WP43S, may I contribute?

[brouhaha]

(11-30-2014 12:28 PM)Georg Bisseling Wrote:  [...] cheap Arduino Due clone (84MHz ARM 96KB SRAM, 512KB Flash at 15€!) and later on switch to the integrated calculator hardware.
Making the calculator hardware software compatible to the Arduino platform could raise the demand and therefor lower the price considerably.

We're paying significantly less than 15€ for the part we're using (EFM32GG380F1024), which has 1MB of flash and 128KB of RAM. It only runs at 48 MHz max, and the calculator will probably default to running at 14 MHz. It draws far less power than most other ARM microcontrollers even at comparable clock frequencies.

As far as I know, there's no reason the Arduino Due code couldn't be ported to the EFM32 parts, but I haven't heard of anyone doing it. It's an interesting idea, but I don't really think that if I did it, it would sell more calculators.

The big per-unit expenses are the LCD, PCB fab, assembly & test, and regulatory compliance (only amortized over a relatively small number of units).

Quote:Can I contribute in any way?

The majority of the calculator firmware will be entirely independent of the hardware. There's just a small library to interface to the keyboard, display, and IR LED. I think suitable calculator firmware could be developed on anything (e.g., a desktop or laptop), and as long as it is designed for the I/O to be replaceable, it won't be hard to port. It didn't take me long at all to get Free42 running on it.