Welcome to Cemetech! Since 2000, Cemetech (pronounced /'kʰɛməˌtɛk/ 🔊︎) has been teaching programming and electronics and developing software and hardware. Among Cemetech's specialties are TI, HP, and Casio graphing calculators like the TI-84 Plus, TI-Nspire, HP Prime, and Casio Prizm, embedded and DIY electronics, and computer and web programming. Cemetech provides a safe, friendly space for people to learn, show off projects, and share knowledge and expertise. Our staff of friendly volunteers hang out on our forum and IRC and SAX chatrooms, and are happy to help.
Projects of the Month: February 2024
Published by Michael2_3B 1 week, 5 days ago (2024-03-06T23:50:00+00:00) | Discuss this article

It's that time again! Let's look at what people on Cemetech were up to during the month of February.

  • A plane simulator for the TI-84 Plus C(S)E: StephenM has begun work on a plane simulator game in TI-Basic. It's still in the early stages, but Stephen plans to give it semi-3d graphics and have custom maps. Notably, he intends to make sure it works well on both the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and TI-84 Plus CE.
  • BetterFinanceCE: hummusman is working on a finance program for the TI 84+ CE. It will include several useful calculations, such as simple and compound interest. Go show them some support!
  • CEaShell: A Shell for the TI-84+ CE: RoccoLox Programs and TIny_Hacker have been hard at work preparing for a new release of their shell! This month, they have added features like file searching, icons + descriptions + file sizes next to a selected program or app, and they also plan to offer a french translation of the shell upon release as well. Be sure to check it out!
  • Express BASIC - a Tiny BASIC interpreter in C: lucidapogee has continued work on a Tiny BASIC interpreter for Windows computers written in C. It features a number of routines, including some useful graphics, which can be drawn to the console directly!
  • lwIP Library with CDC-ECM for the TI-84+ CE: ACagliano is working on a version of the open-source lwIP networking stack for low-resource devices for the TI-84 Plus CE, along with a CDC-ECM driver to support computer and router connection! Here is a screenshot that shows it in action:
  • Sans Bossfight (TI-84+CE): This month, ThePinkHacker has been working to recreate the Sans Bossfight (from Undertale) in ez80 assembly. Be sure to show them some support!
  • Sonic 2 CE: A port of 8-bit Sonic 2 for the TI-84+ CE (WIP): grubbycoder has announced that their Sonic game now runs at an impressive 30-45 FPS, thanks to an optimization with the collision data. Check it out!
  • Spreedsheets CE / Excel CE: Invalid_Jake has announced that they are working on a spreadsheet app in Celtic CE. The goal is to have fun and learn first, and create a useful tool second, so they're not planning to port this to C or assembly. However, they have solicited feature ideas from the community, so please add any you have in the thread!
  • TICraft - Another Minecraft clone for the TI 84 Plus CE: Unlike many other Minecraft clones for the CE, which tend to be 2D or orthographic 3D, Loganius has announced work on a perspective-correct, 3D-rendered Minecraft clone! Because it is properly rendered in 3D, it is quite slow, but is still playable and looks amazing. You don't want to miss this!
  • Train Simulator Controller: KermMartian has continued work on an incredibly realistic controller system and dashboard for the game "Train Simulator", one of his favorite video games. This month, as he catches up on documenting the project, Kerm posted an update detailing the CAN bus controller that will power every instrument and control. He opted to use the Raspberry Pi Pico as the microcontroller, and now has a prototype for controlling multiple different bits of hardware.
  • Xenon Development [C]: Alvajoy123 has added a character indicator and history to their impressive and steadily evolving shell for the TI-84 Plus CE.
  • Yet Another Minecraft: TI-84 Plus CE Edition: It has been a busy month for Minecraft ports to graphing calculators! jasper7474 has announced work on yet another Minecraft clone for the CE, this one being 2D and offering many features such as an extensive creative inventory, a hotbar, a 2-layer world system, and more. Be sure to show them some support!

As there were no completed projects this month, there will be no poll. We look forward to seeing you all in the next article!



