[RebeccaTheDev]

I once made a homebrew GraphLink parallel port cable so that I could upload games and programs to my TI graphing calculator. Made it a lot easier to write programs than to tap them out on the calculator itself.

A friend and I wrote a chat program that used the calculator-to-calculator GraphLink cable to send messages back and forth so we could chat in class. This was a neat hack, but considering the cable that came with the 85 was like 2 feet long, it was kinda useless in practice unless we were sitting at the same table. So I made a longer cable at home out of stuff from RadioShack.

Everything was cool until we got caught using the homebrew cable in class. Fortunately, once we showed the principal what we'd done, we were told that it was very clever, but not to have the cable in class anymore. :)

You know, I think I might still have my TI-85 and homebrew cables in a box somewhere. I wonder if any of my old programs are still there.

[retzkek]

I recall dragging my massive second-hand Zenith 286 "laptop" into school and serving out zshell assembly programs to people with my homebrew GraphLink. I even sold a couple of them. Many a math class spent playing tetris on my TI-85...