compatible) and professional (hardcore) edition, which will come out later.
Also, I've updated the keypad layout and included a mockup of how GIAC CAS would look running on it:
(http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4259/projectparadise2.jpg)
For the keypad, do you guys like silicone rubber or hard plastic? IMO, rubber does feel nicer, but it's easier to type with hard plastic. I'm trying to get the prototype of the case made.
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Hard plastic. It reminds me of the TI-83+ series, which are the best calculators [yet] made. Soft rubber tends to be too sensitive, anyway.
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:w00t: Updates!
I agree with the hard plastic suggestion. Seems like it'd be cheaper, too.
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:woot: Updates!
I agree with the hard plastic suggestion. Seems like it'd be cheaper, too.
Ditto!
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Holy heck, how did I miss this? This is epic :D
I suggest hard plastic as well.
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I have to vote hard plastic as well.
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Hard Plastic++ ^^
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Looks great Uberspire!
And yeah, although I feel rubber keys are more comfortable to press, I prefer hard plastic because they're easier to press, especially when moving fingers from a key to another, you don't get stuck all the time, risking of breaking the keys.
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Hard plastic it is then. I've signed off the design of the board, so it's gonna take a couple of weeks until I get the board. I'm really hoping that it's works when it arrives, I've changed a lot in the design of the board. Whether or not the board works will be a good indicator of when pre-orders can start going.
In the mean time, I hope you guys like surveys. Here's one I've come up for you guys to fill out here (http://uberspire.com/survey/index.php?sid=91614&lang=en). It's only 18 questions and it shouldn't take up much of your time. The data from the survey will be used to plan out what's gonna happen with this project. Tell me if you guys run into any problems with the survey.
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Gave my input on the survey. :)
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I gave input as well. Do enjoy it.
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I'M filling the survey in now. Also I love Question 3 idea in features section about the recharging via USB port.
Note, as soon as somebody gets a prototype and can show it in a video this is easily going to the news section.
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submitted input. Mine is the well thought out and informative one. ;)
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Thanks guys for input. It's very much appreciated. I'll be taking a look into the data over the weekend when I have the time.
Note, as soon as somebody gets a prototype and can show it in a video this is easily going to the news section.
I just found out z80man lives 2-3 miles away from my hometown. Right now I'm in college, but I'll be going back home sometime in late March. I can bring the prototype (provided that it works) with me and z80man can vouch that there indeed does exists an ubercalculator.
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Oh that could be an idea, but I thought a video of it in action would be even cooler, since it might interest people even more. Does he have a camera?
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Wow, I just read this thread and saw the awesome pics. Gave input on the survey, I would definitely pre order if it was around $200
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HOW DID I MISS THIS TOPIC.
That is epic. I can't wait for this to be finished! Too bad I won't be buying one...
And if you still need help with Java/Python, I would love to help. I seem to be a bit late, though...
Maybe around June is what I'm hoping when I can allow preorders. I want to get this released before the next school year (September).
You work fast... O.O
Too bad TI might be releasing the Nspire CX. As you said, it might very well have been a ripoff of this :(
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Wow! This looks awesome! I'd totally buy one once they come out (If my math teacher would let me use it on tests ::))! Keep up the good work. ;D
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Oh that could be an idea, but I thought a video of it in action would be even cooler, since it might interest people even more. Does he have a camera?
Ah ok. :) When the board comes, I'll show a demonstration of the hardware. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone here in college who has a camera.
Wow, I just read this thread and saw the awesome pics. Gave input on the survey, I would definitely pre order if it was around $200
Looking over the survey data (and again thanks for all of you guys input), the average price is $180, which I strongly believe I can hit on target. This calculator, looking at how much the parts currently cost, will definitely be under $200.
You work fast... O.O
I had a good feeling TI might come out with something over the summer ->
Too bad TI might be releasing the Nspire CX. As you said, it might very well have been a ripoff of this :(
I'm not too worried:
(http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2452/truecomparison.png)
Choose wisely! :D
(The TI-nSpire CX pricing comes from the pricing TI placed for their classroom set which they say is valued at $5400 and since a typical US classroom has 30 students, $5400/30 = $180)
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Java Development O.O
OpenGL SUPPORT O.O.O
Acts normal to GRAVITY???? O.O.O.O
between the rock and the uberspire atm
(but seriously, java? that would be awesome! I would be glad to buy a developers edition :))
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+1 just for the rock.
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I lol'd
Seriously though, this is awesome and good luck! I also hope that the toned-down version, that will actually be allowed on tests etc. will do well too, since that is likely going to be the more popular model.
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+1 just for the rock.
seconded :)
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Lol I want the rock. A lot more programmable than an Nspire :P
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I do suggest that the any apps made for the developers edition be compatible with the standard edition because that edition will be the most used. And as a note to developers: try to make games compatible with both the touchscreen and the keypad. Also one thing I will miss is the hacking experience. I've already had so much fun (and frustration :P) with hacking the Prizm. @uberspire do you think you could add some hidden checksums for me. [j/k]
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Wait, why does a rock have a separate column than the TI-nSpireCX?
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The rock is free. The TI-nSpire CX isn't. :P Don't you love nature?
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The rock is free. The TI-nSpire CX isn't. :P Don't you love nature?
Which actually gives me the idea to put a small rock in with every purchase with a note "These two objects fall to the earth at the same rate. Please do not test. This device qualifies with section 15 of the FCC rules, as does the rock."
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lol, ubercalc, you should package each calc with a rock :)
actually, that would make it all more fun to buy the calc, and would definitely get the calc featured in many articles for it's weird packaging technique ^-^
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This is amazing. I will definately get a prototype and hopefully start developing on that. I love this idea, but I do wish you made it have a longer battery life.
Definately have a rock in the packaging for publicity
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Wouldn't the package become heavy if there's a rock in it? :P
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Wouldn't the package become heavy if there's a rock in it? :P
Not if it is a really small pebble.
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I LOL'd at the rock part. XD. But seriously I doubt the CX will even have specs close to what you have to offer. I am sure TI processor will be the same as the TI-Nspire or only like 2x faster. Maybe 200 MHz at the very best. Plus, I doubt their calc will have a signifiant increase in RAM and archive.
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So how is this going? Have you gotten the case/electronics?
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WOAH! I just saw this and it's soooo freaking amazing! I've filled out the survey, hopefully it's not too late >.<
btw, I have a question:
I second the concern about the qwerty keyboard, so this calculator isn't meant for use on standardized tests? Other than that tho, it looks so epic!! Its so shiny :]
Hmm yeah I think it might be best to re-order the letters, actually, to make them alphabetical, if you plan the calc to be allowed in tests. Otherwise, if it has a CAS and the like, then it won't be allowed so I guess it wouldn't be as much of a concern. Otherwise, I wonder if a qwerty calc could be allowed if the keyboard letters can be disabled completely?
The touchscreen and the audio jack already disqualify this calculator for testing according to the College Board. The standard edition will be a stripped down version and with a traditional case (think TI-84 or fx-9860G style). The developers edition are aimed to be the first for preordering and are targeted for developers, hobbyists and hackers. The developers edition is to help iron out the software and make suggestions for the standard (testing compatible) and professional (hardcore) edition, which will come out later.
Since there are two different versions of this calculator, is there going to be any price difference between the Standard Edition and the Professional Edition? If so, how much? I'm assuming the Professional Edition will be more expensive, and if we are to assume that the Professional Edition is $140 as you speculate it, will Standard Edition be around $100~$110ish? Because it seems obvious that the Professional Edition has A LOT more features than the Standard Edition.
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Well. I just read 7 pages. I AM GOING TO BUY THIS. Every single edition, I think you might have mentioned 3? Standard, Pro, and Hacker? Or just 2? Well I'm buying, and will give you a little extra money with my purchase. I love things like these. Just the thought of someone like me making something that could rival major companies! Keep up the work. I'm getting a job tomorrow so I can save for this ;D
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I hope this is still going on. Maybe uberspire just got busy, although I hope he did not lose interest or something or hit a wall. X.x
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I'm guessing he's just been busy with school. I hope so anyway. I'd love to see further development on this. :)
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I'm still working on it. :) I've already invested in a lot of time and resources to go back on this project. I was waiting for the board to arrive before I made my next post, which luckily arrived this week and.... it works!!! ;D
A video of the prototype working demonstrating the hardware, browsing the web, playing video, OpenGL, word processing, etc. (looks and sounds better at 480p):
By the way, I'm using a USB mouse with the prototype (shows that you can connect USB devices - mice, keyboard, USB flash drives, etc.). The LCD is also a touchscreen, but I figured you don't want to see my hand in the way all the time.
Some stats from the survey:
* 70% said 10 hours battery life would be acceptable as long as it can be easily recharged via USB
* 51% said they would be interested in pre-ordering
* Rated 9.1 out of 10 based on what people have seen or heard about this project
* Max price people would pay for this calculator: $182.17 (>$200 was counted as a flat $200)
* Overall, free and open to programming and community development is utmost importance
Some selected one-word summaries of Project Paradise from the survey:
(http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/2515/wallofparadise.png)
Here's a projected look at manufacturing cost distribution showing how Project Paradise Developer's Edition will accommodate the $180 target from the survey. Hopefully, it seems pretty fair (especially compared to TI's estimated manufacturing cost distribution):
(http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/732/costdistribution.png)
So, the hardware is pretty much ready and finalized. The prototype, is to my opinion, of high functioning degree. What needs to be worked on now is the exterior casing and compact the prototype board and have a few more of them built to make sure they work. Projected deadline for when the first pre-orders can start shipping is by July this summer, just in time before next school year.
