Hey, I actually know how much space all of my 30+ programs take up on my calculator.

only 2 words describe this release, FRIGGIN AWESOME!, i have been using crunchyOS for a while now because of the basic bugs with mirage, but now that they are fixed i can go back to the functionality and awesomeness of mirage, thanks

PS: what does the save the whales thing do? is it some sort of easter egg?, also, what other easter eggs for mirage does anyone know of?

Save the Whales does, in fact, do something. When the option is selected, a certain bit in the AppVar is set, and also the rectangle is filled on the Miscelleaneous Options screen. ;-)

Seriously, what it actually does (or if it does anything, for that matter) is a very closely held secret by the DS staff. I believe some people have looked into it and have determined it has no effect other than those listed above.

darn i really wanted to know if that option has a serious effect on your calc

Quoted from the MirageOS User's Manual: "This option toggles between the custom setting of Saving The Whales, and reflects the personal preferrence of the user, pertaining to this environmental issue. The MirageOS developers believe in kindness to the environment, and the protection of the other creatures of our planet. We advocate the support for environmental concerns, and hope that the users of our shell will follow such benevolent actions.

But Actually... This option may seem out of place with the other options of our shell that serve some purpose and function. The option to "Save The Whales" shows the humorous side of the MirageOS developers' personalities. We didn't put this option in for no reason, however... We ensure that toggling this option does infact alter some aspect of MirageOS and your TI-83 Plus, but we do not plan to reveal to the public what this change is, and will leave it to you to figure out. :)".

Whether or not the changed aspect is something other than what has already been described shall forever be a mystery.

I have always been afraid it might mess my calc up with it unchecked. Them animal right activists are a mean bunch when you are against them; so I was/am afraid that the devlopers of Mirage would bring their wrath down upon my non-whale loving soul. er... my calc. Suffice it to say, I leave it checked.

That and I do want the whales to live.

-W-

I'm surprised nobody has disassembled the program to see what it does...

They have - and the thing it does, apparantly, that changes some aspect of MirageOS is this:

It changes a bit in the settings file. Nothing more.

However, no one knows how Mirage reacts to the different settings of that particular bit. I'm no ASM programmer, so I'll psuedocode a possibility in C:

if(whalebit)
run();
else
explode.violently();

It doesn't surprise me that it changes a bit in the settings file (it would have to, to remember which state the Whales option is in), but just because that's all it changes doesn't mean that's all it does.

You would think, seeing the length of time mirage has existed, that someone would have tried to figure it out, and found the answer.

-W-

We've tried. The problem is it may very well do nothing. That can only be proven by thorughly checking every line of code. If it does do something, all you have to do is find it.

Am I the only one who knows what this does?

The "Save the Whales" option causes MirageOS to remain in suspended animiation when no user input is available, thus saving battery life, thus decreasing battery usages, thus causing a decrease in battery purchasing, thus causing a decrease in battery manufactoring, thus causing the environment to be a little better due to a slight decrease in pollution associated with the production, thus saving whales!

Not checking the "Save the Whales" box causes MirageOS to perform an idle loop, thus causing a slight increase on the processor's work load, thus causing drain of the batteries of the calc, thus causing...well, you get it.

Are you seroius? Sounds fishy to me, wouldn't they just do that in the first place?

By having it checked, you say that you want to save the whales. Saving them by using less batteries, is of course not the best way to help, but a start none the less. If you don't care about the enviornment, then why should they care to help you do that by using less batteries?

-W-

because they are cheap??

For attention? And maybe to get back at all the people who don't like to save the whales. LO

That's interesting, JcN, where did you find that out?

Oh! Wow, I didn't even notice the pun!

There's a simple way to see if he's telling the truth.

Can you be more technical? Such as what you mean by "suspended animation"? Providing disassembly addresses would prove most useful, such as the address of a jp / jr where DS checks the flag and branches to one of the two behaviors.

Yes, be more technical.

I didn't reverse-engineer the program (I don't even know assembly); I just remember reading what it did in an old MirageOS manual (or maybe it was in their old auto-response e-mail?). I don't know exactly how they did it--perhaps it simply has a very, very small idle loop that runs instead which only waits for a keypress? Basically, whatever they do, it conserves power. If you don't believe me, ask one of the developers, or try getting an auto-response e-mail (I think it is one of ther FAQs).

"Suspended animation", eh?

That's really all it does? That's kinda pointless then. Maybe they will integrate a feature in future versions that blows up your calculator if you deselect it or something...

That might be interesting.

I can see it now--a boy, holding his charred calculator, picking up the phone, dialing Tech Support...

Hehe, well, if you can get the LCD to make "fireworks" and turn blue, then anything could be possible with them. It even has a clock. It could be a ticking time bomb ;-)

Haha, but they probably could mess it up pretty badly if they wanted to. Maybe they could do something similar to the effect of sending an OS and having the batteries run out during the transfer.

tick....
tick....
tick....
(I feel like I'm on "60 Minutes")
tick....
tick....
BRRRIIIINNNGG!

EVERYONE, GET DOWN!!!

*calc displays "bye bye" on the screen* KA-BLAAAAMMM!

lol!

You just need to put some thermite in the calculator and light it while chanting "Oportet ministros manus lavare antequam latrinam relinquent"!

Burn, baby, burn!

What, pray tell, does that mean IN ENGLISH?

I would guess that you don't want to know.

"Employees must wash hands before leaving the bathroom." :-)

Thermite is some cool stuff (well, hot realy but you know what I meant).