This is a great idea! I have a lot of basic programs in the archives, but they are pretty good ones. I would rather see more work with the rating system instead though. Because with this plan, there are some loopholes, like making a bunch of bad assembly programs to get points. Maybe use a better system of points than just giving assembly authors points to distribute. Like people could vote on which new programs should be added to the archives by rating the pending files, and a certain amount would be added each day or something. And each user's voting power could be based on the rating of the user's files.

Okay, well this is probably a joke news item, but I am glad that this issue is getting some attention.

no! If this happens, then a majority of the hopefuls of BASIC programming will give up(probably)! In the end, i would think that there would not be enough programmers that could program BASIC advanced enough so that there could be new programs. BASIC, on ticalc.org, will get old and musty! (my opinion only)

dude. It's a joke. Get a hint :)
I know, I fell for it at first too.

>>In the end, i would think that there would not be enough programmers that could program BASIC advanced enough so that there could be new programs.

Well then there will be no more BASIC progs and ASM development would be stimulated. Or the crappy BASIC stuff goes elsewere where nobody on ticalc would care about

oh yeah, almost forgot:

>>BASIC programs would get old and musty

just about everything on ticalc.org is now...

not all BASIC programs suck. I have a program (read my comment later on this page) that is far more powerful than anything in basic or ASM for any calculator or even a computer.

> If this happens, then a majority of the hopefuls of BASIC programming will give up(probably)!

praise the Lord!!!!!!!

Finally one that agrees with me!!! My prayers have been answered!

Finally something we agree on. Look back at the previous posts.

*angry* Great, thanks for giving me a heart attack!
Good thing I noticed the date. :)

Even though its a joke, its still a good idea. Limitations on the number of BASIC programs is a good start, but its not enough. The BASIC programs section should be removed and all focus should be on developing good ASM and Flash programs. This will encourage the development of good, usefull, TI-83+ compatible programs. The OS section should also be taken down until a decent OS is submitted.

Hate mail can go to zombie83p@gmail.com

seriously, why is there an OS section while there are no good OS's???
and geez, i hate the directories with nothing in them

The CrunchyOS games section is obsolete too, last time I checked, there were 3 programs in there.

By the way, how come TI Connect and TiLP tell me I have an invalid file type when I use "pucrunch infile outfile" on my comp.

The Flash shells section is obsolete because CrunchyOS is totally superior and because development of MirageOS has been canceled anyway. That leaves only one real program for that section

No, MirageOS is still (slowly) under development. Dan intends to complete it when he has time.

CAn you tell me why pucrunch.exe doesn't work too? See above comment

I've never used CrunchyOS.

Hmmm, maybe you can try using ttpack.exe from the TIGCC Tools Suite by the TICT. It's the same compression format (and it's widely used on the TI-89/89Ti/92+/V200, I don't know for sure why CrunchyOS doesn't have as much success, but probably because the TI-89/89Ti/92+/V200 launchers can also defeat the size limits imposed by TI), though maybe the CrunchyOS pucrunch.exe adds/removes some file headers, so I can't promise you it will work.

PS: Actually, file headers are probably the problem you're having. Read the documentation, you can't just send a pucrunch-compressed file to the calculator, you need to remove the headers and footers, compress the file and add a header and footer again (and you need assembly development tools to add the on-calc part of the header).

>>The BASIC programs section should be removed and all focus should be on developing good ASM and Flash programs

If you are talking about programs, not games, it's fine with me because there are so many useless ones and the ASM programs found in the BASIC misc. prgms section should be loacted in the ASM misc. prgm section, but not ALL BASIC games are bad (except for the TI-73, 80, 81 and 85), if they would split the archives into different sections (RPG, Shoot-em-up, action, racing, number guessing, menu-based games, ect...) I'm pretty sure that people would find what they want more easily. 98% of BASIC games are bad, but 2% are very good (*cough* otherwise I would not have got 4 BASIC games featured in less than 6 months :) *cough*)

If you're the guy that made Reuben Quest, then know that I hate you. I wasted several precious minutes downloading it (about 5) only to learn that it doesn't work on 83+ calcs after I deleted all of my programs to fit it on. If you are not that person, then ignore this and delete my comment.

Could you show me your author profile?