This is pretty much all I have to say for now. I'll keep you guys updated on the progress.
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Holy... Is that thing running Crysis? O.O
I wasn't actually planning on buying one, but since it could probably replace my computer...
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I say go $155 on the standard. That way you a least make a little bit. :)
BTW, I just got $150 worth of Gift-cards to Wal-Mart. ;D /me will save them till July
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Wow this is really great. I really can't wait to see the casing too.
Holy... Is that thing running Crysis? O.O
I wasn't actually planning on buying one, but since it could probably replace my computer...
Not really, it's a video of Crysis, but it's still awesome nonetheless.
The only suggestion would be to maybe redesign the GUI to offer more screen space for browsing and other stuff, else it kinda looks weird if the GUY takes over half of the screen. Other than that, great job so far. Also the prices seems nice, although if I was you, I would at least make sure to do a certain minimum of profit for the standard edition too.
I'm glad this is still being actively worked on. :)
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Are the prices according to the batch assembly or one by one assembly?
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I think it's batch assembly, but I'm not sure. He said the one he would build himself would be much more expensive to produce, since he doesn't have all tools available in factories.
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That is awesome! Although I'm still not sure about the name uberspire as it is kinda Nspire-ish, and people might think "oh, it's a TI calc". also, the dev version comes with a keypad, right?
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Oh my f*cking god, you must be like, the messiah of the calc community. :P
I have a few questions/suggestions.
1. Are you going to have a repository like github for easy sharing of apps and programs?
and 2. Is there going to be an on calc IDE and compiler?
I am definitely getting this!
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Well I'd be more than happy to help start up a repo for the project paradise. Well the IDE can be any ide, and compiler just use like GCC or G++ and compile for ARM.
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I wonder if you can use something like netbeans as an IDE, if it is only bundled with the languages C/C++ and Java it's around 50 MB. and it's cross platform and will work on linux.
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One issue that will make it extremely unpopular for schools: Unless you convince them to give you a special exception, touchscreens are not allowed on the ACT or the SAT, and that's where the market is. engineers that use calcs either have used them for years and are used to that one, or have to move around a lot. The other majority is those who use computer software like mathcad. Don't count on engineers as a market. :P
Edit: Don't get me wrong, I'd love one, it's just a market killer.
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The developer version was the only one supposed that came with the touchscreen. The other one was supposed to be acceptable for standardized test I thought.
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Yeah, only the Dev version has the touchscreen. The Normal just buttons.
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Holy... Is that thing running Crysis? O.O
I wasn't actually planning on buying one, but since it could probably replace my computer...
Heh, sorry no. :) It's just a video of the intro to Crysis. It was just to demonstrate that this calculator has hardware accelerated video decoding.
The only suggestion would be to maybe redesign the GUI to offer more screen space for browsing and other stuff, else it kinda looks weird if the GUY takes over half of the screen. Other than that, great job so far.
Good point, I believe that can be done. Some of the apps need to be reworked (like Firefox and GIAC) to accommodate the screen.
I say go $155 on the standard. That way you a least make a little bit. :)
The diagram is showing how much it'll probably take to manufacture the first batch. After the first couple of batches get made and shipped off, the manufacturing costs should go done since there will be left over parts from the first batches. Also, the manufacturing costs for the TI-nSpire in that diagram are based on estimates and typical prices around in the industry assuming that TI built TI-nSpire's in batches of 1,000 units. That's probably unlikely and instead they probably build them in batches of 10,000 or even in the millions, meaning that it's very likely that they make much more profit than what my diagram shows and are ripping the students off. It is typical for products made by big companies to be sold at 3-5 times more than what it costs to make it.
Project Paradise can also be considerably way cheaper, but I'm aiming to build them in batches of maybe 100 (or by miracle and we're really lucky maybe 200). If I were to build a clone of TI-nSpire's and sell them myself, I'm certain they could be sold for $100 max and I'd still be making more profit than from Project Paradise. Someone else could try doing that if they wish since that's not the purpose of this project. Main goals for Project Paradise:
* Build a calculator that's technologically superior to anything TI, Casio and HP could make for the next 5-10 years
* Pack in 5-10 times more powerful hardware
* Be within the price ranges of other calculators on the market
* Be the ultimate electronic device for scientific and mathematical education - I believe Project Paradise can effectively engage students way better in education. Ironically, TI sees calculator only as a tool for computation and that's why they want to lock it down. However, computation is only a part of the solving process in mathematics. What's more important is the ability to set up, describe and model the problem. Computers will always be faster and more accurate at computation than humans, but they're not smart enough to set up the problem to get the solution. This is what separates Project Paradise from the other calculators on the market. With it's programming and hardware capabilities, students can write programs to model those problems and get quick solutions. This effectively makes Project Paradise more better for education than anything TI can put out, even though ironically they may claim otherwise. A good TedTalk video elaborates more on how programming and computers can teach mathematics better by Wolfram: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60OVlfAUPJg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60OVlfAUPJg)
* Be more free and open to community development - If you bought a car, shouldn't you be able to do whatever you want with it? Why should a calculator be any different?
Are the prices according to the batch assembly or one by one assembly?
Batch assembly in batches of 100 units.
That is awesome! Although I'm still not sure about the name uberspire as it is kinda Nspire-ish, and people might think "oh, it's a TI calc". also, the dev version comes with a keypad, right?
The name can be changed by the time the first units start shipping out. And yes, the Developers Edition comes with a keypad.
1. Are you going to have a repository like github for easy sharing of apps and programs?
and 2. Is there going to be an on calc IDE and compiler?
Yes, their will be a repository where you can download software packages. With the Developer's Edition, you should be able to download them through WiFi. With Standard Edition, you'll have to download them on your computer, save them to SD card and then manually installing each package one by one.
And an on calc IDE, you guys could put whatever you want. GCC and javac seem to run fine if you want to program in C or java, a bit slow, but it's totally possible. Lua and Python interpreters are there if you want that too. For Basic, I was thinking that as a community we could write a program that will interpret every other variant of Basic that exists for every calculator on the market. That way Project Paradise can run any Basic program written for a calculator. It'll be easy then for students to transition and get into Paradise.
Well I'd be more than happy to help start up a repo for the project paradise. Well the IDE can be any ide, and compiler just use like GCC or G++ and compile for ARM.
Do you mean a developer's repo or the package repository? If you could host the repo, that'll be cool.
I wonder if you can use something like netbeans as an IDE, if it is only bundled with the languages C/C++ and Java it's around 50 MB. and it's cross platform and will work on linux.
On the calculator or for developing apps on the PC? I don't know if NetBeans would work on Paradise. There's a slight possibility it might run on Paradise (it's written in Java right?), but it'll be very slow, require a lot of memory and the interface of NetBeans would take up a lot of space on the screen.
The developer version was the only one supposed that came with the touchscreen. The other one was supposed to be acceptable for standardized test I thought.
Yes, Standard Edition won't have touchscreen and it'll be compatible with the ACT and SAT testing. I've gone over their calculator requirements and this is likely what's going to happen with Project Paradise: https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHBQN25xSThlbklTMXhRcUphaEdyRkE&hl=en&authkey=CM2a3fEK (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ak__vzlDSwNadHBQN25xSThlbklTMXhRcUphaEdyRkE&hl=en&authkey=CM2a3fEK)
As you can see there is no more Professional Edition as it has been consolidated into the Developers Edition. Initially I thought the WiFi module and battery packs would be very expensive, but I think I have found good deals on pricing for those parts. The Standard Edition will come in two versions: one with CAS and another without. CAS is not allowed on the ACT. Standard Edition will have a modified bootloader that will only accept OS'es signed by me to enforce that and on the casing there will be distinctive markings behind the screen indicating what model. Both Standard and Developers will be in a clamshell case that will fit into your pocket like in the mock up (clamshells seem to be allowed on both ACT and SAT testing). I think it's best for it to be a clamshell, since the LCD alone is as wide as the widest length of the TI-nSpire. It would look kind of fat and chubby having it in the traditional calculator form since it would be 5 inches wide then (imagine 5-5.5 inch wide TI-nSpire).
Both ACT and the College Board explicitly state they don't want a QWERTY keyboard. So technically, I can bypass that by having the Standard version use a DVORAK keyboard.
Also, I mentioned before that I was trying to use the Blanview LCDs used in the Casio Prizm, the advantage of them being that they consume only 1/6 to 1/3 the power of the LCD I'm using right now, drastically improving the battery life (that's why the Prizm has a long battery life). I'd tried getting the 480x272 Blanview, but they seem to be generally $100 per screen, which would then make the calculator too expensive then.
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Its great to know your still working on this
When do you expect to be able to send out prototyppes to us eager people who "need" one of these
How much will that cost
Are you going to want help with software
If so I'd be glad to help
when are you going to make the final decisions on what parts you will be using?
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@Uberspire, actually the GUI size was pretty fine in the first page screenshots. Could you use that one instead?
