Re: Release of Fargo
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: From: kyeanopl@AST.LMCO.COM
: To: Zenon
: Subject: Re: Release of Fargo
: Date: November 9, 1996 9:41 PM
:
:
: > are the not some one hwo live near David E.
: > Hwo could wake him up ?
:
: > DAVID IF U ARE READING THIS PLEASE FINISH FARGO THERE ARE A LOT
: > OF HPs OUT THERE!!
:
: Amidst all the whining about Fargo, a post like this comes along
: which has to make you shake your head.
:
: Is this why everyone is so impatient for the release of Fargo -
: so that their TI92's can somehow be magically transformed into
: "HP-killers"? What exactly is Fargo going to do which will make
: the TI92 superior to "all those HP's out there"?
:
: From the description of Fargo which I've read at ticalc.org,
: there is absolutely nothing that Fargo can do for the TI92
: which will give it any advantage at all over the HP48. Maybe
: it's all the great extras which will be released with Fargo,
: like (from ticalc.org):
:
:
: > 1) An MS-DOS program to support both the parallel and serial
: > homemade link cables.
:
: So? Both the TI92 and the HP48 can do this out-of-the-box.
:
: > 2) A group of text files categorizing (virtually) everything
: > we've found out about the internals of the TI-92...
:
: OK, this may make for interesting reading, but what new
: functionality does it add?
:
: > 3) FTris, a Fargo game based on GameBoy Tetris. The speed,
: > scoring, and game play are equivalent to GameBoy version.
:
: Wow, a game. (The HP48 has one built into ROM, by the way).
: Just as ZShell is to the TI85, I suspect that Fargo's real
: attraction is the whole slew of useless calculator games which
I guess you haven't really looked at even the TI-85s lately. There are
power tools that are probably beyond your scope of understanding. It's
just that the graphical interface assembly offers inspires more programmers
to program what they like versus what is needed. The programmers are
partly at fault, and, with that many games out there, who could resist? If
you could come up with a good program for TI assembly, maybe we'd hail
you...
: will become possible following its release.
:
: > 4) FTerm, a communications program for the TI-92. FTerm can be
: > used to dial BBSes if you can figure out how
: > to connect your TI-92 to an external modem.
:
: If you can figure out how to connect your TI-92 to an external
: modem? Pretty big if, since the TI92 has no standard RS-232
There are electronic engineers in these mailing lists that can perform
miracles, which a bunch of them are already making a modem for TI-85s and
TI-92s. Too bad it will beat the HP at its speed. Anything you can argue
about that?
: serial port. The HP48, on the other hand, does, and people have
: sucessfully connected their HP's to external modems. The
: only problem is that things are so slow as to be unuseable.
: Though the TI92's processor is faster than the HP48's for doing
: certain tasks, the situation would be no different for a
: "connected" TI92. Let's face it - this has value as a novelty
: only. What useful purpose would a slow, RAM-limited device like
: a calculator (any calculator) have once connected to a real
: computer?
:
: > 5) Some compilable sample source code to show how Fargo
: > programs are written.
:
: Regarding the HP48, this info has been available from HP for
: years. Unlike TI, HP has done a good job of making available
: the information and the tools to write assembly language
: programs for its HP48 series.
:
: > 6) Everything you need to compile your own Fargo programs
: > on a PC.
:
: Available via ftp for the HP48, or included with any number of
: "how-to" manuals written by some of the same people who
: developed the HP48.
:
: So, once again I have to ask what is Fargo going to do for
: the TI92 which will propel it head and shoulders above "all
: those HP's out there"? Seems to me that, with the exception
: of its excellent symbolic calculus routines, a "Fargo-ed"
: TI92 will only be playing catch up to the HP48. Can anybody
: help me out here and post what kinds of things they're planning
: to do with their TI92 once Fargo is released?
:
: Like:
: Expand the calculator's RAM to 1.256Mb? Add a clock, alarms,
^^^^ boy are you out of it! A RAM Extender is being built that holds
4MBs for less than $100! Does the HP have that? I DON'T THINK SO!
: and date arithmetic? Add a speaker? Add infrared file transfer
^^^^ who needs a clock in there anyways when you got a WATCH!? WHAT ARE
THOSE THINGS YOU HAVE ON YOUR WRIST FOR?! Speakers eh? Well, that's
already OUT IF YOU DIDN'T NOTICE! Much easier to attatch than to the HP!
And Infrared eh? Well, IR as well as radio links are being made, and since
the ports speed is 9600bps, it's probably much more efficient than the old,
outdated HP. Worthless junk.
: capability? Add an equation library? Add card slots? Drop
With assembly, anything's possible, especially with the nice processor!
And who needs card slots when the thing can use anything through the link
port?
: the QWERTY keyboard so that it can be used on college entrance
: exams?
The QWERTY keyboard is an improvement over conventional ones since it
probably helps with experienced computer users and only uses that because
it comes closer to a computer than the HP does. It signifies its power.
:
: No, I didn't think so...
Better think again.
: If Fargo's purpose in life is to slay the HP, it had better
: find a more capable machine with which to do it.
If that ain't capable enough, I'd really hate to see what the HP's like.
The TI-85 could probably already beat it if that's all the evidence you're
looking for since all that said above is also applicable to TI-85s.
:
: --
: Karl E. Yeanoplos
: Denver, CO
: kyeanopl@ast.lmco.com
References: