The TI wireless network thing is probably just some evil scheme by teachers to spy on our calcs and delete all our games and cheat files! Down with the wireless TI-83!!!!!

Waitaminute... I have a TI-89, so I don't really care if all the people with TI-83s get screwed. Nevermind :)


(To all TI-83 owners without a sense of humor: I'm joking!)

Well, i think (I my school i'm sure) that someone would find a program to easily cheat on this network. All test in math and science would quickly become jokes and everyone would magically get the same grade.

The TI web site mentioned something about wireless, automatically created (randomly generated so the teacher doesn't have to?) quizzes, tests, etc. That means it would be possible to make a TSR to enable cheating. COOL!

Wireless eh...
But I don't have an IR port on my 83+, so they probably want to put IR transceivers on every claassroom table... (if so, why not include the plain 83 calc into the network??? (they probably want to make the control software apps...)

But, if there needs to be a transceiver on every table, why wireless, it would be a lot cheaper to make wire-lan, not??

(BTW, anyone an idea about the protocolthey might use (TCP/IP or some TI-WIreless LAn Protocol (TIWILAP :-))

I think that the development and manufacturing of a system for networking Ti-83s (or any Graphing Calc) shows where we are going wrong with the educational system. This is not progress. This is reducing a student to a number, an IP address. For $9800 you get a nifty calculator LAN, so the teacher can sit behind a wall and monitor statistics of his/her students' calculator usage. This eliminates the teacher student relationship, which is, in many cases, necessary for learning to occur. I think we need to ask ourselves whether this technology is really useful. I, myself, would provide a definitive NO.

A calculator running Windows CE and a $10,000 wireless network to connect TI-83's... Ok, I'm scared now. One of the nicest things about my TI-89 is that it DOESN'T run Windows :P Seriously though, $10,000 for a wireless TI-83 network seems kind of overkill. I mean, what's the point? _Most_ (all?) of the time, I know what I am doing on it better than my teacher does (every school has their calculator "expert" :P). What good would it do to have the teacher monetering it? I like having a certain level of privacy while I use it, even though I really have nothing to hide anyway. I just think that it's annoying when someone watches me use it from behind my back (I'm assuming the software would allow a teacher to do that). Oh well. I'm graduating in a few months anyway, so I don't really care what they do. :)

I never really thought about one thing you said. About the "expert". I am that expert in my school and I know if the wireless system was put in my school I would never get anything done. I get enough questions about the 83+ as it is not to mention adding more to the school and connecting them together. But like this guy said I'm graduating in a couple months so I don't really give a fuck.

fatbastard83

I have a Compaq C-120++, but it is terribly bad for math stuff. The huge screen, keyboard, SH3 chip, nad 4megs of RAM make it great for word processing and spreadsheets, along with gaming, but for math stuff I break out the 83. THe WinCE environment just isn't geared towards graphing calculator apps. To make a CE app, you must give Microsoft money for the SDK, and thus the app is going to cost money to the customer. With the 83, I have an all-purpose math tool, and I can program in frequently used formulas (and other things . . .) With the 89, this is even moreso true, with the equation builder type stuff.

I can see a possible use for English classes. Seriously, most of the text book in any High School English class are already at Project Gutenberg. You could have a class walk in, download their "books" and assignment and get started.
Yes, I know ebooks are only for 89/92+ RIGHT NOW, but that will change. (Just wait)
Anyone who says that that isn't possible should talk to the English teacher I had last semester, and read most of the books on an 89 for that class (after the first half, when I didn't have it)

Now, if we could just get to play with one of these, we would know if it were possible. However, I doubt that our school district will get any anytime, as a Pentium II is considered one of the best computers on campus, and there are only 3 I know about on campus, and all running windows including 486-33s

Instead of a $10,000 networking kit for an 83+, why not buy a car, or a laptop, and still have money left over?

I know somebody with a wireless link that they bought off the internet. It didn't work and had few instructions! I mean come on, the reason somebody buys an 83+ is because they are cheap. This idea would be feasible for a computer, but a calculator? Whats the world coming to?

Because, this is mostly meant for educational purposes. There are no practicle purposes for this in any other situation (or this one). So, it would be the school buying it, not the individual. Although, the school could spend the money a lot more wisely...

Glenn Murphy

I think that this is all a bunch of bs,who is going to pay $9,800 for a crappy infrared network system,i know i wouldnt,and my school wouldnt either,so the whole navigator is dumb idea,the hp thing is dumb too,why cant we all just use our 83+'s and 89s and get along?

I doubt my school would pay for it. There's no huge need to have a network for calculators.

But we did get to use a classroom set of infrared networked laptops. They were pretty cool but still slow over the network. It let 20 kids sit in their desks while doing research on the internet. I'm not sure how much it would cost though. (we were using the stuff for free, so that we could give the company feedback)

-Sean

My school is notorious for making random decisions. You see, whether a school gets it or not entirely depends on whether TI can convince the Powers that Be at any given school that they absolutely must spend $10,000 so that they can make sure 30 (or whatever) students aren’t sleeping or playing games on their calculators.
“It's a simple thing. Teachers can pause and, for instance, send three multiple choice questions to gauge if the students are paying attention [comment: couldn’t the teacher just pause and _look_ at the class instead of sorting through how many people respond to the question?]," he said. "A lot of educators say they want to be able to monitor if their lessons are being understood."
"...TI is already planning an upgrade to be released later this year that will let teachers beam homework assignments to their students' handhelds. When they next meet, the teacher can collect the work, all without a single piece of paper changing hands.” - CNET article
A school that is willing to consider this would be better off requiring moderately expensive laptops (hey, new technology vs price doubles every 18 months, and you don’t really need a Pentium 4 to do word processing). If you would already spend $100 - $150 for a calculator, why not, in the future, spend a few hundred on a laptop you can use in other courses? The laptops could then be fitted with wireless network cards that connect them to the school LAN, and they could get Internet access through the school. What about submitting homework? Well, you’re on a network with Internet access... shouldn’t be half as hard as submitting it from a calculator. This is great in every area except unless you wanted to use VTI and illegal roms, you would still need a calculator... or both :D
Calculator memory isn’t a safe place to store homework, and there isn’t even enough ram (TI-83) or screen size to justify using it in place of a computer. Editing your homework would take twice as long at least than if you had just done it on paper.
Want to fight this? Usually the math department head would be the one that recommends that the school purchase this system. All you have to do to fight this is casually mention this expensive joke that TI has pulled out of their hat to your math teacher before that person finds out from some other source that might lead them into buying it. Just make some side comment about how utterly useless this would really be, and you will do much to keep your school from ever getting it while you're there at least (I hope, though I wouldn’t really worry about this whole thing too much).