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Ask HN: Should there be new RPN calculators to replace the TI-84?

28 points idatum | 5 comments | 09 Mar 25 05:02 UTC | HN request time: 0.779s | source

I took an exam today where only TI calculators were available. I felt I was caught between some older models where the TI interface was not quite worked out.

And I don't see much progress then trying my daughter's TI-84.

1. aforwardslash ◴[09 Mar 25 12:48 UTC] No.43308655[source]▶
Have a look at https://www.numworks.com a easy to use scientific calculator that is opensource
replies(2): >>43312904 #>>43313637 #
2. nbernard ◴[09 Mar 25 19:40 UTC] No.43312904[source]▶
Not really true anymore unfortunately: The latest models (post-2020?) are locked down and cannot use non-official FW.
3. varun_ch ◴[09 Mar 25 20:49 UTC] No.43313637[source]▶
As a high school student I can’t recommend the NumWorks enough (but you will absolutely find it lacking if you need it for anything other than high school maths).

It’s a really nice tool (although not an RPN calculator). It’s like if Apple designed a calculator… very intuitive.

That said, I wouldn’t call it fully open source. They had some issue because they released an update that locked down their calculators to satisfy school boards (because otherwise students could modify test modes to cheat on tests). The software on GitHub was also out of date, last time I checked.

replies(2): >>43318157 #>>43343419 #
4. aforwardslash ◴[10 Mar 25 08:32 UTC] No.43318157[source]▶
Good to know, while I had purchased one for my daughter, I had only a cursory look at the released files.
5. donatj ◴[12 Mar 25 14:09 UTC] No.43343419[source]▶
I know they removed the CAS capabilities to appease school boards. Are you still able to replace the firmware with the CAS capable version?