10 replies to this topic

[MicroPro]

I was just r-t-f-m'ing the whole manuals for ClassPad 330 PLUS now available from CASIO's edu website.

As discussed in the previous thread it has an SH4 CPU (classic CP has SH3), it has a 6.0 MiB flash storage space, and supports rechargeable batteries.

Here are the other things I observed. First of all, bad news:

Add-ins intended for the ClassPad 300, ClassPad 300 PLUS, and ClassPad 330 (.cpa files) are not supported by the ClassPad 330 PLUS.

So you can't install any of the previous add-ins to your brand new ClassPad. The new format for their add-ins is *.c1a. (And there isn't a single c1a file there on casio site, neither a new SDK)

Next, you can export and import your variables and eActivities to/from the 6 MB flash storage in VCP and XCP formats; the same formats used by ClassPad Manager on the computer, using the ClassPad itself! Apparently it seems this is the only function this 6 MB memory has.
For transfering files between your ClassPad and the computer, you treat your ClassPad like a USB flash drive that contains the vcp and xcp files.

I noticed that all instances of the words "FA-CP1" and "ClassPad Manager" were removed from the 300+'s manuals! Except a paragraph in the page 579 (section 10-2-3) that explains eActivities can be locked using ClassPad Manager. (and this paragraph is not present in CP 3.06 manual).

If anyone has bought this new model, please tell! We need to know this new model.
Any comments?

[flyingfisch]

Looks like we are going to need some hackers to make an SDK...

[MicroPro]

CASIO is kind enough to release their own SDK; but even if they didn't, at least we need some c1a files to look at!
And still there aren't people with this model around.

[noname11]

I don't want to be pessimistic, but I guess Casio is not going to make an SDK for the CP 330+. This is not a hardware issue as the new fx-9860GII models from 2011 have an SH-4A MPU and still support custom add-ins, but could be a marketing decision. They simply do not want people to fool around with their top-sellers Prizm and ClassPad. Also, they have started to hinder some OS modding attempts recently.

[johnet123]

Does anyone know when the Classpad 330 plus will be available in the United States?

[MicroPro]

I think you should constantly monitor online shops or the Casio's America website. There is no release date announced by Casio so far.

[noname11]

The CP330+ is a complete redesign. Hardware and low level software architecture is almost identical to the Prizm; however, the CP uses the C++ based PEG (Portable Embedded GUI) API.

Edited by cfxm, 06 March 2013 - 08:25 PM.

[flyingfisch]

So in other words it may be possible to slightly modify prizmsdk to work with the new classpads?

[noname11]

So in other words it may be possible to slightly modify prizmsdk to work with the new classpads?

No, that won't be that easy.

The CP uses PEG (Portable Embedded GUI) which is written in C++. It is completely different compared to Casio's C based interface on the Prizm. Only very few C functions are available as syscalls, so you have to use PEG syscalls. And to make things worse, you need a lot of PEG library code to actually make a working add-in and this library is not compatible with the CP330+.

[MicroPro]

PEG (and the new CP* classes in the sdk) form the ClassPad programming framework for I/O and UI. They possibly use the low-level input and screen functions CP has inherited from PV, so I don't think PEG has special syscalls of its own.

Probably CASIO has already ported it to its new ClassPad platform, otherwise Algy2 couldn't easily make a .c1a version of its product.

[louloux]

Hi ! I have, with 2 other members of the french community "Planète-Casio", received this model (by writing a course for the Facebook webpage "casio Calculatrices").

I'm surprised by the nice performances of this calculator, but i couldn't transfer anything : the add-ins must be cpa, and when i try to use the "USB mass storage mode" i have my mcs files in the memory but i can't import them. My calculator displays "type de données incorrect" (=wrong data type).

Do you know if it's possible to convert cpa to c1a, as we do for fx9860gii add-ins (SH3 to SH4) ?