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Projects of the Month: January 2024
Published by TIny_Hacker 1 month, 1 week ago (2024-02-07T17:00:00+00:00) | Discuss this article

It's time for the first Projects of the Month article in 2024! Cemetech members were certainly busy this month, and there are already a number of great projects for you to try. As always, remember to vote for your favorite project completed in January in the poll, and without further ado, here we go!

  • AnotherWorldCE: Port of the classic 16-bit game to TI84+CE: Zaalane has improved savestates in his port of Another World, which no longer require any user RAM. This gives them a lot more stability and should rule out any issues with failing to save.
  • Bad Apple on Crab Fit: commandblockguy has once again found another thing to play the Bad Apple animation on, this time on an event scheduling planner called Crab Fit. For those who don't remember, he previously managed to do this on a Google doc using the comment feature. There's a longer video of the impressive feat in the topic, so be sure to check it out yourself!
  • CalcText BASIC, a script to simplify text programs: reptile23 has continued work on their project, which aims to make creating text programs in TI-BASIC easier. This month, they added a custom tag / trigger system, multiple statements per line using backticks, and a tag that will run its contents at the beginning of each new line.
  • CARDoK!L: Randomized Card Wonder: ryanconmartians has begun working on a card game for the TI-84 Plus CE, where you must use your deck to fight against your opponent.
  • CE Automated Testing Framework: Captain Calc made a utility which can make automated testing simpler for C++ projects using the CE C toolchain. You can create a test JSON, which the Python script will use to build and then run the test with cemu-autotester.
  • CE HD Picture converter (for Web, in Rust): Tari has corrected a bug in his web version of TLM's picture converter, along with a few other minor changes.
  • CEaShell: A Shell for the TI-84+ CE: RoccoLox Programs and TIny_Hacker continued work on the full rewrite of their shell, this month adding integration with HexaEdit, correcting an issue with going to errors when running TI-BASIC programs, and a fast alpha scrolling feature for the TI-OS editor, inspired by Doors CSE 8.
  • Creating a Hybrid Basic OS for all of my games: tibasicprogrammernoobie1 has begun working on a program to conveniently view and play the games they create on their TI-84 Plus. They're still in the beginning stages of the project, so head over to the topic to show your support!
  • Gimme 5!: A word-guessing game [TI-84 Plus CE]: Captain Calc has created a new version of their word-guessing game, featuring a brand new, well-stylized interface. A pre-release version is already available in the archives if you're interested in checking it out yourself!
  • HD Picture Viewer [C] [TI-84 Plus CE]: TheLastMillennial has finished the second major version of his picture viewer. This new version is more stable, easier to use, and much improved compared to the last version. He also has a few ideas for future updates, including possible 16bpp or GIF support.
  • HexaEdit CE: On-calc hex editor: Captain Calc was busy this month, and he also published a new version of HexaEdit which fixes a bug and has a slightly changed GUI. Be sure to check it out!
  • Illusiat 13: The Final Chapter revival: Dream of Omnimaga has revisited an old project from 2009, making a number of improvements including save file archiving, DCS icon, balancing, and more! He's known for making impressive games in TI-BASIC, so it's definitely worth taking a look!
  • lwIP Library with CDC-ECM for the TI-84+ CE: ACagliano is working on a version of the lwIP for the TI-84 Plus CE, along with a CDC-ECM driver to support computer and router connection.
  • Particle System in C++ for the TI-84 Plus CE: RedSpacePanda has been working on a flexible, performant particle system for the TI-84 Plus CE, written in C++. There are a number of use-cases for such a tool, especially in games. Be sure to keep an eye on it for a public version you can use in the future!
  • PiEditor - an alternative program editor: pi644721 has been creating an editor for TI-BASIC programs, written in TI-BASIC using the Celtic CE library. The editor currently has a number of features you can expect, along with the added bonus of being able to display more lines at once than the OS's editor, since it uses a smaller font.
  • Sonic 2 CE: A port of 8-bit Sonic 2 for the TI-84+ CE (WIP): grubbycoder has continued fixing bugs in their Sonic 2 port, and has managed to get tilemap scrolling working! There's still more that needs to be done, but the project continues to feature impressive progress, so be sure to take a look yourself!
  • Speedread... 2: ryanconmartians has teased a new sequel for his Speedreading game. There's not much to see yet, but keep an eye out for future updates!
  • Spriter, a TI-BASIC sprite / icon editor for the TI-84+ CE: TIny_Hacker has published a new version of his TI-BASIC sprite editor, which includes bug fixes, an import feature, and a more visible cursor along with other accessibility features.
  • tivars_hexfiend_templates Development Thread: LogicalJoe has finished the core functionality of his templates for the macOS hex editor, HexFiend. Some recent changes include greater file support, especially for 68K calculator files.
  • Train Simulator Controller: KermMartian has been working on an immersive and realistic controller system for one of his favorite hobbies (besides calculators, of course), Train Simulator. This month he showcased a controller prototype he worked on last May.

