GinDiamond wrote:
Right. I figured about those oscillator timers.
So, the z80 processor it comes with can only handle so many commands at once, right? Can you create "virtual registers" to increase the amount of computing capacity?
The z80 can only handle one instruction at a time and this has nothing to do with the register count. More registers would help program execution time only due to the fact that accessing registers is faster, fewer t-states, than accessing ram.
I'm not sure what Kaslai means by saying IX and IY are virtual registers, but z80 does have the shadow registers witch does give it more registers but it can only access one set of those registers at a time.
What I meant by IX and IY is that they can be configured and reconfigured to point at different sections of RAM, and then the area pointed to can be accessed more or less like a register.
But like The Storm said, the number of registers has little or no bearing on the system performance, It's in the instruction set and in the clock speed. The instruction set is dictated by the circuitry and thus cannot be extended without an IC replacement.
Would it be possible to physically solder in more RAM to a first-generation TI-83 Plus and modify the OS / create a new OS that can interface with that added memory? Or is the CPU or ASIC incompatible with the added memory?
If you have an ASIC, no (hence there being an ASIC). If the RAM is discrete, eww (look at BrandonW and getting ROM back into the calc).
Want more memory? Plug a flash drive into your calc and run USB software. Done. Simple as that
actually, im going to experiment a bit with USB-dependent calculator programs. think about the multitudes of things you can do with that!
LuxenD wrote:
actually, im going to experiment a bit with USB-dependent calculator programs. think about the multitudes of things you can do with that!
Indeed, but it's quite challenging to get right. What did you have in mind?
sorry, private project, Kerm. but it does have something to do with DCS.
USB dependent programs?
Does that mean the program stays on the USB and doesn't actually go onto the archive ROM or RAM of the calc?
GinDiamond wrote:
USB dependent programs?
Does that mean the program stays on the USB and doesn't actually go onto the archive ROM or RAM of the calc?
No, I think he's talking about programs that use external (non-storage) USB hardware.
oh.
That would be cool if a program was loaded from a USB drive and didn't take up all the 24K of RAM.
Like, you could load the program a little at a time.
Is that possible?
If you had a calculator with extra ram pages (i.e. an 84+) and swapped them in and out, you could probably do something like that, but it would require very clever swappping.
So you CAN use the full 48KB of ram?
GinDiamond wrote:
oh.
That would be cool if a program was loaded from a USB drive and didn't take up all the 24K of RAM.
Like, you could load the program a little at a time.
Is that possible?
Already done with msd8x using usb8x.
@AHelper:
Can I load the program from the flash drive a bit at a time, and it won't fill up the RAM even if the actual program is above 24K bytes?
GinDiamond wrote:
USB dependent programs?
Does that mean the program stays on the USB and doesn't actually go onto the archive ROM or RAM of the calc?
yes and no. like i said, this project wont be put anywhere till it's finished. why?
1) i like giving suprises
2) i'd much rather Kerm doesnt get the wrong idea and get mad at me. sorry, all i can say!
Could I possibly use a usb drive as an extended RAM device, like you can with a computer?
Look up "usb8x" and "msd8x".
What would happen if I use a USB internet network adapter?
GinDiamond wrote:
What would happen if I use a USB internet network adapter?
Nothing because no one has written a Driver for one, nor is there a TCP/IP stack to talk to through the driver to the outside world. So even with a driver it would still be useless.
So again Nothing.