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@ruler501: Depends on how fully developed you want the prototype to be. As of now, I've just got a working board. Case and keypad need to be worked on. Having 1 single board made is very expensive. I won't give out the exact pricing, but you could buy 2 NVidia GTX 580's for the price of one board. (This is why I'm really motivated to not give up on this project, as I've already invested a lot of my own money and time into it) Maybe if 10 people want to buy a prototype of the board I'm using, it'll probably cost $300 each, but you'll have to wait a couple of weeks for the parts and the boards to get manufactured. I don't know if anyone would be interested in doing this.
The hardware and parts have already been completely finalized. I don't really want to give out part numbers right now because it's still uncertain whether I'm able to get enough pre-orders to start shipping. If it turns out I can't get enough pre-orders, then I'll turn this project into my senior project, the University will own it and I'll have no control over it anymore. However, if there's enough pre-orders, when the first units of Paradise does get shipped out more information will be given to help software development. By the time Paradise ships out, kernel sources and instructions on how to create the OS image I'm using will be available guaranteed.
And yes, I would love to have help with the software. I think it would be best to create our own Linux distro for Paradise. We should start selecting and planning out what type of software we want to include in our package repository. I suggest you guys start looking at software that would seem reasonable to port to Paradise.
@Uberspire, actually the GUI size was pretty fine in the first page screenshots. Could you use that one instead?
I'm certain that with modifications to the software we could get the interface to be of the same proportions as the screens on the first page. However, the screenshots on the first page came from an emulator for the first prototype simulating a 640x480 LCD so it's a bit misleading in that there is a lot of space in the GUI (the first prototype had a 320x240 LCD). The screenshots were to show I had an emulator working for the first prototype, but now the hardware is way different so the emulator is irrelevant now.
If you guys want, we don't have to use the GUI I'm using. You can run Android or Ubuntu and use icewm, QT, MicroWindows, GNOME Mobile, etc. All the stuff I've shown is just to show the power and what the calculator is capable of doing.
The past week, I've been redesigning the casing (I'm sure you guys will like the new sophisticated, serious and high tech look) and have been trying to convince a friend to let me get in the manufacturing lab here at the University so I could just have a case made using the 3D printer, but it seems very unlikely I'll be given access, so as of now this is as far I can go now with the development of Project Paradise as I'm completely broke. I'm hoping to win the innovations contest here at University, which I may have a high probability of winning only if I can find a way to convince the judges that this product would do well in the market (the deadline for entry submission April 1). Or, I'm very lucky and find someone who's willing to invest in the project, probably very unlikely.
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I think you'll win. But to increase the chances, why don't you set up a poll on you'r site. The poll would be a poll of people who would buy the first release vs. who wouldn't. It could be used as proof that there is a market.
EDIT: and about the IDE thing, maybe we could make our own? It could be an C++ to make it more memory-efficient and have a better GUI.
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The new video demoing your prototype looks quite nice. I have to say you really seem to know what you're doing. :) Very nice work!
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I would prefer to use C to get the IDE going if we wrote it on its own. I just know more about that language.
EDIT: Nevermind I just found out you could use C in C++ programs
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Hey, for funding, what about kickstarter? : http://www.kickstarter.com/
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C++ and lower arms don't get along that well.
so, how exactly does kickstarter work? its "about" page is a little vague with "no risk, no money changes hands" It's hard to tell what it actually does :P
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Essentially, it's a way to raise money. You set a goal (Which you at least have to meat, or no money changes hands.), and try and make money. Usually, it's stuff like "Donate $25 and you get..." Type thing. The more you donate, the better it is. For example, $25 might be a cheaper calc or something. Maybe a discount on the standard. Or pre-orders or something. Just ideas like that that can make money this way.
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so, you get a bonus since you were an early supporter through kickstart, and if enough money isn't raised you get your cash back? interesting. seems much less risky than I first thought!
Also, a suggestion that would make this project a LOT cheaper, faster and easier, but would be difficult to pull off (but soooo worth it) find a case that fits your needs and is already heavily produced.
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so, you get a bonus since you were an early supporter through kickstart, and if enough money isn't raised you get your cash back? interesting. seems much less risky than I first thought!
Also, a suggestion that would make this project a LOT cheaper, faster and easier, but would be difficult to pull off (but soooo worth it) find a case that fits your needs and is already heavily produced.
I disagree with that. Yes, it's cheeper, but a calc is distinguished by it's case and looks.
Anyway, it's not really a bonus per-se, but whoever the kickstarter project owner is can give you rewards. For example, you could make only contributions that give $150 or more actually get the calc. ($200 gets your name put into the bootcode so it can't be erased)
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yeah, personally, I couldn't even pay for a calc above $200 dollars, but around 180 is totally worth it. Yeah, netbeans itself is small, but it requires a lot of RAM and speed... but it could be sensible just to have a syntax highlighting thing and raw compilers work together :3
you sir, deserve a gold star for all of your awesome calc making skills.
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I would say it might be best to write our own IDE (or modify an open source one like scite). That way we could also include Axe and such.
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Another suggestion about the GUI is that the calc should come with its own. Of course, if it's a Linux distro that is very compatible between computers and handhelds, then the GUI theme could be used on the computer afterward, but it would be nice if your calc came with a new one, to make it stand out at first.
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I am thinking we should have at least a partially different GUI for the developers and standard. standard needs more of a math/school focused. You would want the developers to have a more easy to create and power programs interface though. I do not think it should be too hard for us to create a good GUI for each version. If we had to choose which one to do first I would suggest the standard because it is the one schools might order. And schools are major business for all calculators.
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Both calcs also need to look a bit different, like the TI-Nspire CAS vs TI-Nspire.
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Scintilla and SciTE seem like very good candidates. They would seem very good in writing software that needs syntax highlighting. Also, you can run gedit on the calculator if you want:
(http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/3272/screenshot1cv.png)
I think with all the plugins for gedit, you could get the same functionality as Notepad++.
About the GUI, yeah we should change it as I suppose it does look pretty boring, though it does have a serious look to it (all the demos I've been showing have been GNOME with GTK):
(http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2206/screenshot3ek.png)
@DJ: I'll make sure the cases will be different and they'll be easy to identify, both by the color of the casing and markings on them.
@graphmastur: I'll take a look at Kickstarter. My first impression of the site however is that it seems like it's for art or film projects. They also seem to have some strict guidelines on what projects they accept: http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq#WhoCanFundTheiProjOnKick (http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq#WhoCanFundTheiProjOnKick). But, I guess it wouldn't hurt though to try submitting this project. Also, the problem is I need pre-orders for a batch of at least 100 units to match the pricing you guys want. For developers edition, I would need 180*100 = $18,000. For standard, 150*100 = $15,000. I could probably do a mix in the first batch of standard and developers, so I would need $15,000 minimum, but more realistically maybe around $16,500. This is a lot of money and this needs to be dealt with seriously. So this is my proposal plan for Kickstarter:
Target for fundraising is $15,000 in 75 days, just in time before summer. During this time, I'll just be finalizing the case and motherboard designs. The rewards I can probably offer:
* $1 - One buck can help buy a dozen capacitors for prototyping. As a thank you, your name will be place on our site as a contributor.
* $5 - One buck can buy some caps, but what about resistors and diodes? As a thank you, your name will be placed on our site as a contributor.
* $40 - This helps with prototyping costs. As a thank you we will give you a T-Shirt and your name will be placed on our site as a contributor.
* $150 - Pre-order the Standard Edition of the Linux mathematical PDA suitable for school testing.
* $180 - Pre-order the Professional Edition of the Linux mathematical PDA. Comes with WiFi, audio jack, touchscreen and completely open to community development.
* $200 - Pre-order the Professional Edition and have a 120 byte message encoded into the bootup process. Every time you boot up the device, a message will be selected at random and displayed while the device boots up. :)
* $310 - Need one calculator for school, but want another to hack around with? Save $20 right now and get both the Standard and Professional.
* $4500 - You're the coolest teacher and you want to pre-order a classroom set of Standard Editions, because you're that cool.
* $5400 - You're cooler than the coolest teacher and you want to pre-order a classroom set of Professional Editions, because you're the coolest of the cool.
Nah, just kidding about the last two. ;D On a serious note, again since a lot of money needs to be raised to start manufacturing, preferably, I'd like to get some funds to help build a few more prototypes , just to be safe and make sure the manufacturing process is top notch by the time your pre-orders get made. So how does this sound? Would anyone here submit a pledge? Or perhaps know someone who might be interested in doing this? If people are willing to make pledges, I'll submit in my proposal and we'll see if it gets accepted.
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Just don't make one of the calc casing pink, please. O.O
J/k, as for the GUI it should look serious. I just thought it would be cool to have one that is unique to the calc maybe, for the sake of originality.
As for fund raising, I am afraid this might not be as possible for me as it was before, though. I'll certainly pre-order the calc, but 2 weeks ago, after some repeated events, I made the decision to not contribute any funds anymore to internet-related stuff (including Omnimaga hosting, which will now be distributed between the rest of the staff).
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I will actually fund this project, probably $200 one :) Once I get paid that is :P which is prolly at the end of March
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I would love if you set the deadline around the end of the year, actually. I want one, but the way I raise money and stuff, and because of my inability to spend money online directly at a brick and mortar store, I have to be cautious with it. Also, note this: (Found in Kickstarter's site)
What about technology projects in general?
