ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 1991 THE TI88, ANOTHER "NEVER RELEASED" HARDWARE PRODUCT by Charles Good, based on material provided by member Palmer O. Hanson Jr. Lima Ohio User Group About 7 months before the first public showing of the CC40 and 99/2 computers, TI announced with great fanfare a top of the line programmable calculator named the TI88. According to the background information that accompanied TI's May 26, 1982 first press release about this new product, the TI88 would form "the basis of a new portable computer system." This calculator was displayed at the Summer 1982 Consumer Electronics Show, and photographs of the TI88 exhibit at this show appear on page 13, volume 1, no 6 of 99er MAGAZINE. The TI88 is also illustrated and described in a short article in the November 1982 issue of 99er MAGAZINE. Then TI withdrew the product and apparently replaced it with the CC40 which debuted at the January 1983 CES. Reasons for the early demise of the TI88 and TI's change of emphasis toward products like the CC40 are discussed in some detail by Herb Shanzer, then manager of TI's Calculator & Compact Computers Division, in an interview published in the April 1983 issue of 99er HOME COMPUTER MAGAZINE (p45-48). Apparently TI thought that a small computer with built in BASIC would have more consumer appeal than an upgraded programmable calculator. Only a few working prototypes of the TI88 ever reached private hands. Our member Palmer Hanson Jr., who is also current editor of TI PPC NOTES, the newsletter of the TI PERSONAL PROGRAMMABLE CALCULATOR CLUB, has provided the Lima UG library with extensive documentation on the TI88. This material includes the full text of the May 26, 1982 press release, a four page descriptive illustrated bruchure published by TI, a very incomplete "1st revision" of the TI88 USERS REFERENCE GUIDE, and several issues TI PPC NOTES that contain articles and programs relating to the TI88. Maurice E. T. Swinnen, editor of the TI PPC NOTES in 1982, had an actual TI88 to play with. We can loan or copy this material for anyone who is interested. One of the documents Palmer provided was the 1982/83 catalog of PERSONAL COMPUTER PRODUCTS INC., of Dallas Texas. (This company is no longer in business.) The catalog includes products by Hewlett-Packard, Sharp, and TI, and has a two pages devoted to the TI88. Sometime in late 1982 a disgusted member of the TI PPC, upon learning of the non-release of the TI88, doctored these pages a bit to show his dismay. This amusingly altered catalog page is reprinted here. The page's text gives a good general description of the capabilities of the TI88. It is interesting to note that this calculator is designed to accept up to TWO solid state modules SIMULTANEOUSLY, providing it with extra RAM and/or preprogrammed software. The following is quoted from pages 4 and 5 of THE PORTABLE COMPUTER AND CALCULATOR CATALOG 1982/1983, distributed in 1982 by Personal Computer Products Inc., P.O. Box 190198, Dallas Texas 75219-0198. The TI88 calculator described here was never released. "The Texas Instruments TI88 represents a major advance in programmable calculators. Ease of use was obviously a primary design consideration in its development. Existing software can be run and programs can be developed with the calculator prompting the user through each step. This breakthrough allows prompts to be answered with the yes and no keys, or with the appropriate data entry. Programming is also made easier because formulas can be entered into the calculator exactly as they are written, even those formulas utilizing scientific and engineering notation. The TI88 satisfies the advanced programming requirements of the professional user, yet is designed to be friendly enough for non-technical personnel to use the preprogrammed software. "This calculator has 230 built in programming and slide rule functions that reduce the time spent on repetitous calculations. Programming features allow the user to trace program development on the calculator display. These include 10 user definable keys, 126 program labels, 10 subroutine levels, 24 user flags, 4 system flags and a program counter. The time and date alarm enables the user to schedule programs. The Evaluate key allows the user to enter formulas and evaluate them repeatedly with variable values. The TI88 has a full range of statistical features including two variable statistics. The 16 character dot matrix alphanumeric display draws from a set of 128 characters. The characters include upper and lower case letters with special symbols for advanced programming. "The internal memory capacity is 960 program steps or 120 data memories. Two ports in the back of the TI88 will accept nonvolatile memory modules or Solid State Software modules. Each memory module holds up to 1184 program steps or 148 data memories. This gives the TI88 a maximum configuration of 3328 steps or 416 data memories. Each module holds up to 10 programs; and the calculator display shows the number of programs stored and the number of steps still available. The memory modules can be protected, edited, erased and duplicated. They retain the programs for 5 to 8 years, even when removed from the calculator. The importance of the memory modules now is that customized program libraries can be produced, coopied and distributed to other users. All modules are compatible with other TT88's. "Software modules contain up to 15000 preprogrammed steps with multilingual prompts and an instruction manual to guide the user through the program. A master library of 12 programs is included with the calculator. Additional libraries are available for statistics, electrical engineering, finance and mathematics. There is a library being developed that will aid users in converting existing TI58C/59 software to the TI88. "The calculator comes with an AC adapter/charger. The rechargable battery supplies up to 150 hours of continuous use per charge. "As powerful as the TI88 is by itself, some users will require the addition of peripherals. Up to 6 peripherals can be connected simultaneously. The PC-800 thermal printer gives the user the ability to trace program development and prints 16 characters per line at 3 lines per second. The printer will also list contents of program memory, special operating codes and flag settings. The CA-800 cassette interface is used for low cost, reliable storage and retrieval of programs that are repeated often. This interface can be used with audio, micro or digital cassette recorders. The user is prompted through the steps for reading and recording programs. "The entire system is versatile enough for sophisticated programmers and friendly enough to actually be used by beginners with little or no prior computer experience. "TI88: $260 "PC-800 Printer: $150 "CA-800 Cassette Interface: $50 "Availability expected late 4th quarter. BULLSHIT