Re: Release of Fargo
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Enough about the HPs and TIs. You guys sound like little kids bragging
about their Segas and Nintendos.
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| From: Paul M. Bruner <z_brunerpm@TITAN.SFASU.EDU>
| To: CALC-TI@LISTS.PPP.TI.COM
| Subject: Re: Release of Fargo
| Date: Sunday, November 10, 1996 2:36 AM
|
| well, consed that the hp is only 4 mhz and the 10mhz and 32 bit
| processing of the ti-92 makes it have more raw power!
|
| -Paul Bruner
|
|
| On Sat, 9 Nov 1996, Karl E. Yeanoplos wrote:
|
| > > are the not some one hwo live near David E.
| > > Hwo could wake him up ?
| >
| > > DAVID IF U ARE READING THIS PLEASE FINISH FARGO THERE ARE A LOT
| > > OF HPs OUT THERE!!
| >
| > Amidst all the whining about Fargo, a post like this comes along
| > which has to make you shake your head.
| >
| > Is this why everyone is so impatient for the release of Fargo -
| > so that their TI92's can somehow be magically transformed into
| > "HP-killers"? What exactly is Fargo going to do which will make
| > the TI92 superior to "all those HP's out there"?
| >
| > From the description of Fargo which I've read at ticalc.org,
| > there is absolutely nothing that Fargo can do for the TI92
| > which will give it any advantage at all over the HP48. Maybe
| > it's all the great extras which will be released with Fargo,
| > like (from ticalc.org):
| >
| >
| > > 1) An MS-DOS program to support both the parallel and serial
| > > homemade link cables.
| >
| > So? Both the TI92 and the HP48 can do this out-of-the-box.
| >
| > > 2) A group of text files categorizing (virtually) everything
| > > we've found out about the internals of the TI-92...
| >
| > OK, this may make for interesting reading, but what new
| > functionality does it add?
| >
| > > 3) FTris, a Fargo game based on GameBoy Tetris. The speed,
| > > scoring, and game play are equivalent to GameBoy version.
| >
| > Wow, a game. (The HP48 has one built into ROM, by the way).
| > Just as ZShell is to the TI85, I suspect that Fargo's real
| > attraction is the whole slew of useless calculator games which
| > will become possible following its release.
| >
| > > 4) FTerm, a communications program for the TI-92. FTerm can be
| > > used to dial BBSes if you can figure out how
| > > to connect your TI-92 to an external modem.
| >
| > If you can figure out how to connect your TI-92 to an external
| > modem? Pretty big if, since the TI92 has no standard RS-232
| > serial port. The HP48, on the other hand, does, and people have
| > sucessfully connected their HP's to external modems. The
| > only problem is that things are so slow as to be unuseable.
| > Though the TI92's processor is faster than the HP48's for doing
| > certain tasks, the situation would be no different for a
| > "connected" TI92. Let's face it - this has value as a novelty
| > only. What useful purpose would a slow, RAM-limited device like
| > a calculator (any calculator) have once connected to a real
| > computer?
| >
| > > 5) Some compilable sample source code to show how Fargo
| > > programs are written.
| >
| > Regarding the HP48, this info has been available from HP for
| > years. Unlike TI, HP has done a good job of making available
| > the information and the tools to write assembly language
| > programs for its HP48 series.
| >
| > > 6) Everything you need to compile your own Fargo programs
| > > on a PC.
| >
| > Available via ftp for the HP48, or included with any number of
| > "how-to" manuals written by some of the same people who
| > developed the HP48.
| >
| > So, once again I have to ask what is Fargo going to do for
| > the TI92 which will propel it head and shoulders above "all
| > those HP's out there"? Seems to me that, with the exception
| > of its excellent symbolic calculus routines, a "Fargo-ed"
| > TI92 will only be playing catch up to the HP48. Can anybody
| > help me out here and post what kinds of things they're planning
| > to do with their TI92 once Fargo is released?
| >
| > Like:
| > Expand the calculator's RAM to 1.256Mb? Add a clock, alarms,
| > and date arithmetic? Add a speaker? Add infrared file transfer
| > capability? Add an equation library? Add card slots? Drop
| > the QWERTY keyboard so that it can be used on college entrance
| > exams?
| >
| > No, I didn't think so...
| > If Fargo's purpose in life is to slay the HP, it had better
| > find a more capable machine with which to do it.
| >
| > --
| > Karl E. Yeanoplos
| > Denver, CO
| > kyeanopl@ast.lmco.com
| >
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