Re: A89: An un-informed theory.
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Re: A89: An un-informed theory.
This was disscussed in one of the articles at ticalc.org. No, it is not
possible. The 89 uses a Mortola 68000 processor, whereas the rest of the
TI-8x series use the cool Z80 processor. To use the rom from any other
calculator would require emulating the Z80 processor and the hardware
ports. This is possible on a moderately fast processor, but not on the
sluggish 10Mhz 68k (my 89 is really, really slow compared to my speedy
86...too bad my 86 won't do symbolic calculus).
Emulation would be possible, but nowhere at full speed. I'm no expert at
68k, but to my knowledge, the Z80 is much faster than a 68k (or an Intel
x86 for that matter) at the same clock speed. I would guess that an
extremely efficient emulator would no faster than 1/5 (a guess!) of the
original calculator.
Another option might be to write a PC based recompiler, which would convert
the 68k code to Z80, but this would be a nearly impossible task. The
hardware specific code would be almost impossible for a program to figure
out (we have trouble ourselves). Even a program to convert TI-BASIC would
be very difficult.
At 08:26 PM 9/22/98 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Wassup fellow TI-89 users,
>
>I've got a question that is just a theory of mine. Since the TI-89 has
>flash-rom memory, that can be changed, and has more memory
>(system) than any of the other TI-8x, wuold it not be possible to create
>an emulator of sorts of different calculators...
>I.E. Choose which Calculator you would like to use by downloading
>that particular system to your flash rom...
>
>-just a question
>
--
David Phillips
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