Post AbFQLbiZnXhXssfXI8 by starfrost@wetdry.world
 (DIR) More posts by starfrost@wetdry.world
 (DIR) Post #AbFQLaElIuG5I7iDBI by starfrost@wetdry.world
       2023-10-28T22:29:23Z
       
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       Adding to this: I went through a phase of being obsessed with graphing calculators.CASIO had actually invented these things, in 1985. Initially, they used a Z80 derivative. Later, they shifted over to the NEC V30MX. Also known as the Intel 8086. The OS was Datalight ROM-DOS. A clone of MS-DOS. Yes, they ran DOS on a calculator. This actually worked fine for a while and they got through several generations of calculator with it.But they had a problem. In 2005, it was time to make their next generation of calculators to squeeze even more money from the educational market - but for some reason they couldn't or didn't want to use their old platform. So what do they do?
       
 (DIR) Post #AbFQLb9pshuc98Pn8q by roytam1@miniwa.moe
       2023-10-29T02:06:23.672755Z
       
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       @starfrost I wonder if ROM is dumped from such calculator?
       
 (DIR) Post #AbFQLbiZnXhXssfXI8 by starfrost@wetdry.world
       2023-10-28T22:46:15Z
       
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       The entire company is apparently infected by Not Invented Here, and they spend far much more money, waste much more time and expend much more resources than they ever needed to do writing one of the most cursed software platforms ever written.They inexplicably decide to use the Sh-4 architecture. Yes, the one used in the Dreamcast. And better than that, they decide to write possibly the most cursed operating system ever written:There are only two processes. A parent process and a child process.There is an official C and C++ SDK. Yes, official.They wrote their own binary format. Naturally, it's inverted before being written or read. Because why not?Despite this, the system apps are implemented as system calls in the kernel that exit via calling a system call called "GetKey"There is absolutely zero security. To the point where the bootloader is not write protected, passwords are stored in plaintext in flash, you can arbitrarily write flash over USB, etc. A completely custom BASIC so slow someone wrote a 100 times faster replacement that was still interpreted.They wrote their own format for representing numbers.That's far from all.They still use this platform. In 2023.
       
 (DIR) Post #AbFQLd26uOv9xkoeNU by starfrost@wetdry.world
       2023-10-28T22:53:27Z
       
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       They overengineered this platform beyond insanity. For example, it has a USB port, and you can take screenshots from the calculator and send them over USB to be saved.Examples of REAL functionality, on REAL Casio fx-9860G series calculators:Fully functioning clipboard. A spreadsheet application, naturally with its own custom format.A custom data logger just for their ecosystem"e-Activity"Updatable firmware over USB, just in case you needed to update your calculator I guess?A periodic table (downloadable application)Later on, in the casio "Prizm", they added:A 384*216 screenPython interpreter as well, because why not?3D graphingThe impressive thing is that they went to this ridiculous effort to create this completely custom platform when they could have just created a Linux box, or (like TI) just used ARM, and then shoved it with so many features the UI becomes unusable on the tiny screen they have. And then made it more insecure than a PC exposed to the Internet running Windows 98.
       
 (DIR) Post #AbFQLeSjatoOOcHQW0 by starfrost@wetdry.world
       2023-10-28T23:52:29Z
       
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       Also to top it all off: at least for the gii series, they ordered a custom SH4 core WITHOUT AN FPU. IN A CALCULATOR. It's fixed point. W t f