Creative explorations of technology and the web are awesome. Kickstarter is full of imaginative applications of technology: grassroots mapping, open source DNA projects, DIY tinkering, and other creative uses of technology. These projects are great!
Our “no business funding” rule applies to technology projects too. Whether you’re making a new ecommerce site or building solar panels, if it’s first and foremost a business it’s not appropriate for Kickstarter.
Open source projects are great. We’re huge fans of projects that benefit the open source community. This was key for Diaspora’s success—it was first and foremost an open source project.
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My money's a bit tight atm, but once I have the funds I'll definitely get the $200 deal. Good luck on this and I
hope know it's going to be a huge success.
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I'll donate as much as I can if you get the Kickstart up. I just have to look for a job :/
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I'd totally buy a developer edition if I had the cash, but currently I don't, but when I do get enough money (and if I remember :P) You can count me in for buying one, I don't know if it will be in time for helping fund at the beginning though :/
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I'd do $200 bucks. Wal-Mart gift cards FTW!
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@graphmastur: I'm pretty sure others could help fund the project before summer starts. You can order one at the end of the year if you'd like then. Also, I read that part you quoted from their FAQ. That's why I kind of was thinking the site aims for art or film projects.
Anyways, I decided to postpone submitting my to Kickstarter. I don't think it would be fair to have you guys place money down to wait for something 2 or 3 months away. I think it would just be better if I focused in the next month or two on a full blown prototype (near to production model with casing and finalized hardware) and try to find a way to get it funded myself. I've been lucky getting the last two prototypes to work, but this time I need to shrink down the board which requires the PCB to be rerouted and add in the lithium-ion charging circuitry. This will require another prototype to be made.
In the meantime, we also need to discuss about the software, especially for the Standard Edition. For now temporary discussion about all the technical details (programming and software development) happening in the development of the ubercalculator will be concentrated here: http://uberspire.com/ (http://uberspire.com/). The domain is temporary until an official name is given to Project Paradise and it gets trademarked.
I've also considered about getting other communities (besides just the calc communities) interested in the device. The Developers Edition is essentially a compact Linux computer. People can find many uses. Some I imagine:
- Portable gaming
- Portable media player
- Portable web browsing
- Note-taking device
- Portable computing for various hobbies (programming PICs or AVRS, controlling robots, etc.)
- Data logger and sensor interfacing
- PDA (keep track of contacts, meetings, appointments, etc.)
- Cheap and compact alternative to netbooks
- All-in-one supercalculator (Emulate any other calculator on the market: HP-50g, TI-nSpire, TI-8x series, Casio Prizm, etc.)
- On the fly text and speech translation for traveling
- Much, much, more
So you might have a friend who's not interested in graphing calculators, but maybe something on this list might pique their interest.
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It would be nice if we managed to attract some people here with the device in the future, so it would be good to showcase it elsewhere maybe, in case other people might be interested.
And I can't wait to see the first prototype to have a case. :D
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@graphmastur: I'm pretty sure others could help fund the project before summer starts. You can order one at the end of the year if you'd like then. Also, I read that part you quoted from their FAQ. That's why I kind of was thinking the site aims for art or film projects.
Okay, your decision. I'm like 85% getting one of these, it's just money + time atm.
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BTW HOMER, don't expect native Axe on anything without a complete rewrite. The infeasibility of getting axe on a V200 is the same as on this. Its code wouldn't be compatible. An 84+ Emu would be easier. Much easier. And faster :P
I was hoping to get a pandora, but this is cheaper! and it's essentially the same, looks like the same CPU, does it have 3D accelleration?
Of course, money is an issue for all us high school kids :P me included.
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It would be nice if we managed to attract some people here with the device in the future, so it would be good to showcase it elsewhere maybe, in case other people might be interested.
Yeah, that's what I had in mind. :) I think this calculator can really bring a lot of interest into calc programming.
I was hoping to get a pandora, but this is cheaper! and it's essentially the same, looks like the same CPU, does it have 3D accelleration?
It's funny you should say that. I emailed my distributor for an order of parts to prepare the next prototype. Today, I got emailed back that they would like to offer an ARM Cortex A8 processor as a replacement, noting that it's pin compatible with the part I'm using and for the same price as the old part since they think the project is cool (I told them a little about it). It would be the third time I switched processors, but I couldn't say no to something faster, compatible and for the same price, so I ordered some for the next prototype.
So, if the next prototype works, you should be seeing a 800MHz Cortex A8 calculator coming soon this summer. :) I know it's totally over overkill, but I figured I should fit in as much power within the $150-$180 price range to really make it worth it. Who wouldn't want to play HD 720p movies on their calculator? :D The processor also uses the same graphics accelerator as OpenPandora (PowerVR SGX535), so Paradise will have the same graphical capabilities. So, the next prototype (and hopefully the last prototype of the board I have to make) should be really, really exciting. ;D(http://www.omnimaga.org/Themes/default/images/gpbp_arrow_up.gif)
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/me is going to hold off for that portable computer...
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Oh nice you changed the CPU? However, what is the screen size? Will it really be HD? O.O
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Wow, this is looking better and better!
I checked out your site, and I really enjoyed the information you gave on your About Us page :)
If this project caught on it would be great!
I totally want one of these things :)
Keep up the amazing work!
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The screen is still a 4.3 inch display with 480x272 pixel resolution and 24-bit color. You can't get the HD experience on the LCD since the resolution is not high enough, but I'm planning on swapping out the TV RCA jack on the previous prototypes for an HDMI port. I'll have to look into the costs just to make sure before I can fully promise on that feature. Potential educational uses for HDMI is that it might make it easier for some teachers to plug it in to TVs or classroom projectors that have HD capability, so it can be pretty useful. So this actually might be the very first HD calculator.
@Eems, thanks. That's how I really feel about calc development and why companies shouldn't be crippling or prohibiting community development.
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I see. Also I checked your site and I liked the about section too. :)
Also you might want to watch out when posting on the forums and editing your messages, because this is the 2nd time you post a duplicate message. X.x
EDIT: Nvm you fixed it.
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Nice. With the cortex A8 at 800 Mhz that is just behind the iphone 4 which is many times the price of ubercalc. I'm thinking that the hdmi could be expensive so another possible option could be the mini display port if it is cheap enough. It seems that almost all monitors being manufactured today are equipped with a mini display port. Unfortunately TV's rarely have one, but it might replace hdmi soon. A much cheaper alternative could be a heavier vga.
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Ubercalc
I tried to register on your site 2 days ago and I still have not gotten an email with my password. I registered as ruler501. I would love to help if I could join your site.
This is amazing with the new processor. I think this will be at least 3 times more powerful than the Nspire. and >9000 times more programmable. In other words this is the perfect calculator for that price range
*ruler starts to drool while thinking of what it could do
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You set your password when you sign up. I don't think it sends out a confirmation email. I just registered and was instantly logged in.
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I registered, and it said it sent an email with more instructions to me, but I haven't received it either.
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Sorry, about that. If you're having trouble, try creating your account again. There was some problems with sending out emails. I disabled email confirmation for now so if you try registering again, everything should work out ok.
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Thanks, I was able to register now :D
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I'll sign up soon I think. Just make sure the site won't get infested with bots, though. :P
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Any progress recently?
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Yeah I'm curious considering he hasn't been around much.
/me hopes he didn't lose interest or give up or something. X.x
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No, I'm still working on it. :) Sorry, about not posting back the updates here. The deadline of the application for the innovation's contest I was talking about is tomorrow (April 1st), so I'm filling out the form right now. Someone suggested I should redesign the site to make it more professional and business looking, so here it is: http://www.uberspire.com (http://www.uberspire.com). Also, the contest form asks for the name of the product, so I've decided UberGraphX (UGX) which I hope you guys can live with. :) The name is a play on sound, it's pronounced "uber graphics." Plus, a couple of nominations for the name from the survey suggested the word "uber" be included in the name.
I've also updated the renderings of the casing (hopefully, everyone has >1000 pixel resolution monitors):
Rendering 1:
(http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/1430/promo1o.png)
Rendering 2:
(http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/311/promo2v.png)
Rendering 3:
(http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/6580/promo3.png)
Right now, I'm going over and double checking the circuitry, before the next prototype get made and gets sent off to undergo FCC and CE testing certification. Depending on what happens in the future, what I would like to get done in the next couple of months before summer:
- Develop molds for the casing, button and parts
- Develop more pre-production models for testing
- Stock up parts and prepare manufacturing for first batch of pre orders
- Make sure there is enough pre-orders secured to develop the first batch, before stocking up on parts
Again, all of that will depend on what happens in the future. I can't guarantee 100%, but I think we're on track for a summer release. FCC testing should take only about 8 weeks.
That's it for now. I'll come back here and post updates as soon as I can. :D
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Wow that looks awesome! Glad to see you're still working on this. I love the design of both the calc and also the site.
On a side note, is the site redesign why it was down for several days last week? At first it seemed like uberspire.com shutted down completely. O.O
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Yeah, that and also I think it has something to do with my host provider. They're doing some upgrades. Next week it should be a lot better.
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Oh ok. I hope it's a good hosting, because if your calc ever got slashdotted or something...
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Great job on the new site, uberspire!
is the "posts must be approved by a moderator" requirement going to be permanent?
