Re: Release of Fargo

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Re: Release of Fargo

well, consed that the hp is only 4 mhz and the 10mhz and 32 bit
processing of the ti-92 makes it have more raw power!


-Paul Bruner




On Sat, 9 Nov 1996, Karl E. Yeanoplos wrote:


> > 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
> 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
> 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,
> and date arithmetic?  Add a speaker?  Add infrared file transfer
> capability?  Add an equation library?  Add card slots?  Drop
> the QWERTY keyboard so that it can be used on college entrance
> exams?
>
> No, I didn't think so...
> If Fargo's purpose in life is to slay the HP, it had better
> find a more capable machine with which to do it.
>
> --
> Karl E. Yeanoplos
> Denver, CO
> kyeanopl@ast.lmco.com
>
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