The TI-84 Plus CE has only started arriving in retail stores in the past month, but already the industrious members of Cemetech have been exploring programming on the new calculator. Three of our esteemed assembly programmers, MateoConLechuga, DrDnar, and Patrick Davidson, have released assembly games for the TI-84 Plus CE based on their impressive programming work for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition. All three authors have created nostub (shell-free) programs, as despite the many requests for Doors CSE for the TI-84 Plus CE, we do not yet have an App key to be able to make Doors CSE and other Apps for the TI-84 Plus CE. Without further ado, the three authors' impressive creations, along with the downloadable files for each:
  • Portal Returns CE by MateoConLechuga: Simply put, a 2D Portal game. In the author's own words: "Enjoy blasting through space at breakneck speeds and almost being fried, crushed, and insulted all for the hope of cake at the end. With 78 total levels, the fun will probably end at some point. But that is why there is a level editor to make even more mind boggling puzzles. So, good luck, and remember that GLaDOS is always watching...". MateoConLechuga made this game as a port of his popular TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition game called Portal Returns, and we find that it shows off the speed and power of the TI-84 Plus CE well.

  • Robot Finds Kitten by DrDnar: A so-called "Zen simulation" game, you are a robot attempting to find a kitten in a field of assorted objects. Robot Finds Kitten has been ported to many different platforms in many different languages, and DrDnar's TI-84 Plus CE version is a port of his well-known TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition port of the game.

  • Pac-Man by MateoConLechuga: An authentic port of the hugely popular arcade game, Pac-Man brings the fast-paced gameplay and iconic graphics of the original to the TI-84 Plus CE. As an added bonus, MateoConLechuga has included the source code for programmers wishing to learn more about assembly programming on the TI-84 Plus CE. Unlike the other games in this list, Pac-Man is not a port of an existing TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition game, although Cemetechian assemblybandit made a Pac-Man game for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition.

  • Calcuzap (Color) for TI-84 Plus CE by Patrick Davidson: Patrick Davidson and Phoenix are among the best-known names in casual graphing calculator gaming. Patrick is one of the community's longest-participating members, and his monochrome Phoenix game has found a home on practically every modern TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus calculator. In the spirit of continuity, he has ported Phoenix to the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and TI-84 Plus CE as Calcuzap, bringing the speed anf fun of the original to the color-screen calculators. The TI-84 Plus CE version is particularly fun and fast-paced, something we like to think is facilitated by the faster memory-mapped LCD and ez80 processor. The author indicates that this version has 29 levels, a user-selectable speed, saveable games, 4 types of power-ups including double cannon and triple cannon, and a high score table. TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition owners can download it here.

  • Puzzle Frenzy by MateoConLechuga: Never one to approach a project halfheartedly, MateoConLechuga has brought yet another popular arcade game to the TI-84 Plus CE. Puzzle Frenzy, one of the four games in Detached Solutions' PuzzPack App included with many TI-83 Plus calculators, includes several puzzle challenges to match blocks quickly or efficiently. In each mode, you must make horizontal or vertical sets of three or more blocks in order to erase them. As you play, the game ticks down the number of moves you are allowed, or the screen quickly fills with blocks. A description can only convey so much of the Tetris-cum-Bejeweled gameplay; for the full experience, download it and give it a try. Fear not: if you're a TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition user, there's a version for you as well.

  • CMonster for TI-84 Plus CE (color) by Patrick Davidson: Although Patrick Davidson never created a Breakout clone for the monochrome TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus calculators, his color-screen versions are remarkably fast and fun. If you've owned a cell phone, gameboy, or computer in the past two decades, you're no doubt familiar with games where you bounce a ball off a paddle in order to break formations of blocks, and CMonster is a fine rendition of the concept. It includes 19 levels, 6 speeds, and 4 types of power ups, including multi-ball. It also supports saving the game, and has a high score table. A TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition version is also available.

Congratulations to these Cemetech members and their impressive assembly programming work for the TI-84 Plus CE and TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition. We're excited to see what new TI-84 Plus CE games, educational programs, and utilities will be created this summer.

