If you don't have a link cable you can use the link program to view and print the files. If the program has problems opening the .85g files go to the FILE menu and select from the sub menu UTILITIES the item UNGROUP TI DATA FILES. Note: Most .85g files contain the program and some data structures which are necessary to run the program. If you would like to just type the code in, you have to define this data structures too otherwise you will get ERROR 14 UNDEFINED.
Or you could build your own link cable! This will cost about five US dollars, but it takes time and effort to get hold of the parts and solder them all together. There are several plans to build a computer link on the net:
Note: none of the home-made links I know is designed for the Macintosh :-( The only link that works for sure with the Mac is Texas Instrument's link. The serial port links may work with Macs too, but I've never tried that out... If you want to try it, have a look at this and please let me know if it works :-)
To use the links you will need a link software you can get it at ticalc.org's Link Cable section. It also shows which software is compatible with what link cables. If you want to use the Parallel Link with a TI-82 or TI-83 then go here, where you will find the appropriate software. Or get Texas Instruments' link cable software.
The Mac programs to decode the binhex- or zip-files you can find at sunsite.cnlab-switch.ch or any other info-mac mirror:
To use TI files which you have downloaded as zip or uue on the Mac, you need the TIAutoTyper (26 kB) from TI to change the TYPE and CREATOR of the files automatically. Just drag any TI-File on it and it will do the rest for you. Note: If you download the hqx files from my page, you won't need to convert the files since hqx saves the type and creator.
OS-85 was written to work with all zshell games. All zshell games are compatible with OS-85 (supposedly).
If you run ZShell programs on a accelerated calculator they might be to fast (especially some games) in this case you can implement a hardware switch as described in Accelerate your TI. Thereby you could save some power too, since the high speed mode needs a bit more power.
Another possibility is to use
Game Wizard ( Bin Hex
17kB) or Game Wizard (Zip
24kB) which works on most ZShell games so far and is more
stable than Turboslow. (all games except those with gray scale).
However with GameWizard you won't be able to save any power.
You can slow down the game (useful when cheating, but also if
you've turboed your calc without a switch) and crash back to
ZShell if the game is caught in an endless loop. And it lets you
change lives, starting level, score, ammo and much much more.
Actually, you can use it for other purposes, like debugging too.
If you can't understand what's wrong in your program, you can keep
track of the temporary variables with Game Wizard also.
To slow down a game, install GameWizard and start it (it will read activated. If not, exit and start it again). Press On+Enter, from the menu select "Game Playing Speed" (use the down arrow but just press the buttons VERY shortly!!!) press Enter. Use the up arrow to set a delay from 0 to 9 (0: fast, 9: slow). Press Enter, Exit, Enter to get back to ZShell. For more information about GameWizard refer to the enclosed documentation (please don't e-mail me)
Lbl START 1->A:3->B For(J,1,10,1) A*B->A if(A>20):Goto START END
When A is greater than 20 the Goto jumps out
of the For loop to the beginning of the program.
If you let this program run for a while, you will get error 15,
because when jumping out of the loop the TI "forgets" to release
the memory allocated to this loop and allocates new memory every
time the loop starts again. So the memory will be filled up.
A possible solution to this problem is to let the TI jump out of
the loop by itself. This is done by setting J (the counter of the
For loop) to 11. (11->J)
Lbl START 1->A:3->B For(J,1,10,1) A*B->A if(A>20):11->J END if(J==12):Goto START
This is more or less the same program as above. Instead of a
direct Goto J is set to 11 so the TI jumps out of
the loop (J is greater than 10). After this we need to check if
the loop was terminated normally (it counted from 1 to 10) or if J
has been set to 11.
If it was terminated normally, J would be 11 if not it will be 12
(the TI first adds 1 to the counter J and then checks if the value
of the counter is greater than 10).
If you want to un-protect a TI-Program, you can use the program (7kB) I wrote (for Macintosh only) it's a drag&drop application, just drag one or more protected program(s) over it, it will beep and save a new file(s) without protection with the name of the original file plus the extension ".np". It's very small and easy to use. If you should experience any problems, let me know.
If this doesn't work, try this: Take out all batteries (backup battery too) and make a short circuit: connect P1 and P4 with a wire and wait a few seconds, remove the wire, put the batteries back in and turn the calculator on again. Note: This will delete everything stored on the calculator!
-------------------------------------------------- | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | ~ P ~ | ~ 1 ~ | ~ ----------------- ~ | ~ P ~ | ~ 2 ~ | ~ ----------------- ~ | ~ P ~ | ~ 3 ~ | ~ ----------------- ~ | ~ P ~ | ~ 4 ~ | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | --------------------------------------------------
Michael Melgares <spyder@iwl.net> suggested to do this if you don't want to short circuit your calculator: Take out the batteries and put in some new ones. Once this is accomplished you can turn it on. Then you send your calculator (if your calculator can't get into the link menu) a mem backup. This should give you an error message. This time you should be able to get into the link menu and give yourself another memory backup and you are set.