Other than the being able to use USB, the new gui, and automatic backups/updates does TI-connect have anything new over the old linking software?

New is:
-Supporting the USB link in windows
-Auto detecting what sort of calculator and cable you have.
-Allowing you to send files to the calculator by dragging and dropping them into TI-Connect.
-Allowing you to send files to the calculator by right clicking and using "Send To".
-Letting you know when there's updated apps and OS's.
-Allows you to only have one piece of software to send to all Flash calcs.
-Send lists, matricies, etc. between incompatible calculators (TI-89 to TI-83 for example).
-Browse groups as folders, so you can easily send individual files from groups to the calculator, etc.
-A more convenient way to browse files on the calculator (device explorer, vs recieve menu).

Really though, what is there to expect? It's an updated link software! There's not really much to revolutionize here, just to make sure upgrades here and there, which is what TI's done.

Wow, any one notice the large amount of new files in the archive? Screw TI, got ticalc.org!

Yay for ticalc.org!!!!!!!!

seeing the w00t....

wow! tcalc.org is 1337, roxorz!

me am surprised. someone else actually used w00t without being told what it meant. w00t.

w00t

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!?!!? I have forever besmirched this site! Oh, God, why?!!?!?!?

All your besmirched are belong to us.

w00t

why does the file have to be so big. people like me who don't have the internet at home can't download the program because it is to big to fit on a floppy disk. if someone has any suggestions, please let me know

There's a program called SpanDisk that'll let you split a single large file on more than one floppy disk. There are several places to download it; try the URL link on this post. I think that might work.

I think it runs on Windows 3.1 and 9x. If that link doesn't work, try typing "SpanDisk" in a search engine and see if you come up with a few sites. You have to have it installed on both computers, the one you're getting the file from, and the one you're putting it in, so it might be kind of a hassle.

If you have any problems, let me know, maybe I can figure something else out.

Can you put SpanDisk on a floppy? If you can't, then you could use it to split itself up... Hmm...

Yeah, the file size of the program download is only about 89.7 KB, so it should fit on a floppy and be installed on the computer w/out Internet access.

That's a good point, though; I remember once when I was trying to transfer a Windows 3.1 update from a new computer with internet access to an old one and it was too big for a floppy. Now isn't it obvious that many older Win 3.1 computers aren't going to have Internet access or any ways of transferring large files? Very annoying. They should have had the file already split up or something.

New WinZip 8.1
Winzip has just released v8.1 which allows for multiple Zip files. One problem though.... Getting the new WinZip on your home computer in the first place... Good luck

Kinda like when (back in the 20th century) those free ISPs had connection software available to download. That makes little sense. Either you already have the internet, in which case there's no point, or you don't have the internet, in which case you can't download it anyway!

You mean like NetZero? They're still around here in the 21st.

I tried NetZero as an alternative to AOL before I got a DSL line. It sucked almost as bad as AOL.

"Free direct access to anywhere on the Internet for a full 10 hours each month"
From www.netzero.com

Ugh. 10 hours per month? Geez. Every *day* I stay signed onto AIM for at least 6 or 7.

I finally got a chance of istalling Ti-connect. Here's what I think of it so far.

Pros:
1) Definitly an improvement on the interface. its a lot cleaner and more descriptive.
2) the Group explorer is something they should have added a long time ago. it's better than ungroup a file, look at files and regroup files.
3) the Matrix Editor is another great feature of this, now its possible to edit matrics in a more logical manner than before. this is a godsend since the Slayers Engine (the Ti89-basic RPG engine i've been working on since who knows how long) is 90% matrices, lists and data files.
4) Huge improvement in the Screen capture utility. now you can open pictures without using an external program. it can also send pictures to your calc.
5) supports multiple calcs. All i can say is its about time. i was getting sick of installing 5 versions of basicially the same program.

Cons:
1) No Program editing or viewing. This was the only reason to have the Ti-Graphlink software installed. It says in the readme that it will be added to furture versions but who knows when that will be.
2) No Ti-82, Ti-85, Ti-86 support. I know that these calculators are old and all, but they still should have been supported for at least linking support. Whether Ti likes it or not, there is a lot of these calculators out there, and abandoning them is a big mistake, and in the case of the Ti-82, the os is very identical to the Ti-83.
3) Wierd filename generation. When it extracts files from the Calc to the pc, it makes names like main.abc.89e the dot may confuse some users thinking that abc is the extension rather than the 89e. (this is really apparent when hide extensions of know file types in checked, where it would appear main.abc)

Other than a few cons above. it's a pretty solid replacement for the graphlink software.

