Granted, this looks cool, and I'll show it to my kids, both of whom have TI graphing calculators (required for school). But from an educational standpoint, would we be better off saying goodbye to graphing calculators, and hello to something like jupyter? There are still some issues to deal with -- I would not try to use jupyter without a keyboard, and it doesn't run on Android or iOS right now. Surmounting these issues would be pretty cool.
I don't think we'd be better off. Other devices require the ability to manage distractions and interruptions, which is largely something society is still developing.
Haha. Fair. I saw that a ti-83+ game 20 years ago was more than a novelty than it is today. It often was the only reasonably priced device like it that was completely portable.
It is almost insane that we still use TI-84's when we have all the power of smart phones in our pockets. I would love to see an app that can function as the calculator but also notify the teacher if it is backgrounded (to prevent illicit notes/internet access).
It's not that insane, it's a secure, locked down device to do what you need it to do and not message answers between students, etc.
Android and IOS would need a lock down mode to only allow a particular ti-8x app to run and the control would have to be handed to a teacher for non-school devices.
Not to say the TI-85 couldn't technically be modified to save information in a way that couldn't be found thanks to ASM. Luckily I didn't need this ability.
I just got a secondhand TI-84 on ebay for $20, the plan is to leave it in the woodshop for quick woodshoppy calcs. I never played with one before and was really impressed with what I got for $20.
Yeah, spending $90 for a TI-85 back in 1994 was pretty bad, but at least somewhat justifiable given the time. Paying the same today can only be the result of an abject market failure.
Oh, that's great! I miss my old HP-48, although I don't remember what flavour (S or G or whatever) it was. I also like very much that HP simply provides (or just links to, I guess) the software, rather than TI's approach of selling it.
If you have an Android device, the Droid48 app listed there (also at [1]) is worth a plug. A touch screen on a phone can't compete with the awesome tactile keypad those old calculators had, but at least the layout and operation are familiar and I've always got it with me.
Ahhh this is just awesome. I spent the vast majority of high school chemistry class dinking around on my 83-Plus with whatever that flavor of BASIC was called. I would bet that if I were able to accurately measure 'minutes spent' in a variety of programming languages that this would make BASIC in my top 3.
These devices were the equivalent of a smartphone in the 90's in a lot of ways.
I had a TI-85 in High School. Was the first calc to have a link cable to connect 2 calculators. Also had assembly programming capability thanks to an oversight that couldn't be taken away. This opened the door for things like doom, tetris and other games.
Got to build a serial port cable interface by cutting my wire in half, external storage devices for it, custom software.
Highlight for me was the programmability of it to write software for my high school courses, including math and chemistry formula sheet software. Calculus had to be done by hand but I had an app for testing various elements.
This type of development gave me a much deeper insight and grasp of math, formulas and how things worked and could be manipulated.
Surprisingly, teachers let me use my school apps on the tests because I built them myself and it needed an understanding of the concepts to build the software, and if I was going to risk my high school graduation on it, it was up to me.
It's kind of sad how much we could get done with constraints of limited hardware, and today's smart devices are making people less empowered by chasing novelty and distraction instead of solving their own problems.
As someone who wants to use this in my classes: should I be worried about TI's legal department swooping in to shut this down? I don't know any of the legalities surrounding emulators in general, or TI's friendliness to outsiders doing this sort of work in particular.
While IANAL, TI has not objected to emulators in the past; there are third-party freeware emulators available for all of their calculators (including the older 83/84 series, the 68K calculators, and the Nspire).
TI's legal department has tended to draw the line at two points: they don't like illegal copying of their ROMs (so, while they haven't objected to tools which pull a ROM off a real calculator you have in your physical possession, they will send takedown notices if you post those results publicly), and they've become pretty aggressive in working against anything that compromises the integrity of the OS on a physical calculator (because they don't want push-to-test features compromised). Just about anything else goes (and is occasionally encouraged).
Yup, TI's dealt with Android apps which emulate their calculators before, the rule of thumb is: You cannot provide the OS ROM, but you can offer the emulator if it requires their OS ROM to run. Theoretically, yes, so people have to get it from their own calculator.
The open secret though, is that TI offers the ROMs for their OS on their website for free download...
That's well within their rights so I really don't see the problem. Copyright basically means you get to have a say in who offers the stuff you built and TI requiring people to go through them for their ROMs makes perfect sense.
Thank you very much! I had a vague impression that TI was reasonably friendly about this, but couldn't remember or find any substantiation. Your post is very informative.
I was just looking at TI-83 / 84 calculators today because I saw that they used a Zilog Z80 chip and I wanted to try building the Z80 Forth from "Threaded Interpretive Languages" . I'll have to take a look at this and see if it would work for that.
Fond memories... I tell people I started programming by typing BASIC apps out of magazines, but really it was probably much later writing a "casino app" (I remember having roulette and blackjack) and my own version of drugwars instead of paying attention in math class.