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The new design looks awesome and really professional, I can't wait for this to be finished! :D
The site appears to have problems though, all I see is a PHP error page.
One thing I'm still wondering about: Is UberGraphX (awesome name btw) going to be able to run Java/LWJGL-based programs? I'm pretty sure some of you know why I'm asking this question. :P
[Edit: LWJGL instead of JLWGL]
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Honestly, there is no way to describe how epic these images look...
so just fill the following space whit the praise of your dreams ;)
<epic>
</epic>
I honestly think that I'm gonna get one off these. :D
Btw. whats the Alt key for? Because I don't see any keys which aren't covered by Shift or Alpha.
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Is the U in UberGraphX supposed to be pronounced like the English letter U, or is it supposed to be more like the Ü in über?
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Ok, so I was aware that after I wrote my last post, a couple of hours later the site went down. :-[ My host provider is switching servers and they hadn't copied over the files with rsync. So I waited a while to see if they would get around to transferring the files, but it started taking a while and they judges for the innovation's contest might look at the site since I referenced it back in the application form. That wouldn't look good, so I just uploaded my copy of the site back up. Hopefully, everything should be working fine now. When they do get around to copying the files, there shouldn't be any harm since the files would be exactly the same.
is the "posts must be approved by a moderator" requirement going to be permanent?
That should be gone now. I forgot to turn it off.
One thing I'm still wondering about: Is UberGraphX (awesome name btw) going to be able to run Java/JLWGL-based programs? I'm pretty sure some of you know why I'm asking this question. :P
Java: absolutely. As for JLWGL, I know for sure that OpenGL works on the device, but the rendering is done through software (as of right now). It might take some work getting a working X11 OpenGL driver for the PowerVR SGX 540 to take advantage of hardware graphics acceleration. When the first batches of the device get released, it should be a priority to work on the OpenGL driver. Drivers already exists for this device for video acceleration (720p @ 30fps) though.
Honestly, there is no way to describe how epic these images look...
so just fill the following space whit the praise of your dreams ;)
...
Btw. whats the Alt key for? Because I don't see any keys which aren't covered by Shift or Alpha.
Thanks for your comment. I wanted the Alt key because it may be useful in certain instances where you don't have a touchscreen and it increases compatibility/versatility. On Linux or Windows, pressing the Alt key gives you access to the menu of a program (like Alt+F to get to the File menu). Say you had the Standard Edition which has no touchscreen or you lost your stylus, you would use Alt to navigate through the menus. Also, the Alt key might come in handy when you want to emulate a system/software (like running Microsoft Windows on the UberGraphX) that needs an Alt key. Since the UberGraphX is also powerful enough to emulate any other calculator on the market, the Alt key could also be used to create key combos for keys that the UberGraphX lacks on it's keypad.
Is the U in UberGraphX supposed to be pronounced like the English letter U, or is it supposed to be more like the Ü in über?
I can't seem to tell the difference from the German (http://www.forvo.com/word/%C3%BCber/) and the American English (http://www.macmillandictionary.com/pronunciation/american/uber) pronunciation. They both sound fine to me. Almost everyone I know pronounces uber as "oooo-ber". However, I know that in English the letter U could phonetically sound like "oooo" (like in uber), "uhhhh" (like in umbrella) or "you" (as in U-boat) with the choice of sound depending on the origin of the word. Uber originated from German (über), so it should sound like "oooo-ber".
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I'm quite excited to see more updates :) This is for sure on my wishlist :)
The new site looks great, quite professional indeed. One thing I would like to mention though is that your Contact Us page should have some sort of Captcha to keep spambot abuse from happening.
Can't wait to see this progress farther along :)
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Has the price estimates changed at all?
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I don't think so. $150 for Student Version, $180-$200 for Proffesional
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@JosJuice I guess it depends on if you're English or German-speaking :P It's not like anyone will hunt you down ;)
Edit: Also, if you're using Octave or Maple, or somethin similar for math, consider writing a GUI around it so that it is easier for a newbie to use. Sure, their commands are simple once you know them, and fairly easy to use, but people want the newbie-common-sense input to just work.
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Yeah yesterday I checked the site and it was down again. X.x I'm glad it's back up.
I'm gonna check more stuff there soon. I really can't wait to see more updates and especially the prototype. :D
EDIT: Btw despite the new forum on your site, are you still planning to post updates here too in the future?
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Looks great!
What do you think the battery life will be? And when using the 3d accelerator?
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Has the price estimates changed at all?
No, they still have stayed the same. Changes in the pricing might change however when manufacturing actually does start to happen. Either the pricing for the parts (I haven't actually stocked the parts yet) will decrease from now till summer, or there turns out to be a huge demand in pre-orders which will lower down the manufacturing costs (that reminds me, does anyone live in Ontario, Canada? The company that will assemble the PCBs resides there. It might be cool having someone who could go over there and check out what's happening when the boards get manufactured). I will promise however that the whatever the price turns out to be, it'll be more fair than anything else on the market (compare a $150 TI-nSpire CX to the $150 UberGraphX). I've been doing fine on my own financially before I started this project and making huge profits would be unrealistic and is not my goal. In fact, I'm quite disgusted that TI makes over a half billion US dollars each year in revenue selling calculators by ripping off students and cheating them of functionality (like programming capabilities or math features such as 3D graphing and especially the fact the the TI-nSpire CX and Touchpad lack dedicated sin, cos and tan buttons, which is highly essential in educational courses for trigonometry and calculus). All I ask is enough profit to cover the costs spent into prototyping, developing, filing the trademark, patenting and FCC/CE certification costs for the product.
Edit: Also, if you're using Octave or Maple, or somethin similar for math, consider writing a GUI around it so that it is easier for a newbie to use. Sure, their commands are simple once you know them, and fairly easy to use, but people want the newbie-common-sense input to just work.
I don't really use Octave (I actually use Mathematica), so does a GUI frontend exists for Octave? Would it be possible to modify it for our use?
What do you think the battery life will be? And when using the 3d accelerator?
I'm expecting to use a 4400mAh polymer lithium ion battery, which I estimate would give around 15-20 hours of typical usage. The hours would vary depending on what you're doing on the calculator, it might last longer. It's expected to give at least 10 hours of usage on full load with every peripheral turned on, which should be enough to last through the whole school day and go back home to charge it using your PC through USB.
EDIT: Btw despite the new forum on your site, are you still planning to post updates here too in the future?
Yeah, I'll still post updates here. :) I actually do read the forums frequently, but I'm coy in posting. I don't really like to write a lot of posts without having something to show, because I'm afraid it would make people impatient or lose interest for those who are waiting for the this calculator to come out. The next couple of months should be pretty exciting though. Just need to double check the designs for the board and sign it off for manufacturing. When that happens, I'll notify you guys and tell you how the board comes out. Also, I need to go over and check the geometry of the casing (at least the framing part), then get it prototyped via 3D printing. I'll post pictures of the frame when it comes out as soon as I can.
EDIT:
Crossposting this, because it may end confusion and is important:
Uberspire is the planned name of the startup to manufacture the UberGraphX under. I was kind of hesitant in announcing this, because we haven't actually trademarked the name yet. :oops: So, we can't get in trouble with Texas Instrument's, since they use "spire" with a product, whereas we use it as a company name. However, the name was indirectly influenced in that TI named their product TI-nSpire to con-notate that it's inspiring, where in reality it absolutely isn't (lack of programming, overpriced hardware, etc.) But if TI gets to claim that their product is "inspiring", then our product is way "above inspiring", hence the name Uberspire. If you were wondering where I got the name, that's how it came to be.
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I like when you make posts. Do you think we'll have issues with the name at some point?
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Especially the fact the the TI-nSpire CX and Touchpad lack dedicated sin, cos and tan buttons, which is highly essential in educational courses for trigonometry and calculus).
You also are missing an essential button: ? (http://ourl.ca/9732) !
joking ;D (not that I would be angry if you add it ;) )
Btw. Thx. for your explanation about the alt key.
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NICE! If I can afford one when they come out, I'll get the pro model. I'd love to make a decent FPS for this platform. Aside from the keyboard, are there any other input methods (like something analog) or extension ports (USB) planned?
Will it be using the SGX540 as the GPU?
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Woah the Nspire has no Sin/Cos/Tan buttons? I sure hope it has such features, though... all scientific calcs, even the cheapest ones, got them X.x
But yeah I am so impatient in seeing that calc prototype in action at one point. XD It just looks so great and I wish you the best of luck in reaching your goal.
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Aside from the keyboard, are there any other input methods (like something analog) or extension ports (USB) planned?
I'm pretty sure it has a touch screen and supports USB devices such as a mouse! (But I don't think the Standard Version has all of that...)
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I have a little question: Will you stick with that Armstrong gui, or will you switch to another one?
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Do you think we'll have issues with the name at some point?
I don't think so. Doing a search through USPTO, no company has a name that sounds like "Uberspire." A problem could rise when someone else tries to trademark the name in the future. I've been dedicating my own money to developing this project and don't really have spare funds to file in an application trademark. If someone else registers the trademark, I'd think they would have a hard time using it have been making use of that name for a while online (type Uberspire into the search engine, all the records of the name Uberspire relate to this project) and I own the commercial domain (so they'd have to buy it from me? That might be a good thing actually, since this project does need funding).
