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Ti-84 Evo

education.ti.com

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Re: Ti-84 Evo

#161

Post by tombert »

nick49488171 wrote: post #152
tombert wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I sort of agree. You're paying $100 for completely antiquated hardware where its core feature is "it doesn't do much". Pretty much any professional environment that you will need calculations will have access to a computer that can do these calculations significantly faster and better. I thought my HP was pretty cool in high school, but pretty much the moment I graduated I stopped using it because I figured out how t…

The interface is great for what it does though. I still use ti-83 interface with the calculator app on my phone.

Yeah I guess I should correct and say that I do use an HP 50G emulator on my iPhone cuz I like RPN.

But even still, the iPhone can do many things and is many times more capable, and you can buy a used iPhone 12 that works fine for about the same price as one of these calculators.

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#162

Post by mordechai9000 »

hrunt wrote: post #116
pavel_lishin wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I certainly got a lot of educational value out of mine. I managed to program a fully functional Minesweeper game on mine, using the built-in programming tools - no transferring efficient binaries via cable! But yes. 99% of what we did with them in class - when we were even allowed to use them - could have been handled by a little solar-powered calculator with basic arithmetic functions.

In my school, I was part of a group of students who hand-programmed games on TI-81 or TI-82 calculators using TI-BASIC. No cable transfers. Games included: Hangman, Missile Command, Minesweeper, and R-Type. Looking back, it was really amazingly impressive. Both what those calculators could do and how much free time we had to make them do it.

I programmed a Mandelbrot generator on my TI-81 (if I remember the model correctly) when I should have been paying attention in class. Entering the code was slow and painful - fortunately the algorithm is fairly simple. The batteries lasted forever, until one day I set the bailout to a ridiculously high value, given the limited resolution, and walked away.

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#163

Post by billforsternz »

smlacy wrote: post #122
billforsternz wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surprisingly high or surprisingly low?

IMHO surprisingly low. Still not clear to me why they don't just port these things to ARM or similar?

Thanks for clarifying. I think this is an ARM and a break from a history of Z80 and Z80 adjacent CPUs. I do get the impression TI have done a good (financial) job milking these products whilst under investing in real product innovation.

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#164

Post by BoorishBears »

hatsunearu wrote: post #65
sosborn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CAS capabilities are prohibited in the SAT: https://satsuite.collegeboard.org/sat/what-to-bring-do/calcu...

Wow, they used to be allowed back when I was in high school. It came in super clutch for SAT but much more importantly AP. Our school mandated the original CS CAS and drilled us on how to use it effectively and I got good mileage out of it through high school testing and college. I lost it at some point and got the version 2 and I would occasionally use it for work. I wish it had USB-C because who has a mini-B cable…

I vaguely remember they were banned by a proxy that stopped working after the Ti-89 came out: no QWERTY keyboards

Originally that blocked the Ti-92, but then the Ti-89 and Nspire line had numeric keypads + CAS

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#165

Post by billxreynolds »

cj wrote: post #91
badc0ffee wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

30 years ago, we had the option of the TI-82 Or (83?) and the 85. A bunch of the kids with the 85 were playing Tetris and some were writing little programs. I got the cheaper 82/83, and I don't actually remember using it for anything, even once, even though I did the IB track (stats, trig, algebra, calculus, etc).

How is that possible? I wouldn’t have been able to function without it in school (20 years ago). But we also didn’t have iPhones.

Back in the mid-90's we had a TI version of sneakernet where you would copy programs from one student on to your TI-85 via a link cable; this is how I got Tetris back in the day. I assume OP did the same.

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#166

Post by linsomniac »

TheMagicHorsey wrote: post #160
ziofill wrote: post #153

About 25 years ago my parents got me a Ti84 as a surprise for Christmas and they hid it in the attic so I couldn't find it in the meantime. A few months went by and a couple days before Christmas, when it was time to wrap the presents they couldn't find it anymore. My dad went out and got a Casio something as a late minute replacement, and that was the calculator I used in high school and I never knew about this stor…

Hahaha! This is great. Somewhat related. My mom once yelled at me for losing a necklace she really liked. Then we were moving her stuff out of her house and found the necklace behind a wardrobe, wedged between it and the wall. It had been there for like 40 years, layered in dust.

My mom once was getting ready for work and I hear a pop and hear my mom yelling. I go in and her necklace fell off the dresser; a "dust buster" wall wart was plugged in back there and it fell across the prongs, shorting it out.

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#169

Post by sanderjd »

vvpan wrote: post #38

We had to buy those calculators for highschool and it was a waste of money, felt like somebody must be paying somebody off to have thousands of students buy a device that they will certainly never have to use (and is of little educational value).

This is probably right, but just to note that it's very much a generational thing. When I got a TI-83 (and then eventually an 89!) it was easily the most advanced handheld computing hardware I had ever been exposed to. The iPhone made sense to me, and I knew it would be huge, the day it came out because of these amazing calculators.

I know technology has moved on and all, but much nostalgic respect to these amazing calculators.

Re: Ti-84 Evo

#170

Post by badc0ffee »

billxreynolds wrote: post #165
cj wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that possible? I wouldn’t have been able to function without it in school (20 years ago). But we also didn’t have iPhones.

Back in the mid-90's we had a TI version of sneakernet where you would copy programs from one student on to your TI-85 via a link cable; this is how I got Tetris back in the day. I assume OP did the same.

IIRC there was a way to connect the TI-85 to your serial port and use some Windows or DOS software to copy files onto it. (Everyone's PC still had at least one serial port on it back then).
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