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TICalc.org has several articles on things like that. My favorites are Overclocking and Battery Expander.

writing code for low power devices such as graphing calculators pretty much requires ASM to have any speed or power, check out for a huge directory of nice Assembly programs, although newer calculators have better high level languages real power needs ASM

I have some friends that have had their calculators stolen countless times. HP is expensive hardware in the hands of often-frugal hackers as the people I know. Many of the mathematics teachers "require" the HP (expensive) calculators just to enter their class. It's tough for some of us students that are poor. Some students pull a fast-one by going to Radio Shack and buying the nice (albeit inexpensive) calculator which *appears* to have the same features as an HP graphing calculator. In a student's experience, they will often be shunned and frowned upon by their teacher for not buying an HP brand graphing calculator. I suppose in a teacher's view, the teacher doesn't want any hassles with incompatible calculators in their HP-only classroom. HP and said teachers are simply monopolizing a product onto students.

The calculator isn't important, it just automates a calculation and gets you away from paper to display the result. Sure, it makes everything faster, but what do you say to someone who simply understands the order of operations to solve an equation without a calculator? Plot the points! The better rebuttal to using graphing calculators would be is to criticize upon the fact that it is best to know howto solve a mathematics equation without a graphics calculator. Say, if you were shipped-off to planet Deimos, thrown in the brig for punching your commanding officer, they take your gun and girly HP graphics calculator, and then monsters from hell invade from the interdimentional portal killing everyone and you are only left with your wits... You will not have a graphics calculator salesman to sell you somthing, so let's learn howto use the computer between our head...and the blood of your commanding officer to plot the points of a graph on the wall. Back to alleged "Teachers", I've witnessed teachers giving ultimatums to students which don't have the "required" calculator. It's tough to not be prejudice towards teachers, they only know a limited number of graphics calculators/brands. And besidse, they're being payed to teach so that makes them less of a teacher and more of a mercenary. The more briliant students (like me, and countless other nerds with their ears puckered-out) need to strive to hack around these HP-fascists. The next best step to not purchasing a HP calculator is...to not purchase an HP calculator: buy an inexpensive PDA, preferably a Vtech Helio (~$30 on eBay, can run Linux with a hack) or a Agenda VR3 / Softfield Tech VR3 (~$70 on eBay, alreadly runs Linux/X11), or a Netpliace I-Opener (~$50 on eBay, can linux with a hack). Run Tiemu on the Linux-based PDA of your choice, it emulats many different HP graphics calculator consoles and operations).

through Zshell (a old exploit of a hardware bug that allowed you to run assembly)

It wasn't a hardware bug, and in fact, wasn't a bug at all. An entry in the custom menu contains a pointer to a memory location, which gets executed when the entry is selected. The menu entry for ZShell (or whatever shell) gets setup using a hacked backup file.

This is the document that started it all:

http://www.ticalc.org/pub/text/calcinfo/85hack.txt

Indeed, the 89 is ALREADY a V200 without the qwerty (and less some ram), the new 89 is just flashier looking (read more ugly) with some extra brain space.

Anyways, for those who didn't catch the orginal /. article PedroM is a true OS for the TI-89 6800 based calc. Of course using it makes your 150 89 worthelss as an algebra kicker-asses, but that's never the point =).

I'll happily buy one or both of these calculators for my school-age children, provided that they can run TI Linux. Frankly, I have grown weary of the proprietary, closed-source interfaces that plague graphing calculators. They're essentially small computers; can't they run a real OS?

Sincerely,
Seth Finklestein
Linux on Calculators Expert

Actually the reason for it is AMS 2.0x forbids the use of assembly language programs in expressions. It is quite useless for an assembly language program to attempt to return a value.

There are hacks which intercept this behavior of the AMS and allow assembly language programs to be in expressions and therefore return values. This is a stupid behavior of the AMS imposed by TI. AMS 1.0x imposed no such restrictions on the usage and behavior of assembly language programs.

So, my statement was quite correct.

Here is some documentation to support what I say here.

Yeah, we all know those calculator-programming-hooligans will never amount to anything.

There is now an application for TI-83+ that lets you use Reverse Polish Notation on it. http://www.ticalc.org/archives/files/fileinfo/233/ 23378.html

Though PedroM has only been available for under a week now (publicly), I've already written the first piece of software designed for it. The program, MLib, is a collection of OS extensions that allow you to do a lot more with PedroM than you can with the OS alone. You can find MLib for the TI-89 at this page, and for the TI-92+ at this page. Enjoy!

