Author Topic: More info on the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition: Z80 CPU & rechargeable battery!  (Read 13057 times)

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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Following the previous news, Adriweb on TI-Planet has managed to get more details from Texas Instruments about the upcoming TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition model, which might answer some of our questions. Here is what TI wrote:

Quote
TI has begun previewing the soon to be released TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition graphing calculator. This product will be available in the Spring of 2013. The TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition has all the functionality of the best-selling TI-84 Plus family of graphing calculators - now with color and TI Rechargeable Battery.

In addition to that, as he mentions here and here, Adriweb got confirmed that the calculator will feature a Z80 processor of the same family as the older TI-84 Plus series and that it will have compatibility with the older models.


So basically, here is what has been confirmed so far:
-Model name(TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition)
-Release date (Spring 2013)
-Z80 processor (same family as previous calcs, so most likely no eZ80)
-320x240 color, backlit display
-Native ASM support (there are Asm(), AsmComp() and AsmPrgm commands and an APPS key)
-Same rechargeable battery as the TI-Nspire CX
-At least some compatibility with the older 84+ models

More anwsers to the following questions should hopefully come soon, either from TI or from 0rac343
-How far will 84+ compatibility will go? Will old ASM programs run? Will Pxl-On/Off/Change() coordinates, 8xi files and other TI-BASIC graphics become messed up due to the different screen resolution?
-What is the processor speed? There is wide speculation about Z80 processors not being able to go beyond 25 MHz.
-How much RAM and Flash/archive memory is available for the user?
-How long will the battery last?
-Is there an I/O port or just USB?
-Can it run Crysis?
-Price

Hopefully more info should be available in the near future.

Source: http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=10736
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 03:04:09 pm by DJ_O »

Offline aeTIos

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Re: More info on the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2012, 02:50:45 pm »
First post!
I lost the game and I think this is awesome. Hope TI will make this as open as the 84+ platform is now :D
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 02:51:16 pm by aeTIos »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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First post!
I lost the game and I think this is awesome.
On ticalc.org, I remember that back in 2002-06 or so, staff deleted every post that included "First post" in them, even if the post included content that is relevant to the news or great info, because every new had someone post that. :P

Offline aeTIos

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It was just me being a bit trollish. Problem?
Spoiler For Spoiler:

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Offline Streetwalrus

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-What is the processor speed? There is wide speculation about Z80 processors not being able to go beyond 25 MHz.
According to Wikipedia, the eZ80 can go up to 50 MHz and is fully compatible. Maybe this /the/ one that's in there. :P

Offline DrDnar

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We're not making up a 25 MHz limit. Nobody's ever mass-produced a Z80 that runs faster than 20 MHz. The only reason we're suggesting 25 MHz is that DS staff told us long ago that the TI-83+SE was planned to support up to 25 MHz. I suppose, though, that if the eZ80 goes up to 50 MHz, it's possible TI could make a regular Z80 (based on modern fab technology) go that fast, or just use an actual eZ80.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Nope, because TI apparently said that it was the exact same Z80 processor as the one present in the TI-84+ models.

Offline DrDnar

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The eZ80 is compatible with the regular Z80. We assembly programmers would prefer the eZ80. A 50 MHz eZ80 can easily get the performance of a 200 MHz Z80 because it can run most instructions in a single clock cycle, whereas the Z80 takes between 4 and 21 23 clock cycles for each instruction. An eZ80 could easily address all the extra memory needed to efficiently manipulate a high-resolution color display. If you want good gaming,  you better hope the suit-guy was wrong about it being the vintage Z80 design.

Addendum: One clock-cycle is one hertz, i.e. 15 MHz means 15 million clock cycles per second.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 03:10:17 pm by DrDnar »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Something I wonder, though, is why didn't 82 and 83 ASM programs run on the 83+ or why 82 ASM programs didn't run on the 83/82 Stats? Didn't they use the same Z80 processor?

(Btw for the newer members here, MirageOS used to have a built-in TI-82 ASM emulator, but I don't recall anyone ever saying that he managed to get any program to run)
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 03:11:11 pm by DJ_O »

Offline DrDnar

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Yes, DJ_O, but the hardware and OS were different. Assembly programs like to bypass the OS and interact with the hardware directly. But since the hardware is slightly different, it won't work. Moreover, the OS was also different. The locations of all the safe RAM is different, the program format is slightly different, the program loading location is different, and the OS routines have slightly different functionality.
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Offline FloppusMaximus

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They do use the same CPU, but the I/O ports work differently, and the RAM and ROM layout is different.  Very simple assembly programs can be made to work on more than one model, and in theory shells could have been written to make this easier, but in general it's just simpler to build separate 82/83/83+ versions of the same program than to try to make one program work on both.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Hmm I see. I hope that the new 84+ hardware (aside from the LCD) isn't too different so programs aren't too hard to port. And I hope that not too many people quit making programs for older models or vice-versa either. I know that about 5 years after the TI-83 Plus came out, some ASM coders were still making their games 83-only (or in two cases, 82-only)

Offline Keoni29

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I wonder why they use the same damn cpu. The thing is too damn slow for proper graph plotting.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 03:52:40 pm by Keoni29 »
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Offline calc84maniac

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About the I/O port, 0rac343 confirmed that here
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Offline DrDnar

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I wonder why they use the same damn cpu. The thing is too damn slow for proper graph plotting.
Actually, the Z80 is sufficiently fast enough. TI's code is just really, really inefficient. You could write quite a fast grapher using BBC BASIC.
"No tools will make a man a skilled workman, or master of defense, nor be of any use to him who has not learned how to handle them, and has never bestowed any attention upon them. . . . Yes, [] the tools which would teach men their own use would be beyond price."—Plato's The Republic, circa 380 BC