Also if you dont like my programs or BASIC just dont post anything at all. <remove this if unappropriate> I know you are anti-BASIC and you should get banned from ticalc.org for that </remove this if unappropriate>. I received a lot of email from people who liked the game and there was a lot of post on forums saying that the game was cool. SOme other didnt liked it much but they didnt flamed like you just did. <remove this if unappropriate> 2allStaff@ticalc.org: ban him </remove this if unappropriate>

I spent months in making those games, I know that you'll say "why not making it in ASM" and I know that BASIC sucks and is VEEEEEERRRYYYY inneficient but this is the only language I am able to program. Last summer I spent at least 100 hours maybe learning ASM and gave up cuz it was way to hard for me (stacks, registers, and all that memory stuff). Last months I re-opened ASM in 28 days to look again then shutted it down a few hours later. If you really want to bring BASIC to death and allow everyone to make games with a more efficient language why do you just not completely rewrite the language or build ETP studio or GFA BASIC for the 83+?

Other note: We are a community and we are not paid for making this stuff so we are free to do what we want as long as we respect policies at ticalc.org. Beside that I dlled an old BASIC game that took me 4 hours to install (FFTOM2) and I think that it was worth my effort because most good games are big anyway

I only offer opinions and i only state the truth. If you really find your programs to be top quality, then you shouldn't care what I say. Just because I make negative comments, doesn't mean that you have to make negative replies. I'm not really much of a fan of ASM either and I know that it is too hard to learn. So don't make assumptions. Personally, I never found the time to program for the calcs and I just make semi-crappy PC programs anyway.

So what was that?

>>then know that I hate you

your program broke my calc and I had to replace the OS because I couldn't get it to turn on again

I don't actually hate "you", I just hate crashes and junk in general along with long readmes, readmes that redirect you to some website, readmes that are corrupted and have viruses, and readmes stored as .exe files.

Long READMEs with useful information are better than short READMEs with no information, IMO.

So you didnt read the readme carefully or it's an hardware issue or you used TI-Connect to send the program. The only prgm that ever crashed my calc OS so far is the OS itself (it was OS 1.13) :)

now I have to say it: TI-Graph Link and TiLP For3v3r!!!! TI-Connect $ux0rz!!! :)

TiLP crashed my computer...

So... last resort is TI-Graph Link with serial cable. I use it, it's slow, but its the only thing I can get to work with my computer :(

I have a USB link which may be why TiLP always crashes

Then you aren't using the correct driver. TiLP's site clearly explains which driver to use.

Err, no... I used the driver that TiLP specified and I tried redownloading and installing it... TiLP just is unstable I guess...

It works fine for me. You must be doing something wrong.

Of maybe its because USB links are unstable and crappy... They are slower than other links, they can't get ROMs of calcs, and they are incompatible with a lot of link software

They're actually faster. Romain Liévin, the main author of TiLP, did a speed comparison. The USB cable was faster than all the serial solutions, even the one he designed himself to be as fast as possible (FastAVRLink). The USB port is simply a lot faster than the serial port.

I saw somebody who had TI-OS 1.17... Nothing woked on it :) MirageOS looked distorted... All progs xcept BASIC caused RAM corruption...

Yeah I heard many thing about this mysterious OS. But actually on OS 1.13 you can crash the calc with no ASM:

1) create more than 50 prgms
2) Once its done, select PRGM/EDIT and choose one of those programs
3) Press PRGM from the program editor and select the EXEC menu label
4) scroll down...

What should happen is a RAM cleared with the busy indicator ON, a shutdown followed by a RAM cleared, a Flash ROM corrupt (when you archive things their size go down to 12 KB) or a ROM fail msg, all that using no Assembly programs

wow.. Can you email me that version? I want to try that out...

>>all that using no Assembly programs

I think the OS is an asm program...

>>1) create more than 50 prgms

Why would anybody have that many programs on an 83+?

oh yea, what's a ROM fail msg?

>> I only offer opinions and i only state the truth.

Opinions are subjective, and the truth is objective, so how is that possible???

I agree. When I released Civilization Simulator I, practically all of the comments said gee, great game, but all your other programs suck and this should be ASM. wtf??

Your comment has been posted on MaxCoderz forums (SEE URL attached on this post)

shame on you

That's nice, see earlier post... You should be ashamed too considering that you didn't even think about my opinion for more than 2 sec probably...

