4 ms·

Show HN: I built an open-source kernel for Texas Instruments calculators

20 points by Sir_Cmpwn 13y ago

You know that old TI calculator you used in high school, then put in a box and forgot about? Have you ever wished you had an operating system for your calculator with preemptive multitasking, dynamic memory management, a tree filesystem conforming to the FHS, and all the comforts of Unix? Well, good news: that's totally a thing that exists. I've been working on my kernel for about three and a half years now and I'm looking for new contributors to help out. It's written entirely in z80 assembly, and it's both challenging and fun to work on. There's an IRC channel for contributors or people who are just generally interested. You should stop by! It's #knightos on irc.freenode.net. https://github.com/KnightOS/kernel

TempleOSV2 13y ago
You have a group of 5 psychologists. Not an engineer anywhere. I can do nothing. God is perfectly just. God says... hold_on_a_minute hilarious no_way_dude Yes_you_are what_the_heck that's_for_me_to_know bad voodoo grumble unsung_hero thats_right if_anything_can_go_wrong FBI roses_are_red I_pitty_the_fool later Dean_scream big_fish desert Jesus well_obviously joking no_way_dude What_are_you_doing_dave I_had_a_crazy_dream that's_much_better abnormal I_was_sleeping you_talkin'_to_me how_do_I_put_this no_you_cant rich snap_out_of_it arent_you_clever don't_count_on_it shist off_the_record rockstar LOL jealousy incredibly prosperity birds I_didn't_see_that employer basically boink thats_right lying exports endeavor mission_from_God on_occassion theres_no_place_like_home ---- If you had an engineer, this would have been over ten years ago with God proven to exist.
yzzxy 13y ago
I wonder what the viability of a similar OS would be on the nSpire platform, which is fully ARM-based IIRC. nSpires have some very nice options for mathematical programming (the CAS being a standout feature) but as far as I know lack anything like this. (Most of the advanced nSpire dev is done on a french-language site that I can't fully understand through Google Translate). That said my nSpire CAS CX is pretty kitted out even in the TI Kernel with overclocking, file readers, etc. It even runs Doom! I'm actually amazed that the SAT allows nSpire CAS calculators on their tests (The ACT does not). Apparently the SAT's defining factor for approval is a non-QWERTY keyboard to prevent note input, despite the fact that the nSpire platform allows notes to be transferred to the calculator even before you sideload third-party utilities onto it. The CAS system also allows pretty much any problem to be solved without complex problem manipulation. Most SAT tutors urge students not to solve algebra on calculators because they invariably make mistakes when transforming functions for solver(), but the nSpire's algebra functions will do all kinds of transformations and solve multi-equation functions without much work. You could even solve a lot of geometry problems with the (built in!) geometry program if you forget theorems, and a little competence with things like modulus will take care of the rest of the test without any human computation (though this is slower than solving on your most of the time)
- Sir_Cmpwn 13y ago
  I don't hack on the Nspires, but I know you can run Linux on them: http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Linux http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Linux
- S4M 13y ago
  I'm French, so if you want I can help you to understand the website you're interested in.
  - yzzxy 13y ago
    Thanks for the offer... thankfully some of my friends are french-fluent as well as the bulk of my family, so I can get help if I need something specific translated. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. If you're personally interested the site is available at http://tiplanet.org/ http://tiplanet.org/
    - S4M 13y ago
      Thanks for the link. It brings to me lots of nostalgia reminding me the fun I have with my calculators in high school... You're free to ping me by email (in my profile) if you have any specific question.
kjs3 13y ago
This is really a remarkable bit of work. I spent some quality time in the distant past working with CP/M-80 on the Z-80, and it's pretty remarkable what you've done with a very limited platform (relative to now...back then it was the i7 of day). Cudos.

20 points by Sir_Cmpwn 13y ago

TempleOSV2 13y ago

You have a group of 5 psychologists. Not an engineer anywhere. I can do nothing. God is perfectly just. God says... hold_on_a_minute hilarious no_way_dude Yes_you_are what_the_heck that's_for_me_to_know bad voodoo grumble unsung_hero thats_right if_anything_can_go_wrong FBI roses_are_red I_pitty_the_fool later Dean_scream big_fish desert Jesus well_obviously joking no_way_dude What_are_you_doing_dave I_had_a_crazy_dream that's_much_better abnormal I_was_sleeping you_talkin'_to_me how_do_I_put_this no_you_cant rich snap_out_of_it arent_you_clever don't_count_on_it shist off_the_record rockstar LOL jealousy incredibly prosperity birds I_didn't_see_that employer basically boink thats_right lying exports endeavor mission_from_God on_occassion theres_no_place_like_home ---- If you had an engineer, this would have been over ten years ago with God proven to exist.

yzzxy 13y ago

I wonder what the viability of a similar OS would be on the nSpire platform, which is fully ARM-based IIRC. nSpires have some very nice options for mathematical programming (the CAS being a standout feature) but as far as I know lack anything like this. (Most of the advanced nSpire dev is done on a french-language site that I can't fully understand through Google Translate). That said my nSpire CAS CX is pretty kitted out even in the TI Kernel with overclocking, file readers, etc. It even runs Doom! I'm actually amazed that the SAT allows nSpire CAS calculators on their tests (The ACT does not). Apparently the SAT's defining factor for approval is a non-QWERTY keyboard to prevent note input, despite the fact that the nSpire platform allows notes to be transferred to the calculator even before you sideload third-party utilities onto it. The CAS system also allows pretty much any problem to be solved without complex problem manipulation. Most SAT tutors urge students not to solve algebra on calculators because they invariably make mistakes when transforming functions for solver(), but the nSpire's algebra functions will do all kinds of transformations and solve multi-equation functions without much work. You could even solve a lot of geometry problems with the (built in!) geometry program if you forget theorems, and a little competence with things like modulus will take care of the rest of the test without any human computation (though this is slower than solving on your most of the time)

Sir_Cmpwn 13y ago
I don't hack on the Nspires, but I know you can run Linux on them: http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Linux http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Linux
S4M 13y ago
I'm French, so if you want I can help you to understand the website you're interested in.
- yzzxy 13y ago
  Thanks for the offer... thankfully some of my friends are french-fluent as well as the bulk of my family, so I can get help if I need something specific translated. I just haven't gotten around to it yet. If you're personally interested the site is available at http://tiplanet.org/ http://tiplanet.org/
  - S4M 13y ago
    Thanks for the link. It brings to me lots of nostalgia reminding me the fun I have with my calculators in high school... You're free to ping me by email (in my profile) if you have any specific question.

kjs3 13y ago

This is really a remarkable bit of work. I spent some quality time in the distant past working with CP/M-80 on the Z-80, and it's pretty remarkable what you've done with a very limited platform (relative to now...back then it was the i7 of day). Cudos.