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TI-84 Plus CE first informations + discovery of the TI-Charging Station CE

Started by critor, January 13, 2015, 06:12:25 PM

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critor

Texas Instruments officially announced today its new "TI-84 Plus CE" calculator for back to school 2015 discovered in a previous news, which will be logically demonstrated at the T3 international conference in March 2015 at Fort Worth in Texas. Availability is scheduled for spring 2015.

If we understood well at the journées APMEP and the salon Educatec-Educatice last November, France will get a specific model, the "TI-83 Premium CE". Remains to be seen whether this will be a simple francisation the TI-84 Plus CE keyboard or if there is something else lurking back there which could justify the use of the 'Premium' word...
In all cases these models are sharing the 'CE' suffix and apparently developed simultaneously. So they should share many similarities and the following lines should be valid for both models.

The official page therefore presents a calculator equipped with a 16-bit 320x240 pixels backlit color display, the same as the one in the TI-Nspire CX and TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition. The operating system clearly seems to be an evolution of the one in the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, since we're noticing exactly the same user interface. As a consequence, one remaining question would be whether the defects of this previous model have been fixed or not, and in particular its extremely slowness due to using the same processor as the one used in the latest monochrome TI-84, a z80 to 15MHz, with a display needing (320×240×16)/(96×64×1)=200 times more data to be processed for each refresh.

The model is described as 30% lighter than the older TI-84 and much thinner. Indeed, the AAA batteries disappear in favor of a rechargeable battery.

It will be available in different colors.

USB connectivity is present, this time on the side of the calculator, with a mini USB A/B connector, together with a charging LED.




The Vernier website, a long time partner of Texas Instruments, has also been updated and tells us a little more about this new model.

On one hand, TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition applications do not seem compatible with the TI-84 Plus CE. Indeed, in order to use Vernier sensors you'll need to have the new EasyData 5.0 application. EasyData 4.0 equipping the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition would therefore be incompatible, which may be an indication of more or less interesting OS and hardware changes. If in addition we made the connection with the 4.x numbering of the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition operating systems, one could infer that the new TI-84 Plus CE will use a new 5.0 version of the operating system.

Furthermore, it is stated that the TI-84 Plus CE will not work with Vernier LabPro and TI-CBL2 interfaces, nor with TI-Navigator hubs. This could indicate the removal of the mini-jack 2.5 historical connector which was the only way to connect these devices. By extension, TI-Robot and TI-Keyboard would also be incompatible.

Vernier also tells us about something else, the "TI-Charging Station CE", which can store up to 10 TI-84 Plus CE while recharging their batteries, apparently using contacts which must be located on the bottom of the calculators - ideal for classroom use.




Source with more pictures : https://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=175678&lang=en#p175678


Snektron

I like the new design. But i don't think people at home need a 10-calc charging bench  :P.
Theres probably a single calc charger for though.
  • Calculators owned: TI-84+
Legends say if you spam more than DJ Omnimaga, you will become a walrus...


critor

If it's a single unit, you can just charge it through USB. No need for anything specific.

critor

We just discovered the available RAM and Flash on a special page of Vernier website :
- 150KB RAM (and thus a chip of 256KB)
- 3MB archive (and thus a Flash ROM chip of 4MB)

3MB instead of 3.5MB on the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition would mean the OS is quite bigger.

And 150/256KB RAM is not suited for a z80 CPU (only able to address 64KB at the same time - so it can never address the whole RAM).
The CPU must be something else...

Source : http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=15870&p=175692&lang=en#p175678

Dream of Omnimaga

Awesome to hear Critor.I just spotted this on Cemetech and was amazed.

The only concern I have about its faster speed, though is if it supports ASM at all and if it's locked down like the Nspire. By being an ARM calculator, you already say goodbye to compatibility with DCSE and the like, but it would be worse if it lacks an ASM command altogether.

On the other hand, what if this was a Z80 emulator layer running on ARM like the HP 50g did with Saturn emulation? That would be a waste of CPU power, especially for TI-BASIC, but at least ASM programs would still run without much modifications, like with the old 84+SE emulator built in the Clickpad Nspire model.


Compatibility aside, the user RAM is interesting. It's still very low per 2015 standards, but much better than 21, and this should definitively give people much more freedom when making large math programs or games.


