I for one have to say WAHOOO!!!
looks like I'll have a robot and 83+se to play with... AND i don't have to go to any conferences etc...
...not bad for a port gone horribly wrong...
:)

and...related but unrelated but related....:
I can't wait TI to release a freeware key for the 89/92+ apps...

WELL, i get a PS2, robot thingy, TI-83Silver Edition, and bunch of developement stuff that i don't even know what it is, and i submitted a GAME that took less than 2 hours to make which is probably the most simple thing you have ever seen, and a GOOD portion of the judging was EDUCATIONAL VALUE, originality (check out race2 to see why it's not original), and other stuff which i probably got ZERO points for. and my winnings all add up to over $500 of stuff or so.

hehe... I wasn't the only one that got a late start then... 10 days before the due date, someone convinced me to enter... 10 days later and about 4 hours worth of learning the sdk and 4 hours of actuall programming I had a program that worked... hmmm... now all i need is an incentive (read freeware private key or shareware private key) to finish it so it meets my standards...

Well, you didn't exactly have a whole lot of competition in the under 16 category.

That about counts for me too, I'm glad with the 'bot and 83plus SE. Having seen the calculation above.
I think the prize value exeeds the amount of work put into the app.
But hey, you don;t hear me complain ;-)

So ti adds ams restrictions to the calcs and then they sign a flash app that applies a start utility to bypass said restrictions.

So anyways when will one see this latest ash?

The rules said that no direct graphics access to video memory was allowed so did ti allow the home text-edit hack?

And Congratulations.


-Samuel

>So ti adds ams restrictions to the calcs and then
>they sign a flash app that applies a start utility to
>bypass said restrictions.
The irony of it all :)
I get the feeling that TI has some internal conflicts going on relating to calculators... thus the inconsistencies. I wonder if they are realizing that every 'protection' they try gets beaten (we have some awesome programmers among us)... so then what do they do? Give in, try harder?

>So anyways when will one see this latest ash?
As soon as I get my new computer so I can continue development on it, and I get a freeware key so I can sign it... otherwise never.

>The rules said that no direct graphics access to
>video memory was allowed so did ti allow the home
>text-edit hack?
I didn't use any of the hacks. Instead, it keeps a static buffer of ~253 bytes containing the last keypresses. The auto complete suggestions are sent via a paste event. The highlighting is done by inserting the character 0x2 at the appropriate places in the suggested text (see the sdk docs for more about 0x2). This method is not as intelligent as the old method...

Furthermore, the only features that were included are the auto complete, Custom Menu, and a stripped down (but nicer) version of editdb.

I used the same method that has been recently discussed on the TIGCC message board for detecting key combinations in lieu of _rowread. I would prefer to use rowread because that does not interfere with any hot key combinations of the os or other programs... ex. if the os has the same hot key combo, one would press one key and then press the other rather than hold both keys down together.

At the risk of an wild tangent i feel the need to discuss the sdk for a moment...
1. Overall, right now TIGCC is much better than the sdk.
2. the sdk will be very nice for writing flash apps once completed. (Hopefully it will get a better sim though).
3. TIGCC will remain the best for creating ram programs. Especially ones that need to be able to access the inner workings of the calcs... GCC is superior to the sdk's compiler too...

I had some very bad experiences with the sdk while doing the port. Some code that should have cut'n pasted didn't... in fact, i had to completely rewrite it. The code in question involved some moderately heavy pointer arithmetic. Also, I ran into several bugs in the template code that is generated.... some of them result in crashes. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about spending 3 hours hunting down bugs that weren't mine.

>And Congratulations.
Thanks :)

Also, I have to say thanks to Scott and Mike for encouraging me to enter the contest and giving me pointers on the sdk :)

-Greg

<<Also, I have to say thanks to Scott and Mike for encouraging me to enter the contest and giving me pointers on the sdk :)>>

Same here! :) Especially for TI-Basic extensions.

i introduced a bug into complete a while back by directly writing in the handle of the home entry line to code. The bug occurs when the handle of the entry line changes, which i can force it to on ams 2.05 by trying to graph a function with an undefined variable, and when the undefined error occurs I select the "goto" option and the function is placed into the entry line and the handle has changed. Anyways I fixed it by writing in the pointer to the handle.

And stuff like 2nd+enter for the entry option results in text being pasted.

So it seems like this flash app based ash could be buggy.

Stop rambling Sam


-Samuel

it is possible that there could be bugs in the app version of ash that i submitted for the contest...especially considering I have never tested it on my calc and only worked on it for just over a week.
I am not quite understanding how the bug you just mentioned would affect the app though... I'll have to try it sometime. The APP dosen't deal with handles at all... instead, it makes use of object frames and the CM_PASTE event to do its job.

-Greg

>I am not quite understanding how the bug you just mentioned would affect the app though.

meaning that the contents of your internal buffer could be made obsolete without your realization.

-Samuel

hmmm... that would not be good.
The APP version does reset the buffer when a non-auto complete key is pressed though...

Greg

Ack with such a big buffer I thought you were simulating the entry line. So flash app ash now works like complete, (or rather how complete used to work)

-Samuel

"been quiet around here for a while" - is there a reason for this? i have seen staff members reply to comments ALL THE TIME - but the poll still hasn't been changed - is it possible that you are trying to keep bandwidth usage to a minimum since there are being SO MANY downloads in back to school time? i have definately noticed a slowing of speed on this site. (especially with the last 450 comment thingy)
GO TO MY SITE!!!

Nah, mostly there just hasn't been much calculator news. It happens sometimes, especially over the summer. I expect it'll pick up before long.

ok... if there's just 'no news', then why hasn't the survey been updated in over 2 months?!?!?!?! please, if you are a staff member and have access to the survey thingy (do all of them?) update it! maybe it can be something related to school.. like "how much do all of your books combined weigh for this year?" or ANYTHING.. the survey ALONE not being updated is really making this site feel static and boring.

Perhaps they're seeing how people like you react.

<<GO TO MY SITE!!!>>

LOL. Again?

even better, go to my site, wait 10-15 seconds, press refresh, wait 10-15 seconds again, press refresh etc.... do that as many times as you want. $$$

How about "go to my site, download EQW and be happy!" :)

Well, atleast you're not saying

"Hm... very interesting...

EVERYONE GO TO MY SITE SO I CAN GET HITS! IT HAS REALLY REALLY FUNNY YO MOMMA CAPS!"

That was a P-A-I-N. (That spells pain!)