Though PedroM has only been available for under a week now (publicly), I've already written the first piece of software designed for it. The program, MLib, is a collection of OS extensions that allow you to do a lot more with PedroM than you can with the OS alone. You can find MLib for the TI-89 at this page, and for the TI-92+ at this page. Enjoy!

And I can honestly say that the single "feature" that is missing that I would most strongly desire is the ability to plug in more RAM into the sucker.

I want to run java apps on a pocket calculator, not just be restricted to their idiotic perception of "BASIC".

Yeah, it needs more memory, but you can still run the Waba Virtual Machine (which can run some java applets).

Of course, gcc cross-compiling to the TI-89/92 has been happening for a long time.

The 89 doesn't have a qwerty keyboard, but someone wrote an interesting program for the 83: QWERTY. With the QWERTY Text Editor, you can flip your calculator on its side and type as if it were a normal computer keyboard. Perhaps the author of PedroM should adapt this functionality.

There is also GtkTiEmu, an emulator that runs on Linux. For those who don't have Windows either.

In the same vein, if one really wants to make their 89/92+ useful, I recommend this small utility. I bet PedroM can't touch it.

The other TI calculators with flash memory are the TI-73 and the TI-83 Plus. Personally, I've released the source for a rudimentary proof-of-concept OS (warning: knowledge of how to compile and send it required) for those just to demonstrate that a similar method exists. In fact, on the 83+ one can write to the flash memory with an assembly language program as well.

To those who ask what the point is, it's exciting. Writing your own operating system is quite possibly the hardest thing that a programmer can do. On the computer, it's unmanageable because of complexity, but you can still balance complexity with functionality on a graphing calculator. The TI-83 Plus uses a Z80 chip, and the 89/92+/Voyage 200 a 68000k, so assembly isn't too bad. Most 89/92+/Voyage 200 programs are written in C though.

DoorsOS

:)

Gran Tourismo? Gran Tourismo? Gran TOurismo?!?!

Nice to know they can spell the titles of the damn games properly...

Hmmm, maybe theyre on about this? Nah, maybe not.

And dont even get me started about the first Street Fighter in '88, the way they got the wrong Final Fantasy, and Manic Miner being released in 1997!?!?!... Please mod the atricle up as '-1 : Full Of Typos'!

That's why you overclock it.

I swear, nerds are going to be overclocking their vacuum cleaners one day...

There is a version of GCC that's able to compile C for a TI-89/92+. Available here. And, it does, of course, have TI-BASIC.

Sure, it looks like a Gameboy. Unless you rotate it 90 and use it in portrait mode with the stylus. Provided you're not using the standard "gamer grip" (holding unit with both hands, operating controls with thumbs) and have the sound turned down or off, no one will care what you're doing. The PDA functions are easily usable with the included stylus.

This would be true of any PDA with thumb-oriented controls. However, I don't think the idea was to create a stealth gaming device. For that, you might want to try a Texas Instruments graphing calculator and the wealth of software available for it.

Chessmaster can be set to play like a player of any rating. If you're too cheap for that, I've found that TI-Chess for the TI-89 (for which there are several emulators if you don't have the real thing) plays at around my level, and I'm a 1000ish player.

On the other hand, it may even be more sad that they still sit so close to human touch, considering that no one has gotten any use out of them since my freshman year in college, some three years ago.

That TI-82 was good to me. It saw my first programming efforts come to fruition: from simple BASIC math applications (for which I became a seemingly proficient developer) to minor assembly applications (which I never got deeply into). Since getting my TI-83 in high school I haven't used the TI-83, and since getting the TI-89 my senior year I haven't used any of the others (except occasionally the TI-83 for its financial calculating prowess!)...

Oh the history of calculators. I still remember the days when I worked on the web site Calc.org, which was then called Dimension-TI (heh), and later the TI-Files... and of course we all can remember submitting to and downloading from ticalc.org, the only of all the TI calculator web sites with just the right look and feel to endure the many years of evolving technology and still remain on top.

Sorry for this post. I think I was reminiscing. Hmm...

I just want to take the time to congratulate Jimmy on a job well done. I knew someone from the "TI Community" would make it big some day.

I'm sure everyone who's ever owned a recent TI graphing calculator (TI-83 and up) will remember zTetris, among other puzzle games, that Jimmy wrote.

Jimmy Mardell

The Google Code Jam winner was certainly famous for his skills a long time before this... even ordinary kids in my suburban high school new about Jimmy Mardell 8 years ago.