You also are missing an essential button: ? (http://ourl.ca/9732) !
joking ;D (not that I would be angry if you add it ;) )
We could add it to the pi key (Shift + pi). ;)
Woah the Nspire has no Sin/Cos/Tan buttons? I sure hope it has such features, though... all scientific calcs, even the cheapest ones, got them X.x
Well, the TI-nSpire CX and the Touchpad doesn't have them. You have to go through the Trig button or type it on their ABC keypad. Kind of really inefficient for those who want to crank out the trig. I also noticed that TI has ditched the TI/HP American arithmetic convention (all the arithmetic operators in a single column) and adopted the Casio/Sharp Asian convention (arithmetic operators arranged in square formation) for reduction in hand movement. However, I think TI's new keypad is still inefficient as it forces the user to type/remember commands or dig through menus. I favor key combos, but that's just how I feel. I feel I can get things done faster that way.
But yeah I am so impatient in seeing that calc prototype in action at one point. XD It just looks so great and I wish you the best of luck in reaching your goal.
Heh, trust me, there's no one is more excited to get this out than me and it would be a big relief. I can hardly imagine what the people in the community will be able to develop and achieve when they get their hands on this. I'll bring the hardware and you guys write the awesome software, deal? ;D I strongly feel that this device can have a strong positive impact.
Aside from the keyboard, are there any other input methods (like something analog) or extension ports (USB) planned?
On both Editions, I plan to have an external USB standard port where you could connect USB devices such as hard drives or mice. For something like a gamepad, it kind of depends if the driver exists for Linux, because certain gamepads require certain drivers corresponding to its own unique controls, whereas with a mouse, most have 2 or 3 buttons, so most mouses can be covered by a generic mouse driver. But it's totally possible. Most likely, more of the popular controllers (like a Logitech Dual Action), would work on Linux without much trouble.
I have a little question: Will you stick with that Armstrong gui, or will you switch to another one?
It's up to the community. Angstrom provides other alternatives like Qt or icewm. The one I used was X11 with GTK and GTK is theme-able. Porting Android actually wouldn't be much trouble to port to the UberGraphX, but who would want a cellphone/online dedicated operating system on their calculator? Of course, the decisions and choices in software will most likely change once you guys really see what the hardware is capable of. More reason for me to get this thing out so we can hit the floor with developing software. Hopefully by summer, people will have free time to help out with the software.
This weekend is when I plan to go over and double check the hardware (haven't looked over it in a while), so it'll be a busy time for me. I'm thinking that by early June, I might be able to start shipping out the first UberGraphX units. I'll elaborate and explain what I'm talking about later. I need to think this out a bit more.
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If you're gonna have a USB port where you could potentially connect HD's and stuff, will there be a power adapter to connect to an outlet or something to help power those devices? My friend once connected his 500GB portable HD into his TI-89 and it instantly drained his calc so it'll need something like that for the more power hungry devices.
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If you're gonna have a USB port where you could potentially connect HD's and stuff, will there be a power adapter to connect to an outlet or something to help power those devices? My friend once connected his 500GB portable HD into his TI-89 and it instantly drained his calc so it'll need something like that for the more power hungry devices.
Standard USB ports only provide 500ma of current. His external hard drive probably already had another port on it for power, sometimes in the form of a second USB port. With high current draw devices, you would usually want a second power supply anyway.
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If you're gonna have a USB port where you could potentially connect HD's and stuff, will there be a power adapter to connect to an outlet or something to help power those devices? My friend once connected his 500GB portable HD into his TI-89 and it instantly drained his calc so it'll need something like that for the more power hungry devices.
Standard USB ports only provide 500ma of current. His external hard drive probably already had another port on it for power, sometimes in the form of a second USB port. With high current draw devices, you would usually want a second power supply anyway.
Yeah, and the TI otg port only gives out 100ma, IIRC.
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If you're gonna have a USB port where you could potentially connect HD's and stuff, will there be a power adapter to connect to an outlet or something to help power those devices? My friend once connected his 500GB portable HD into his TI-89 and it instantly drained his calc so it'll need something like that for the more power hungry devices.
Standard USB ports only provide 500ma of current. His external hard drive probably already had another port on it for power, sometimes in the form of a second USB port. With high current draw devices, you would usually want a second power supply anyway.
No it's single usb powered. Idk, maybe his batteries were low?
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Yeah, and the TI otg port only gives out 100ma, IIRC.
Sounds right for something running off of 4 AA batteries.
No it's single usb powered. Idk, maybe his batteries were low?
I doubt his batteries would last too long even if they were fresh with that kind of load.
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Well, I was originally googling around to find out what was the release date for the TI-nspire CX (since they're being overly cryptic about it), when I happened to stumble upon one of your posts. This is everything I could want and more, and there's no way I'm getting a TI now. If there's any official way to "sign up" for the preorders before you actually start taking preorders, I'd love to do so soon. Unfortunately, it still seems that you're being plagued with web-hosting issues. I managed to view the homepage for a bit but that's about it and now it's displaying nothing but errors again.
On a technical sidenote: I loved the renderings you posted on page 11 (I believe) of this topic. However, I noticed that your "numpad" so to speak has a rather... peculiar arrangement--specifically numbers 1-6. I'm still not sure if there's just something wrong with my eyes since no one else has mentioned it.
I registered for this site just to post this. I really hope you can get enough funding for this.
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:/ uberspire.com just went down. Like, a minute before this message is posted.
"defaultwebpage.cgi"
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:/ uberspire.com just went down. Like, a minute before this message is posted.
"defaultwebpage.cgi"
It doesn't load for me too. RemovedFromGame.com is down too, perhaps they have the same host, which is down?
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Nop, they have a different host.
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Nop, they have a different host.
Then it should be pure coincidence.
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Well, I was originally googling around to find out what was the release date for the TI-nspire CX (since they're being overly cryptic about it), when I happened to stumble upon one of your posts. This is everything I could want and more, and there's no way I'm getting a TI now. If there's any official way to "sign up" for the preorders before you actually start taking preorders, I'd love to do so soon. Unfortunately, it still seems that you're being plagued with web-hosting issues. I managed to view the homepage for a bit but that's about it and now it's displaying nothing but errors again.
On a technical sidenote: I loved the renderings you posted on page 11 (I believe) of this topic. However, I noticed that your "numpad" so to speak has a rather... peculiar arrangement--specifically numbers 1-6. I'm still not sure if there's just something wrong with my eyes since no one else has mentioned it.
I registered for this site just to post this. I really hope you can get enough funding for this.
Heya and welcome on the forums. I hope once this comes out that you come back :D (or come back to check the other stuff too).
As for the host I think you should switch hosting. I would even be willing to give you space on my old 1and1 space if you wanted to, although I'M unsure if I would be able to setup the domain name for it. Everytime I check your site it's down or takes several minutes to load. :(
By the way personally I think you might want to change your nickname at one point on your site, because TI might go insane if this is successful and accuse you of using the spire part of Nspire in it and forces you to remove anything that looks like the Nspire name from your site. You might win, but TI is just like that, sometimes (seeing what happened with the key factoring 2 years ago).
In 2000, TI even asked TI-News website admins to get rid of the TI part in their site name. The community signed a petition to make TI change their mind, though. I would just hate if you got in trouble or something. X.x
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Well, I was originally googling around to find out what was the release date for the TI-nspire CX (since they're being overly cryptic about it), when I happened to stumble upon one of your posts. This is everything I could want and more, and there's no way I'm getting a TI now. If there's any official way to "sign up" for the preorders before you actually start taking preorders, I'd love to do so soon.
Actually, you can post a comment below: http://www.uberspire.com/?p=69 (http://www.uberspire.com/?p=69). I'm trying to get a rough number of how many people would like to preorder an UberGraphX.
There's been some confusion as to which version of the UberGraphX has what. Here's the solidified specs (the minimum guaranteed): http://www.uberspire.com/?page_id=53 (http://www.uberspire.com/?page_id=53)
Regarding the development, I've been pretty lazy lately. :-[ I've still yet to go over and do one last check over the design and casings. Meanwhile, there's been some good discussion on some other forums regarding the keypad. If you guys have any suggestions for the keypad layout, now would be a good time to say them. I plan to, by the very latest, at the end of this month to finish checking over the designs. By sometime next month, the first plastic prototypes of the casing should arrive and I'll post some pictures of them.
As for getting out units by June as stated in my last post, we're gonna need to build some pre-production models to 1) check the manufacturing process and 2) have some models to undergo FCC and CE certification. So if there is anyone who is really wants one soon or wants something that may be a rare collectors item in the future, there might be a possibility that some pre-production models may go for sale.
EDIT:
As for the host I think you should switch hosting. I would even be willing to give you space on my old 1and1 space if you wanted to, although I'M unsure if I would be able to setup the domain name for it. Everytime I check your site it's down or takes several minutes to load. :(
Thanks for offering your help, I appreciate it, but it may be more trouble than what it's worth. The hosting has been quite erratic, but it's been because my host been trying to transition to another server. It should be get better within the following weeks. It kind of sucks though, that around the time I revamp the site they have to do this.
By the way personally I think you might want to change your nickname at one point on your site, because TI might go insane if this is successful and accuse you of using the spire part of Nspire in it and forces you to remove anything that looks like the Nspire name from your site. You might win, but TI is just like that, sometimes (seeing what happened with the key factoring 2 years ago).