Besides, I don't use my email except as a virtual disk drive and I only give out other people's email anyway

Then test it on VTI first. Or back up your programs. Or archive them.

In this case Flash Debugger might be the only solution. VTI doesnt support apps... uh wait FD doesnt support grayscale so...

Uh... How??? Maybe if somebody turned it into a BasicBuilder app, i could use it on VTI 3.0. And if somebody broke the law and gave me a ti-83+silver rom image, maybe i could

>>98% of BASIC games are bad, but 2% are very good

Yea, but when you consider that BASIC programs are about 80-95% of the entire archives, that means that at least 77% (probably higher because of crappy Flash and ASM stuff, especially Flash) of programs are crappy

>>except for the TI-73, 80, 81 and 85

What do you have against obsoleted calcs?

>>I would not have got 4 BASIC games featured in less than 6 months

I want names

Finally, I would like to point out that I recently crashed my computer and overloaded my bandwidth while browsing the 1.1K plus bits of junk in the BASIC section

>>>>except for the TI-73, 80, 81 and 85
>>What do you have against obsoleted calcs?

nothing, those calcs are cool. The only problem is that people wont produce good stuff for them

>>>>I would not have got 4 BASIC games featured in less than 6 months
>>I want names

Zelda: Dark Link Quest, Reiugn of Legends 3, Reuben Quest 1 and 2

>>Finally, I would like to point out that I recently crashed my computer and overloaded my bandwidth while browsing the 1.1K plus bits of junk in the BASIC section

Me too. You mean 1.5 MB right? I havent opened this page for 4 months alerady, but the search function always come handy sometimes

By 1.1k worth of junk, I meant 1.1k individual files + descriptions. Now, it's probably more like 1.7k+ individual files.

oh sorry, I thought you were meaning 1.1-1.7 kilobytes, not 1700 files :)

*goes to learn more english*

actually, 1.1kb would take a while on a 3 bits per second modem... There was one of those a while ago...

It really wouldn't be a good idea - assembly programmers shouldn't be the only ones to decide whether a file is good or not (I'm an assembly programmer myself), and even though BASIC is sort of limited, it's still possible to make good programs in it, and it can be great as a step up to assembly. Some kind of solution to the problem would be good, but not this solution.

>>it's still possible to make good programs in it

Not for the TI-83+ (specifically non-silver)

Actually it is, if you know how to optimize

.............After sampling many BASIC progs, all that has happened is that I've found one that crashed my calc, one that went at .1 fps and none that were on par with ASM or acceptably close. If you can find one, tell me. And every BASIC prog I found was split up into at least 10 progs, and several more data files

Check my author profile. But for a specific example, click on the link above. I think that Snake2.8xp is on par or close with assembly. It is a simple game, but it is a good example - constant speed, single small program, decent graphics.

ever notice how these two guys Shawn and Kevin really need a life other than arguing about something as trivial as BASIC for the calculators? message for you two: take a deep breath and know that no one really cares, as long as you program in what you want freely

BASIC sucks because its slow and ineffiecient
ASM sucks because only hackers and other scum know it
C/C++ sucks because only nerds and geeks use it
COBOL rules because everybody uses it

Heck, all TI programming languages suck because TI calcs are for use in Algebra 1 classes

Look, I don't mean to sound insulting, but your reasons for disliking all those programming languages are HORRIBLE!

BASIC: Yes, it's slow and inefficient compared to the others, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to make a good program. A good program in BASIC just shows the skill of the author even more.

ASM: Just because some people you don't like use the language doesn't make it a bad language...I know many people (including myself) who program in assembly who aren't "hackers or other scum".

C/C++: See ASM.

COBOL: Again, the number of people who use it doesn't reflect on the quality of the language...

I was just kidding you know... And, you people seem to have forgotton that calculators are for math.

Computers were originally only for math too, so why do you use the internet?!

um.... it certainly does matter with COBOL... at one point cobol was the de facto programming language people used in computer programming... people moved away when better languages were created...

Um, do you have a problem with nerds or geeks? If so, you shouldn't be at this site. Duh.

Not really, but I'm just trying to make a point here...
Besides, its just an opinion

Agreed whole heartedly

My thoughts, exactly.

VFACTOR - it's not the best game I've played, but it runs at a decent speed, doesn't need any on-calc files besides the program and a list to store your highscore, and isn't very large either.