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30 years ago, we had the option of the TI-82 Or (83?) and the 85. A bunch of the kids with the 85 were playing Tetris and some were writing little programs. I g

30 years ago, we had the option of the TI-82 Or (83?) and the 85. A bunch of the kids with the 85 were playing Tetris and some were writing little programs. I got the cheaper 82/83, and I don't actually remember using it for anything, even once, even though I did the IB track (stats, trig, algebra, calculus, etc).

cj 5mo ago
How is that possible? I wouldn’t have been able to function without it in school (20 years ago). But we also didn’t have iPhones.
- badc0ffee 5mo ago
  (Edit: I am assuming you were asking how it's possible I didn't use it, not how it's possible that people were copying programs onto their calculators.) I don't know. It's been too long. We must have done graphing on paper. I don't remember a lot of coursework in math that required me to produce a decimal value. For example, we wanted √2 instead of 1.414. In physics, I think we used regular calculators. I used to be bewildered at my parents not remembering certain things from high school. But, now I'm living it :).
- billxreynolds 5mo ago
  Back in the mid-90's we had a TI version of sneakernet where you would copy programs from one student on to your TI-85 via a link cable; this is how I got Tetris back in the day. I assume OP did the same.
  - badc0ffee 5mo ago
    IIRC there was a way to connect the TI-85 to your serial port and use some Windows or DOS software to copy files onto it. (Everyone's PC still had at least one serial port on it back then).
  - jasonfarnon 5mo ago
    Was it that only the 85 could connect to a com port, but then you could connect the 85 to the 82/83? I seem to remember pleading with the one kid with an 85 (who didn't even care about games).
    - LocalH 5mo ago
      The 82 also had a com port I don't remember if you could connect an 82 to an 85, but I do remember you could connect it to a PC as well over serial
    - theodric 5mo ago
      I chopped my TI-83 link cable in half and wired it to the parallel port, like this: http://www1.inf.tu-dresden.de/~aw4/ti85.html http://www1.inf.tu-dresden.de/~aw4/ti85.html and this: https://web.archive.org/web/19990117001444/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2242/cal.html https://web.archive.org/web/19990117001444/http://www.geocit...
krupan 5mo ago
I was in the not-TI-85 club for a while. I think I had the TI-84? You could still write programs but your variable names could only be one letter. When I upgraded to a TI-85 and got Tetris a friend who had the not-TI-85 asked if his could play Tetris. I checked out the Tetris code and saw there were less than 26 variables, so I figured it could be done. I spent several English class periods porting the TI-85 Tetris code to the not-TI-85 and I got it to work. All the not-TI-85 owners loved me, lol!

cj 5mo ago

How is that possible? I wouldn’t have been able to function without it in school (20 years ago). But we also didn’t have iPhones.

badc0ffee 5mo ago
(Edit: I am assuming you were asking how it's possible I didn't use it, not how it's possible that people were copying programs onto their calculators.) I don't know. It's been too long. We must have done graphing on paper. I don't remember a lot of coursework in math that required me to produce a decimal value. For example, we wanted √2 instead of 1.414. In physics, I think we used regular calculators. I used to be bewildered at my parents not remembering certain things from high school. But, now I'm living it :).
billxreynolds 5mo ago
Back in the mid-90's we had a TI version of sneakernet where you would copy programs from one student on to your TI-85 via a link cable; this is how I got Tetris back in the day. I assume OP did the same.
- badc0ffee 5mo ago
  IIRC there was a way to connect the TI-85 to your serial port and use some Windows or DOS software to copy files onto it. (Everyone's PC still had at least one serial port on it back then).
- jasonfarnon 5mo ago
  Was it that only the 85 could connect to a com port, but then you could connect the 85 to the 82/83? I seem to remember pleading with the one kid with an 85 (who didn't even care about games).
  - LocalH 5mo ago
    The 82 also had a com port I don't remember if you could connect an 82 to an 85, but I do remember you could connect it to a PC as well over serial
  - theodric 5mo ago
    I chopped my TI-83 link cable in half and wired it to the parallel port, like this: http://www1.inf.tu-dresden.de/~aw4/ti85.html http://www1.inf.tu-dresden.de/~aw4/ti85.html and this: https://web.archive.org/web/19990117001444/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/2242/cal.html https://web.archive.org/web/19990117001444/http://www.geocit...

krupan 5mo ago

I was in the not-TI-85 club for a while. I think I had the TI-84? You could still write programs but your variable names could only be one letter. When I upgraded to a TI-85 and got Tetris a friend who had the not-TI-85 asked if his could play Tetris. I checked out the Tetris code and saw there were less than 26 variables, so I figured it could be done. I spent several English class periods porting the TI-85 Tetris code to the not-TI-85 and I got it to work. All the not-TI-85 owners loved me, lol!