ticalc.org
Basics Archives Community Services Programming
Hardware Help About Search Your Account
   Home :: Archives :: News :: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany

TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Posted by Michael on 12 April 2006, 15:03 GMT

[TI-Nspire CAS]It appears that TI has a new calculator under development, however it only appears on the German version of TI's website. The TI-Nspire CAS (translation) is seemingly in a pre-release phase.

TI has a flash demo posted which shows some information about the calculator. It is a departure from all previous models, with a new GUI and what looks like a grayscale screen. There is no information yet on the hardware specifications, other than it has a USB port and two USB ports on a cradle (if I am translating German correctly). In any case, this new upcoming calculator is more exciting than watching Joey Gannon dancing in lederhosen.

Please keep in mind that the image to the right is one of TI's mockups which is drawn in Photoshop (or photo editor of their choice). It is not an actual image.

  Reply to this article


The comments below are written by ticalc.org visitors. Their views are not necessarily those of ticalc.org, and ticalc.org takes no responsibility for their content.


Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Shady_0883  Account Info

Well, deffinitely looks great, great graphics, original and stilistic case, but anyway it would be better to know the tec. spec. i think this one deserves at least a 15 Mhz Procesor and 2.6 User memory Rom, anyway if anyone knows these spec. please answer my post

Reply to this comment    12 April 2006, 15:55 GMT


Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
drewman05  Account Info
(Web Page)

only 15MHz? why not start competing on specs with HP and put like a 75MHz in it, SD slot, and an infrared port. If you don't believe me on those specs, go to HP's website and look at the specs for the hp 49g+. The reason TI's calcs are so popular is that they are way easier to use, though.

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 06:10 GMT

Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Shady_0883  Account Info

I didn't knew the HP spec, But let me tell you that you're right, I think after reading ALL the posts that TI must blow up and give their best shot on this one.

Reply to this comment    14 April 2006, 22:32 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Shady_0883  Account Info

I didn't knew the HP spec, But let me tell you that you're right, I think after reading ALL the posts that TI must blow up and give their best shot on this one(100 MHZ).

Reply to this comment    14 April 2006, 22:32 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
archnaid Account Info

Careful. Clockspeed isn't everything.

I don't know if the (IIRC) ARM processors in the HP's are faster in real usage or not than the M68K that TI uses, so I'm not commenting on that situation specifically, but as a general rule, the clockspeed of a processor does not solely determine its performance.

One current example: AMD has been producing processors with more than a 1 GHz handicap to Intel's Netburst, but with similar or better performance. Now Intel has scrapped Netburst for a lower-clocked architecture, but performance is better than the old Intel CPUs and is keeping AMD's hands full to say the least.

Also, if I remember correctly, and this may have changed since, but isn't HP actually emulating the OS that was designed for different hardware?

Reply to this comment    9 May 2006, 12:08 GMT

Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
CajunLuke  Account Info
(Web Page)

After watching that flash, I can tell you two things:

1. Never going to be allowed on ACT/SAT. Ever.
2. Wicked awesome. I want to see its programming model.
3. I am going to segregate $300 in my savings account specifically for this.
4. I WANT!!!
5. If they put Bluetooth in it (unlikely), I will so use it to control my Lego Mindstorms NXT.

Reply to this comment    12 April 2006, 16:15 GMT

Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
CajunLuke  Account Info
(Web Page)

Oops. That was a few more than two things.

Reply to this comment    12 April 2006, 16:15 GMT

Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Shady_0883  Account Info

I think this one deffinitely worths those months of saving for college, anyway the biggest question that i have in mind about this is: ¿Anyone knows how big is the screensize in pixels? i mean it looks like some 200x160.

Reply to this comment    12 April 2006, 16:25 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
PeteP  Account Info

Looks to be QVGA in 2 bit color, that's 320x240 (the pic is 314x237 and it may be either compressed or pixels have been clipped, 6 off the side and 3 off the top or bottom). I'm guessing it's actually QVGA as standard resolutions are great!

Most handhelds run on QVGA, and the Gameboy/Color is 160x144, the GBA is 240x160,NES and SNES are both 256x224 just for comparison. I wish they would just add frikkin color!! Come on, all we need is a blue, red and green screens in one calc!! Then we can have 4x4x4 colors (64 colors for those who can count). That's more that enough for graphics to work!!

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 00:49 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Ranman  Account Info

4 bits for red, 4 bits for green, and 4 bits for blue equals 12 bits; and 12 bits allows 4096 color combinations.

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 19:16 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Chris Williams  Account Info

He probably means 4 values (2 bits) for each of the channels, not 4 bits each. So it's 6 bits for a total of 64 colors.

The screen would use red, green, and blue only if it is a transmitting type and not a reflective type. If it were reflective (such as the color screen the Casio calculators have), it would use cyan, magenta, yellow, and black channels (which are basically light filters) to produce various colors, so with 2 bits for each channel, a color would fit nicely in one byte.