Downloads
Portal Returns: TI-84 Plus CE; TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Robot Finds Kitten: TI-84 Plus CE; TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Pac-Man: TI-84 Plus CE
Calcuzap: TI-84 Plus CE; TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
Puzzle Frenzy: TI-84 Plus CE; TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
CMonster: TI-84 Plus CE; TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition

From left: Portal Returns CE, Pac-Man, and Calcuzap (Color).
Cool; neat stuff. Thanks for writing this up Kerm, I plan to move on to more useful things such as utilities and things in the future. It will definitely be interesting to see what more this new development platform will bring. Smile
MateoConLechuga wrote:
Cool; neat stuff. Thanks for writing this up Kerm, I plan to move on to more useful things such as utilities and things in the future. It will definitely be interesting to see what more this new development platform will bring. Smile
Thank you for putting in the effort to make so many cool projects showing off the possibilities for the platform already, Mateo! I certainly do look forward to your utilities and useful/educational programs in the future, especially if I have the chance to work with you on C libraries for a future Doors C[S][E] for the calculator.
Great work guys! It's cool to see Patrick D still coming back for updates on new platforms after all these years! Smile
I downloaded the Pacman file and put it on my TI-84 Plus CE, but every time I try to run the program it says "Argument Error". It also does this when I try and run most other things on my calculator, even the ones that were on the calculator when I bought it. Please help me with this it's so frustrating!
mschmaud wrote:
I downloaded the Pacman file and put it on my TI-84 Plus CE, but every time I try to run the program it says "Argument Error". It also does this when I try and run most other things on my calculator, even the ones that were on the calculator when I bought it. Please help me with this it's so frustrating!
Which programs/Apps that were on your calculator when you bought it cause this? What happens if you run PacMan via Asm(prgmPACMAN) (the Asm( token is in the Catalog, [2nd][0])?
That worked, I have no idea why I didn't try it before. Thanks so much! Another question, do you have any idea when Doors will be available for the TI-84 Plus CE? I know you were already talking about it but I'm just curious to when it might be out.
mschmaud wrote:
That worked, I have no idea why I didn't try it before. Thanks so much! Another question, do you have any idea when Doors will be available for the TI-84 Plus CE? I know you were already talking about it but I'm just curious to when it might be out.

Kerm is the main author, but basically he needs an encryption key from ti which can't really be brute forced, unfortunately, it seems like ti is reluctant to release this key, so until further notice, this project is pretty much dead
Yeah, Doors CE.8xk for the TI-84+CE is dead. It will never happen because TI will never give the key to anyone. I have proof of it: They're TI. However, if Kerm ever changes his mind about a 8xp version (like Ion, Venus, SOS, etc) and decides to do one, then Doors CE might happen in the future. And if that doesn't happen either then xLIBC might still happen, since tr1p1ea got parser hooks to run from a 8xp program a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNrhNgNze3o
DJ_O wrote:
Yeah, Doors CE.8xk for the TI-84+CE is dead. It will never happen because TI will never give the key to anyone. I have proof of it: They're TI. However, if Kerm ever changes his mind about a 8xp version (like Ion, Venus, SOS, etc) and decides to do one, then Doors CE might happen in the future. And if that doesn't happen either then xLIBC might still happen, since tr1p1ea got parser hooks to run from a 8xp program a while ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNrhNgNze3o
This is misinformation, and I thought someone who has been in the community as long as you would know better than to spread vitriol, emotional responses, and incorrect information as fact. TI has shown cooperation in working with us so far to get us what we want, and some way or another, there will be a version of Doors CSE/CE/CS for the TI-84 Plus CE. Talks are in motion, and I'll be happy to share what I can when I can.
It might be because you didn't frequent Omnimaga and TI-Planet enough before and that Cemetech was mostly centered towards Z80 and PRIZM dev, but considering that after 5 years, TI are still actively trying in every way possible to lock the TI-Nspire down despite pleas from the TI community and that they increased protection against third-party Flash APPs on the 84+CE, there's no way they'll go as far as giving the RSA key away, even if there was a NDA agreement. It's not fact but I've been on Omnimaga and TI-Planet from 2010 to 2014, which had by far the highest concentration of TI-Nspire users and developers, and there was not a single improvement in their stance about Ndless (in fact it actually got worse, because they're even changing the hardware to prevent downgrades now). With that ongoing trend from their part, I think it will be a miracle if they give anyone the key (perhaps not as much as winning the lottery but close)
Quote:
I thought someone who has been in the community as long as you would know better than to spread vitriol, emotional responses, and incorrect information as fact.

Ahem. FTR, you've done your fair share of exactly this, related to Nspire-related software and some of your community peers...
But that's not the focus of this thread.


Some members of the TI-Planet staff try to make TI understand how making third-party TI-eZ80 FlashApp development "easy" would benefit everyone: programmers, users, TI EdTech sales / profit / market share. The arguments aren't new, of course.

