Survey posted 2000-05-15 23:58 by Andy.

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Well this is an interesting question. I had to say no. I've only had an account at ticalc for a few weeks so I must begin learning the history. I've seen it in the archives but I use zap2000 for my shell(86). Well that's it for tonight. I have to sleep now.
Steve
The ti/band geek.

The only reason I know what ZShell is is because I'm one of the few people in my school with a Graph-Link, so I end up putting games on all sorts of models.

BTW, Steve, nice user name.

73,
Nathaniel

Cheer-o! I am one of only 3 in my school with 2500 students with a link. I often come home with 5 calculators a day. Which is a safety concern but I have my "body guards" anyway, that is why I know about ZShell too. Being an extreme minority can be very good for a person's social standing, plus you can make money. NOT off of the programs, but I call it a security cost. No money no calculator.

It's wonderful, Isn't it? Only problem? the people who don't have calcs, or actually use them purely for math purposes (uhhh, sickening thought), give you these looks of wonder and befoundment of why anyone would keep their noses in their calcs all day. It's even worse if you program stuff. But still, It's fun having 20 people rely on you for their in-school gaming needs :) (if you play on it at home, you're worse than ME!!)

Hey! Who are you?
I have TI-calcs for over 7 years now. I've used ZShell for over 2 or 3 years. I now have a TI-92 Plus (and as many calculators as I want) as I work for a TI distributor. I really use TI-calcs. I DON'T PLAY GAMES. I use the 92 Plus for math and physics. Only that. And I keep my eyes on the calculator most of my day. When you get to college and graduate on math or physics you will learn why do people use TI-calcs. Until then, keep playing.

So get this. I am the only student out of the 4000 students to have a graphlink. I am Very popular when it comes to calcs.
Steve

I used to carry several calcs to school, but there all mine. (TI86, 89, 83+, a crappy casio color calc, and a sharp that i bought for no reason excpet the touch screen:-) Now, between the fact that my 86 was stolen, and i cant fit 4 calcs in my pockets, i only carry one

That's what cargo pants are for :P

I own 4 graphing calcs(83, 85, 86, 89) and carry all of them in my cargo pockets every day to school. I also carry a TI-34 scientific in the event of a math competition or a math test on which graphing calcs are banned, not to mention a deck of cards.

I know what you mean Smegheadking. I am 5 out of 2300 that has a graph link and out of the 5 I am the only one who can use the thing let alone program on the calc. I have often come home with 10 calcs ranging from the 82-92+. I have "security fee" so that the calc will not be lost or what ever. But I am also the school resident "TI Guy" teachers and studetns come to me for help with a TI. I am also the only on there to have a good Alg2 program, we had a "program off" and my TB86 and TB89 took home first place. Check them out it you need a good BASIC math program for the 89 or 86. Well that about it for me, still got 3 more calcs to put games on.
Tchuss (Bye in German)

I am the Ti guy at school. Everyone and their mother comes to me for games because I am one of the few that own a Graph-Link and can get them games. Then they get pissed at me when I don't have time to get them some games. Go out and buy yourself a Graph-Link and get off my back.

I had a situation the other day when someone got annoyed at me for not having time to put games on THEIR calculator. Since I had just gotten a new laptop, my TI software was not installed and I was not ready to handle any sort of a fast turn-around. I got it done in a week, but people need to understand that if we choose to help them out, it should be at our convenience, not theirs.

Whenever people ask me to help them with their calculator, I ask them to goto ticalc.org to do a little research for themselves so they know what they want, how to use the software, and what is entailed in loading a calculator with games. Not that it is hard to do, but it is one more thing to be done during the day. If they do some research and learn a little more about the calculators, I would be more willing to help because that shows effort on their part. I have had very few people show this type of effort, however.

Nathaniel

That is another one of my points. I go to a school where "Hicks" and "Cowboys" have their own 5/6ths of the school, and us other people only hang out in two of the 12 halls. Now don't get me wrong there can be smart- computer minded - Cowboys in the world. But most of them don't know how to turn a computer on let alone research on the internet. Most of them think the internet is the latest in fishing gear, NO KIDDING. With the computer illiterate in my school being the majority I really can't tell them to go find out what games they like. So I've got a catalog and let them see it. I even have one - gulp - for HP's. ( It was a "2 o'clock" idea ok ) Thanx DA JESTA

It's a good thing that I took my test when I did. I made it at the end of the n1's. It's in the family. My dad is n1bnc. Mom's is n1wol. Well that's all for now.

