Demeere · 2024-02-26 07:57
What do you guys think? It seems to be getting more and more difficult to find computers from the early-mid 80s that aren't $500/falling apart/both. From what I've read, the older (monochrome) TI-83+/84+ calculators are basically shoe-sized Z80 computers that can be found at Goodwill for $10. Are there any downsides to learning how to program on a TI-83+ vs. something like a ZX-81? What's the current state of the "community" for these machines?
Tomohisa "Tom" Kanezaki · 2024-02-26 08:04
Oops, looks like I forgot to explain what the other pictures are. The gray box is a TI Presenter, which is some sort of adapter box that would let me mirror the calculator's screen on a TV or monitor. The keyboard has a special connector for the calculator's bottom port. In theory I'd be able to combine the two and have a desktop setup.
Of course I'd have to buy a special 83+ with a "viewscreen" port to do this, but they're easy to find and also very easy to tell apart because of their plastic shell (black vs. clear on the 83+ SE).
Total cost for a desktop setup would be about $180 if I had to guess.
藤原純一 · 2024-02-26 16:22
>>75959
Why not buy an arching uno clone with the same architecture and learn an actual language like c? At least that has legitimate use cases for lower level programming. In fact, buy a raspberry pi clone and learn arm assembly for a little more but better applications.
Leto Atreides I · 2024-02-27 00:56
$180 dollars for something you can just emulate easily with wabbitemu?
Y.T · 2024-02-28 14:13
If you're going the Z80 route, a Gameboy Color would be cheaper. Buy a flashcart and you're off to the races. Also has the added benefit of being able to use any number of emulators so you don't have to reflash after every change/compile.