Reply to this comment    15 April 2006, 19:43 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Ranman  Account Info

ahhh... okay.

Reply to this comment    16 April 2006, 18:14 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Ranman  Account Info

Small TFT LCD displays are very cheap now. I do not see any reason that we cannot have an 8 bit or 16 bit color display at 320x200 resolution. This would require nearly 64Kb of video memory. Yeah sure, 64Kb of memory is significant on yesterday's calcs. But today, memory is dirt cheap.

So, if the color LCDs are dirt cheap and memory is dirt cheap, why can't TI give us an affordable color calculator? Unless their idea of a color calc is 256 shades of gray -- practical but boring.

Reply to this comment    18 April 2006, 12:40 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
jesse frey  Account Info

power is also a concern considering that it probably runs of 4 AAA's and they want the battery life to be reasnable for normal use. more RAM and a bigger/brighter would use more power.

Reply to this comment    19 April 2006, 21:47 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
jesse frey  Account Info

oops it should read bigger/brighter screen.
we really need an edit button

Reply to this comment    19 April 2006, 21:49 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Ranman  Account Info

Our current calcs require around 5 volts. So they need 4 AAA in series to provide enough power.

Most "new technology" embedded electronic devices (like GP32, GBA) require less than 3 volts. This includes devices with big bright color screens. Super bright LEDs provide an enormous amount of light for very little power. So, 4 AAA in series/parallel will provide enough power for a "decent" runtime.

Reply to this comment    20 April 2006, 02:24 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
TehBlueBlur Account Info

Add in a 68K and a memory-mapped Z80 co-processer for sound and you've got Sega Genesis!

(No really, the Z80 in the Genesis really does use memory-mapping for hardware I/O, not ports. They just read nonsense in normal mode.)

Reply to this comment    17 April 2006, 17:20 GMT

Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Matthew Baron  Account Info

(As demo plays on screen) sits in front of computer drooling

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 00:30 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
burntfuse  Account Info
(Web Page)

Same here. This is REALLY impressive - grayscale, PDA-like interface, amazing math features - finally, something new from TI. This is really on the level of the high-end HPs now, beating out even the v200. I wonder if they designed this to also be used by architects/engineers/scientists/etc.? (I just sort of got that idea for some reason from the flash video and specs.)

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 14:17 GMT

Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
W Hibdon  Account Info
(Web Page)

The SAT allows the 89. No reason this would not be allowed, seeing it lacks the QWERTY keyboard.

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 08:43 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Calcinator Account Info
(Web Page)

Yes there is. From watching the flash video, and checking the European Patent Office link, it looks like it has a touch-screen interface, which IS banned from the SAT.

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 11:37 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info

Didn't really seem like it too me, though I didn't read the patent yet.

Reply to this comment    13 April 2006, 17:05 GMT


Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
elfprince13 Account Info
(Web Page)

see me after class on that Lego thing :D

Im working on controlling my RCX with my 84+SE

Reply to this comment    14 April 2006, 03:51 GMT

Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
CajunLuke  Account Info
(Web Page)

How? IR or a sensor port?

Reply to this comment    14 April 2006, 15:23 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
elfprince13 Account Info
(Web Page)

hacked sensor cord.

Reply to this comment    16 April 2006, 03:07 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
elfprince13 Account Info
(Web Page)

and some resistors so I dont fry my TI's I/O port.

Reply to this comment    16 April 2006, 03:08 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
CajunLuke  Account Info
(Web Page)

Interesting. I may want to try that. How are you hacking the sensor formats? And which sensor are you pretending to be?

Reply to this comment    16 April 2006, 03:32 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
elfprince13 Account Info
(Web Page)

Im probably either going to spoof RAW or touch sensor. then work out a communication protocol between them.

Reply to this comment    16 April 2006, 21:15 GMT


Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
Person Dude  Account Info

Dude, if you get an 84+SE to use infared, I WANT!!!!
I have the 84+SE.

Reply to this comment    15 April 2006, 20:35 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
MafiaMan  Account Info
(Web Page)

See link.

It's for the 83+ but it should probably work.

Reply to this comment    15 April 2006, 23:39 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
jon hamm  Account Info

How come they released it in Germany before America, when they're in Texas! That's dumb. They should release it to America first!!!

Reply to this comment    17 April 2006, 22:08 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: TI Designs New Calculator in Germany
burntfuse  Account Info
(Web Page)

*sigh* Why not just release it to all countries at the same time?

Reply to this comment    18 April 2006, 18:29 GMT

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  

You can change the number of comments per page in Account Preferences.

  Copyright © 1996-2012, the ticalc.org project. All rights reserved. | Contact Us | Disclaimer