By the way welcome Critor. Do you mind if I mark your topic as front page news? (members can submit articles via the ADD AS ARTICLE button, but they need 5 or 20 posts and it requires an admin to approve the article)
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

critor

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 13, 2015, 07:34:27 PM
Awesome to hear Critor.I just spotted this on Cemetech and was amazed.
The first messages about this on the Cemetech IRC appeared some time after my original post.

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 13, 2015, 07:34:27 PMBy the way welcome Critor. Do you mind if I mark your topic as front page news? (members can submit articles via the ADD AS ARTICLE button, but they need 5 or 20 posts and it requires an admin to approve the article)
No problem :)

Dream of Omnimaga

Ok thanks for the clarification. And I see. I'll flag it as article then :)
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

Duke "Tape" Eiyeron

Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on January 13, 2015, 06:39:36 PM
I like the new design. But i don't think people at home need a 10-calc charging bench  :P.
Theres probably a single calc charger for though.

Critor would need one, if he gets as much TI-84+ CE as much he have Nspires!
  • Calculators owned: A lot.

aetios

Ooh, we might be onto something here :D At least the d-pad looks better suited for gaming than the Nspire touchpad.
ceci n'est pas une signature

Snektron

  • Calculators owned: TI-84+
Legends say if you spam more than DJ Omnimaga, you will become a walrus...


Dream of Omnimaga

Quote from: aeTIos on January 14, 2015, 01:58:09 PM
Ooh, we might be onto something here :D At least the d-pad looks better suited for gaming than the Nspire touchpad.
Indeed, having the d-pad centered is a major concern for game design and also for non-game stuff it can be quite annoying to use too. I prefer having arrows on one side (left or right) like on a computer keyboard.
Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on January 14, 2015, 02:41:56 PM
So... Super computer of 1700 Ti-84 CE's like
this guy did with ps3's?
If you can afford 1700 calculators then go ahead? :P

I mean even the HP Prime is expensive if we only factor in the hardware. You can get a tablet with 10 times its power and 50 times its RAM and a larger screen for only 3 times the HP Prime price (although if you want Windows 8 or an iOS device it's often more expensive). Don't get me started on the 84+CSE.

I am willing to bet that the only reason why the price is so high, though, is because schools require those calculators. The day schools will allow tablets (probably not as long as they lack a teacher mode to disable Wi-Fi/3G as well as most apps) I am betting you'll either see calculator prices drop like crazy.



EDIT: By the way, I am a bit disappointed that the CE's ENTER and ON keys are still not properly aligned with the 0, . and (-) keys. When I switched from the 83+ to 84+ this resulted into many accidental 2nd+ENTER code losses in the program editor when I was trying to access the memory menu. With the rectangular calculator design, I would have thought that they would have at least reverted back to the TI-Nspire 84+ keypad design.
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

Duke "Tape" Eiyeron

Quote from: Cumred_Snektron on January 14, 2015, 02:41:56 PM
So... Super computer of 1700 Ti-84 CE's like
this guy did with ps3's?

Like US army used to do? ^^

Quote from: DJ Omnimaga on January 14, 2015, 04:58:39 PM
I mean even the HP Prime is expensive if we only factor in the hardware. You can get a tablet with 10 times its power and 50 times its RAM and a larger screen for only 3 times the HP Prime price (although if you want Windows 8 or an iOS device it's often more expensive). Don't get me started on the 84+CSE.

Ahem, Raspberry Pi, 25€, 1GHz ARMv7.
  • Calculators owned: A lot.

Snektron

  • Calculators owned: TI-84+
Legends say if you spam more than DJ Omnimaga, you will become a walrus...


Keoni29

If you like my work, why not give me an internet?

Dream of Omnimaga

Now that you mention it, it kinda does actually, since it looks so slim in width compared to height.
  • Calculators owned: TI-82 Advanced Edition Python TI-84+ TI-84+CSE TI-84+CE TI-84+CEP TI-86 TI-89T cfx-9940GT fx-7400G+ fx 1.0+ fx-9750G+ fx-9860G fx-CG10 HP 49g+ HP 39g+ HP 39gs (bricked) HP 39gII HP Prime G1 HP Prime G2 Sharp EL-9600C
  • Consoles, mobile devices and vintage computers owned: Huawei P30 Lite, Moto G 5G, Nintendo 64 (broken), Playstation, Wii U

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