Yeah, this is a pretty narrow window of the millennial generation. If you had been born too late (e.g. Gen-Z), you'd have high production AAA-production mobile games to play between classes and after school instead.
One thing the author overlooks is how game programmers were able to exploit the primitive networking capabilities of the calculator. I fondly remember playing multiplayer Bomberman by plugging two TI-83 together via the 2.5" link cable.
I recently had enough nostalgia to pick up a new 2021 TI-84 Plus CE PYTHON unit. On one hand, it hurts to buy a 20+ year old CPU for over $100. On the other, there's something satisfying about still being able to program TI-Basic via muscle-memory using the token-based input.
Author here. Great point - I totally forgot to write up CalcNet! It was a protocol designed by KermMartian (DoorsCS guy) for connecting up to 8 calculators to a "local network" of tied-together link ports. There was also bridge software to GlobalCalcNet, which let you sort of VPN your calculator into virtual CalcNet networks over USB.
One thing the author overlooks is how game programmers were able to exploit the primitive networking capabilities of the calculator. I fondly remember playing multiplayer Bomberman by plugging two TI-83 together via the 2.5" link cable.
I recently had enough nostalgia to pick up a new 2021 TI-84 Plus CE PYTHON unit. On one hand, it hurts to buy a 20+ year old CPU for over $100. On the other, there's something satisfying about still being able to program TI-Basic via muscle-memory using the token-based input.