That's all for January! Now it's time for you to get to work on a project of your own, to be featured in next month's PotM article!



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Cemetech Projects of the Year 2023 Results
Published by Michael2_3B 2 months ago (2024-01-18T13:00:00+00:00) | Discuss this article

Ending our amazing saga of back-to-back PotM/PotY articles, the results are in for the 2023 Projects of the Year! This poll was absolutely no contest... Cemetechians seemed to unanimously vote for the same best project!

In 3rd Place, we have Topicle, created by kg583! Based on the popular word puzzle game Wordle, Topicle features four words which you must successfully guess, all relating to a central clue, or, as the name suggests, topic. Solving a puzzle is a fun workout for your brain, and when you’re done, you can even share your score with others to brag about your word skills (as many Cemetechians have done in the project thread)!

In 2nd Place, we have Ti-83+SE/84+(SE) Video + Audio Player, created by Crazy_Fox2! Unlike previous video or audio players for these calculators, this program is able to play video and audio simultaneously. According to the topic, the Silver Edition calculators can hold around 1 minute of video, while the non-Silver TI-84 Plus can hold around 20 seconds. The audio quality is equally impressive.

And last but not least, in 1st Place, getting over 50% of the votes, and taking the official title for Project of the Year 2023, we have Celtic CE by RoccoLox Programs! They have successfully created the first hook-based TI-BASIC library for the TI-84 Plus CE, which allows TI-BASIC programmers to use a number of graphical and utility operations which are not possible or extremely slow with vanilla TI-BASIC. It also features detailed and concise documentation, making it easy to work with despite the scale of the library. For a good idea of what Celtic can make possible, be sure to check out some of the other projects featured in the PotY.

Thank you to all of our members that participated in the poll, and be sure to keep the great projects coming! Feel free to read more about all of the projects from Projects of the Year 2023 in this article.



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Cemetech Projects of the Year 2022 Results
Published by Michael2_3B 2 months ago (2024-01-14T13:00:00+00:00) | Discuss this article

At last, the poll for the Projects of the Year 2022 has come to a close, and the results are in! This poll saw quite some competition, and it appears many Cemetechians had a hard time choosing just which project they liked best... Nonetheless, we now have a winner, so let's get into it!

In 3rd Place, we have none other than S.A.M.M. - A Metroid-vania for TI-84 Plus CE, created by Captain Calc! S.A.M.M is a Metroid-vania style game for the CE that features lots of beautiful artwork and compelling gameplay, and features things like environmental interaction and smooth scrolling. Be sure to check it out!

In 2nd Place, we have AnotherWorldCE, created by Zaalane. This game is a fantastic port of the original old adventure game "Another World" by Éric Chahi. The program is more or less an interpreter for the VM designed for the game. You don't want to miss this one!

And last but not least, in 1st Place, having only one more vote than 2nd Place, and taking the official title for Project of the Year 2022, we have CEaShell by RoccoLox Programs and TIny_Hacker! CEaShell is a simple, easy-to-use shell with some basic QoL improvement features for the 84+CE. It is designed to be straightforward and easy to use, but with some additional polish like program icons in the OS [PRGM] menu. Lots of hard work went into this project, and it has really paid off! Be sure to download the shell for yourself!

Thank you to all of our members that participated in the poll, and be sure to keep the great projects coming! If you would like, feel free to read more about all of the projects from Projects of the Year 2022 in this article.



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