RE: TI-H: The TI-84, TI-95 also!
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RE: TI-H: The TI-84, TI-95 also!
>There was discussion about the TI-95 a long while ago, although I
couldn't
>find it in my archives of about 2000 messages of TI-Hardware. I think
it
>was an early computer, not a calculator. The claims that it had Z80 and
a
>QWERTY keyboard would seem to support this, but I really don't know.
I've
>never personally seen one :)
Osma is most likely right. TI used to make a series of 8-bit computers
long, long ago. This was the TI-9x series. I have seen the TI-99 in
photos, and almost got one for free, but lost my chance (DAMN!!!). I
have always been into old computers. I love hardware and BASIC, two
things you can't rely do on a new computer without forking out $100s of
dollars for special software and equipment. I think that the late
seventies and early 80s computers were some of the best ever! They don't
have Dual 325 MHz PowerPC processors and 64 Megs of RAM with a 2 Gig
hard drive, but they were still great because you could actualy use them
for more than what the software in the store says you can! All those old
computers came with BASIC built in and they had the schematic and pin
layouts, ports and everything right in the manual. Those were used for
early buisness computing, but they were probably most popular with the
hobbyists like us! You could do whatever you wanted with one. Plus if
anyone says they didn't have the power, think about the fact that you
could create hardware to add a megabyte of memory to an Apple ][ as well
as speech synthesis and even VOX word recognition!!! Don't tell me that
that was the manufacturers idea! People made those things in their
garages, and the TI-xx calculators are the last modern hobbyist computer
second only to PCs and their $$$ add in boards to link it with "custom"
stuff. Buisness made high power computers, but it also ruined much of
the fun part of computing. This is why I use TI-xx series calcs, because
it's the old 9x series computer made smaller and with batteries.
Unfortunately, TI is as tight as any other buisness.
The reason people are so enthusiastic about thes old, obsolete, slow
machines is that they can work with hardware and do things that you
couldn't do on a new computer. I say welcome the TI-84, 95, and 99 into
the TI-Hardware list if it comes to that, besides, arent our calcs just
portable computers???
PS I want to get one of every TI graphing calc and I'm going to go for
the old 8-bit computers as well. Who knows? the machines are so similar,
maybe the schematic of a TI-95 could be used like a "guide" to the TI-8x
series. It would probably be helpful to see how TI does their 8-bit
architecture.
Hope nobody fell a sleep!!! C=
Richard Piotter
e-mail: richfiles@hotmail.com
home page: <A
HREF="http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lakes/5081/Richfiles.html">The
Richfiles</A>
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