I think that someone should make it so that you can access WI-FI on TI calculators instead of having to deal with cords and other annoying things.
People have tried. I actually have a wifi usb device sitting right next to me atm. The problem is that I think they require 500mA, and the Ti bus host can only give 100mA. That being said, there are power circuits that I've honestly just been too lazy to create and test. I should have the documentation on the device here somewhere.

But honestly, it's complicated, and I don't feel like doing it. I'm also sure there's some other reason why no one has been able to do it. IIRC, brandonw tried it, and just never finished it. Actually, here's the link: http://brandonw.net/calculators/wifi8x/

I would look at that page.
On a slightly different tack, there are several projects to do wireless CALCnet over the I/O port, including using a Zigbee or other such approaches. If you have any electronics knowledge, Spence, you're welcome to help with the projects.
Thanks for input.
Spenceboy98 wrote:
Thanks for input.
No problem. Thanks for reminding me once again that this is something that people are interested in.
KermMartian wrote:
Spenceboy98 wrote:
Thanks for input.
No problem. Thanks for reminding me once again that this is something that people are interested in.


I just looked up the docs for the device, and just remembered why I never implemented it. It's difficult. I guess I could connect to the device from the computer, get that working, then port it to a calc. At least I don't have to deal with the power supply that way. It's just a Ralink RT2571F chip.
iirc, those drivers are open-source for linux. I have a similar card that runs at a max of 460mA, but reports also that it can transmit at 330mA (being the max).
The biggest issue with hooking a calculator up to a wifi adapter is many of them need firmware uploaded to them during init, and those firmware files would have to be included on the calculator some how.

Not to mention the whole implementing an TCP/IP stack on calc, that really doesn't sound fun.
I don't think size would stop this from being done, just getting the adapter to not freak out about the limited power and possibly the USB.
I don't think the USB would be that hard if you abstracted it slightly from the actual implementation. I think your main concern will be how to handle everything.

Maybe if it handled up to layer 4 of the OSI model, and have stuff build on top of that? I think it's plausible, but you may have someone who knows a lot about network implementation, and not a lot about USB, or vice versa.

It would be difficult to find someone with both, AND the time to do it. Maybe a group project?
Once again, I think we're best off using a software networking stack we already have (like CALCnet, for example) and trying to work the hardware around that. I feel like the USB option would be the far, far more difficult alternative. Also, speaking of on-calc TCP stacks, I believe there was a 68k project that implemented such a stack, but I recall it being a very large program.
KermMartian wrote:
Once again, I think we're best off using a software networking stack we already have (like CALCnet, for example) and trying to work the hardware around that. I feel like the USB option would be the far, far more difficult alternative. Also, speaking of on-calc TCP stacks, I believe there was a 68k project that implemented such a stack, but I recall it being a very large program.


Maybe I'm just not very good at reading between the lines, but it looks like we're approaching the problem from either a complete software approach or a complete hardware approach. I think you're probably going to need some sort of custom adapter of some sort - one that perhaps handles TCP by itself, rather than delegating it to the calculator? If the custom hybrid hard/software approach is taken, you might also consider adding some sort of power supply into the adapter as well.
I will note that there are some microcontroller-oriented wifi adapters that have a TCP/IP stack on the adapter (which is basically running an ARM7 or ARM9 or similar). I forget the details of how you deal with connections on one of those (it's not just the ones where they act as a telnet server for the device in question), but it is real, independent TCP/IP connections.

I'll have to look into them... I had done some research on them for a possible Apple II wifi adapter.

Edit: Something along these lines, although it looks like you would need an on-calc TCP/IP stack, or something custom running on the wifi side and part of a sockets interface on the calc, to really get things done well. uIP could probably be adapted to the task...
KermMartian wrote:
Spenceboy98 wrote:
Thanks for input.
No problem. Thanks for reminding me once again that this is something that people are interested in.

Definitely interested in! It would be of great value! Especially if it were possible to use the TI-navigator - that'd be good.
  
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