Jimmy Mardell was one of the pioneers of assembly programming for the TI calculators way back when. Without his ZTetris program (with two player link capability, no less!), high school math class would have been really boring for me.

I credit Jimmy Mardell's work for sparking my interest in game programming. It's good to see he's still on top of things.

This guy is no stranger to programming. Many a day in middle school, and high school, was spent playing games Jimmy made for the TI-85 and TI-92. Specifically, he programmed Boulderdash, Tetris, Solitare, and many more to the various calculator platforms. A comprehensive list can be found at ticalc.org. Thanks man! Sqrxz was great.

I've seen cooler things than that; how about a more practical device simulator? Virtual TI emulates all TI graphing calculator models. When you open it up you get a window shaped just like the actual calculator, with clickable buttons. Using Virtual TI is exactly the same as using the real calculator, only faster because you can type with the keyboard and use your Athlon to do the calculations. The TI-89 has symbolic algebra and calculus capabilities so it's actually much better than any Windows calculator application I've ever used. It can calculate things like the integral of (sin(x)tan(x))^2 dx for you. Of course, using a calculator ROM without owning the calculator is illegal...

Getting warmer...

The TI-89 and 92+ sport a 10MHz 16-bit Motorola MC68000 (in the same class as the Mac Classic, I believe).

Not quite 33MHz, but still fast enough for a rudimentary first-person shooter.

TIGCC.

TIGCC is based on GCC 3.2 but cross-compiles for TI-89/92+/Voyage 200 calculators. It includes a mostly complete C library, plus a TIOS syscall library and some graphics functions.

I don't think I've used the math features of my TI-89 since my last physics class, but I've been happily hacking away as late as this past week. Some of the stuff I've done is here, including a 3D maze game a la Wolfenstein 3D (but with no shooting, yet).

Texas Instruments' graphing calculators are capable of using home-made programs that give the calculator various abilities. My own TI-83 Plus is currently running RPN III, which increases my calculator usability by a hundred-fold. Unfortunately, the program is not as perfect as would be ideal, so if you're going to be using a calculator for some profession, do get a "real" HP RPN calc. However, my father is more than happy to have his old HP 41CV to himself now, while I go through 1st year introductory Calc and Math 12 on my TI.

I'm afraid you're out of luck if you're looking for a new HP graphing calc. The HP32SII is nice, and there are still some sources around the internet (Amazon used to carry them), but it doesn't graph. The TI-83+ isn't a bad graphing calc, especially if you install this,
a slick RPN emulator...it preserves all the functionality of the TI-83+ while giving you the standard 4-register stack-based RPN functionality.

I was recently in the market for a new scientific/graphing calculator as well and decided on a Texas Instruments TI-89.

I have been using it for about 2 months now and have been extremely impressed with its usability, extensive range of functions and most of all its ability to do symbolic manipulation, differential and integral calculus and matrices.

It is approximately the same form factor as the HP-48S, but it isn't a RPN calculator. It is pretty reasonably priced at $225 Canadian (approx. $169 US).

The Mathematics system is upgradable and programs can be downloaded to the unit. There are also quite a few user groups out on the web. Such as these guys and these guys

Here is a link to the page on the TI site about the TI-89.

Here are some of its features:

Symbolic manipulation for algebra, calculus and differential equations.

Real and complex numeric results.

Symbolic manipulation for algebra, calculus and differential equations.

About 188K bytes of user-available RAM.

About 639K bytes of user-available FLASH ROM for user data archive and/or Handheld.

Electronic upgradability of operating system including maintenance and feature upgrades.

Pretty Print shows equations and results with radical notation, stacked fractions, and superscript exponents.

Active Calculator Home history screen can hold up to 99 previous entries for deep recall.

Real and complex numeric results.

Symbolic units for use in equations, computations, and unit conversions. Over 100 units in 28 unit categories. 20 constants with symbolic units.

Graphs functions, parametric and polar equations, recursively-defined sequences, 3-dimensional surfaces, and differential equations. Up to 99 graphing equations defined and saved for each graphing mode.

Interactive analysis of function values, roots, maximums, minimums, integrals, derivatives, intersections, inflection points, and arc lengths.

Recursively-defined sequences access any number of previous terms.

Slope and direction fields for exploring differential equations. RK and Euler numeric differential equation solving methods.

Real time rotation of 3D surfaces.

List-based one- and two-variable statistical analysis, including eight regression models.

Statistics plots including scatter, xy-line, box and modified box plots. Histograms and regression lines.