Like DJ, I don't think TI will provide the TI-eZ80 FlashApp signing key. Additionally, I'm pessimistic about TI resurrecting workable, if slightly more cumbersome, alternative approaches known from TI-68k FlashApp development, or implementing another, complementary, suggestion.
And I think parts of the TI-eZ80 community are making a severe mistake by holding breath onto TI moving in the right direction: as shown by the TI-68k community's experience since the second half of the 1990s, ASM programs are a workable approach to a number of things, including so-called "kernels" ("shells" in TI-(e)Z80 parlance, both names being equally improper).

But I'd be happy to be proved wrong about TI not making it possible for third parties to make TI-eZ80 FlashApp development Smile
Lionel Debroux wrote:
Quote:
I thought someone who has been in the community as long as you would know better than to spread vitriol, emotional responses, and incorrect information as fact.

Ahem. FTR, you've done your fair share of exactly this, related to Nspire-related software and some of your community peers...
But that's not the focus of this thread.
The background of TI-Planet is an Ndless banner; surely I haven't been that off-base. Wink But as you say, that's not the focus of this thread, so let's not discuss it.

Quote:
Some members of the TI-Planet staff try to make TI understand how making third-party TI-eZ80 FlashApp development "easy" would benefit everyone: programmers, users, TI EdTech sales / profit / market share. The arguments aren't new, of course.
Yes, Adriweb and tr1p1ea I worked together to put together reasons why App creation would benefit everyone, and I have had a fair number of meetings on the subject myself. I haven't been making Graph3DC for my health. Wink

Quote:
And I think parts of the TI-eZ80 community are making a severe mistake by holding breath onto TI moving in the right direction: as shown by the TI-68k community's experience since the second half of the 1990s, ASM programs are a workable approach to a number of things, including so-called "kernels" ("shells" in TI-(e)Z80 parlance, both names being equally improper).
With the TI-Nspire, the community waited a short time for native code execution to be permitted, and when TI showed no willingness to move in that direction (to the best of my understanding), parts of the community took action in getting what they wanted on their own. That has led to a constant cat-and-mouse game with TI, with TI patching exploits in every OS version, and the Ndless programmers (regardless of who they may be and whoever sponsors their work) finding new exploits.

Here we have the opportunity to try the opposite approach: work with a Texas Instruments that is increasingly aware of how vital and important programming is as a skill, and how their devices play a role in teaching people programming. TI is in a different place than they were when the TI-Nspire came out, with different leadership, a different relationship with the community, and different contacts in the community. The TI-84+CE has retained native code execution via ASM and C programs (I heard from anonymous sources at T^3 2015 that that was not a guarantee at all), and as soon as I can reveal some information about how cooperative and understanding I have found them to be, I will.
Quote:
the community waited a short time for native code execution to be permitted

Over two years and a half, in fact, which is not that short: the Clickpad hit the market in the spring of 2007, and the breakthrough which led to arbitrary native code execution on the Nspire occurred in the autumn of 2009.
The rest of your paragraph is correct.

Quote:
TI is in a different place than they were when the TI-Nspire came out, with different leadership, a different relationship with the community, and different contacts in the community.

Indeed.
When the Nspire came out, parts of the community, especially French people, still consciously and semi-consciously resented how TI dealt with Olivier Miclo (not to be confused with Mickaël Nicotera). Two years later, in the summer of 2009, the TI Signing Key Fiasco further cemented the community's defiance against TI...
The trigger for the current community contacts was my OSLauncher+DummyOS, which, despite its harmlessness for practical purposes, scared exam regulation authorities, and therefore TI EdTech top-level management. Philippe Fortin rightfully thought that it would be better for everyone if TI and community members were working more together, and worked to build contacts.

Quote:
The TI-84+CE has retained native code execution via ASM and C programs (I heard from anonymous sources at T^3 2015 that that was not a guarantee at all),

Yup, no guarantee at all. But we all know that from TI's point of view, the TI-eZ80 platform's status in some areas will become... er, unpleasant if TI does the wrong thing in that direction.
I spent a fair bit of my free time making an explanation of such things to TI EdTech management, well before the highly predictable chain of events starting by TI closing the Ndless 3.1 hole in OS 3.2, and leading to nLaunch / nLaunch CX / nLaunchy, unfolded...

