Survey posted 2000-07-10 22:54 by Nick Disabato.

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From what I have seen over the past year is the number of younger kids getting graphing calculators is on the rise. They're cheaper than GameBoys and GameGears and the games for them are free compared to the $30 or so dollars to buy game cards. I have a TI 81 because I am to poor right now to get a good calculator and it keeps me busy in and out of school year round.

gameboys are only $69.99 compared to $100-$150 for a calculator.

Nivek

Calculators are cheaper when you factor in the cost of the games... I have 18 games on my 86, which cost around $110... so that's $130 {including the graph-link} for 18 games and the hardware to play them on {besides the really good calculator... although the 89 is much better which is why I use it for math}, while the games alone would cost more then $200 for a gameboy, and then you have the cost of the gameboy... plus you can use calculators in class if you want to {usually...}, and usually parents will buy the calculator anyway because it is required for school...

I don't know about playing calculators in class and parents buying them, but overall I'd say the quality of GameBoy games is better, and that's why the game cost would be higher. Especially if it's a GameBoy Color.

I wasn't talking about quaility of games... Also, I don't usually play in class, and I bought my 89, but my parents bought my 86... and since many schools require a graphing calculator, it makes it that much easier to get your parents to get you one...

Not always.... Compare some of the ASM games for the 92plus and then compare it to Dr. Mario

1) Dr. Mario was not made for Game Boy Color, it was made for the original Game Boy

2) Dr. Mario was made about 10 years ago, when many programming techniques were not developed yet

3) Dr. Mario is a puzzle game vaguely similar to Collumns or Tetris, and if you don't like puzzle games, you won't like it, and if you do like puzzle games (specifically Dr. Mario), you will.

There's nothing wrong with Dr. Mario. It does what it's supposed to do. Doesn't need flashy graphics or fancy programming tricks. And the music is damn catchy, too.

dr mario was made for the original nes.. i have a copy

But a game is still a game. No matter what system they happen to be on.

Almost everybody that I know with a TI Graphing Calc. only use it for games and they forget that it is also one of the best, if not the best, type of calculator you can buy. You can also use the TI's as a calculator! I mean, I love to play games (I take my calculator everywhere that I go. Nerdy huh.), but it can also be used for math.

the number one thing to remember is that a calculator is perfectly acceptable to have in school and in most any class. this feature makes the ti calculator more portable than any other portable gaming system. just think how sorry you would be that you got that gameboy color sitting in your math class with nothing to do, because your gameboy will certainly not be allowed in class. I personally have had my life spared due to ztetris during some of the most boring classes of my life.

If anybody tried to play a gameboy in one of my classes, he'd see it again only at the end of the year. A lot of times when a teacher sees a gameboy, they say, "Put that thing away" and there isn't anything the student can do but put it away because a gameboy has one use, play games. A cdalculator on the other hand provides denyability because the kid could say, "I wasn't playing games, Mrs. Teacher Lady, I was working on this math problem." There are so many advantages over a gameboy.

that was my point about games and calculators

Yeah, but the original comment wasn't that gameboys are a realistic alternative to calcs, bu that they both have gaming capabilities. No one would argue that an 89 can contend even in the slightest to the power of a gameboy color. TI's weren't meant for gaming originally, but they serve the purpose reasonably well, considering all of the other crap they have to do.

True, both do handle games well, but a gameboy's sole purpose for existing is, hence the name, for playing games. A calculator can do so much more, and play games as well. It seems odd that if the calculators are meant for mathematical use instead of playing games, why, in the latest calculators such as the 86, 89, 92 etc, did TI put so much memory in them. I have an 86, and I can store at least 10 or more assembly games at a time, and I've heard that the 89 has even more memory! Why the extra space? For a gazillion math and science programs and formulas? I think not.

Well, if you look around, you could get an N64 or a PlayStation for the price of a TI-92+... it might not be that portable, but it's worth it if you have another calculator which you're completely satisfied with...

Umm... you can get BOTH an N64 and PS for the price of a 92+ (or pretty darn close). You can even get a game thrown in there if you buy a 92+ from RSU at Radio Shack. They cost like $230 there. <sarcasm>But it is a really great deal!!!</sarcasm> Not to mention the $70 TI-Graph Link...

Although the graph-link is only about $30, I do agree that it's way overpriced!

