Doors CS [Cur: 5.8 Beta]

Timendus · Post by **Timendus** » Mon 23 Jan, 2006 4:23 pm

kalan_vod wrote:And why is it that you guys call it OS?

Makes 'em look cooler

KermMartian · Post by **KermMartian** » Mon 23 Jan, 2006 4:28 pm

That was my point. They're all shells, and so is Doors CS - Doors "Calculator Shell".

Timendus: Like memory allocation, random running of noncode and crashing from someone using _insertMem or _delMem, the limited size available between the end of large programs like Phoenix and $C000,....

I don't, but Microsoft did - Windows Mobile 5.0 anyone?
Nevertheless, I do indeed see 6Mhz+32kb RAm+96x64 monochrome screen as a PDA. It doesn't matter to me what it does and does not have, as long as it can display stuff and store a decent amount of data. If I can make it be a more widely-used device for the same purposes $300-$700 units can use, if with more limited features, then I see no reason not to go ahead with it.

necro · Post by **necro** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 3:15 am

Timendus wrote:
KermMartian wrote:And since I'll be able to make the libraries bcalls, I won't have to worry about all the implicit problems that RAM-based libraries cause.
Like... what?

Ah, excellent question. OK, I try to think of TI graphing calculators not as primarily a calculator, secondarily a feature-poor gaming device; I think of them more as a device with a low-level OS (kinda like DOS) that other stuff can and should be built on top of to make them more user-friendly (like win9x). I feel that people should be able to use this $90 computing device as a full-featured handheld device, dare I say PDA?
Please tell me how you can see a 6 Mhz 32K ram device with a two colour display as a PDA? The average cell phone has more CPU power and far better graphics. You can't properly view documents on that screen, let alone graphics. It has hardly any connectivity options, apart from the limited link port. You know, there's a reason why Win 3.11 wasn't built for 8086 computers, and that's because their hardware wasn't worth it. Our calculators aren't "worth" a Windows like look'n'feel, mainly because the display is just way too crappy, and Windows style use doesn't fit it. Do you see a Start button and a taskbar on your mobile phone?

timendus...please offer suggestions, not critisings. Like what do you think would improve it instead of just attacking it while plugging your api. Personaly, I think my calc would do well to have a Windows on top of its dos, as the dos is not so freindly to work with. I say go for it kerm.

Post by **tr1p1ea** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 3:51 am

Firstly, i am getting sick of people jumping on Timendus everytime he says something. He doesnt think that a calc would fair well as a PDA ... whats wrong with saying that.

I also hope you mean 'dos' as a *very* generic term there necro

.

Also Kerm, you are saying that your shell will have some kind of OS integration? Will that be in the form of a chained interrupt or perhaps hooks?

necro · Post by **necro** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 4:18 am

of course I mean it so. But both DOS and the calc have dreadfull interfaces...that is similar enough to me. I am not jumping on timendus, I am just asking why he hasn't posted a single feature idea/change. He has said what he dislikes and then didn't offer anything specific that he thinks it could benifit from.

kalan_vod · Post by **kalan_vod** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 4:30 am

All can benifit from critisim.

KermMartian · Post by **KermMartian** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 6:16 am

To tell you the truth, I've gotten used to Timendus offering mostly constructive criticism, because it helps me to keep things in perspective. I also respect your view that he should offer alternatives instead of simply pointing out the shortcomings or unseen facets of my design, but I find this type of criticism far more helpful than no feedback at all.
----
Back on topic: I just upgraded doorscs.cemetech.net to use the include files etc from the rest of the website to track and manage users, and I'm working on a FollowUps feature for the bug/feature testing to make it easy for other users to offer correlating evidence, support, or rejection of a particular bug or feature posted.
http://doorscs.cemetech.net

Oh, and Tr1p1ea - I mean via a hook system.

threefingeredguy · Post by **threefingeredguy** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 6:45 am

Don't use real for hooks anymore. Please, use something from the front of the catalog. That would make it easier for everyone and you wouldn't mix it up with xLIB stuff.

Post by **tr1p1ea** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 8:34 am

Thats good, hooks are probably the best approach for integrating features with the OS. Im not sure if it matters what token you choose to overwrite ... but a parser-hook is a parser hook, i dont know if *any* parser hooks would be compatible without chaining them.

I know that Detached Solutions has a lot of information on hooks.

Timendus · Post by **Timendus** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 10:58 am

necro wrote:timendus...please offer suggestions, not critisings. Like what do you think would improve it instead of just attacking it while plugging your api. Personaly, I think my calc would do well to have a Windows on top of its dos, as the dos is not so freindly to work with. I say go for it kerm.

[...]

I am not jumping on timendus, I am just asking why he hasn't posted a single feature idea/change. He has said what he dislikes and then didn't offer anything specific that he thinks it could benifit from.

I hardly even mentioned the API in this thread, how can you call that plugging?

Also, I handed several ideas and features in this thread. If you can't read, then that's your problem, please don't start an argument about it.

And no I don't think a Ti calc will do well as a PDA. I don't even like my cell phone as a PDA, and that has a much better directional pad, a display 5 times the size our calcs have with a few million colours and Bluetooth/IR/GRPS connections. How is my calculator supposed to beat that with a shell that's hardly worth standing in the shadow of Symbian? (No offense meant here, it's just impossible to write something more advanced than Symbian OS on a calculator - single thread, little memory, etc)

DJ_O · Post by **DJ_O** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 2:46 pm

wouldnt chained apps slow down the new integrated functions a lot?

KermMartian · Post by **KermMartian** » Tue 24 Jan, 2006 4:14 pm

They might, but I'm not gonna go overboard with integration to the point where programs would slow down. Maybe a few libs for BASIC progs, some helper keycombos, etc.

necro · Post by **necro** » Wed 25 Jan, 2006 1:18 am

tim, I didn't mean it as insult...I just was asking if you saw any silver lining to those oh so many clouds. I have a lot of respect for you, you are a lot better programmer (actualy, alot of people are). So, if you took offense, I appologise.

So, as far as features, it'd be kinda neat to be somehow able to use the GUI as a means of making programs. For example, if I had a rts game with units, and I want an action/cancle action button, and two selection arrows (to change comands) it'd be cool if doors could actualy alow me to check for user input (and run the rest of my program in the background, like setting a time out for how long to check for user input) and then pass those vars along into my game (preferably, this would be supported for basic and asm games). One of the big pros of Windows is in stuff like JS, you can actualy use the built in mouse events to handle all the user input like click and location events.

KermMartian · Post by **KermMartian** » Wed 25 Jan, 2006 2:05 am

That's EXACTLY what I already have planned - what I'm calling the GUIStack or GStack for short. Details in this thread: http://cemetech.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=717

And if you have any feature ideas, please, feel free to go to http://doorscs.cemetech.net/?p=track and add them in.

kalan_vod · Post by **kalan_vod** » Wed 25 Jan, 2006 2:12 am

Cool addition, I would go over to your forums but they take too much time to load.....