On my site, I go under "GoodStuff", unless you're referring to the domain name. I'm not a trained legal expert, but I would assume that they would have trouble having a good case against me. Googling "spire" leads to many other sites, companies, products, text and images that include "spire". If trouble does happen, we'll just have to change the name.
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Yeah I meant the domain name and your nickname in the copyright. I hope TI won,t use the excuse that it's for another competing calc or something. Fortunately the calc itself is not called Uberspire, though, so that part should be fine.
I hope hosting gets better soon, especially when this gets popularity (there will most likely be a news when a video of the first prototype with casing is shown here and I bet when it's released it might make Slashdot or the like), so if the site takes 1 minutes to load it might impact your sales. X.x
As for pre-released prototypes, I wouldn,t mind getting one, providing that it's compatible with the official version and isn't ultra expensive like an iPad or something.
I should really create a sub-forum about this at one point...
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Actually, you can post a comment below: http://www.uberspire.com/?p=69. I'm trying to get a rough number of how many people would like to preorder an UberGraphX.
If there was a price average of the preoder perhaps I could say something :D
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These are my estimates from what I'm seeing so far, so don't take them to heart:
Assuming we're building the Professional Edition,
Building them individually:~$500 to build each unit
Quantities from 5-10: ~$350-400 per unit
10-50: ~$300
50-100: ~$225
>100: ~$200
>200: ~$150
From this point on, it's probably impossible to get a batch of preorders this large, but if you were curious:
>500: ~$125
>1000: ~$110
>5000: ~$105
>10000: ~$95
>50000: ~$90
Just to reiterate what I wrote on the blog, there's a somewhat flat fee that's associated with the human labor put into programming the robotic machinery and setting up the tools that will manufacture the boards. That's why building one at a time costs a lot, but having a ton built in a batch splits that costs onto each unit. Same thing with the parts. There's a cost for the human labor put into programming the machinery to package up the parts, so buying them in bulk quantity saves money.
As for pre-released prototypes, I wouldn,t mind getting one, providing that it's compatible with the official version and isn't ultra expensive like an iPad or something.
They should be completely compatible, I don't plan on changing the hardware. These pre-production models are the check functionality, power consumption and to do certification. They should just be exactly the same as the one meant for consumers, they just lack the proper certification.
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So I remember filling out a survey, but will you have a page where we say "yes, we want one", and be able to list things like "not just yet, but I do want one" or whatever? You can see how many pre-orders you'll have then. I'm sure you can sell it to people at college, too. I'm thinking of using it's USB port(s) and it's SD cards ability in quit a few projects.
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Wow this can replace a computer! It can even go online and it runs Linux!!!! :w00t:
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I don't think this can replace a computer, but it can definitely replace every calculator available so far!
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I don't think this can replace a computer, but it can definitely replace every calculator available so far!
It could definably replace a computer, it basically is a computer on it's own. It can't replace the speed an hardware of some of the better computers out there, but it could do the job for the main tasks people do on it everyday :P
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It also can't replace any modern PC games. You could play an open-source game similar to them, but you couldn't play them directly.
Yeah, this definitely has a bigger market than just calcs: you could advertise it as a cheap netbook-like calc with all the functions you could possibly want, blah blah, laptop (referring to the proffesional edition) and offer the regular student edition for people who are still in HS.
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So I remember filling out a survey, but will you have a page where we say "yes, we want one", and be able to list things like "not just yet, but I do want one" or whatever? You can see how many pre-orders you'll have then.
Yeah, but I want to take note of the people who may have not taken the survey. I got about a little over 30 response, with about 16 of them saying they would preorder.
I don't think this can replace a computer, but it can definitely replace every calculator available so far!
It could definably replace a computer, it basically is a computer on it's own. It can't replace the speed an hardware of some of the better computers out there, but it could do the job for the main tasks people do on it everyday :P
It depends on what you define is a computer. The UberGraphX is comparable to netbooks (which are computers). You can do more computer like tasks on the UberGraphX such as run browse the web, instant messaging, write documents, create power points, watch movies and edit spreadsheets. For some people, this is all they use the computer for and thus an UberGraphX could replace a computer. An UberGraphX won't be a replacement for a today's desktop computer. The UberGraphX 2 (if the UberGraphX ever gets on market) would do that. :)
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I don't think this can replace a computer, but it can definitely replace every calculator available so far!
It could definably replace a computer, it basically is a computer on it's own. It can't replace the speed an hardware of some of the better computers out there, but it could do the job for the main tasks people do on it everyday :P
It depends on what you define is a computer.
Yep, technically the TI-83 Plus is a computer of a sort ;)
The UberGraphX 2 (if the UberGraphX ever gets on market) would do that. :)
Wow, this is gonna be one huge marketing project, then O.O
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I don't think this can replace a computer, but it can definitely replace every calculator available so far!
It could definably replace a computer, it basically is a computer on it's own. It can't replace the speed an hardware of some of the better computers out there, but it could do the job for the main tasks people do on it everyday :P
It depends on what you define is a computer.
Yep, technically the TI-83 Plus is a computer of a sort ;)
All calculators are actually.
Also, shouldn't this have its own subforum? Just my opinion though.
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Also, shouldn't this have its own subforum? Just my opinion though.
It's got it's own site+forum, I don't think it really needs a subforum here :P
EDIT: Just showed my older sister this, and even she is interested in it :P (and that's an understatement.)
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Also, shouldn't this have its own subforum? Just my opinion though.
It's got it's own site+forum, I don't think it really needs a subforum here :P
EDIT: Just showed my older sister this, and even she is interested in it :P (and that's an understatement.)
Yeah, I really think we should advertise to more people. Unfortunately, I only know of one guy that might buy it. I'll talk to him.
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It finally got its own sub-forum a few days ago. ANd yeah I think this will need to be advertised to more people in the future. As much as Omni has a good userbase size, it's still much smaller than most sites on the web.
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Hey everyone, sorry, I haven't been posting much lately. Development is still continuing on the UGX.
First of all, thanks for the sub-forum. :) I guess we don't have to keep all the discussion in one thread now and everyone can now ask their questions by starting a new thread.
Second, you know the innovations contest I've been telling you guys, I didn't win. I'm kind of disappointed, but then again, I'm not really surprised. I didn't really expect the judges to understand the importance of a high end graphing calculator. This has, however, caused me to worry whether the UberGraphX could do well in the market. Therefore, some big changes are coming to the UberGraphX. You can pretty much forget everything I mentioned about the UberGraphX; they don't apply anymore. New strategy, new plan, complete redesign. I still plan to stay on track with getting something released by this summer. Within two weeks I plan to you show you what I've been working on (which is why I haven't been able to post much lately). I'm certain, you'll be very (hopefully pleasantly) surprised at the new UberGraphX.
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Second, you know the innovations contest I've been telling you guys, I didn't win. I'm kind of disappointed, but then again, I'm not really surprised.
That's too bad. But remember they aren't the market ;)
Good luck!
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For the record, I would rather this be like a mini computer than a calc, but that's just my opinion. I mean it runs linux....
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Sorry to hear uberspire. However I hope the changes doesn't mean a restart from scratch. That tends to curse such projects, because the delays discourages people and people take the project less seriously when there are too many redesigns. I hope you don't change it too much either.
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Really what I would like to see is a graphing calc that is as powerful as possible while still be classroom and test certified. Because with the professional edition we are dealing with a very small market of pure calc gamers like us. but the standard edition ought to be enjoyed by all.
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I just want colour, 3D graphing, CAS, and being easily programmable.
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That would probably be the CAS-Standard(student) version rokem
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I agree with z80man. I hope it will still be a calculator that's basically a small computer in disguise. I already have a project I'm working out for the UGX.
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Hey, so it's been two weeks and here's what's happening. It's been troublesome to work on the ARM Cortex A8 design, being that I thought it would be possible to route the PCB within 4 layers. It turns out more layers are needed with all the hardware (WiFi, sound, etc.) and the costs of prototyping would be way too much to handle in the situation I'm in. I have a feeling that continuing on this path of design, would be a blunder, being that a calculator of this magnitude would only target a very small minority of the people who use graphing calculators.
So the decision is to revert back to my previous old design (ARM11, 600MHz) and have that set as the low-end range of the UGX line and as the debut product. I figured it would be better to start out with something that resembles a traditional graphing calculator, something that looks like it's useable in school, but still very powerful. Also, the hardware has already been proven to work and the good news is that the parts have gotten cheaper for this design. To those who wanted the 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 UGX, it will have to be shelved for now. Maybe sometime in the future, it'll fill in the mid range spot of the UGX line, hopefully if the 600MHz ARM11 UGX does well.
With the pricing going down for the parts in the low-end UGX, the plan is that the low-end UGX will sell cheaper than the TI-nSpire CX (~$140-$150), yet still be more powerful all around compared to the CX.
The front part of this UGX casing has been printed and is being to used to help guide and layout the internal hardware:
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/image.php?twg_album=Case+Template&twg_show=case1.jpg)
(Size comparison)
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/image.php?twg_album=Case+Template&twg_show=case3.jpg)
(LCD inserted into case)
(http://uberspire.com/gallery/image.php?twg_album=Case+Template&twg_show=case2.jpg)
So as you can see from the casing, the low-end UGX looks school friendly. The LCD being used in this prototype has a resolution of 320x480 pixels, just like the iPhone 3G. In fact, the plan is to use surplus iPhone replacement LCDs to help lower the cost of the design while at the same time give the UGX the highest resolution LCD of any graphing calculator made. So if you hate that I'm temporarily ditching the current UGX design, hopefully you'll be pleased with this. :)
The hardware, right now, is being retrofitted for this case and I should be able to get a working unit sometime by next month along with the buttons/keys.