Like DJ, the Nspire history is probably the reason why I'm so pessimistic about TI doing the right thing wrt. FlashApp programming on the TI-eZ80 series - even if I'd be so happy to be proved wrong, because it would mean that TI learnt the Nspire lesson, and aims at maximizing usefulness to teachers, students and non-students.
DJ_O wrote:
It might be because you didn't frequent Omnimaga and TI-Planet enough before and that Cemetech was mostly centered towards Z80 and PRIZM dev, but considering that after 5 years, TI are still actively trying in every way possible to lock the TI-Nspire down despite pleas from the TI community and that they increased protection against third-party Flash APPs on the 84+CE, there's no way they'll go as far as giving the RSA key away, even if there was a NDA agreement. It's not fact but I've been on Omnimaga and TI-Planet from 2010 to 2014, which had by far the highest concentration of TI-Nspire users and developers, and there was not a single improvement in their stance about Ndless (in fact it actually got worse, because they're even changing the hardware to prevent downgrades now). With that ongoing trend from their part, I think it will be a miracle if they give anyone the key (perhaps not as much as winning the lottery but close)


There's a huge differential in necessary security in the educational market for CAS-capable calculators vs non-CAS-capable calculators. It shouldn't be surprising if TI takes a different policy with the 84+CE than it does with the Nspires.
elfprince13 wrote:
There's a huge differential in necessary security in the educational market for CAS-capable calculators vs non-CAS-capable calculators. It shouldn't be surprising if TI takes a different policy with the 84+CE than it does with the Nspires.

There's however another difference in the CE series that is "almost" like the non-CAS/CAS one: the exact math engine on the 83PCE, absent on the 84+CE.
I wonder what US exam boards think of the exact math engine. They clearly are against CAS, but what about that?
Especially since TI clearly distinguishes both models (well, it's quite simple, the 83PCE is officially only sold in France), and tried to lock the HW so that the 83PCE's OS couldn't be installed on the 84+CE (but that protection held only a few days from z80 experts/hackers, so...)

Anyway, not so much of a difference in the security POV, from my perspective: one OS is more powerful than the other, and technically runs on another machine, but TI doesn't want you to be able to run it.
In addition to this, some CAS programs have low RAM requirements, as shown by Eigenmath running on the Casio fx-9860G series (in France, Graph 85/75/35+USB). These models are supposed to provide 64 KB of user RAM, which is, as we all know, less than the TI-eZ80 hardware provides (in a flat addressing space, at that).
And the eZ80 is more suitable to running native code compiled from C than the Z80.
adriweb wrote:
elfprince13 wrote:
There's a huge differential in necessary security in the educational market for CAS-capable calculators vs non-CAS-capable calculators. It shouldn't be surprising if TI takes a different policy with the 84+CE than it does with the Nspires.

There's however another difference in the CE series that is "almost" like the non-CAS/CAS one: the exact math engine on the 83PCE, absent on the 84+CE.
I wonder what US exam boards think of the exact math engine. They clearly are against CAS, but what about that?
Especially since TI clearly distinguishes both models (well, it's quite simple, the 83PCE is officially only sold in France), and tried to lock the HW so that the 83PCE's OS couldn't be installed on the 84+CE (but that protection held only a few days from z80 experts/hackers, so...)

Anyway, not so much of a difference in the security POV, from my perspective: one OS is more powerful than the other, and technically runs on another machine, but TI doesn't want you to be able to run it.
when 83pce os is installed on 84pce what key layout is then used on 84pce please? The one like on 83pce or unchanged 84pce one or some hybrid between two to allow for keys needed for exact math please?
amazonka wrote:
when 83pce os is installed on 84pce what key layout is then used on 84pce please? The one like on 83pce or unchanged 84pce one or some hybrid between two to allow for keys needed for exact math please?

The 83PCE one - which makes it a bit unpleasant to be used on the 84+CE.
But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't bother me that much since I tried it for fun, I have the 83PCE as well anyway...
adriweb wrote:
amazonka wrote:
when 83pce os is installed on 84pce what key layout is then used on 84pce please? The one like on 83pce or unchanged 84pce one or some hybrid between two to allow for keys needed for exact math please?

The 83PCE one - which makes it a bit unpleasant to be used on the 84+CE.
But as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't bother me that much since I tried it for fun, I have the 83PCE as well anyway...

Thanks, I'm curious if I should get 83pce instead of 84pce. Besides English writings on the faceplate what would I be missing please? Will apps development be the same for both calculators and work the same on them? If so the only trade off seems to be using a different keyboard to gain exact math or am I wrong about it please? Is 83PCE permitted on French exams only?

Assuming 83PCE has everything 84PCE has plus exact math, what is the likelihood of 83PCE OS being modded to use a keyboard closer to 84PCE layout before being uploaded to 84PCE please? Is something particular making it impossible?

Obviously if 83PCE misses some 84PCE feature, what are they and what would be the chances of modding the 84PCE OS to include exact math please?
  
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