*** I HAVE REKEASED A TI-NETWORK **** !
Im a germany pupil (12th class) an a I have develop a Netwotk-Interface for Network with many (different) calcs. I have worked one year for that *g* and now I've a beta version.
Some inormations:
- BUS-struckture
- one Server-electronic
- Interface-elektronic for each calc
- one BUS-cabel (two wires)
- PWM with Open-Collector
- with ATMEL AT90S1200 and AT902313

** ~ 300kBit !! ** (only between Network-Interface) (~ 1.5kBit between Interface and calc)

- its a Beta verson (!) and so the calc (TI-83 i have, but with the speceal prog all others too)
can only send 2 bytes to the server and an other calc can receive the 2 bytes from the server :-( i know its not much but the packet-implementation is a lot of work, but I'll do it)

Who is more interest for information can mail me, I can give the comlete documentation but its only in german (my teacher had to give me a mark for that :-).

Thats not all I want to do, the next "gerneration" should be a IR-Network. But for IR I need a better Controller. The Controller doesnt cost much, about $20, but the development-system is expensive, $500 :-(.
But I wanne buy it, to start develop the TI-IR-Network!! :-)

And You? Tell me what you think about it!!! Thanx Friedrich

Could TI be more vague? It seems like they were saying "more of the same, piled higher and deeper!"

I mean, educational tools are nice, etc, and there's a market for them now that silly taxpayers are pouring more and more money in to pay for things that won't really help their kids learn math (I just found out that public schools actually _buy_ calculators...how insane is that?). So naturally, TI is going to continue to treat their machines not as calculators or pocket computers but as "Educational Solutions".

What ever happened to the SDK for the 89, with the ANSI C compiler and Flash support? When will a real 89 and 92+ OS upgrade come (think extended math capabilities, real 3D...I doubt that TI even _thought_ of that). The 82 and 83 (not to mention the 86) are already adequate as they are for high-school math and for most college students. It's evident from the program archives that some users aren't even familiar with their calculators enough to not waste time writing programs that perform built-in operations. And TI, instead of working to put out a more powerful or less expensive product is expanding the lower-end with more gadgets!

Just my $.02,
Ben Kalafut

This is perhaps the most insightful comment concerning TI and TI calculator development. I have long found that TI is completely against the progress of its calculators. Take the TI-89, how can the ROM be at V2.0 if NO MAJOR enhancements have been added. More appropriately it should be V1.1. As for paying for the SDK? Come on. HP gives their SDK away for free, has better support, and a more extensive line of software is available from both the user community and HP itself. I wish the for once all the games that are available for the TI would disappear, and that work would be started on projects of REAL value. Networks for calculators are an exercise in futility and waste.

face it...ti-support sux... ticares@ti.com... uhh .. no ... TIHatesDevelopers@TI.com. I mean, jeeze, you think they'd at least follow through with what they said they were gonna do instead of announcing new projects.

How 'bout:

tidoesnotcare@ti.com

tellUsYourProblemsSoWeCan TellYouThatYouNeedToUpgrade AndPayUsMoreMoney@ti.com (no spaces. its that 40 char per word limit again.)

Would anyone else like to see TI's first priority be to get those year old 'beta' graphlink programs for their flash calcs into a finished product stage?

oh, and how long have Long File Names been a feature of Win32 OSs, and still MacOS is the only one who gets to use them? Just don't seem fair to me.

Just a thought or two.

New softwarez are cool. The really cool stuff i'd like are the new FLASH Apps. Networking is finally goin' to happen, and prgms can be transferred easily.(but it'll still be slow)

how do they plan to connect thirty calcs to a computer? Cables running around the room would be a mess. IR would have to be adjusted every time a desk was moved. Maybe something like Fission2's Radiolinc? My school doesn't even require you to have a graphing calculator! Nice idea, but I don't see any practical use except in the most modern high schools.

it shouldnt be ir because ir sucks i think in the development stages it wil be wire duct taped to the floor and that it will expand to rf but i think they need a new interface rather than that 1.5k port maybe a hardware upgrade ...?...?..... well...i'd be willing to work on it rather than ti because they will take years and it will cost like 50 extra bucks per calculator to link but yeah.....

I was thinking about a wireless calculator network. You could create a small device with a PIC microprocesser and radio unit that would plug into the link port. Then, you could create a PC interface to be an "internet gateway" to allow instant access to any of ticalc's files, chat with people in another school, etc. The challenge would be to find a suitable radio transmitter that wouldn't break FCC rules.