Survey posted 2000-03-25 19:17 by Andy.

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I don't see why we can't have all of them. Palm pilots go for weeks on two AAA batteries, and they have a similar cpu (Motorola Dragonball, based on the 68k design), and they have up to 8mb of ram (and flashrom). Then you have the Color gameboy. That peice of hardware is impressive. Again, 2 AAA batteries let you have color, sound, all with a relatively long lifespan (as compared to the classic gameboy).

I think TI should talk to the people who made those and work on making a calc with all of those as options.

Then it would be more of a gaming machine than a calculator.

Actually, A color display would GREATLY improve 3D graphs, as well as when you need to look at more than one 2D graph at a time. You could make each graph a different color. It wouldn't neccesarily be more of a gaming machine. Look at the color Palms. Those aren't considered a gaming machine by many people.

as to the color screen that would improve 3D graphs, the i-mac computers have a built in calculator that does 3D color graphs. it does real complicated functions, and it looks really cool. i think a color screen on the calcs would be quite nice.

of course, with this would come a faster processor, which in turn would need a more efficient use of battery power.

Golly people. The way we're headed with this we'll have a computer instead of a graphing calc. Just screw it and get a Toshiba Libretto and stick Mathematica 4.0 on there. Now _that's_ power. =)

But what's the cost of both Mathematica, a Libretto, and a method of getting Mathematica installed on the thing?

The software alone is probably more expensive than the calc would be, and its' nowhere near as portable!

Why the heck did they stop making those Librettos? My brother has one and I want one so bad but they cost more used now then they costed new before.

plus this is a great excuse!

Take a second and think about what TI did for the 83 (and 83+, 86, etc). They built assembly suppport into the calc. They released the ROM specs for the calculator. TI knows that when assembly programming becomes that easy to accomplish (as opposed to trying to find a loophole like in the 85, 92, & 82), people will make lots games for it (I know, the 85 probably has the most games, but that is not the point =] ). It's a great marketing ploy. If you released a "console" that you didn't have to pay anyone to program, wouldn't you save a lot of money? I'll be brave and ask how many of you have bought an 89 or an 86 or even an 83+ just because of the games you can play on them? I want an 89 for that reason. If the person (or people) who found the assembly loophole on the 85 had never existed, it's quite probable that the 83, 86, 89, or the 92+ might not have existed. Now I'm rambling off on several different tangents, so I'll shut up now. I think I made some good points however =)

Jim Haskell

You know, I never really thought of that before. The TI community is waht is spurring on the development of more refined calcs! I love it.

personally i knew the ti-83+ would have games but i bought it so i could upgrade it... no other calc can be totally revamped by ti releasing an upgrade to make my ENTIRE calc better...:)
sure the pixels suck on it but the processor sure beats the TI-86!
i know ppl will reply to this, saying the ti-86 IS faster but you go and test it cause i sure did!
(when are they ever going to port Mario86 for the ti-83+??)

Wow, someone didn't think that through. The 92+, 89, and 7x (i forgot the number) are electronically-upgradeable; that is to say, they use a FlashROM.

i read the slip they gave my for my calc on the calcs that have flash, most ppl use ti-82,83,85,86's though so thats why i said that.

I think the guy who made Mario86 is done w/ mario.

that guy is done and has been for the past 2 years or so, other ppl said they were going to port it though...

I hope someone from Nintendo or Sega sees this.

I have to say that I love my PalmPilot.

My 'Dream Calculator' would be a device about the same shape as the TI-8x's. But would run on Palm OS. Imagine it!

You'd have PalmPilot with a slightly smaller screen(Same resolution, but smaller physicaly), with the buttons of a ti-86 for easy math work. That would absolutly rock.

And who wouldn't want the one touch sync cradle that the Palm devices offer, compared to my $10 homemade cable.

Hello! The pocket Game Boy used the AAAs. The Color Game Boys use AAs.

If you are going to make reference to something, do it right!

Strange... my GBC uses 2 _AA_ batteries.

I voted for a faster processor, because of a couple reasons.

1. Having high resolution would be nice, but the 89 and 92+ both don't have the high resolution problem. Even the 83+ doesn't have that bad resolution. Besides, despite the fact that everybody plays games on their calculators, there really is no reason for a high resolution screen.

2. Having more memory (RAM) would be nice, because then archiving wouldn't be an issue, but, games are the only item that really takes up that much memory.

3. The rest of the items are really only needed if you want to have a gaming system instead of a calculator. A calculator that does that much stuff is just too crazy. Get a Color Game Boy if you want that option.

4. Fast processor is good. The large formulas and programs could be calculated quickly and you could make some fancy graphs with a faster processor, and there would never be the problem of waiting for your calc to solve quadratic equations and doing some of the more difficult calculus problems, whould there?

Okay, that it. I'm done with my spiel.

Dark Ninja

Novels can also take up a lot of memory. I remember having a complete copy of "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (>600k) on my HP49 which I would read during the breaks.

to have a novel in your calc is good , but I would become mad looking in the Super Large Screen of the 49
:-P .
(sorry , I know 49 s a Very good calc anyway -snif-)

buy a gameboy color ? why ? if I can play better games in my calc ! and FREE !
Since the gameboy color cost 60/100$ and the calc would cost 150/200$ , this means a total of
210/300 $(I'm not sure , correct me if I'm wrong with the costs) . each Gameboy color game cost 20/30$.
A calculator with all our needs would be great .Actually I have problems with 3d graph resolution , I just want 3d graphs to be bigger .I'm agree with a faster processor , but the 68k at 10mhz is good , the problem is that the Ams is not taking advantage . Memory is needed , for games , and flash apps . Ram would be good , for improving calculations , and to run better programs.Archiving is something great ! actually is like having a hard disk drive in your calc ! apps and everything would be there. Then I will wake up of a dream .

Right on!

And if anyone argues about games not being good enough or free or whatever check out:

www.upstategames.com (the bung section)

They make some great products that will allow you to store multiple games or whatever on 1 GB cart, write your own games, and if you spend a few minuets looking you should be able to find loads of games for it (not illegal ones, homemade, just like calc programs)

So quit your b****in'!

Sorry you can't exactly pull your Game Boy out in the middle of class and play it.

depends what class it is ;-)

Hehe that is true.