73
N1zdy
(Steve to the others)

You were very lucky, Steve. As you can see, our call district ran out of the N's a while ago. However, I recently uprgaded to general and applied for the vanity call W2NAF, which should be much better than what I have currently.

73 de Nathaniel, KC2DXJ

You guys wouldn't happen to be talking about ham radio's, would you? I am only wondering because my dad has one(n9sup). Ham radio's own~!

--skyraid

Where do you live?

Hey, maybe the next thing will be ham radio on calcs. Well maybe not. Calcs are for math(and games), Radios are for talking. What district are you in? I'm in Mass.
Don't you hate it when you give someone your e-mail address and they ask if it was just random letters and numbers?

Hi, Steve. I'm in NJ, and the only person my age in the area that I know is lisenced. Do you have that problem to? You know, maybe there are some programers who would like to program APRS, satelite traking, packet, PSK31, ect. for the calculator. It would be a nice, small package. As for the e-mail address, I try to educate people as I need to, and their slowly learning.

73 de Nathaniel, KC2DXJ

For those of you who don't know what this is all about, click the web site link above.

That was one of my big problems in the beggining but as I continued I found several people. People really should be educated. Sometimes it can get pretty annoying. One time my friend Dave was setting up an e-mail address for me( he thought I didn't know how) and I told him to call it n1zdy. He said that I'll have to remember it as if I wasn't going to. I had to tell him so he understood. It was wierd.

73 n1zdy

Why do people make games specifically for the ti86 and start the name with a "Z."
My theory: People don't know what "Z" is for (for they just read it somewhere) so they just name the game with it.
Other theory: People want the program to be at the end of the program list (especially sub-programs.) Some people just name single programs with "Z."
Anyways, give your theories.

Another theory: People know that everyone else named their programs starting with “Z” and this means that no one is at the “end” of the program list. They do not wish to seem rude by naming their program something that would appear higher than everyone else’s program, so they too name their program starting with “Z”.

YAT (Yet Another Theory): People just ask HP owners what they would name it if it were their program. (J/K)

I think that the ZShell was named after the Z80 processor that is in the TI calculators. It's made by the Zilog company. So the name is still relevant for games made for calculators other than the TI-85. Also, many great games were ported from the TI-85 to the 86, for example, and they just kept the name, along with the Z.

Come on you guys! ZShell was named ZShell for the same reason AShell was named AShell. It's so that it can be found at the bottom (or top) of the list of programs.

ZShell is not on the program list at all. It is in the Custom menu, where things can be listed in any order whatsoever.

lmao....true true...

I used to start all my subprograms with Z (so they would be at the end of the program list). However, I now realize this is a bad idea. I now start all my subroutine names with theta (farther down on the program list than Z)

:)

On my 83, I usually start all my data and save game files with a space, that way you can't even see them in the TI-OS. Or if I want them visible, I just use a lowercase letter, its even further down than theta, and you can see it, but not select it or run it.

Ofcourse this all has to be done with a asm program, or with a hex editor.

I used to program for the TI-85. I never used Z. I use uppercase letters for the main programs (sometimes only the first letter) and lowercase for subroutines. And so, they will always appear on the end of the list, and you don't restrict your name choice. Good thing the TI-85' variables are case sensitive (unlike some very popular computer OS which makes a mess of any directory with more than 20 files)

Nelson

Is the TI-86 also case sensitive?

yup.

my theory is that the people who do that think that other people like us think it looks "cool and exciting" and so that will make us download it. heheheh. crappy theory, i know...

When I make basic programs on my 89, I always stick a z in front of every folder name so that those without some of the very convenient (if not entierly revolutionary) features of AMS 2.03 won't have to scroll through a list of 200 little files to get to the program they want. Then I stick a single little starter program in the main folder so that they can easily run the program. It just makes it less cluttered and more convenient that way.

This is because the processor is the Z80 from Zilog. I suppose Z is used to control sorting as well, but the chip name is the main reason. Also, the original name of Fargo for the 92 was M-Shell from the Motorolla 68000 processor in it. I don't know why they did not use the Z-Shell name on the other 8x models (except 89) that also contain the Z80. I guess to avoid confusion since its an incompatible shell.