I'd just like to comment on something here, and if the people I mention get upset and decide to flame me, that's their decision.

It seems to me that some people are posting their programs here just to get ranked high on both the downloads list and the most files list. I noticed that two people working together released about 20 new programs, none of which are over 3 lines of code long.

If it really took two people to write a three-line program, I pity those two people and hope they can find help in a group home.

Specifically Rian Mitchell and Stephen Schloterbeck with their God-awfully simple math functions like 'cot' [returns 1/tan(x)], which were either blatantly obvious or actually copied code that was given in a response to a news item, and their keycode finder [a copy of another program I saw before], and so on.
Also, "Joe", Joey Gannon, and AdmiralWu. Wu: Why are you uploading a college textbook chapter by chapter? Why not do it all at once? Is it just to get more downloads? Why else would you do it?

This is really starting to get to me. I'm sure that it bothers other SERIOUS programmers as well to see that people who write dozens of simple one-line programs are getting better rankings than people who make BASIC-accessible C function libraries.

To the people who are doing this: Get a life, and try to program something useful

Thank you. My rant for today is through. Go on with your (so-called) lives.

I'd also like to point out that there are 28 Quadratic Formula solving programs in the TI-86 Basic Math section (some as part of "toolkits"). This is utterly ridiculus; I don't ever want to see another quadratic formula program uploaded. Quit wasting ticalc's time

~Andrew

I agree.

What really bugs me, though, is those massive BASIC games. I still wonder who actually plays them, and why anyone would spend that much time writing one. It must take a long time to program 24k worth of BASIC.

I don't like all the BASIC programs put in the ASM section either.

Depends on who's writing the BASIC Games. The members of AlienHead (see URL) have some of the biggest (over 30K) TI-83 BASIC games out there, and also some of the best!

Yea yea yea. BASIC is too slow. If someone is going to sit down and write a graphical game for a calculator, they should do it in assembly. In the time it would take to write a decent BASIC game, someone could probably learn quite a bit of asm.

Then, if they wrote their game in assemlby, people would actually play it, because it would not be as big and slow as a game in BASIC.

Speaking just for myself, I don't look at my rankings. As long as my programs are useful to people, I am satisfied, especially when some of them e-mail me and tell me how they are using the programs in their coursework, their teaching, or their research.

Are those crappy trig funtion "programs" really written by the same Haroon who is writing MK86, it seems like he could program something a lot better

Instead of rating them by number of downloads, why doesn't ticalc.org put up some kind of rating system for people to give ratings for the files? Then again, I guess some joker could just hit a certain rating over and over several times and cause false readings... unless they had a way to detect who's doing the ratings and allow only one vote per person.

The only way to ensure that nobody rates it twice is by logging IP addresses and making cookies for every file... which would take a *lot* of storage space, on both ends... and if someone on a dial-up connection deletes their cookie, and their IP address changes, they could vote again anyway.

I wrote a couple Perl scripts last night that let me put surveys like TICalc's on my site. I ran into a similar problem.

It really wouldn't be that hard; remember, there already is a cookie on the user's computer if they are logged in. Simply require the user to log in, and then store whether of not they have already voted in their cookie. Unless they vote a *lot*, it shouldn't be a problem, just like the current surveys. However, I think that this survey idea should be added on, not replace anything.

Just store the name of the person who has just voted on the server and then they could not revote, (like with the poll)

~Andrew

This might be just what your trying to say but....... If some of you are so parinoid, why not just give ratings on TYPES of files. Best ASM game, best utility, best RPG, etc..Different catagories for different calculators.

Ok, so you're saying that by making a program that calculates things on a graphing CALCULATOR, it is a bad thing? If you don't want math programs, go to the game section. For the rest of you who may want math programs, by all means take a venture into the math section.
Second, all you looked at is a couple of the math programs. there are other programs too, not all games but if that bothers you maybe you should read english and go into the GAMES section. I made those functions in math class to shorten homework time and have already given them to people in my school. And if anyone should think they are there for downloads, you're either jealous or haven't looked to see that I'm ranked over eight-hundred. If you think I'm a threat, you should look a bit further on down the list, say trying to rant on someone in at least the hundred range.

Also one quick note, looking at some of your programs, you shouldn't be talking. (song?)