Intel Edison generic calculator shield photo journal

[MarkHaysHarris777]

(03-23-2015 08:29 PM)matthiaspaul Wrote:  The Edison provides a compound processor with three cores, two Atoms running at 500 MHz and one Quark running at 100 MHz. One of them would be enough to accomplish the task. Also, we don't need 1 GB DRAM in a calculator. 32 MB would be more than enough.

I almost agree with this... and the idea is behind my thought that a generic calculator can run anywhere, including an Arduino Uno. All we have to do is decide what to do with the memory that is given to us...

... and more is better. A lot more is way better. Huge amounts is really nice. ;-)

Well, to quote William R. Gates, "Nobody will ever need more that 640k". His statement was based primarily in a complete lack of education, and somewhat on a complete lack of vision. But, at the time, anyone could clearly see the power of the raw processor running its native codes and even at the blinding speed of 10 Mhz (some machines then were running a 4.5) machine code was imperative. Machine code in the AVR environment is just as impressive; and much can be packed into a small space, if you're a real programmer!

Back in the day (and not too distant past) calculators were what calculators were, because we couldn't pack a real computer on-board. Things have changed.

My Intel Edison is laying out open, exposed, unprotected on my desktop with a 300 mA wallwart attached to it, and it attached via wifi to the Internet. It is motionlessly and silently (say powerfully) present on the net with no moving parts, no heat, no large power drains, very little (almost no) cost, just looking for a case to hide in... and I'm going to print that case on my 3D printer... and wrap the entire thing around a calculator... that will be also a great number of other things as well.

But, take a step back, while I'm trying to get you to catch my vision, and tell me what is inside the WP34s? And then, tell me what EVERYONE wanted to add to it... printer, IR, USB... wifi if they could!
... and why? Because calculator paradigm says they are stand-alone appliances that don't need to collaborate, nor communicate. And even the NCEES is passing this on to students by forbidding collaboration (nor any such devices) on exams... when those VERY devices are going to be needed in the engineering field in the 21st century. Its mind blowing.

By the way, the edison takes up even less space when you consider that you won't be using the breakout board (not even the mini one) on a commercial board for this project... the project boards will have their own 70 pin Hirose connector and the edison will be sitting there taking up no more room than a postage stamp.

Do you realize the power in the WP34s? The developers maxed its memory, and tapped is power to the max... and there is MUCH more they would have liked to do... Pauli told me, maybe he'll comment here, but as the primary coder for the WP34s 'he' recommended this board first. I just agree with his opinion and logic.

Cheers,
marcus