Matrix operations including inverse, determinant, transpose, augment, elementary row operations, and reduced row echelon form. Matrix elements can be real or complex and numeric or symbolic.

Advanced matrix operations including eigenvalues, eigenvectors, LU and QR decompositions.

Column-logic expressions in data/matrix editor are retained for automatic recalculation when values change.

Interactive numeric equation solver.

Hexadecimal and binary operations and conversions.

Extensive programming capability with number and size of programs limited only by available memory. User-definable functions extend built-in functionality.

Optional assembly language programming.

Command catalog screen to access and show "help" information for each function and command. Memory management to create folders for specific applications or subjects.

255 symbols in the character set including Greek, system, and international characters.

Link capabilities for data transfer through I/O port.

Powered by 4 AAA batteries with lithium battery backup to protect memory during main battery change.

Hope this helps.....

Percontor

16 shade greyscale on an 80x80 pixel 4"x6" LCD? For fuck's sake, that's like watching video on a TI-8X calculator! (which, incidentally, you can do) Sure, it sounds like a fun project and all, but I don't think geeks will be rushing to encode their movies to this format so they can be played on this dinky little player. On the other hand, the player looks VERY portable and runs on 2 AA batteries. So I guess there is some potential for a low cost low resolution video/picture/text? viewer. It is interesting, at least.

Can it run SkiFree?

Okay, then, children of the modern age (where we live in a world so tied together with wires that Pangaea ain't goin' nowhere!), you tell me if this is a predicament or not.

In the 1980s, you could look up from your Commodore 64, hours after purchasing it, with a glossy feeling of empowerment, achieved by the pattern of notes spewing from the speaker grille in an endless loop. You were part of the movement to help machines sing! You were a programmer! The Atari 800 people had BASIC. They know what I'm talking about. And the TI-994A guys don't need to say a word, because the TI could say it for them!

The old machines don't compare to the desktops of today, or to the consoles of today. But, sadly, current versions of Windows have no immediately accessible programming languages. And what's a kid going to do with Visual Basic? Build a modal dialog? Forget coding for XBox. Requires registration in the XBox Developer Program. Otherwise, you gotta crack the sucker open. GameCube? GameBoy? Playstation 2?

Coding Just Isn't Accessible

Yes, there are burgeoning free SDKs for many of these platforms. But they are obscure and most children have no means of actually deploying or executing the code on their own hardware! This is obvious to us all and likely doesn't seem such a big deal. But ask yourself what might have happened had you not had access to a programming language on an Atari 800 or a Commodore. You tell me if this is a predicament.

It turns out, most of the kids in my neighborhood are exposed to coding through the TI calculator. A handful of languages are available on the TI and its processor is interesting enough to evoke some curiousity. But this hasn't spread to its PDA big brothers, where young people could have more exposure to programming. And undoubtedly the utility of a language on the Palm, Pocket PC and others would be useful to many.

So what's the problem here? We have no shortage of new languages, but they become increasingly distanced from the populace. Are the companies behind these platforms weary of placing the power of a programming language in the hands of users? Is there not a demand any longer? It's got to be some kind of greed, power, money thing, right?

Perhaps this is just another reason to push Linux and BSD on consumer systems. Still, are scripting languages easily accessible to beginners on those systems? OSX has made several scripting languages available (including Ruby and Python), but most users are unaware of their presence.

I should mention that Windows is equipped with its own scripting host for developing in JScript and VBScript. But the use of the scripting host is (I believe) under-documented and limited for beginners. Try doing something useful in a script without using Server.CreateObject. Let's not let kids touch the COM objects, please!

The Christmas List

I'm thinking a toy language for consoles and desktops alike could be monumental. I'm not saying it needs to be cross-platform. A language for GameCube that took advantage of platform-specific features could be more appealing to GameCube users than a language that used a reduced featureset, but could execute on a handheld. Really, we live in a world where both choices should be available.

As for essential features:

1. Transportable code.

On my TI-994A, I could make a little, animated Optimus Prime from pixels. Insert cassette. Record. Pass aroun

Okay, then, children of the modern age (where we live in a world so tied together with wires that Pangaea ain't goin' nowhere!), you tell me if this is a predicament or not.

In the 1980s, you could look up from your Commodore 64, hours after purchasing it, with a glossy feeling of empowerment, achieved by the pattern of notes spewing from the speaker grille in an endless loop. You were part of the movement to help machines sing! You were a programmer! The Atari 800 people had BASIC. They know what I'm talking about. And the TI-994A guys don't need to say a word, because the TI could say it for them!

