This sounds like it will be an awsome shell. I'm sure it will compete with all of the other great shells out there (I don't think any have 83asm support however). By the way, is Maze3D still/back in the works. Keep up the good work.

please make MAZE 3D, a exciting unique game... dont make the 86 as shell crowded as the 85

It won't matter if another shell is made for the 86. The only prob with all the 85 shells is they are program specific. I don't mind having tons of shells to choose from as long as they don't have things that work only with them. I think its great he's making a new shell I'm geting kinda bored using the same shells all the time (although they are graet I want something new).

I think this is a great idea! The 86 needs a new shell. ASE 1.3 is great but this shell sounds better if it can pull the 83 assembly off.

...and keep the shell small.

I know this will be one of those shells that the folks wont b**ch and moan about. Clem has a reputation to keep, and I know this shell will be good. Ase doesnt do it for 82/83 emulation, and Ase can barely run my favorite Usgard programs w/o crashing. And the fact that it hasnt been updated doesnt make it any better. Rascall is THE shell to use, but it doesnt do 82/83 emulation. I hope that all the emulation that will be done is done stably, unlike Ase. The compression thing sounds good to me, and the user define GUI's are a plus. Now here is a tip I have posted before, in-shell data transfer from calc to calc. I dont think that calc to pc and vice-versa can be done in-shell with TI's software, but maybe with another program? I doubt that calc to pc data transfer in shell is *truly* neccessary though. Now, if there was only a way to get in the beta testing team.....

I see no benefit to in-shell file transfer. The routines are already built into the rom and are easy to use. Adding this feature would do nothing but increase the size of the shell needlessly.

SO????? Some people don't care how big a shell is as long as it works and has lots of features.

If this new shell is promising to have 82 and 83 asm emulation, I definitely see a need for in shell linking. How else are we to get our favorite 82/83 programs onto our 86? Of course, besides just copying the programs, the shell should also automatically "translate" the program into usable code by the shell (if something like this is needed), so we don't have to manually do it. My $.02

Exactly.

I agree totally with you on the shell matter. So far Rascall has been the best shell for the ti-86, ASE with 82 emulation is a good idea but it sucks, lets hope this new shell is as good as or better than Rascall.

Uhmmm. Hello world of 86 users. Have you tried to transfer from a 83 to a 86. Does not work 99.9% of the time. If it did it, would be cool. I know there are a few 83 games that kick @$$ (one of them being south park). So by all means rock on CLEM.

First of all, the 82/83 emulation is for ASSEMBLY games only so if your talking about the South Park Quest in BASIC, then it ain't gonna work. Second of all, the BASIC 83 South Park Quest has been ported to the 86 already. I'm not sure if it's on ticalc.org yet but I know for a fact that it's at Dimension-TI.

Hrm...The new shell sounds interesting. Very much so :) from experience I know that CLEM is an accomplished programmer, and the idea of plugin/libraries is new on the '86. Swappable interfaces...interesting. What would make this shell really useful would be communications and file programs, such as ICQ and windows explorer. Being able to compose messages, link for a second, and browse files on the calculator graphically would be extremely useful. What kind of compression are we talking about here...being able to "zip" files and send them would be a great time-saver...

Compose messages, ICQ? Why the heck would you need ICQ on a calculator? I can understand using the IR link, but not with a standard link. If you're within 3 feet of someone, just write it down or talk to them. If it had Text To Speech capability, it might be useful though... for Stephen Hawking!

You forget that there is a 14.400 modem that will connect to the internet via a terminal emulator. SO it would not be a bad Idea for a few internet things. Of course getting ICQ to work w/ a terminal emulation would be a challenge, but I am sure someone out there can figure it out. If not oh well.

While it is interesting, as part of a shell, it is impractical and would probably be insanely huge addition to it. It would be a perfectly good program seperate from any shell, and would obviously have to be done in ASM anyway. If you want it, try and make it, and tell us how it goes.

If you read Alex's email he suggests an external program. not part of the shell itself but as an external program. I personally wouldn't use the icq but I do use the terminal emulator for compuserve. :)

Many people have asked me if work on Maze 3D has stopped, and you have all received emails as of this note. For those of you who are wondering, CLEM is still working on it and has no intention of stopping before he has finished! Thanks

Will you have to convert the 82 and 83 games like for 82 games on ASE? I hate that. I despise having to use DOS programs because I can never gte them to work right. It's a cool feature, 82/83 asm emulation, but if you have to convert it with a DOS program it's not worth it to me.

Gripe gripe gripe. Whatsa mattah? do;t know how to use dos? I think the shell is one darn good idea, but I don't see how else you're going to convert and 82/83 prog into something TI-graphlink and clones can read. Kids these days.. no respect for anything without buttons and pictures... :)

It so happens that everybody does not have DOS. Macintosh, Unix, etc. users can't use dos stuffþÂÐk