Compatible ASM Programs for TI-86

May - News

Friday May 28th, 1999

I have retested all of the CrASH games that I previously listed. 7g and DStar82 now work with YAS .92! Previously, I used YAS .91 to test those games and had put off working with CrASH in favor of finishing up with ASH testing.

by Daniel Nelson was submitted to the Program Icons.

Thursday May 27th, 1999

I got my Graph Link today from Dimension-TI! Apparently, I had to re-order last Friday because I made an error in the order form. But it's here, I'm happy. The missing link will be coming in Tuesday, the 9 pin female to 25pin male cable. Also null modem adapters and gender changers for my USR Courier External 9600 modem to hook to the glink! :) If you're in need of computer connectors, cables, parts, etc - check out Roger's Systems Specialists, great stuff at even greater prices.

The YAS 82 Compatible listings have been updated. If you find any discrepencies, feel free to chalk em up on the message board.

Wednesday May 26th, 1999

I'm 16 years old today! To read some interesting events in history for May 26th, click here. I was born on the day StarWars was first released, back in 1977!

TASM v3.1 was added to ticalc.org's archives. While TASM remains the most prominent z80 Assembly writing program for TI Calculator users, Assembly Studio 86 is quickly becoming popular because it is a Windows based environment full function editor, compiler and debugger (sorta). It also comes with Calc Explorer, which adds convenience to GraphLink cable owners.

Tuesday May 25th, 1999

I discovered CGI For Me, a free service that provides mounds of CGI services for people who host websites. Anyway, check out the new message board by clicking here. Feel free to rant, enlighten, discuss, critique, criticize, correct, suggest, ask or whatever. :)

Added this weeks poll. Click Vote, then click the Vote button and choose what you'd like to see more of. :)

Sunday May 23rd, 1999

Added Where can I find a better FAQ? to the Frequently Asked Questions.

The TI-82 ASH program, Knight Moves, apparently works in YAS .92 with Rom 1.6. Thanks to Bryan Bates for letting me know.

Saturday May 22nd, 1999

Been slowly learning z80 Assembly, which sprouted off a visitors request for me to compile TI-86 Z80 Disassembler for him. 3 errors were found (by using Assembly Studio 86), and I didn't have much clue what to do or how to fix it. I emailed it to my friend Nick. Anyway, that's how I'm starting to learn ASM... Besides, next semester it's C++ in CompSci.

A few people on the Assembly-86 mailling lists have inquired about the MBus network for calculators by using an I2C controller to handle all the messy stuff. Osma Suominen designed this entirely for the TI-85 with ZShell 4.0. Unfortunately, I can't find out anything more about it on his site, aside from the fact it's all in Finnish. Anyway, two files he released (that I was fortunate to download) were MBus and MChat. The source is included if you are interested in porting this to the TI-86 (which Osma eventually hoped for).

I2C circuit interface plans and routines (for ZShell) can be found at http://www.ticalc.org/pub/text/hardware/i2c.txt.

This page includes more for TI hardware enthusiasts: http://www.alaska.net/~gussie/electronics.html.

Wednesday May 19th, 1999

I tried out Rammstein's Du Hast 86P file. There are 9 files, combined size about 65kb. The length is about 44seconds, and the quality is incredibly horrible, but it is a calculator so it's impressive I guess (the routine by Andreas Ess, and the port to 86 by Andrew Waser). My ears have been used to the quality of 128/44 of most of my 321 MP3's (77 are off the Diamond Rio cd, so I guess they don't count). Well, I guess it's also interesting to note that you can hear the "Du Hast Meh" part if you listen carefully. :)

Well, it appears that the action/rpg game by David Phillips is Zelda! Or so I've heard. I have yet to wonder how good it will be compared to Sam's version of Zelda86, which hasn't been updated in quite some time. Also, the 16x16 sprites, though detailed... are insanely huge.

I was sorting through my huge list of bookmarks, and I noticed that I bookmarked the mICQ page that I previously mentioned (May 6th, 1999 news) was down. Yeah, its still at http://phantom.iquest.net/micq/. And it occured to me, although I could be completely wrong, the computer you connect to must have the mICQ program installed. Since, mICQ is a Linux program, I assume you use Term86 (TI-86 VT100 terminal program) to see it in the first place. It's a generalization, but it's how you check email, visit websites and chat through your TI-86 (with a GLink, 9600 ext. modem, null modem adapter, and Term86 program). There aren't chat/browser/email programs for the TI-86, rather, programs on the computer you connect to. Like in some of those libraries which have a keyboard and monitor and no "box." Those are called "dumb terminals" in which they are client computers, and only client computers. They have no hard drive, CPU, or anything. They work entirely off the server: applications, data, the whole deal. So... I imagine this is how mICQ works, and your calculator in effect, becomes the truly dumb terminal. :) Click here to view the screenshot, and click here to read more about it.