The old machines don't compare to the desktops of today, or to the consoles of today. But, sadly, current versions of Windows have no immediately accessible programming languages. And what's a kid going to do with Visual Basic? Build a modal dialog? Forget coding for XBox. Requires registration in the XBox Developer Program. Otherwise, you gotta crack the sucker open. GameCube? GameBoy? Playstation 2?

Coding Just Isn't Accessible

Yes, there are burgeoning free SDKs for many of these platforms. But they are obscure and most children have no means of actually deploying or executing the code on their own hardware! This is obvious to us all and likely doesn't seem such a big deal. But ask yourself what might have happened had you not had access to a programming language on an Atari 800 or a Commodore. You tell me if this is a predicament.

It turns out, most of the kids in my neighborhood are exposed to coding through the TI calculator. A handful of languages are available on the TI and its processor is interesting enough to evoke some curiousity. But this hasn't spread to its PDA big brothers, where young people could have more exposure to programming. And undoubtedly the utility of a language on the Palm, Pocket PC and others would be useful to many.

So what's the problem here? We have no shortage of new languages, but they become increasingly distanced from the populace. Are the companies behind these platforms weary of placing the power of a programming language in the hands of users? Is there not a demand any longer? It's got to be some kind of greed, power, money thing, right?

Perhaps this is just another reason to push Linux and BSD on consumer systems. Still, are scripting languages easily accessible to beginners on those systems? OSX has made several scripting languages available (including Ruby and Python), but most users are unaware of their presence.

I should mention that Windows is equipped with its own scripting host for developing in JScript and VBScript. But the use of the scripting host is (I believe) under-documented and limited for beginners. Try doing something useful in a script without using Server.CreateObject. Let's not let kids touch the COM objects, please!

The Christmas List

I'm thinking a toy language for consoles and desktops alike could be monumental. I'm not saying it needs to be cross-platform. A language for GameCube that took advantage of platform-specific features could be more appealing to GameCube users than a language that used a reduced featureset, but could execute on a handheld. Really, we live in a world where both choices should be available.

As for essential features:

1. Transportable code.

On my TI-994A, I could make a little, animated Optimus Prime from pixels. Insert cassette. Record. Pass aroun

I wonder how long before the TI-83+ port is out?

Someone should have pointed out the first dozen times this exact same idea was done in a game. Maybe they would have gotten over it a decade ago.

Someone should have pointed out the first dozen times this exact same idea was done in a game. Maybe they would have gotten over it a decade ago.

Ahh, Doors.

Run VTI (A TI calculator emulator) under Wine. Then in VTI, run Tezxas (A ZX Spectrum emulator)

Run VTI (A TI calculator emulator) under Wine. Then in VTI, run Tezxas (A ZX Spectrum emulator)

While TI graphing calculators don't have the hex buttons where you want them, they are very programmable. The TI-86 is reasonably priced and very programmable. You could write yourself a simple conversion app with remapped buttons in TI-BASIC, or go all out and integrate it into the TI-OS using an assembly language program. There are many sites with resources to help you and assembly language mailing lists to get help on. You can do so many cool things with these calculators. Remapping the keys and writing a simple conversion app would be simple.

While TI graphing calculators don't have the hex buttons where you want them, they are very programmable. The TI-86 is reasonably priced and very programmable. You could write yourself a simple conversion app with remapped buttons in TI-BASIC, or go all out and integrate it into the TI-OS using an assembly language program. There are many sites with resources to help you and assembly language mailing lists to get help on. You can do so many cool things with these calculators. Remapping the keys and writing a simple conversion app would be simple.

While TI graphing calculators don't have the hex buttons where you want them, they are very programmable. The TI-86 is reasonably priced and very programmable. You could write yourself a simple conversion app with remapped buttons in TI-BASIC, or go all out and integrate it into the TI-OS using an assembly language program. There are many sites with resources to help you and assembly language mailing lists to get help on. You can do so many cool things with these calculators. Remapping the keys and writing a simple conversion app would be simple.

I forgot to mention that the link cables work fine under Linux. The calculator geeks can be found here and the Linux software to drive the cable and do the uploads/downloads (plus a GCC port, I think) can be found here

with my new Sony-Ericsson TI-85 phone

Confused? The TI-85 is a graphing calculator, for Butcher's sake!

Actualy one thing I like about the TI-89 is you can use it's symbolic manipulation to work problems the long way without worrying about stupid calculation errors. And TIGCC.