Survey posted 2005-02-21 19:15 by Jon.

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In schools there would be hundreds of calculators within range of each other - one would have an opportunity to release a great virus.

I'm glad to see that no one so far has said: "What's wireless technology?" Thats a good sign!

Oh no...2 people now!

Y not just get the graphing software for PALM Pilots, i do believe it even has the ability for "basic" programs.... as well as 3D.... and many PALMs are wireles now...

I did that at one point, it was pretty groovy. The big advantage that calculators have is that the buttons are all right there. Also, teachers don't get wary of cheating as much. What would be really useful is a citizen's band RF link. Power limitations would be a bummer, but there are ways around those. Perhaps something around 150MHz would work. Even better would be something on the amateur bands. This would make good use of them and encourage people to get licences.

KD5PBO DE AD5SA:

Uh, yeah, I'd love to see any company make a device that transmits a discernable signal on an amateur band and come off scot-free (except for the BPL folks... :-D). The FCC would be all over that like stink on poop. That is, unless TI charges a monthly free from which the FCC can levy gazillions of dollars a year...

-Matt M, AD5SA

What about the usb ports on the 84's and 89 titaniums? All that would be needed would be a driver set and a usb wifi device right?

No. Those aren't host USB ports. As Andy Janata said elsewhere, it would have to be a USB-OnTheGo device and compatible with being controlled by another USB-OnTheGo device. And then you have the problem of the calculators' 12 or 15MHz processors actually processing up to 11Mbit/s of data: it is impossible!

-MrM

The processing probably wouldn't be a problem: just run slower! Like the web: if my server has a dialup connection and you have a dedicated T1 line, my webpage will download at dialup speeds on your computer. Just don't send (or recieve) bytes faster than the machine can handle!

That might solve the data rate problem, but writing drivers for the adapter would be really hard, considering that the manufacturers probably don't want to give out the exact hardware interface specifications.

Besides the part about not being a host USB controller on the calc...

are you sure? I think that they are, just mini ones. so all you should have to do is get some way to plug a big port into a small port and then write softwhere.