Casio ClassPad 300
Encyclopedia
The Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...

 ClassPad 300
is a stylus based calculator
Calculator
An electronic calculator is a small, portable, usually inexpensive electronic device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic. Modern calculators are more portable than most computers, though most PDAs are comparable in size to handheld calculators.The first solid-state electronic...

. HP worked on a pen based calculator
Calculator
An electronic calculator is a small, portable, usually inexpensive electronic device used to perform the basic operations of arithmetic. Modern calculators are more portable than most computers, though most PDAs are comparable in size to handheld calculators.The first solid-state electronic...

 called the HP-Xpander
HP-Xpander
The HP-Xpander was to be HP's newest graphing calculator, but just months before it was scheduled to go into production. It had both a keyboard and a pen-based interface, measures 162.6 mm by 88.9 mm by 22.9 mm, had a huge grayscale screen, and ran on two rechargeable AA batteries...

, as did Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...

 under their PET Project (see TI PLT SHH1
TI PLT SHH1
TI PLT SHH1 is a prototype calculator created by Texas Instruments as an early attempt to develop a Linux based calculator. It features an ARM based OMAP 1510 processor, 16 MB RAM, and an SD slot...

), yet both projects were cancelled before they were released to the market. The ClassPad comes with a collection of applications that support self-study, like 3D Graph, Geometry, eActivity, Spreadsheet, etc. A large 160x240 pixel LCD touch screen enables stylus-based operation. There is a strong resemblance between the ClassPad and the older Pocket Viewer
Pocket viewer
Pocket Viewer was a model range of personal digital assistants developed by Casio.-Description:Pocket Viewer was a model range of PDAs from Casio. Early models used Intel x86 based processors . Later models used Hitachi processors from the SuperH family. Both models ran Casio's proprietary OS...

 line.

The ClassPad 300 allows input of expressions, and displays them as they appear in a textbook. Factorization of expressions, calculation of limit values of functions, and other operations can be performed while viewing the results on a large LCD screen. The ClassPad 300 comes with graphing tools for 3D graphing and drawing of geometric figures.

The user interface of the ClassPad 300 uses a pull-down menu format. Solutions, expressions, and other items can be selected with the tap of the stylus. The ClassPad 300 also supports drag and drop, copy and paste, and other pen-based operations.

An eActivity application allows the creation of eActivities that can include figures, expressions, and explanations.

The ClassPad series is banned from standardized tests including the SAT, the ACT, and the AP Calculus test.

ClassPad 300 Plus

The Plus series is equipped with a high contrast display, 5.4 MB of flash memory and comes with a standardized Mini-USB port.

ClassPad 330

This series is almost identical to the ClassPad 300 Plus except that the preinstalled firmware has been updated to at least OS 3.02

ClassPad 330-A

The A series was reported to be a version of ClassPad 330 with preinstalled OS 3.03

History

During 1996, CASIO worked on the CAS
Computer algebra system
A computer algebra system is a software program that facilitates symbolic mathematics. The core functionality of a CAS is manipulation of mathematical expressions in symbolic form.-Symbolic manipulations:...

 (Computer Algebra System) and studying Geometry. The CAS
Computer algebra system
A computer algebra system is a software program that facilitates symbolic mathematics. The core functionality of a CAS is manipulation of mathematical expressions in symbolic form.-Symbolic manipulations:...

 was first used in the Casio CFX-9970G then the Casio Algebra FX 2.0, and later formed the core math system for the ClassPad.

In 1999, with the help of many teachers and friends, the idea of the eActivity emerged. It would allow all applications to interact from within one application, and display information in a textbook style.

In 2000 CASIO opened a new office, the CASIO Education Technology M.R.D. Center in Portland, Oregon, USA. They hired engineers familiar with programming PCs and specialists from the education field. Ideas from around the world were now being implemented into the ClassPad by Tokyo R&D and Portland MRD Team.

In 2002 CASIO completed a prototype for the ClassPad. Before the prototype was complete, an emulator was used for testing. The emulator was so good that CASIO decided to include the emulator in the software that was being developed for data transfer. The data transfer and emulator software merged into one product called the ClassPad Manager.

In 2003 CASIO finally released the ClassPad 300.

In 2005 CASIO released the ClassPad 300 Plus featuring more flash memory, a better display and standardized Mini-USB.

In 2007 CASIO released the ClassPad 330 featuring a preinstalled version of OS 3.02 or OS 3.03.

ClassPad OS 3.0

In 2006 CASIO released OS 3.0 for the ClassPad. OS 3.0 featured Laplace and Fourier transform, differential equation graphs, financial functions, AP statistics and parameterized 3D graphs. Subsequent releases were only available for users with OS 3.0 or later.

In 2006 CASIO released OS 3.01 for the ClassPad. OS 3.01 concentrated solely on bug fixing.

In 2007 CASIO released OS 3.02 for the ClassPad. OS 3.02 concentrated solely on bug fixing.

In 2008 CASIO released OS 3.03 for the ClassPad. OS 3.03 featured new probability distribution functions, an extended numeric solver and several user interface improvements.

In 2009 CASIO released OS 3.04 for the ClassPad. OS 3.04 featured an updated spreadsheet application, stat function enhancements and several user interface improvements. Also, there were two hotfix releases for OS 3.04.3000 - namely: OS 3.04.4000 and OS 3.04.5000

In 2010 CASIO released OS 3.05 for the ClassPad. OS 3.05 featured new financial functions and an 'on data' option for quartile calculation.

In 2011 CASIO released OS 3.06 for the ClassPad. OS 3.06 featured new imaginary calculation functions and an improved numeric solver. So far, one hotfix release followed: OS 3.06.1000

See also

  • Casio 9860 series
  • TI-Nspire
  • Derive (computer algebra system)
  • TI-92 series
    TI-92 series
    The TI-92 series of graphing calculators are a line of calculators produced by Texas Instruments. They include: the TI-92 , the TI-92 Plus , and the Voyage 200 . The design of these relatively large calculators includes a QWERTY keyboard...

  • TI-89
  • TI-83
  • TI-84
  • HP-49 series
    HP-49 series
    The HP 49G series are Hewlett-Packard manufactured graphing calculators. They are the successors of the popular HP-48 series.There are four calculators in the 49 series of HP graphing calculators...

  • HP-Xpander
    HP-Xpander
    The HP-Xpander was to be HP's newest graphing calculator, but just months before it was scheduled to go into production. It had both a keyboard and a pen-based interface, measures 162.6 mm by 88.9 mm by 22.9 mm, had a huge grayscale screen, and ran on two rechargeable AA batteries...

    (project was canceled)

External links

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