The TI-84 Plus CE series is a line of graphing calculators manufactured by Texas Instruments(TI). They superseded the TI-84 Plus series upon their introduction in 2015; together with the TI-Nspire series, they represent the current flagship series of Texas Instruments graphing calculators.
In 2020, TI Education announced its decision to remove support for assembly and C programming on these calculators in response to a video posted on YouTube detailing how to bypass the test mode on OS version 5.2.2. Texas Instruments' response was widely considered unnecessary, and led to anger from users. The changes are reflected in OS version 5.5.1 for the European models and OS version 5.5.5 for the US models.
Editions
TI-84 Plus CE
The TI-84 Plus CE (known as the TI-83 Premium CE in France) was publicly previewed by TI Education in January 2015[1] and released in 2015. Compared with the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition (CSE), it retains the 320×240-pixel color screen, rechargeable battery, and key layout of the CSE, while removing the 2.5mm "I/O" serial port and moving the mini-USB port and charging LED to the right side of the body. In addition, the RSA signing key length has been increased to 2048 bits, making infeasible previous efforts to unlock the calculator to unrestricted third-party software development. The calculator has 154KB of user-accessible RAM and 3.0MB of Archive memory. It uses the eZ80 processor from Zilog, making all Z80 assembly programs from the previous TI-84 Plus series calculators incompatible. The CE was introduced in multiple colors (Classic (black), Silver Linings, Radical Red, True Blue, Denim (navy blue), Lightning (light blue), Plum Pi (purple); Positively Pink (as of March 2015), Golden Ratio, and Bright White (as of June 2016) were added later), and further colors have since been released. Like the rest of the TI-84 Plus series, certain countries permit its use in examinations.[2] The calculator comes programmed with seven different languages (English, French, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish).
TI-84 Plus CE-T
In 2016, the TI-84 Plus CE-T was released for the European educational market. The only significant difference from the CE model is the addition of an LED that blinks while the calculator is in Press-to-Test mode.
Hardware revisions M and later (which were manufactured starting May 2019) have a revamped PCB,[3][4] improved architecture, and a new flash chip.[5] Due to this change, these more recent revisions have seen a significant improvement in overall speed.
TI-84 Plus CE Python
The TI-84 Plus CE-T Python was released in 2021 and provides OS version 5.6 and above with the ability to program the calculator in Python and includes a preloaded bundle of applications.[6] The Python implementation is extremely slow compared to NumWorks and HP calculators due to the use of an ARM coprocessor running CircuitPython, which communicates to the calculator via 115200 baud UART serial.[7] In the North American market, the TI-84 Plus CE Python replaced the existing TI-84 Plus CE in 2021.[8]
Around 2021, Texas Instruments removed the charging light to simplify and reduce costs (notably on the black model).[citation needed]
TI-84 Plus CE EZ-Spot
The TI-84 Plus CE EZ-Spot series, also known as the School editions and the School Property editions, are variants of TI-84 Plus CE series calculators produced by Texas Instruments and only made available for schools to purchase. This special design was produced in an effort to combat theft.[9] Owners can buy other interchangeable colored face-plates and slide-cases online. A kickstand-style slide case and other accessories are also available. Every edition of the TI-84 Plus CE series has had a School variant.
Software
Programs and applications
The TI-84 Plus CE can run a wide variety of both official and community-made software,[10] including video games, math programs, educational programs, graphics programs, and even some internet-based programs (operating through the link port) such as ChatGPT.[11] Applications, often called flash applications, are a type of program stored in the calculator's ROM. Applications tend to be more complex than programs.
The TI-84 Plus CE supports TI-BASIC, eZ80 assembly language and C; the Python version of the TI-84 Plus CE supports Python. The calculator can be connected to a USB keyboard to help with programming. TI-84 Plus CE models running operating systems newer than OS 5.6 can no longer run eZ80 assembly or C programs.
TI-84 Plus CE operating systems
There have been sixteen operating system releases for the TI-84 Plus CE:
5.00 (April 2015)
5.01 (April 2015)
5.10 (August 2015)
5.15 (January 2016)
5.20 (June 2016)
5.21 (September 2016)
5.22 (March 2017)
5.30 (July 2017)
5.40 (June 2019)
5.52 (May 2020)
5.55 (June 2020)
5.60 (July 2020)
5.61 (February 2021)
5.70 (November 2021)
5.80 (June 2022)
5.83 (latest)
Controversially, assembly and C support was removed in OS 5.55, released 2020.[12] Texas Instruments claims that this change was made to "prioritize learning for students" and to reduce the risk of cheating in examinations.[13] In addition to this, they blocked the ability to downgrade to any version below OS 5.55 to make sure that assembly or C support could not be added back to the calculator.[14] A jailbreak, called arTIfiCE, was written four months later; it restored the ability to run assembly and C code.[15] The arTIfiCE exploit was patched in OS 5.83.[16] This does not affect the monochrome or CSE variants of the TI-84 Plus, whose last firmware updates were in 2011 and 2013 respectively.
The TI-84 Plus CE-T Python Edition supports using CircuitPython, a Python 3 variant, developed by Adafruit. Only the math and random modules are initially supported, but it is possible that wider support will become available either from TI or from the community.
Texas Instruments produces TI-Connect CE, which is compatible with all variants of the TI-84 Plus CE. It supports installing programs, loading bundles of files, multi-device syncing and exam mode deployment, along with the ability to send OS updates to multiple calculators at the same time, and a built-in IDE for TI-BASICprogramming.
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