New third party firmware (Not HP'PRIME TEAM)

[Claudio L.]

(01-08-2016 11:55 AM)DrD Wrote:  Historically, as hand held calculators and personal programmable devices evolved, additional software features were desired to add value to a product genre. Are these same challenges present in the Prime? Perhaps, a greater value isn't the Prime firmware replacement. A Prime with a different hardware personna, incorporating the equivalent of a digital multimeter, SCADA, and possibly signal generation; together with enhanced comm's, would make this product much more useful, i.e., "interaction" with the outside world. (Assuming battery viability is commensurate to the task).

But hardware like that is not (in general) within reach of hobbyists. There's a significant cost to develop that.

(01-08-2016 11:55 AM)DrD Wrote:  Somehow, creating a remake of an old BASIC interpreter just seems retrogressive.

That's not a bad thing, is it? In 2016, I would consider a person using calculators retrogressive, developing on and for calculators = retrogressive. This is actually a museum site = retrogressive.
If you were thinking on cutting edge, you are in the wrong forum.
This is a museum site, all about keeping the old code alive (be it BASIC, RPL, etc), and keeping calculators alive, so I think retrogressive in this context is not a bad thing at all. We are all retrogressive here.

(01-08-2016 11:55 AM)DrD Wrote:  From a high-level perspective, what is the advantage gained in the pursuit of (BASIC or third party firmware)? Will either add-on realistically create greater utility value for this particular product? Maybe for déjà vu, or novelty; but otherwise, please help me realize the better mousetrap.

-Dale-

It's not about "this particular product", as open source software can be made relatively portable these days. It's the Prime hardware today, and also perhaps a desktop application for PC, and perhaps a phone/tablet app in the future, or a port to a platform doesn't yet exist. Hardware can be replaced when it ages, and open source projects can outlive the hardware they were created for. Open source software has value by itself, regardless of the hardware it runs on.

Developing new firmware is not to "add value to the hardware", but to use the hardware to "host the new project" for the time being. Just a matter of perspective.