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Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

numworks.com

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Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#21

Post by cpks »

susam wrote: post #16
dbcurtis wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please explain. NC only prohibits commercial exploitation, correct?

CC BY-NC-SA does not permit the use of the software for commercial purposes. This violates point 6 of the Open Source Definition[OSD] that says, "No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research." [OSD]: ht…

For example, if the Russian School of Math, or Kumon, wanted to adopt this calculator and software (commercial use, tutoring center), they'd be breaking the license.

This license is a non-starter...

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#22

Post by zokier »

Personally I feel like clamshell design would make lots of sense for these more advanced calculators. At the same footprint you could have lot bigger screen, and more/bigger buttons. As an added bonus the screen would be more readable when sitting on a desk. I wouldn't think the marginally added thikness would impact much something thats being carried around in backbacks most of time anyways.

For some reason practically no calculators seem to have used clamshell design. Does anyone know why?

Closest example I know of would be HP 200LX, but it is a full-blown computer so it doesn't fit the requirements for education market. Looking at this side by side picture with a graphing calculator, it is not difficult to imagine the calculator keys being transplanted to 200LX to make a nifty new device.

https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/HFcfXoM.png

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#23

Post by smartmic »

If you care about calculation/typing efficiency, you might also want to check out RPN (reverse polish notation).

I am recommending the HP 35s. Once you are used to the notation, it is a real pleasure, not only for old-school advocates like me. Added bonus: you will gain respect for stack-based languages like Forth, Factor etc.

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#24

Post by Ecco »

zokier wrote: post #22

Personally I feel like clamshell design would make lots of sense for these more advanced calculators. At the same footprint you could have lot bigger screen, and more/bigger buttons. As an added bonus the screen would be more readable when sitting on a desk. I wouldn't think the marginally added thikness would impact much something thats being carried around in backbacks most of time anyways. For some reason practica…

Full-blown qwerty-like keyboards are forbidden for a bunch of standardized tests such as the SAT.

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#25

Post by fafner »

antioedipus wrote: post #9

It's always amazed me how, in 2018, TI calculators with software and hardware from 10 years ago still cost $100+ dollars [0] and command a near monopoly in US secondary schools (which, I suppose, is why they still cost that much). For that price you can get a significantly more powerful and functional mobile phone [1] (see 24K of ram vs. 2GB, 96x64 screen vs. 720 x 1280)! The space needs competition, and I hope Numwo…

More like hardware from 20 years. Yeah I hope the TI monopoly gets broken. Numworks looks exactly like the calculator I was dreaming about when I was in uni.

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#26

Post by StreakyCobra »

smartmic wrote: post #23

If you care about calculation/typing efficiency, you might also want to check out RPN (reverse polish notation). I am recommending the HP 35s. Once you are used to the notation, it is a real pleasure, not only for old-school advocates like me. Added bonus: you will gain respect for stack-based languages like Forth, Factor etc.

I tried the HP35s of a friend for a few days. It is globally a nice RPN calculator and not too expensive for starting. But I don't want to get one because this calculator have a quite long list of known bugs [1] that have been sitting there for more than 10 years now, and HP hasn't fixed anything yet!

If you are a grown-up children like me and just want a pretty expensive toy, I can recommend the SwissMicros DM42 [2] (I'm not related to them in any way, just a happy customer). The made an adaptation of the HP42s for the modern world: «34 decimal digits of precision, with exponents ranging from -6143 to +6144», based on the excellent Thomas Okken's Free42 [3], big and nice screen, USB connection for loading/saving programs, save and restore of the calculator state, and so on!

And being based on Free42 you can get the emulator on your phone and share the programs with the calculator. You then have the same "calculator" everytime with you, no need to get used to another program/interface on your phone.

[1] http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/articles.cg... [2] https://www.swissmicros.com/dm42.php [3] http://thomasokken.com/free42/

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#28

Post by fmajid »

zokier wrote: post #22

Personally I feel like clamshell design would make lots of sense for these more advanced calculators. At the same footprint you could have lot bigger screen, and more/bigger buttons. As an added bonus the screen would be more readable when sitting on a desk. I wouldn't think the marginally added thikness would impact much something thats being carried around in backbacks most of time anyways. For some reason practica…

The HP-28C and HP-28S were clamshells, along with their business counterparts. Great calculators, although the 28C was a bit tight on RAM.

I had a 28C, 95LX and 200LX. The modern equivalent of the latter would be the Planet Gemini.

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#29

Post by abdulhaq »

zokier wrote: post #22

Personally I feel like clamshell design would make lots of sense for these more advanced calculators. At the same footprint you could have lot bigger screen, and more/bigger buttons. As an added bonus the screen would be more readable when sitting on a desk. I wouldn't think the marginally added thikness would impact much something thats being carried around in backbacks most of time anyways. For some reason practica…

The problem is that the cabling at the hinge is prone to breaking.

Re: Numworks: open-source, Python-compatible handheld graphing calculator

#30

Post by PurpleRamen »

kfogel wrote: post #12
marmaduke wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Source appear to be on GitHub. Non commercial is not incompatible with open source. It makes sense to me that to get the investment required to fund this, you’d want sole rights to commercialize. Nothing prevents someone else from building a cheaper DIY version as long as they don’t sell it. For example it could be a local college class exercise to build these from scratch for local high school. That’s not imaginable…

Source being on GitHub does not equal "is open source". Restrictions on commercial use are incompatible with open source. The Open Source Initiative, which coined the term and evaluates licenses for compatibility with the Open Source Definition (see https://opensource.org/definition ), is crystal clear on this point: if your license has a field-of-use restriction -- such as a restriction on commercial use -- then it'…

It may not be "Free Source", but if the source is open in the sense if being accessable, then for normal people it is open source. One organization using words in a specific way, doesn't negate all other legit interpretations of those words.

It's an unsolvable problem they created there.

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