Fuck Texas Instruments. All my homies hate Texas Instruments
Seriously trying to charge $100 for a calculator running 50-year-old hardware (the ti-84’s CPU, the zilog z80 was created in 1976). Fucking ridiculous
But at the same time as a semiconductor manufacturer i really like them. They have high quality ics for literally everything. I think that they are so big that the different parts of the company dont even interact.
TI USB controllers and switching supplies are half of my BOMs
But they seem to last forever, so there are a ton available in the aftermarket. My TI-89 from 1997 still works like new, and I plan to bequeath it to my son
Only the ti83-84 are shit. The old ti89 and newer ti nspire are actually really good. I bought a ti89 on eBay for $20 and even though it is 20 something years old it’s still better than there new ti84 color stuff.
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The textbooks all used it because TI made it that way, they pressured the education agencies to make it so.
But they make the z80 and they’re so proud of the shitty 8 bit processor they made 50 years ago so they’re forcing people to use it and pay modern prices for it. They eventually made an ez80 which is like the z80 but better in some ways and it sounds impressive but if you ever try to design a homebrew computer out of one, you’ll find that it’s not very worthwhile due to the lack of a external wait state insertion pin and if you want to build something better than a z80 or 6502 homebrew, there are better choices than an ez80.
They may be expensive for what you get, but they’re built to last. Still using the TI-83 that I got in 1997 and it works as good as the day I got it.
Why is it that all good calculator manufacturers also have a dark side? I have an RPN calculator made by HP, back in the day they made the holy Grail of RPNs the 32 SII. But they are the single worst thing that has happened to printer ink.
Because if you are a microchip manufacturer in the 70s:
- Calculators are a reasonably good revenue stream once you’ve developed a chip, but needs a ton of upfront investment
- Defence contractors have essentially unlimited budgets from DoD, need chips, and are more than willing to pay for all the R&D to get what they need
The entire US tech and aerospace industries are built on what is effectively massive government subsidies in the form of weapons contracts
I thought I was general electric, I love working on machines like washers and dryers, and I love the sound of an a-10 warthog turning something to nothing.
Another fun one: General Electric makes Washing Machines, Refrigerators, and Aircraft Mounted Gatling Guns.
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They also were one of the biggest locomotive manufacturer in the world until they sold their locomotive branch to Wabtec
calculators to help you do math and guns, checks out for Texas.
I bought my last calculator for school in 2007, I think? Now I’ve got the hiper calc app which is pretty decent. Ha! Take that, math teacher “you’ll never have a calculator in youpocket all the time.” Edit: changed date, dang it’s been a while…
I’ll take my TI-84+ over my phone anytime tho
My favorite example of this is is Hitachi. They are basically only known for vibrators and large construction equipment… How those got combined in one conpany I have no idea.
