Model: TI-88 (PVT4)
Battery: BP88 (1*AA-NiCd)
Adapter: AC9133
Year: 1982
Chip: TP0485 (CD2901), TP0485 (CD2902), 2*TP0530, 2*TP0531, TP0532 (CD5402), SN77203
Info: We wrote May 1982 when Texas Instruments printed the sales brochures of the TI-88 on glossy paper. The brochures promised the introduction of the TI-58C/TI-59 successor for Forth Quarter 1982 in a package matching the TI-55-II line - before we got word of the TI-66. Today we know more: The development of the TI-88 was finalized, the manuals printed, the first pre-production calculators worked perfectly and Texas Instruments canceled the whole project! Maybe one of the reasons was the introduction of the powerful Hewlett-Packard HP-41C calculator or the innovative Sharp PC-1211 Pocket Computer. Or the underestimated complexity of the TI-88 design. Or electrostatic discharge (ESD) issues of the Module contacts. Or the internal competition with the CC 40 Compact Computer. Or the keyboard problems encountered with the TI-55-II family of calculators. Or the decision of a Manager of TI's Consumer Electronic group to quit the calculator business...
Learn more about the demanding "Project X" initiated already in Summer 1977 and leading not only to the (failed) TI Programmable 88, but the TI-66 PROGRAMMABLE, failed TI-76 PROGRAMMABLE, Compact Computer CC 40, (failed Compact Computer CC 70) and last but not least the successful TI-74 BASICALC and TI-95 PROCALC.
with permission of the author DATAMATH.org
The PC-800 Printer is a dot-matrix thermal printer designed for use with the TI-88 Programmable. It connects to the TI-88 through a 2-pin Peripheral I/O connector. A second Peripheral I/O connector on the back of the PC-800 allows to connect another device like the CA-800 Cassette Interface to the TI-88.