Don't forget that you can build a serial link cable (which works as beautifully as the original one) for just 5$. I think that everybody knows someone who has a soldering iron and ten minutes to do it for you in case you don't know how. Parallel link cable is even easier... I've done 5 or 6 for my friends and I really enjoyed that!

The thing with the homemade links is that on many of the newer computer it won't work. My friend build a parrel link and it would only work on his old 386. When I built a serial it never worked on my micron.

I built a homemade link and it it fried my 86's link port (or at least that's my theory, but what else could've happened?)

I've tested my serial link and works nicely on these PC's: 486/66, P/133, P/200, PII/266, K6-2/350, K6-2/500... I don't see any speed problem with it ;-)

The parallel link is a bit more sensitive to clock speed, but you can get it to work in every case by:
-setting the right delays in W32transx
-soldering every ground pin together
-using the right diodes (1N4148 I think)
-using transistors like in the last scheme posted here at Ticalc

And yes, you've got to be very careful and test every connection thoroughly before actually plugging it. But it won't do any harm if it is well done.

Actually, my link cable worked for a couple of weeks. It was poorly built though, and there was no insulation between the bare leads. After I attempted to make it more pernament by filling the cable with epoxy, it worked for a while and then stopped.

Umm... Woww! I got my 86 for $120 and the 92+'s only cost $175. I got the graph link for $15. I think I may be a little lucky compared to you...

You can get a Playstation for 80 bucks and an N64 for 90 at some stores, thats 170.
most places have PS for 90 and N64 for 100, thats still only 190.
The 92+ is 230, thats alot more.
(just to mention it, i saw 199.99 dollar 92+'s at Microcenter)

But the GameBoy Color has much better games than the calculators, i you buy the calculator for a game system, over a gameboy color, your an idiot. The calc is good at small games, but nothing as good as the good gbc games.

I normally have like 16 86, and 6 85 games on my calc at once, but all together they are about as fun as one gameboy game.
Although they arent as good, They are easy to play anywhere, even at school, and the calc can help you SO much in math.

ha ha! i got my 92 for $50 + the upgrade module for $60 thats only $110 total. . $230.. i would never pay that much. .

BTW> > I got the 92 from a freshman that didn't know how to use it. . so i convinced him that he wouldn't have the time to figure it out. . so then i convinced him to sell it to me.

$230 for a TI-92+? TI's (old) FAQ says that the 92+ should cost about the same as a TI-92, and Dim-TI has 92's for $166, and I think I heard suggested retail price of about $170 somewhere. However, $230 may be correct if you're a) Canadian, or b) talking about the TI-92 w/ plus module.

Radio Shack has them for 230, mb more.

And 70 dollar graphlingk? arent they 20 bucks?

THat's how much mine was.

You paid way too much.

I got mine for $12.95

Where did you get it? I'm inclined not to beleive you, I have NEVER seen a graph link cost any less than $17.00.

Maybe it was on sale.

I bought mine at Staples for $15-$17 (I forgot exactly how much it was)

I got mine on sale for about $13.

My black link cabel was 9.99 at target last january.. they had ordered to many fer the christmas rush so i got it cheep

I got my link for $20 (black link) from TI's online store. (Thats cause I live in some godforsaken town in the midde of nowhere and I'd have to get my parents to drive me $70 mile to get one)

The only problem with N64s and PS's is that 2 years after they come out, some other console comes out that costs more and does more. I bought an NES in 1990, and no sooner than I did, they came out with SNES.

I got my SNES out of the dump for free. It works too.

What took you so long to buy a nes. I got mine back in '86 and still use it (theres nothing better than 8-bit). Any way why would some one buy a game system when they have their computer.

I bought my NES like the first day it came out.....i still play it today....it still werks fine......i still play the best RPG there it......Zelda....thats the greatset game ver made for any gaming system......

PsySpy the Chosen

I got mine for my 3rd birthday in 1989, and I still use it.

I use my Game Boy a LOT more than I use my computer for playing games. I also use my N64.

My favorite 1st person shooter is Perfect Dark. It works perfectly and is tailored to use the custom gaming controller that came with the N64. The only game I think I'd enjoy more would be Half-Life for the PC (multigamer), but I've never liked using the joysticks or keyboards too much. Even so, with a game console you don't have to worry too much about performance.

Besides, when I'm using the computer I'm often busy and don't have the time to play games on it.