TI-83 projects
The TI-83 is a graphical calculator by Texas Instruments. It has a Z80 CPU inside, and thus is pretty easy to program for if you know the MSX. It’s been a while since I’ve last done anything with it, but there’s still some nice stuff laying aroud here, so if you have a TI-83 and an MSX and want to do some programming, or watch the Angel promo, check it out.
- TransMSX – TI-83 ↔ MSX linking software.
- MSX83Dev – TI-83 cross-developers pack for MSX.
- MSXNukes – A tool to remotely clear your TI-83.
- Angel – A demo for a game that is not finished.
These files are also available in the ticalc.org MSX section.
Oh, and before I forget — if you download anything, please forgive me the gratuitous teenager-speak and bad English in the documentation files ^_^.
TransMSX v1.2
With TransMSX you can send and receive programs to and from your TI-83 calculator. To use it, you have to make a special cable to connect your MSX and TI-83, because the MSX has only one input-pin on the printerport and thus can’t use a common PC-type cable. However, don’t worry, the MSX cable is very, very simple to make, you just need a DB9 connector, a 2.5mm jack and three wires.
For more information, I wrote an article that was published in MCCW 91, 2000:
» Linking a TI-83 to an MSX (Dutch version).
Revision history
TransMSX v1.2 — 1999-11-19
- Added support for the TI-82… Though untested; report any bugs to me!
- Now also supports variables sent by Send(. However, the extension will be .82?. For more info, see above (“How does it work”).
- Added suppression of ASCII-codes <32 in the comment (somehow alot of files have those).
TransMSX v1.1 — 1999-10-01
- “Send Backup” bug fixed (had to press ESC to continue after backup was sent).
- Support for “Omit” and “Quit” added.
- Checksum errors are now recognized. Not supported yet though… (it's quite complex to program so fortunately it occurs very, very rare).
- Displays “Skipped” when a file is being omitted.
- Displays the filename of the file which is being loaded.
- Added ‘autosearch’-feature: if no extension is specified TransMSX auto-searches for the first file with a .83? extension. ‘Normal’ wildcards are also allowed, TransMSX will (try to) send the first matching file.
» Download TransMSX (LZH archive)
» Download TransMSX (ZIP archive)
MSX83Dev v1.1
This is a TI-83 developers pack for the MSX. With this, you can developing TI-83 games in your favorite assembler on your MSX (Compass!)… It contains the program MSX83DEV.COM, which converts files from the .COM format to the .83p-format (‘squished’)… Ofcourse, the .COM files have to be coded for the TI-83.
It also contains the following MSX-Assembler (Compass and Gen80) formatted include-files: ION.INC, SOS.INC, TOKENS.INC and TI83ASM.INC. I don’t exactly recall which versions those are, but they should be relatively easy to update to the latest versions of the libraries.
Revision history
MSX83Dev v1.1 — 1999-11-19
- Added TI-ASM support, now you can choose between ‘Squished’ and TI-ASM.
- Added command-line options, for easy batch-processing.
- Added an option to create an unprotected (=editable) file.
- Changed the looks and added a 'help' function.
» Download MSX83Dev (LZH archive)
» Download MSX83Dev (ZIP archive)
MSXNukes
At some point the program ‘TINUKE’ became pretty popular, because it allowed you to clear one TI-83 with another just by linking them together. This worked by exploiting some buffer overflow or something, in any case, I made an MSX version which you can download here. I don’t know if it still works with the current generation of TI-83 calculators, but it might be useful when developing.
» Download MSXNukes (ZIP archive)
Angel
I was working on a game for the TI-83 called “Angel”. It’s a puzzle game, programmed in Assembly for the SOS and ION environments. The intro is finished, but the rest of the game is not. On the original page I had some nice formula to express the development time left in an informal way (formula: time for angel = total time - time for other projects), but to be frank, I don’t think I will ever start work on this again. So you’ll have to make do with the demo, which has a couple of nice ‘special effects’.
I was first thinking about using greyscale (by flipping display bits real fast), and as a matter of fact it looked quite nice, but I figured it the ‘flashing’ was still a bit too much to let people play the game while not getting a headache. So now it has more animation. Also nice.
How does the game work? Well, you're a guy (an
angel, who wants to live again and has to complete 4 worlds to
accomplish that), and you start at a certain position in the field.
Somewhere else, there’s a door, and there is a key
to open the door. Quite simple, would one say. But beware! There are
also 4 types of obstacles!!! They are placed in your way, and you
can’t get past them unless you have the right ‘weapon’… So you can
destroy a balloon by ‘shooting’ an arrow at it, dose a fire by
throwing water over it, etc. However, you can hold only 1 item at a
time so you need to think about what you are going to do.
I got the idea from my MSX computer, there are several games like this for it, i.e. SokSoft’s Dummieland, there’s a game in the Peach-Up series, a variant on Sunrise Picturedisk… Well, either you recognise those or you don’t.
Download a small promo (only featuring the intro demo and a 1st level shot) here: