NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Starpath's StarPilot for TI-92+
From: Richard B. Emerson
Date: 2001 Aug 29, 12:25 PM
From: Richard B. Emerson
Date: 2001 Aug 29, 12:25 PM
This note is mainly a "heads up" for a coming review of the new TI-92+ (TI-86 and TI-92+ refer to different Texas Instrument calculator models) version of StarPilot. Nav-L readers may remember I posted, last fall, some comments about the earlier TI-86-based version along with comments about the Celesticomp calculator. I received, from Starpath, the TI-92+ version of StarPilot (as well as the Win9x version) for review and finally wrapped up the first pass through the documentation (it's not *that* long but I wanted to be sure I worked all the problems, etc.). One of the problems with the TI-86 version is the TI-86 itself has limited memory capacity and that means extended DR work can be a challenge. The TI-92+ has considerably more memory and computing horsepower as well as options for a better user interface. Although I still have more work to do (mostly re-running old nav data to see what happens) before writing a final review, my initial reaction is the new version is definitely an improvement over the older version. I'm not sure I'm ready to call it an entirely new version (although I know there was massive re-working of the code for the TI-92+) but it is an extensive and very welcome refinement of the present model. I'll be posting more information in a few weeks (small matter of some sailing vacation time *finally* coming up) but for now, if you're serious about navigation, need a way to speed up the math drudge work, and have the money spend on a TI-92+, this is a good product to consider. Rick S/V One With The Wind, Baba 35 DISCLAIMER: Starpath (http://www.starpath.com) provided the above software to me at no cost. Other than as a paying customer for other Starpath products, I have no financial interest in or connection with Starpath or its management or employees. All comments and observations, unless otherwise attributed, are my own. The same goes for TI who didn't even supply me with either the TI-92+ or TI-86. After all the red LED-eyed monsters I bought from them over the years, the cheapskates!