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I see, that seems good to me, although I hope it won't be white :P As for the LCD what is your plans if Apple ever decided to change the iPod LCD completely or even discontinue it? Would the calc LCD changes too?
It would be nice if you re-introduce the old design if it was backward compatible with this version, though.
One suggestion, though: Try to not restart from scratch over and over all the time, though, switching designs, because on Omnimaga forums, when projects do that, people takes them less and less seriously over the time, because they never even progress at all and simply causes false hopes. If this happens, the project barely ever gets anymore replies at one point, because everyone lost all hope and they expect the project to see another rewrite in a few months. I myself was very disappointed when this happened to UbergraphX, and I admit I am not as confident to see it finished as I was prior your post announcing the complete changes. :(
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It looks good. I'm a little sad about how you at least temporarily got rid of the 1GHz ARM Cortex A9. That sounded like it would be fun to have. I guess we just have to make your business go well so you cn start making those.
Your design looks a lot like the Nspire... TI might get angry at you for that
DJ's right on this if you restart too much a project will almost always die.
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Yeah, I have to agree with the two above posts. I have less confidence in this project without the A9, and the original design. I'd be welling to pay MORE than an nSpire for the original design, simply because it can do MUCH more. I have no problem with paying more money, if that's what you need to be able to continue with the project.
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He might have to start with the lower design levels because of production costs though. Maybe once his business is up and rnning he can ad in the developer with A9. I think this is a wondeful project and very much hope it doesn't die
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Agreed.
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How wil the final model look? Like the cases you've posted earlyer(Which looks a bit like the nspire) or like the picture on your site(Where it looks more like a laptop)
Or is the nspire like model the cheap version and lhe laptop like version the professional edition?
And last: This thing has better specs than my laptop! Are you sure this is still a calc, not a handheld PC?
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Why don't you market the original higher end version as a handheld computer to widen the market?
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But than teachers would complain about us having them in school
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But than teachers would complain about us having them in school
Teachers are going to complain about it being not-TI. I have no interest in over-throwing a big company like TI. I would rather it be marketed as a small computer, and wouldn't care about it being used in school or not. Most teachers wouldn't let you use the bigger version, whether you called it a calculator or not.
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Hey everyone, sorry for not posting any updates the past month. Because I've been busy working on several projects and lack funding, I haven't really made much progress (was hoping to get some boards built by now). Hopefully, no one thought the project was dead. :)
I currently (as of now) don't have the capital to finance the UberGraphX project and some of you were disappointed that I wouldn't be working on the Cortex A8 design anymore, so I came up with this plan. The past couple of weeks, I've been working on a design of a graphing calculator that's comparable to the TI-nSpire CX and Casio Prizm (but with some cooler features :thumbsup:). I'm planning on releasing the first drafts of the schematics and CAD files for this design sometime this week. All the hardware and software will be open, so anyone can help along and provide suggestions. The plan is to use the profits from selling assembled versions of this graphing calculator to finance further development of the UberGraphX (Cortex A8 variant).
This new design is nowhere as powerful as the UberGraphX. Instead it's aimed as a cheaper and open source/hardware alternative to current mainstream calculators such as the TI-nSpire CX and Casio Prizm. The project will be formally announced sometime this week with more details.
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Hey everyone, sorry for not posting any updates the past month. Because I've been busy working on several projects and lack funding, I haven't really made much progress (was hoping to get some boards built by now). Hopefully, no one thought the project was dead. :)
I currently (as of now) don't have the capital to finance the UberGraphX project and some of you were disappointed that I wouldn't be working on the Cortex A8 design anymore, so I came up with this plan. The past couple of weeks, I've been working on a design of a graphing calculator that's comparable to the TI-nSpire CX and Casio Prizm (but with some cooler features ;D(http://www.omnimaga.org/Themes/default/images/gpbp_arrow_up.gif)). I'm planning on releasing the first drafts of the schematics and CAD files for this design sometime this week. All the hardware and software will be open, so anyone can help along and provide suggestions. The plan is to use the profits from selling assembled versions of this graphing calculator to finance further development of the UberGraphX (Cortex A8 variant).
This new design is nowhere as powerful as the UberGraphX. Instead it's aimed as a cheaper and open source/hardware alternative to current mainstream calculators such as the TI-nSpire CX and Casio Prizm. The project will be formally announced sometime this week with more details.
What do you intend the price on this to be and how will you get sales?
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So will this be used as capital for Uber GraphX?
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So will this be used as capital for Uber GraphX?
The plan is to use the profits from selling assembled versions of this graphing calculator to finance further development of the UberGraphX (Cortex A8 variant).
Thats what he said
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So will this be used as capital for Uber GraphX?
The plan is to use the profits from selling assembled versions of this graphing calculator to finance further development of the UberGraphX (Cortex A8 variant).
Thats what he said
Agh, must've missed that part. :D
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Happens to me all the time
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ooh, that sounds fun. won't this all take a while to set up, though? what sort of time frame are you envisioning?
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What do you intend the price on this to be and how will you get sales?
The plan is to be cheaper than the TI-nSpire CX, can't say for sure as of right now. The pricing will be more fair than anything else out on the market right now. As for sales, I'm hoping mainly that word of mouth will catch peoples attention. Other than that, I'm in talks right now to see if it would be possible to have some online stores stock the device.
ooh, that sounds fun. won't this all take a while to set up, though? what sort of time frame are you envisioning?
2-3 months after the design is finalized, I'm hoping we can start shipping out working units. This graphing calculator isn't as complicated as the UberGraphX. The main goals of this new design is low cost and hand assembly (outsourcing the manufacturing won't be mandatory unlike the UberGraphX).
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Nice seeing you again uberspire! Hope everything goes well for the UberGraphX ;D And thanks for the tips! I might be able to help a little bit with the UGX, but probly not much.
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So is this thing dead or what?
Necropost!
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I think this is dead (sadly, like every other project like that that got announced on calc forums before). This is a bit why nowadays new similar projects tend to not get much attention from the community, because they come to birth and everyone is convinced that in 2 months it will no longer show any sign of life...
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It looked really intriguing however. I could see this doing very well.
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Dreamcalc died for two reasons: 1. I don't know assembly or C (ugh...). 2. I don't think I have moneys to buy an LCD, an Arduino, and whatever software I need. 3. I lost my notebook that had everything about the project ever in it.
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why do you store those thing only on one place, even my silliest ti-basic games that aren't worth €0.01 (about 0.0134040 USD) are back-upped to anoter hdd..
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Yeah it's best to save them at multiple places. I learned that after the floppy disk that included most of my old non-RPG BASIC games along with an old RPG engine for the now defunct ROL4 project died.
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So is ubergraphx dead?
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He may have just moved on to something else
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Does that mean that he wont be selling it?
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I would now think so; he probably isnt even working on it any more. Unfortunately it appears this project in its original glory is dead. If I had the know how I would definitely try to do something like this. Maybe the community could come together to try and make this from what we know so far. there are quite a few people here with the tech know how to make it im sure.
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I would now think so; he probably isnt even working on it any more. Unfortunately it appears this project in its original glory is dead. If I had the know how I would definitely try to do something like this. Maybe the community could come together to try and make this from what we know so far. there are quite a few people here with the tech know how to make it im sure.
I was really excited about this project. Yeah, if the community could get together, we could probably make it.
"We have the technology, we can rebuild an uburcalculator!" Oh, wait, it was man, not ubercalc lol XD
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Well, it just takes someone who knows the right people. We basically have the plans within this thread, and we have many who can make it. It's just the marketing and production that's truly needed.
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We'd end up making our own version since he didnt release the actual diagrams for us(I think). I'm sure we could do it. I'm still willing to help with the OS if it comes to that
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That kind of project is really a challenge to do. This is why I think most people just disappear just as the first prototype is made, as in fact they just got discouraged. Such project would need to be created by several people who are guaranteed to not be busy with anything like school and work for 36 months in a row, else as soon as a project member goes away, everyone loses interest.
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yeah I'm sure we'll find out some way eventually. i'm sad to hear its dead(probably) I had good hopes for this
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That reminds me, shouldn't the entire calcs in the works section on the front page portal be removed and these two projects moved to discontinued projects?
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yeah. and when did we get a discontinued projects section?
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We had one for a long while actually. nDoom was located there too. It's at the bottom of the Major projects list. http://www.omnimaga.org/index.php?board=58.0
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Yes, I do believe it is dead or he is REALLY busy, as he hasn't even responded to my PM on his own site.
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Yeah that,S what I guessed. Tecnhically it was supposed to progress only during Summers, but then in Summer 2011 he didn't show up at all. D:
Plus the fact there was a 10 months wait with no news I think that might have killed the project momentum, both audience and motivation-wise. D:
Also welcome back :D
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Also welcome back :D
Never left. Still busy as heck. I should be sleeping now...
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Yeah I meant you haven't posted much (at least on Omni) D: