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Calculator Networking With CALCnet and Doors CS
KermMartian writes "In an effort to make your trusty graphing calculator more like a computer, a shell called Doors CS has been developed, with an integrated networking stack, CALCnet2.2. The protocol is demonstrated in a nine-calculator pong-type demo, and the many file management, GUI, and other features of Doors CS can be seen at here. All the associated software is available for download."
Oh, you already did?!
Do you mean to tell me that a TI calculator is "very powerful" compared to a smartphone, when TI's designs haven't changed notably in twenty years?
Compared to a smart phone, a TI calculator loses on so many fronts, including the three most important: CPU power, RAM, and display. I have little doubt that playing Angry Birds on an Android device or an iPhone generates more mathematical operations in five minutes of play than the TI graphing calculator I used in high school (and which is still being made twenty years later) ever performed in its entire lifespan.
Once TI secured a position as the industry leader for the "you have to buy this specific series and brand of calculator to take this class" market, innovation stopped. There is no reason why, for example, the "TI-Nspire CAS with Touchpad" should cost $145.35 (Amazon), or that the TI-86 should cost $142, and not have a color screen, a touchpad, programmable buttons, wi-fi for software updates, etc.
I realize a graphing calculator is not contractually obligated to be a smartphone, but the product wasn't so good 20 years ago that all real development should have stopped. TI's scientific and statistical calculator market share is waiting for an Android tablet or iPad app to come along and render it completely irrelevant.
It doesn't (just to spoil the joke). As you know, the TI-80 doesn't have a link port, so it can't be connected to other calculators. That's also why it took so long for someone to release games for it, because it wasn't easy to hit (unlike the 85, for example, which had things installed with a simple corrupt dump).
Note: Information current as of ~1999, not responsible for design changes TI made in the last decade
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The only reason to by a TI calculator is because your teacher tells you to.
When you need to get your math on (or your physics or engineering), you use an HP:
My HP-15C is a pocket-sized programmable scientific calculator capable of handling matrices, complex numbers, and numerical root finding and integration. Its battery life is 2-3 years under moderate use.
My graphing calculator is an HP-50g, which has a 200Mhz ARM9 processor (by default underclocked to 75Mhz), an SD card slot that enables you to store all the programs you might want including full source code and documentation, a more powerful computer algebra system than in the TI-89, and it costs less than the TI-89. Also, it can connect to the internet using a modem connected to the serial port or through an IrDA connection to a computer.
And oddly enough, so has their $100+ price tag.
Why aren't you encrypting your e-mail?