CALCnet 2.2 Whitepaper

Description

This technical report details the CALCnet 2.2 networking protocol for graphing calculators. It begins with an overview of the motivations and inspirations for CALCnet, then reviews the existing alternatives for two-calculator linking, namely the TI-OS, BELL by Tim "Timendus" Franssen, and TachyonLink by Michael Vincent, and n-calc linking, namely CLAP by Mr. Franssen. It goes on to introduce the electrical systems in the calculator for linking, then proceeds to an in-depth section explaining the bit-level, byte-level, and frame-level protocols for one-to-one and broadcast frames. Although the average CALCnet 2.2 user or even programmer does not need to know any of that, it might help in case a coder wants to write CALCnet 2.2 drivers for another platform (Arduino? libticables?). Next is the meat of the manual for end programmers, how to send and receive data via CALCnet 2.2. I include a full experimental results and benchmarking section, detailing the maximum speeds of CALCnet, the overhead incurred by the protocol, effects of frame size on burst throughput, an effectiveness of collision detection and delivery guarantees. It concludes with information on logos and branding, a survey of possible future work, and a summary of CALCnet2.2's strengths and features.