pat stone has requested that I try and gage some interest in his Black Eagle Shell 4.0 Asm version and to see who would be interested in beta testing it for him.

if you have any interest in it please post here.

Heck yeah! I have been waiting for the asm version forever...

I could help.

Link? Information? Screenshot? Something?

Cmon, whet my appetite!

oh, c'mon guys loyalty to the cause, eh? Doors CS and such, eh?

lol, I just said I want to try it. Not like I am switching... yet...

also, pat posted a copy of the manual a while back here

Eh, looks a little too dark for me, but if the shell works well and doesn't crash, you could probably get used to it.

Looks like a huge rip off of Mirage, imo, especially the settings page.

I still think password protecting a calculator is ridiculous...

The beta would contain the basic shell functions including:

Archiving/Unarchiving Programs
Locking/Unlocking Programs
Deleting Programs
Resetting RAM
Hibernating
Showing Calculator Information
Showing Shell Information
Showing Program Information (Size, Type {Asm, Basic}, Archive Status, Lock Status, Shell Assosiation, Program Description, Program Image)
Running Programs (Basic, TI-OS Asm, and possibly ION Asm {if I get it finished}).
Displaying RAM and ROM (down to the byte)
Displaying Credits

Remember, this is a beta. Therefore, more features would be added to the final version. I am open to any comments and suggestions. The options screen currently resembles MirageOS and that is something I would want to change. If anyone has any design ideas, please let me know.

The final version WILL be able to run MirageOS programs (although only ones that call the most common Mirage functions as DetachedSolutions is not willing to give me the source code for their functions ). However, future updates may allow any Mirage functions. Also, I am planning on implementing a hide/unhide function.

This shell recognizes file types for DoorsCS, MirageOS, ION, and Black Eagle Shell (BES). Another good thing is that it sees all programs on the calculator. Therefore, if you want to unlock a Basic program for editing but cannot add the colon that MirageOS requires to see the Basic program, you can simply just start BES and unlock it there.

Also, the final version will be able to read program images out of a Basic program (instructions on how to make a Basic program image will be included). This is similar to how DoorsCS does it but it will be twice as big.

Please remember, this is only a beta. Currently, I am trying to finish the run program part so that the beta will be able to run Basic programs and TI-OS Asm programs. I am planning on releasing this on October 12th or 13th if enough people are interested.

To e-mail any concerns, bugs, suggestions, or whatever, my e-mail address is defenestrator85@aol.com. Thanks.

Patrick Stone
Suicidal Psycho Software
http://www.geocities.com/suipsysof

First and foremost, thank you all for your much appreciated feedback. That is exactly what I wanted and needed. I received a lot of feedback from all 4 or 5 forums this topic was listed on. After a couple of weeks thinking about what everyone has said and also about what is best for me right now, I have sadly decided to discontinue this project until further notice. I really hate to do this because, for me, it is admitting failure. But I don't believe I have a choice. Work and school are only becoming more time consuming (especially school) and the pressure and stress of it all has builded to no end. Something must get pushed to the side, and unfortunately, it is BES. I really loved programming it and I hate to quit. But it is wrong for me to keep hoping and dreaming it will be done and that is not fair to the TI community.


Lastly, some of the features I was trying to incorporate were either A) Someone else has already incorporated those into another shell (like Kerm Martian with DoorsCS...no offense Kerm, love what you've done with the shell) or B) Some people think it makes the shell 'cluttered' or they think it is not needed. Unfortunately, it seems my dream (to finish BES, the ASM version) has been washed away by the waves of time and may possibly never return to the sandy beach where it belonged. I am sorry to anyone who counted on me for this, but you must understand, it is what is best for me and the community (because I will no longer be getting anyone's hopes up or anything like that). Again, I am sorry, but this is what I must do.

Good luck and I will be checking in from time to time to say hello or maybe help out with some ASM or something. Keep in touch. I am also willing to help out BASIC programmers who need an 'ASM function' (which basically just controls something in ASM that BASIC just cannot do). Since those don't take much time, I can probably squeeze them in here and there. Just drop me an e-mail (defenestrator85@aol.com). Thanks and sorry again.

I'm sorry to hear that, Pat, but I hope you'll consider finishing up BES when you have some more time to work on it. I believe it has substantial promise. Anyway, good luck with the backlog of work; I know exactly what you mean.