Monday May 17th, 1999

If you run a calculator related website, I would suggest checking out the Open Directory Project: TI-Graphing Calculators. It is a human run archive, as opposed to the bots at traditional search engines like Yahoo, Infoseek and Hotbot that "spider" information off websites through META tags, occasionally reporting incorrect the information in your search query.

After a grueling 30-36 hours from Friday night, to Monday morning (today), I have finally finished my Holocaust website. I hope I get an 'A'. :) If you want the URL, email me, for I don't feel it needs to be put up on this site. As said, my interest in creating such a site was to learn a tad of Javascript, and become more fluent with tables. Also, I went a little graphics crazy (it's graphics crazy when compared to my other 95% text-only sites).

From acz.org's news, a new game by Clem (author of Maze3D) is working on a game called "Jump n' Run." More information about his projects can be found on his website at http://clem.acz.org. Also, David Phillips along with Dave Scheltema and Brett Barwick (all of acz.org) are working on a new game. An informant suggests it is an adventure/rpg-type game... oh, the possibilities one can conjour! Stay tuned for more details.

From Macross Software, the current state of Final Fantasy: The Calling has much to be decided. Josh Morris, lead programmer of FF:TC has apparently "vanished" off the face of the planet. A new game called Neontech II seems to be in the works, click here to view a generated screenshot of a possible status screen. Also, Chapter II of Quest3 is currently underway with discussions of it on Macross's webboard. Various 85 string demos (work under YAS .92) of FF:TC (not the 20kb movie file), Metroid, and more (FF:TC screenshot, Quest3 Map) can be found in this directory. The links to the files on the main page have not been fixed to my knowledge.

Speaking of webboards, mine from Internations.net is still down. The domain is back up, however the cgi has not been configured correctly so thus the result when you try to post a message, it says "Error opening new file, permission denied." I have emailed them more than a week ago, with no response. Considering their slow response time in fixing things, I guess it is unsurprising at their meek attempts to respond to account holders.

ticalc.org has upgraded their servers, and thus this site, as well as other hosted sites on ticalc.org should load noticeable faster. If this speed maintains, I may add a little bit more eye candy as well as better organization for low resolution visitors.

Saturday May 15th, 1999

I'm working on a website about the Holocaust for my history project. In it, I'm working with some interesting (better?) functions that may be added to this site, i.e. javascript buttons, use of tables to organize layout, etc.

Friday May 14th, 1999

While perusing Ray Kremer's TI-FAQ, I noticed a tri-yearly newsletter by Texas Instruments called Eightysomething!. The newsletters come in pdf format and you need Adobe Acrobat (free) to read them.

If your calc-to-calc link cable is broken, a new one straight from TI costs $5-7 depending on the length. You heard me right, depending on the length. They sell an 80 inch calc-to-calc link cable. Visit https://www-s.ti.com/calc/docs/sales.htm to see more accessories.

Thursday May 13th, 1999

Tested SuperCopter Beta on ASE, Rascall and YAS. It works for Rascall and YAS, but not for ASE. It's a limited beta version, so hopefully more bugs will be stamped out, and more functions implemented. Click here to see what happens when you win.

The readme.txt file has been fixed in the Avalanche (ASH) archive.

The screenshot links have been added to the YAS 82 page. Thanks to Dimension-TI for providing most of them.

Wednesday May 12th, 1999

Both YAS pages have been updated. Orzunoid v7.0 has a minor problem with YAS .92 with certain TI-86's (like mine) and it's being looked into by Aaron. Oddly enough, Aaron with his TI-86 rom 1.3 has Orzunoid 7.0 working just fine. Also, in various TI-86 emulators with my rom 1.2, it works fine too. Thanks to PatrickJH6 for bringing this to my attention.

Minor error (password protection) regarding YAS in the Shell Comparison has been fixed.

Downloaded several screenshots of TI-82 ASH games, but haven't had time to link to them in the corresponding 82 pages. You can see a directory listing of ASH game screenshots here.

Sunday May 9th, 1999

A person by the name of "Panama" has submitted a huge sheet of icons totaling over 60 icons! All of the icons are in a 7x6 format which can easily be converted over to the 8x8 style without too much distortion. To see it, click here.

Friday May 7th, 1999

I spent time retesting some of the ASH games, as well as testing more games under YAS .92. I tested the CrASH programs under pre-release versions of YAS, thus the current CrASH listings in the YAS 82 listings are not up to date, so results may vary in YAS .92.

Also, if you have not noticed, I have taken the liberty of converting working ASH & CrASH games (YAS 82 listings) from an 82p file to 86p file.

Added some hyperlinks at the top of the YAS 85 Compatible page to help navigate around a tad bit easier.

Thursday May 6th, 1999

I emailed David E. West inquiring on whether there would be a future release of Term86 v1.0. Term86 is a terminal program which requires an external 9600 modem, TI-Graph Link, null-modem adapter and most likely a d-sub 25pin gender changer. It can allow your calculator to dial up to BBS's and the Internet. It turns out David's objective was to see whether the whole thing would work. In contrast, RTerm v0.4 does not have VT100 emulation or a virtual screen as in Term86.

