I think to stop porting games to the 83+ is stupid, even though I don't have the calc. It's just a bunch a lamers. It's the lamers that are responsible for this. When a previously absent sect becomes exposed to something new (ion), you always get a bunch of newbies who don't know better.

Also, wasn't solytare available before on the TI83?

Solytare v2.11 for the TI-83 (SOS) has been out since July 29, 1998. A long time. :) Nothing new, just Nick thought it was newsworthy. Not sure why.

Well, I doubt he would've made a whole article about solytare being ported, but it's worth throwing it in there among all the other progs TCPA has released.

Perhaps - but all the other programs TCPA "released" were also ports. :)

This is a version for Ion, as you can see in the link.
And it was only 1/3 of a news article ;P

--BlueCalx

Right, they changed a few lines of code and recomplied it. Big deal. :)

Plus, the whole article was about ports.

If someone converted Meister Mind from PhatOS to Rigel, would you post a news item about it? Probably not.

Ion is slightly more important than both PhatOS and Rigel combined, though :)

--BlueCalx

In your opinion maybe.

Let's be fair -- the TI-85 is several years old, whereas the TI-83/83 Plus are relatively new calculators and certainly sell more units today. The 85 already has 2 dominant shells, ZShell and Usgard, where Ion is one of the primary shells for the 83/83+. If you just want to look at programs, Rigel and PhatOS each have roughly half the games Ion has. Not to mention Ion is cross-calculator, which is pretty unique and important in itself. As a programming platform, it's fair to say Ion is much more relevant than two aging shells for an aging calculator.

So yes, that's certainly Nick's opinion, but I think you're just giving him a hard time. Pretty clearly it's not a great exaggeration. But since you seem to indicate you're of another opinion, I'm definitely open to any supporting arguments you might have.

Chris

Be fair about this - TCPA didn't release anything "new". Just ports of old programs. And some weren't even true ports, just converting from one shell to the other on the same platform. I'm not saying thats a bad thing, but it doesn't justify a huge news item.

That has nothing to do with the past 3 comments in this thread! That's something different.

Chris

Wow, you are very observant Chris.

I bring this up since you sidestepped my invitation for you to prove you were doing something other than just giving Nick a hard time. The invitation still stands, but you don't seem to have anything to add.

Chris

Ever notice how Chris always has to have the last word in a given thread containing an argument between him and Brian?

Well basically, you don't need to post a news item everytime a new TI-83(+) Ion port comes out. There are going to be A LOT of these routine ports coming out in the next couple months. And when was the last time you posted something about the TI-85 or TI-86? I can't even remember...

I would like to point out that ZShell, Usgard, PhatOS, and Rigel programs are really "cross-platform" since most of them will run on a TI-86 with YAS, Rascall, or AShellE.

Also, even though there may be fewer new purchases of the TI-85 than other calculators, the TI-85 still has many users because of the people who have had them for a long time. And since the TI-85 is still useful (and costs less than newer calculators) I think there are probably also plenty of people who buy them today.

I also wanted to add that if the real programmers stop porting, maybe *Hays* will learn enough ASM to sign their name on and port to ION. Fat chance, but it's still possible.

That's quite possible, since converting from SOS to Ion is _not_ that hard, AFAIK.

And you tried to do that when? Hmm... if it's not _that_ hard (as you claim) then why haven't we seen some ports comming from you?

-Miles Raymond

Its not hard, relatively speaking. A lot easier than lets say porting from the 85 to the 83.

I also wanted to add, that even if someone else ported Sam's or Ahmed's games to the TI-83 Plus, Sam or Ahmed could request that ticalc.org not post that game.

I believe the way the announcement was worded on TCPA's site, that Sam and Ahmed aren't only just not porting the games, they aren't allowing others to port them as well. If I'm wrong about that, someone please correct me.

However, in the last few months ticalc.org hasn't really been consistant in respecting the author's wishes, so I don't know what would happen.

I'm sure they won't mind if you say that you, the porter should be consulted for any problems and not the first programers. Espicialy if you say that it is their risk to take to run it on their calculator.

Anyway if I ported the games I would probly upload the port to my site.

Of course, but many programmers request that people don't re-release their source code in any way without first getting permission from them first. You should (and need) to respect the wishes of the programmer.

Shhhhh... you'll provoke them.
:)

--BlueCalx

You mean 'him'?

Don't you mean 'him'?