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Comment: Re:Drawing on the screen has got to be really slow (Score 1) 233

by Dwedit (#42961745) Attached to: Full Review of the Color TI-84 Plus

You might think they're modernizing the processor, but they haven't done anything like that in the previous models. This new model has the same selectable clock speeds as the last one, so I doubt they are using any timings other than classic Z80.
Communication to the display screen is done through Z80 in/out instructions. I haven't read the documentation on how to communicate with the LCD device, but I don't think they're using anything other than 16-bit pixels.

Comment: Drawing on the screen has got to be really slow (Score 2) 233

by Dwedit (#42958855) Attached to: Full Review of the Color TI-84 Plus

15MHz Z80, and a 320x240 16-bit screen. Drawing to that screen has got to be slow.
Copying bytes from memory to an IO port is 24 cycles per byte on the usual code (ld a,(hl) \ out (n),a \ inc hl)
The screen itself is 153,600 bytes large.
So it takes more than 3,686,400 clocks to output an entire screen image, most likely a lot more time. This suggests the entire screen can be updated 4 times per second with unrolled code, and that's not counting the code needed to set up and get ready to output data to the screen, or generate said data. More realistically, the screen could be updated updated 3 times per second.
For things like solid color fills, probably much faster, possibly as high as 8FPS.

Comment: Re:Does windows crash if it has 0 temp space or 0 (Score 2) 215

by Dwedit (#42846579) Attached to: Samsung Laptop Bug Is Not Linux Specific

I've seen Windows machines run out of handles. First you see applications not drawing properly, or missing buttons, then you see windows failing to be created. When it tries to create the window, it fails, then you hear the "Critical Stop" sound played instead of a dialog appearing.

Sometimes, it won't even create menus, so you can't right-click on a program in your taskbar and close it, but you can still activate the window and press Alt+F4 to close the program.

Once your system gets into that state, start closing programs (Calc, Explorer windows, etc. ) until you can use your computer again. Once you've closed enough programs, your computer works again. Don't even need to reboot.

Comment: How much really is English? (Score 1) 330

by Dwedit (#42837159) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do Most Programmers Understand the English Language?

How much technical terminology really is English in the first place?

"Binary" is from Latin, "Digit" is from Latin, and "Bit" is a contraction of "Binary Digit". "Byte" is from English and is based on the word "Bit".

Let's talk TCP. "Transmission" is from Latin, "Protocol" is from French and Latin, and "Control" is from English.

Using an Operating System? Both words from Latin, System is also from Greek.

Connecting your electronics on a PCB using a bus? "Electronics" is from Greek, "print" is from French, "circuit" is from Latin, "board" is from English, and "bus" is from Latin (from "omnibus").

Developing a program? "Develop" and "Program" are both from French.

I could go on, but much of English is just loanwords anyway.

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