As far as I'm concerned, based on the screenshots, he has done quite well. According to the readme, a lot of inspiration for this came from Justin Karneges's Telnet83 which is quite impressive itself.

I plan to add a section with 86 online communications if it turns out to work well enough (and receive enough user feedback). If you frequently use your 86 with a BBS, or shell provider, let me know. Also, if you know of any website listings of ISP's that provide shell access, send them my way at more486@more486.ticalc.org.

Looking through David's site, I came across a page about mICQ. If you're an ICQ user, this will probably make your jaw drop. Unfortunately, the page with more information (http://phantom.iquest.net/micq) no longer exists. I recall visiting that site a while ago, but apparently any traces of mICQ have disappeared from my hard drive. If you have any information to share about mICQ, Matthew Smith, or otherwise, send it to micq@more486.ticalc.org.

Wednesday May 5th, 1999

YAS .92 was released due to a few minor bugs with 82 emulation. Also, in 82 programs like The Chase (ASH), text wraps to the default 82 screensize (16x8 in bigfont).

Tuesday May 4th, 1999

Ordered a TI-Graph Link from Dimension-TI. Adam Berlinsky-Schine confirmed that the $5 shipping applied to the Graph Link only, everything else was $7.50 S&H.

ZAP 2000 has replaced Windows2000 in the Shell Comparison. Apparently Scott Glover took source from other programs/shells and incorporated it into Windows2000. Scott even won LOTM (Lamer Of The Month) on acz.org. Read the May 1st news on acz.org.

Rusty Wagner emailed me back and said the bug was known about VTI's inability to send files to the TI-82, 83, 85, and 86. Anyway, a new version is out. You can download version 2.0 alpha 4 here. Rusty's webpage is at http://89emu.acz.org/.

acz.org recently opened up a news server. The address is at acz.org with several topics of discussion.

Several (20) 82ASH programs tested in YAS .91. I haven't tested them in rom 1.3, 1.4, or 1.6 (via emulator) since I've been getting some mixed feedback between calc and emulator. So for now, all the results are from my TI-86 with rom 1.2. Click here.

Monday May 3rd, 1999

Yet Another Shell v.91 by Aaron Curtis has been released to ticalc's file archives. The biggest feature as you may know is 82 ASH and CrASH emulation. Look forward to the YAS pages being updated, particularly 82 emulation. 85 emulation has not been tweaked much (ZKart, and XC-1701 are the only ones mentioned which may be affected) so I don't plan on any major revamps to the 85 emulation page unless otherwise. The Shell Comparison page has been updated. The features updated were 82 emulation and ability to hide programs.

Speaking of hiding programs in YAS, the ability to unhide them lingers on. :) Aaron's note to me was, "Don't hide programs you ever plan to use." Point well taken.

Also, ZAP-2000 v.72 which fixes a few minor bugs in .71, was released yesterday.

Virtual TI still isn't working for me. 82, 83, 85, and 86 emulation all have problems when I attempt to send files to it. 89 emulation works though. I figured I might have an altered rom file (I've used Emu86 and TI86Emu) and dumped off TI-86 w/ 1.2. I timed it, and surprisingly noted it only took 2.5 minutes. Anyway, the point to all this, is Q/A number 10 on the FAQ has been fixed. And, I still can't send files to the 86!

Saturday May 1st, 1999

April's news moved to the News Archives.

Went to do a little research on the alleged USB Graph Link cable for sale on acz.org, and discovered something else.

TI-Graph Link for Windows 95/98 or NT includes:

Black TI-Graph Link cable that plugs into unit-to-unit link cable with compatible TI graphing calculators.
Unit-to-unit cable.
CD ROM including: TI-Graph Link software and Guidebooks for all compatible models.

This cable does not require the 25pin male to 9pin female (obviously) that most people require for newer computers. Also, it uses a socket which then hooks to a calc-to-calc link to connect to your calculator. Pretty interesting, however I wonder whether it will still work with an external 9600 modem (with the proper pin converters, gender changers and null modem adapter). Overall, if your intentions are only for the computer (which most people, I think it would...), this cable is for you. Although, it won't be out til around Summer '99, the $18 price for it on acz.org may be worth the wait.

On Dimension-TI, a graph link + S&H is $29. The graph link sells at $24, and there are two modes of shipping which I just discovered. The normal shipping and handling option costs $7.50, while shipping and handling - graph link only, is $5. Weird. I remember when Dimension-TI said all S&H costs would be $7.50.

If an ordinary 25-pin female serial graph link is on your mind, Dimension-TI would be the way to go in my opinion. They have secure ordering, and with the new (odd?) S&H cost, the net money spent is the same compared to acz.org.

A new 86 grayscale side-scrolling game is presently being worked on by Clem. Details will be released as they become available.

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