In article <3A6### [at] hotmailcom>, Dan Johnson 
<zap### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:

> Things I want in my future calculator.

How far in the future? Using current technology or nonexistant/highly 
expensive technology?


> 1.  More power.  Faster processor more memory.

Definitely.


> 3.  Should play mp3's and have a headphone jack.

Hmm, that would certainly require #1...


> 4.  Color display capable of displaying millions of colors.

Millions? I think 256 will be the most you can hope for for a 
while...and personally I would value higher resolution more.
Hmm...semi-flexible OLED color display with thousands of colors...it 
could be big, say 6*8 inches, and slide in and out of the side of the 
calculator, rolling up inside it to save space. And it would be 
unbreakable, though it might wear out from the constant flexing. It 
would be cheap to replace, though.


> 5.  Good games should be in rom, like sonic the hedgehog.

This is a *calculator*! ;-)
There shouldn't be any reason for them not to be available, but many of 
the people buying them would consider games a waste of money and ROM 
space. And even rewritable rom is too slow...the calculator should use 
Microdrives. They have them up to 1GB now, and the disk platter is the 
size of a quarter...


> 6.  Built in Remote program

You mean a program to use the infrared port as a remote control? Good 
idea...


> 7.  Fast standardized data interface.  USB maybe.

Or FireWire...(IEEE-1394). That should be fast enough. :-)
It should be able to talk to a USB printer, too...that would be a nice 
way to get high-resolution color graphics. It should be able to charge 
itself while plugged in, too.


> 8.  C compiler

Or at least a simplified C variant...


> 9.  POV-Ray

Right. :-)

How about:
~100MHz RISC processor

8MB RAM for active stuff and video memory

2 slots for micro-hard drives for storage and virtual memory

modified USB port (the connector and cable would need to be made less 
bulky, but the other end could be standard)

slide-out 16-bit color 6*8 inch OLED display with 640*480 resolution, 
touch sensitive screen optional.

Decent quality built in microphone and speaker, microphone and headphone 
jack.

Mini-touch pad.

Built-in cell phone capability, and internet/e-mail access. (cell phones 
are getting too small anyway...I think they are going to have to start 
combining these things soon, or you will keep loosing them...)

Software including: remote control emulator, simplified Java virtual 
machine, C/C++ compiler, and of course, math and graphing software. Oh, 
and *good* handwriting recognition. Optional game packs.

Where do you draw the line between high-end calculator and palm computer?

-- 
Christopher James Huff
Personal: chr### [at] maccom, http://homepage.mac.com/chrishuff/
TAG: chr### [at] tagpovrayorg, http://tag.povray.org/

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