Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

numworks.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 41 posts

Re: NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

#2

Post by semenko »

I just stumbled upon NumWorks and was excited to see some competition for TI's calculator monopoly [1].

It looks like NumWorks is open source (including the hardware) [2] and supports Python and Rust! [3]

[1] https://gen.medium.com/big-calculator-how-texas-instruments-...

[2] https://www.numworks.com/resources/engineering/

[3] https://github.com/numworks/epsilon-sample-app-rust

Re: NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

#3

Post by jpbadan »

semenko wrote: post #2

I just stumbled upon NumWorks and was excited to see some competition for TI's calculator monopoly [1]. It looks like NumWorks is open source (including the hardware) [2] and supports Python and Rust! [3] [1] https://gen.medium.com/big-calculator-how-texas-instruments-... [2] https://www.numworks.com/resources/engineering/ [3] https://github.com/numworks/epsilon-sample-app-rust

Unfortunately It seems it's not open source anymore https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JSxBn_gxWXA

Re: NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

#5

Post by belthesar »

jpbadan wrote: post #3
semenko wrote: post #2

I just stumbled upon NumWorks and was excited to see some competition for TI's calculator monopoly [1]. It looks like NumWorks is open source (including the hardware) [2] and supports Python and Rust! [3] [1] https://gen.medium.com/big-calculator-how-texas-instruments-... [2] https://www.numworks.com/resources/engineering/ [3] https://github.com/numworks/epsilon-sample-app-rust

Unfortunately It seems it's not open source anymore https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JSxBn_gxWXA

That's a gross oversimplification. From the video the poster provided:

* V16 of the Epsilon OS by Numworks removed the ability to install custom operating systems to the device in response to pressure from the Dutch education department, who had adopted the calculator as the standard for their education system. This was due to information provided by a different Youtuber accusing the platform of being used for cheating, and then provided modified versions of the OS that enabled cheating support by working around the Exam Mode functions.

A fair and true statement would be that the NumWorks calculator was originally marketed as open hardware, and that functionality was removed (similar to Sony removing OtherOS from PS3's).

Re: NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

#6

Post by josephcsible »

belthesar wrote: post #5
jpbadan wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately It seems it's not open source anymore https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JSxBn_gxWXA

That's a gross oversimplification. From the video the poster provided: * V16 of the Epsilon OS by Numworks removed the ability to install custom operating systems to the device in response to pressure from the Dutch education department, who had adopted the calculator as the standard for their education system. This was due to information provided by a different Youtuber accusing the platform of being used for cheati…

It's tivoized hardware running closed-but-visible-source software. It's not an oversimplification at all to say it's not open source.

Re: NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

#7

Post by nsajko »

Mods, please correct the editorialized and wrong title. NumWorks isn't open source and never was.

What it is is source-available, because the source is available. Or at least it still was available the last time I looked at it.

NumWorks used to be fun because it had an unlocked bootloader, allowing users to download their own software onto the calculator. But then they did a face-heel turn.

To NumWorks' credit, I'm sure the UI is still miles ahead of Texas Instruments calculators.

EDIT: it seems NumWorks now allows users to download "apps" onto their devices. This is nice, of course, but still a far cry from the unlocked bootloader situation.

Re: NumWorks: An open-source graphing calculator (with Python and Rust support)

#8

Post by rpdillon »

nsajko wrote: post #7

Mods, please correct the editorialized and wrong title. NumWorks isn't open source and never was. What it is is source-available , because the source is available. Or at least it still was available the last time I looked at it. NumWorks used to be fun because it had an unlocked bootloader, allowing users to download their own software onto the calculator. But then they did a face-heel turn. To NumWorks' credit, I'm…

I've engaged in debates on HN about the definition of "open source" in the past, so there might be some disagreement about the meaning of the title.

I've settled on using "OSI open source" to avoid this, since those discussions are uniformly tiring and unproductive.

That said, I agree with parent: the repo specifically has a section regarding copyright and it simply says that all rights are reserved[0]. This is proprietary software, disallowing copying, distribution, and derivative works. It's weird, since even cloning the repo appears to be a violation of their stated terms, though they supply instructions for building the software yourself that of course requires copying the code to your machine first[1].

Copyright is weird.

[0]: https://github.com/numworks/epsilon#copyright

[1]: https://www.numworks.com/resources/engineering/software/buil...

Edit: Figured it out. License was changed 13 months ago: https://github.com/numworks/epsilon/commit/b1ea81f067f5fef3f...

Post reply on HN