While many say that this program has been made irrelevant by DoorsCS7, I believe it offers a worthy alternative for calcs with warped displays or for people who just want a simple, archive compatible shell.

REVIEW:

Graphics: 10/10, the simple graphics were all it needed.

Speed: 8/10, when it first starts up and usually takes a while if you have a lot of programs.

Usability: 10/10, Simple controls and lots of features.

Stability: 6/10, It sometimes crashed and kept "forgetting" I had Mario.

Overall: 8.5/10 Simple and Easy, it gets the job done usually.

Other people have complained about garbage collection; Mirage OS does not do garbage collection, the TI-OS does. This occurs when the archive is full and you try to rearchive something. To stop the garbage collection message, try disabling "Enable write-back of Archive Programs" in the MirageOS menu.

Also, It runs ION apps flawlessly. Programs built for “MirageOS” will have custom icons to make it easy to differentiate programs. Also, “MirageOS” offers some password protection for itself, and a bit more when used in conjunction with TI's Startup APP. However, it no longer protects the calculator after RAM is cleared (by any means), but “MirageOS” generally retains its settings and password.

My only problem with “MirageOS” is that every time your RAM is cleared, all your programs are sent back to the MAIN folder, and must then be re-sorted.

“MirageOS” is easily expanded with alternate UIs, such as a completely icon-based one, a command prompt for a unixy feel (very hard to use though), a list interface that emulates the look and feel of ION, and more.

If you like ION, I recommend trying “MirageOS”, especially in conjunction with “Omnicalc”.

Idea: 8/10

Graphics: 9/10 (monochrome, not grayscale for obvious reasons; no animations, none needed)

Stability: 10/10

Flexibility: 9/10 (through add-on files)

User-Friendly: 8/10 (undoes sorting on RAM crash, regardless of whether preferences var is archived)

Speed: 10/10 (never seen a faster shell!)

Features: 10/10 (more than I even use)

Compatibility: 8/10 (ION ASM, “MirageOS” ASM, TI-OS ASM (through BASIC, see documentation), BASIC. Cannot launch Flash APPS or TSE progs)

Battery: 8/10 (does not send requests to processor when idle if you choose to "save the whales :)". Supports APD (automatic power-down) after default timeout)

FUNCTIONALITY: 9/10
The functionality is great. It automatically detects MirageOS programs as soon as I install them, and it can run from archive. However, when a program has an error, it doesn't tell you what went wrong.

STABILITY: 10/10
Not once has “MirageOS” itself crashed on me. True, a bunch of the programs have errors, but “Mirage” terminates them and keeps on ticking.

This program is one of the best out there. “MirageOS” has many great options, such as enabling lowercase on the TI-83, and password protecting your calculator, as well as enabling you to play MirageOS, ION, BASIC, and, of course, ASM programs.

However, it does have one noticeable bug. If you have lots of programs hidden (as I do, since I have about 40 progs on my calc, and I don't want my program menu cluttered), and you “GarbageCollect”, your calc may delete hidden files. I would suggest to the creators, in a future update, to un-hide programs before GarbageCollect and hiding them afterwards (if it is even possible to detect it, I don't know), or change how the hiding works so that this isn't a problem. Overall, this is a GREAT program, and I suggest downloading.

TI-84 Plus Compatibility:
In case you have already purchased a TI-84 Plus, v1.2 fixes minor bugs that were specific to the TI-84 version.

Faster Sorting:
Tired or sitting on the "Now Sorting...Please wait" screen? “MirageOS v1.2” now sorts programs over 50 times faster! This is due to the fact that in the previous version, the sorted program list was saved into the application variable, taking up valuable time. The new version will sort the program list each time the Application is run, but not to worry. My TI-83 Plus sorted 35+ programs in less than 2 seconds.

82 Emulation Removed:
Emulation for the TI-82 has been removed from “MirageOS v1.2”

This is THE MOST USEFUL APP THAT A NON-PROGRAMMER CAN OWN! Now all of us 83+ users, know that from time to time again in that 'boring' class, the MirageOS v1.1 shell has saved us from sleeping in those classes. We pass around these 'programs' that constantly entertain us. Contrary to Ion, the other leading 83+ shell, MirageOS has many useful features that allow users to do MORE THAN play games. And contrary to Ion, MirageOS can run both MirageOS programs AND Ion programs.

The GUI is very user-friendly. Once you start the shell, it displays 'folders' and you can 'open' and 'close' the folders to keep your files organized (esp. on the silver edition, due to the bigger Flash ROM space). It also has a function bar ([X,T,theta,n] key), similar to the 85/86 menus, that allows you to manipulate your programs, such as archiving, sending, hiding, and locking, without leaving the shell! MirageOS also includes hotkeys for the most common actions. If you are a more advanced user, you can use external GUIs, which I won't discuss (I use the Command Prompt GUI).

Probably the 'meat' of the shell is all in the Options Menu, found by pressing [Alpha]. You can toggle a wide assortment of options, like show program icon for graphics in the shell, password protection to prevent others from playing your games, and enable lowercase so you can type in upper AND lowercase.

There are also useful keyhooks and interrupt taskers that come in handy sometimes. One that everyone should use is the [On]+[APPS], which will start up MirageOS without going through the menu. [Alpha]+[On] will APD, useful when programming a long program in the editor. You can also block the [2nd]+[Mem] menu to protect your files. Also, the interrupt taskers allow you to do a lot of stuff within a program: [On]+[Mode] to quit to homescreen; [On]+[F1-F5] to slow or speed up game; [On]+[+] to increase contrast; and more...

There are some drawbacks and bugs, even in this great shell. One of the most annoying is that most of the time, running a BASIC program within the shell will cause a RAM Reset. And if the programs do work, the text output will be out of whack. The password security isn't 100% secure (heh), and sometimes, memory leaks causes RAM Resets to occur at random outside the shell, although this is more noticable on the Silver Edition (Imagine scrolling through the [MEM] menu and the RAM resetting right then, without warning).

MirageOS is an ION-ish shell that will allow you to set a password for your calculator and will also allow you to run applications that require the MirageOS shell.

It can perform many file-related tasks such as locking it up (and in that case, UNlocking it up!), link with another calc, display RAM and ROM space, ability for lowercase letters (good for people with calcs that don't do that), changing names of files, HIDING THEM!!! (greatest thing for tests), archiving and un-archiving them, and much more. It also has a very graphical, battery-saving interface!

The MirageOS Flash App is currently the best shell for the TI-83+ and the TI-83+ SE. The MirageOS shell, infinitely superior to the Ion shell (IMO), has many advantages that other shells lack. MirageOS has a password protection option, and can also block the memory menu from access to anyone. This way, no one can hack into your calculator. In addition, MirageOS has the ability to lock and unlock the source code of your files, so you can protect your files from being modified. Next, MirageOS has the ability to archive and unarchive files within the application, which can be extremely useful in some occasions. MirageOS has many other options, like lowercase letters and etc. Finally, the best reason to use MirageOS than any other shell is because MirageOS is a Flash Application. Ion can be easily removed by a simple RAM clear, while MirageOS will be unaffected.

Therefore, MirageOS is the best shell for the TI-83+ and the TI-83+ SE. There are not really any downsides to MirageOS, but in future versions they should add some Omnicalc options into MirageOS. Overall, MirageOS deserves a good rating.