Compatibility for me! The one thing I can't stand about my 89 is that I can never figure out which version of a game or program will actually work and not crash my calculator because I have the wrong ROM version. A color display would be nice, but rather useless if you didn't have gigantic amounts of memory. It would probably have to have a rechargeable battery back, too.

Yeah compatability between calcs and ROM versions would be really nice. Games for the 89's and 92's would work for 82's and 83's, and you wouldn't have to worry about buying the latest calc every few months because your's will be compatable! High resolution and color could come later on down the road when battery usage can be minimized.
--Daryl

Of course, if you wanted that kind of compatibility, you'd be limited to the lowest common denominator, namely the 82. It has the least amount of memory of all the Calcs. Not to mention the 68k and the Z80 are not compatible.

Personally, I want all of those options.

The 82 actually has 2k more RAM than the 83, and the 82 is 50x better than the 81.

2k for the Finance Functions and 50x faster just b/c it's an 82 not an 81...those are slow as crap...our teacher makes us use 81's if we forget our calcs...big difference if u own an 89

Let's not forget about our good ol' buddy the TI-80. I don't even know if you could program on that thing. Eew...

-Fil

I've actually ported a few "very" BASIC programs to the 80 from my 85/83 at that time at the Math teachers request. The hard part is they're slow, have NO extras functions and have only like 5 or 6 different programming commands.

There is also no getkey function and about the only games that would fit on the thing would be a guess the number type game. Also there's no link port.

but th 81's don't have a link port so who cares if they are compatible with the 89's?

Yes, all of those options sound nice, but for what? To add 2+4! If you truly need all of that, buy a freaking pocket pilot. Myself, I like to make games and progs and all, but I also respect the limitations of my calculators, because we are fortunate enough that it is possible to make applications on a device that was not dreamed would be this capable, since it was made to add numbers.

I think that calcs like the 89/92 are not just there to do 2+4 ! In order to do such a thing you can buy a TI30x !
No, i think that these calcs became little computers. What would be the use of ASM, if it wasn't to create fast and "powered" progs, including -of course- games but also big calculus/word processing software... That's why it has to become faster and faster, etc...
So I want ALL THE OPTIONS too !!!

Yeah but what I mean is who would have ever thought that "mini-computers" (89's and 92's) could have evolved from a TI-30x?

Are there sites on the Internet devoted to playing ZTetris on your Palm? There are for your calculator!

--Dave

Good point. :)

For all you Q3 fanatics out there who want to be able tp play it anywhere it's much more likely that you could get something like that for a plam pilot. The screens are MUCH bigger they have at least 2 times the proccesing power, even more compared to the z80. More mem (8 megs on the Vx) U guys think you are going to get that on yer 10mhz proc. with a few k of ram and a screen with half the resolution (and size) of the palm? give me a break.

The only problem with that is that most of the companies who make palm top organizers don't release an SDK, so all of the software is proprietary =(

I just signed up for the Palm SDK, Palm ROM images, emulator...

www.palm.com

It's not a super simple application though. You actually have to print the application and mail it in. I might have to wait 2 weeks for the responce.

They got an ethernet link for em now.
They already got radio stuff. (pager or something)

wait one minute, no one ever said Q3 on the calc had to be like on the computer.. I think it would be great if there was like a multiplayer game where you could move around a simple level to shoot your friend in math class, you don't need all the rendered graphics, just a nice gray wall is good enough for me! if anyone has played that basic game like this on the 83, you'll know what i mean(just speed it up, and add a few things to it, and it would be somewhat entertaining.)

Uh... That's not Q3. In fact it's not even on the Wolfenstein level. Stop using stereotypes. These kind of games are called first person shooters.

you don't need to buy anything to get 2+4.

You see, when I want to add 2+4, I use that giant 999 terahertz processor I call my brain =)

You can add 2+4 in your brain? I bought my 89 solely for that purpose to relieve the stress it puts on my brain.

I have a friend who bought a TI-83+, TI-86, and TI-89 to relieve all that unnecessary stress. He gets to check his answer three times!

It amazes me also what can be done on a calculator. Years ago, what could be done on a calculator would have never been dreamed possible. I remember back in 1987 my dad purchased (for about $100) a telecommications computer called the Tandy 102. We still have it. It was about a square foot, weighed 3 pounds, had only a 2.5 MHz processor, and had only 21K of memory! Back in 1987, that was considered high-tech! Goes to show you how calc's have advanced. The fact that a calc has these limitations make programmers strive to overcome them and make stunning improvements for the TI-Community. It amazes me still how really good the software is on these calculators, and how primitive the calculators look in comparisson to real computers, but are better because of the challenge to make them better.

One day, we will get something comparable to Quake III even if TI doesn't make calc's with high resolution, color, rom compatability, increased memory, or anything else. The insentive is there to create more advanced software, and nothing can stand in the way of programmers trying to do the impossible.

Thank you for being the only one so far to understand my point! :)

Did you mean 1981? :-)

On second thought, I take that back--I remember the 102, and it -was- around circa 87. Which is strange, if you think about it--the 68000 had been out for years, and the 80386 had been out for a couple, and Tandy was still pushing their 8085-based laptops.

The problem is that ROM incompatibilities are usually the fault of the programmers. If the programmers wrote their programs in a system-friendly way there would not be any incompatibilities. Just look at the TI-86. That's the way it should be done. To all TI-89/92+ programmers: ignore DoorsOS and don't access RAM variables. Use TI-OS functions instead. If you stick to the rules, most of the incompatibilities will be non-existing.

The programmers can't really make "system-friendly" programs since all the functions were reorganized in HW2. About the only compatible programs are ones that don't use libraries or a shell.

How about this:
Somebody makes four TI-89 libraries: HW1 with AMS1, HW1 with AMS2.03, HW2 with AMS1, and HW2 with AMS2.03. You just load the appropriate library onto your calc and you can then run any ASM program. (TI-89 ASM developers: ARE YOU LISTENING????)

I couldnt agree with you more i like my 89 the only problem is that you have to make sure that everything is perfect (ROM version and all that crap) or else it crashes your calc and you go through the same dumb process of putting the games back on.