I was looking into buying a TI84+SE, but i dont know if that would be the smartest choice for programming. I havent really read anything about it being a good or bad calculator to program for. I want to get it because i consider myself to be an expert TI86 assembly programmer but i havent had any experience with flash rom or the "new" in/outputs to hardware. Right now i own a TI89T HW4 but because of work and college i dont really have the time to learn the 68k language (I can program in C and BASIC, but I prefer asm). I feel it would be a lot easier if i started with a Z80 calc, where im more comfortable, learned the hardware, and then move onto the 68k. On a side note, I really spent a lot of time with the 86 documenting the opcodes, ports, and ROM routines, and then they discontinued it. Now they have this "Nspire" that i will never purchase or support due to its lack of programmability (not really sure how true that statement is, or if the word "programmability" even exists). I guess im just old school.

Thanks, I was just reading one of your posts before i signed up. I hate to ask such a stupid question but in one of the posts someone was ranting about TI and the newest version of the 84 regarding the keys i think.

although the most recent versions have less hidden RAM. Which doesn't really concern a BASIC programmer, but it can make it hard for ASM programmers. It only becomes a problem if you need lots of extra RAM, but this can be solved by simple switching out of the ROM and RAM (although this can be really annoying).
If I were you I would try to buy a 84+SE from ebay that is in good condition and is old enough to have the full complement of RAM.

I really appreciate all the info, Ill have the se by this weekend. And thanks to you guys, ill have the motivation to program for it. My only complaint is the screen resolution. Ill take the 83 into consideration when programming. Ive got a really great game that ive been making for the 86 but since its dead ill release it for the 84/83. Ill have a demo up by the beginning of next week.

Hi and welcome here.

I recommend either a TI-84+, 84+SE or an old 83+SE. However, a few things:

84+ has less memory, so if you plan to have a lot of stuff on the Flash ROM, you might be best with the two following.

For both 84+ and 84+SE, the models from mid 2007 until today have 48 KB of hidden RAM instead of 128, meaning certain softwares such as TI-Boy SE, Msd8x, Omnicalc RestoreMem(, RealSound and a few more will not run on them. Otherwise these calcs should be fine too.

If you want an used 83+SE, try to ask when it was bought, because for some reasons the ones from 2001 and early 2002 seems to tend to break more often after a few years. Iambian's SE broke 3 years after he got it (glitched LCD) and mine broke after 6, even if it wasn't used much for the last 2 years before it breaks (battery power problem). I also recall someone else getting a problem similar to Iambian. I also noticed the SE I got had loose screws compared to my 83+s

Keep in mind that the majority of us program in TI-BASIC, though (I myself have been doing it for almost 9 years and never got the grasp of ASM after 3 tries), so they will not be able to help much if you have problems doing the move from 86 to 83/84, altough some are learning ASM and the move shouldn't be too hard if you have a good grasp of 86 ASM. We also want to be welcoming to any kind of project showcases and authors on the forums, as we always did before (unlike many other TI forums), which basically means when someone announces a project, regardless of if it's in ASM, BASIC, Hybrid (lib-assisted BASIC) or any third-party languages, regardless of if it's for z80, 68k or ARM and regardless of its total file size and amount of files, it won't matter to us.

Also, even if you move to the 83+, feel free to continue making 86 ports of your games if you desire. The audience for the 86 was always smaller than other models due to poor marketting by TI, but it still has a die-hard userbase. I myself own one and I believe some other staff does, too.

That said I can't wait to see what you will come up with and hope you will stick around for a while

True, we never know

The only thing I didn't like with the TI-86 is that it has no archive memory so no Flash APP support with fast commands such as xLIB app to help BASIC programmers, I don't think it lets you use big fonts on the graph screen and also the TI-BASIC language is much slower on it (and larger sized) than on the 83+ series. Besides that, pretty good calc I wish that was still marketted. Imagine how would have been a TI-86 Plus (96 KB of RAM and archive mem)

As for the TI-Nspire it is getting cracked so people will eventually be able to run assembly on it (some people alerady did, but the security exploit was not released to public yet ), but then, it's ARM assembly, kinda like HP calculators, not z80

We'll just call it a jump and be politicaly correct

Hope you like the 84/83 sereis as much if not more! ^^