Re: TI-H: lots of ideas

To: ti-hardware@lists.ticalc.org
Subject: Re: TI-H: lots of ideas
From: "Richard Piotter" <richfiles@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Sep 1997 13:35:41 PDT
Reply-To: ti-hardware@lists.ticalc.org
>	For the backlight, stick with green LED's.  Human eyes are most 
sensitive to green light from what I've gathered (24-bit color spread is 
an applied example, not to mention night-vision goggles)  Therefore, it 
would provide the best light and the lowest price.  I think the mouser 
catalog has the best prices I've seen so far.

I AGREE!!!

I did tests to determine the best colors. Green is best, but another 
reason is that the screen has a green tint. Shining Red, or even yellow, 
on the LCD causes shadowing because it absorbs the red light and 
reflects the green light. That's why 4 red super brights do the same  at 
less quality than for standard green lights. I may try Blue LEDs for the 
Fun of it, because thay are closer to Green than red and can be found at 
2000 mcds. The highest green led I found was 500 mcds and I NEED to find 
Higher brightness LEDs. If you know a source for green LEDs that are 
1000+ mcds, LET ME KNOW PLEEEEEZ.  (=

I ordered 12 500 mcd green LEDs, 4,  maybe 6, per calc. even if they 
don't work, I'll use them for other things. Brighter would be better. I 
also use reflectors in the sides of the screen to reflect light off the 
side of the interior back onto the screen, rather than being absorbed by 
the black plastic. I also use a fine grinder to shape the lens of the 
LED to spread light better over the screen (I doubt anyone has done that 
before!) I get a very decent spread, and the LEDs still fit inside the 
screen, and those are reds, immagine when I install the final green LEDs 
(reds were for testing purposes)!

Wish me luck, and if ANYONE knows where to get green super brights, let 
me know.

>	Next, turboing, I'm about to connect a variable cap to my 83, but I 
want to make sure that I'm hacking the right components, so if anyone 
knows, please get back to me.

Goto ticalc.org, and go to calculators, TI-83, scroll down and click on 
the link to Boris Lutz page.

>	Also, a better glare guard for the 83/86.  It's too "shiny."  maybe 
just some anti-glare coating would work, but the current setup also 
blurs the incredibly sharp images that the LCD provides (I removed the 
LCD cover).

The 82/85 isn't that bad, but I do remove the covers often, especialy 
when it's dim. It makes the screen clearer, plus, you can reduce the 
contrast by 1-2 settings sometimes. 

>	Finally (i hope), new hard drive designs.  the XI2C bus (whatever that 
is) has a 64K chip.  it's small, but possibly useful.  Maybe it's close 
to compatible with I2C, so we might be able to make small expanders, or 
put them on the bus to create a larger device with some form of page 
swapping or bus addressing.

I2C kicks ASM!  (=

I want to use I2C for as many new designs as possible. That would allow 
multiple carts and combo devices (expander/speaker combo).

Also, not related, All electronics sells pairs of speaker assemblies for 
$3.00 !!! The assemblys use a bass sound chanel like the BOSE Radio and 
they clain it brings out super bass. I ordered a pair for my computer, 
TV, Radio setup and I'm going to see if the added bass helps make 1-bit 
TI calculator sound clearer, I'll let everyone know. also, if Mel Tsai 
does add 8-bit ound support, Immagine if you had high bass speakers that 
would, with the expander, fit into a case the size of a small tape 
player or Walkman! Just an Idea. I want to see what they actualy sound 
like first.

>	Thanks for listening to my rants...

I like long Rants (=


Richard Piotter

e-mail: richfiles@hotmail.com

home page: <A 
HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/5081/Richfiles.html">The 
Richfiles</A>

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