Mailarchives (A89: TI-IE (refined))

First of all, the previous post (WindowsTI) suggested that TI-IE be a web browser. This means that TI-IE would handle all of the HTML layout control, jpeg and gif compression, and suggests the handle the plug-ins. The problem with TI-IE being a web browser was the memory limitations on the calculator. The solution, as presented to me, is to make TI-IE a VIEWER, rather than a BROWSER.

TI-IE would be a proprietary, or TI-calc Standard Picture (TSP) viewer. Hopefully this type of picture will become standard for all TI-calcs, and therefore no longer be proprietary. Let me explain how TI-IE would work. TI-IE would consist of two seperate programs, a viewer assembled for the TI-calc, and a host compiled on a UNIX system. To explain their relationship, I will first describe the UNIX host.

The UNIX host will be a program that downloads all web content (pictures, videos, links, and sound) and compress them into a TSP file. This TSP file could be configured to be in a various number of greyscales, and contain limited interactive motion and sound (multi-media). The web content would come in three categories: Layout (HTML) Graphix (gif, jpeg, and videos) and Multi-Media (interactive content and sound). Layout will be determined by W3 standards (Windows IE or Netscape) and a snapshot stored in a lossy gif-like compression scheme in the TSP file. Graphix will be reduced to the greyscale set by the TI-IE viewer. Multi-Media such as Java and sound, will be added to the TSP file according to the settings of the TI-IE viewer.

The TI-IE viewer will be a WindowsTI program that makes use of all available libraries with the purpose of basic internet connection and display of a TSP file. The TI-IE viewer will be capable of extracting the sound and interactive content. It would able the user to set settings that it then relays to the TI-IE host on the dial-up UNIX system. TI-IE would contain file upload/download capabilities for storage of calc programs and internet play.

The resulting TI-IE application on the calc would be reletively small, and thus solve the memory problem with the previous idea. I would be grateful for any more suggestions or comments on TI-IE or WindowsTI in general. Thank you for your time in reading this.