As we entered the autumn of 2023, Cemetech’s members became even more active: a whopping 30 Your Projects topics had some sort of activity this month. What kept Cemetechians busy this past September? Ready on and see!
Whew, that was a long one! A few of these projects reached a finished state; vote for the one you consider the best in this month’s poll.
- Argon IDE - A Better Editor for Programs and More!: jasper7474 announced an on-calculator TI-BASIC program editor, using the Celtic CE hybrid BASIC libraries. They posted a few screenshots and made progress on text input and opening files.
- BCC - Beck's C Compiler: beckadamtheinventor announced a lightweight C compiler project, designed for on-calculator C compiling. Beck released the source code of the nascent compiler on GitHub: upcoming features may include support for structs, floats, and libraries.
- Calculator Street Racing II: Evolution (TI-84+CE, TI-BASIC): Oxiti8 released a small update to this TI-BASIC racing game on the project’s one-year anniversary, containing a new car called the Oxiti Increceba GT. If you’ve been following this project’s progress, check it out and add another car to your garage!
- Cesium: MateoConLechuga announced version 3.6.6 of this ubiquitous shell for the TI-84 Plus CE, restoring the app change hook and fixing a few graphical issues. As always, you can find the latest release in Cesium’s Github repo.
- CryptX - Cryptography Bundle for the CE: ACagliano made additional updates to this cryptography library for the TI-84 Plus CE, this time adding support for importing of PKCS#8 formatted public and private keys. In the future, he hopes to support keyfiles protected by passphrases, and in the meantime, you can find documentation of the new feature in the project’s Github repo.
- [C] Endless Mazes on the CE: After a new forum user asked to try this project, matkeller19 resurrected it, added some simple customizations for the mazes produced, and released an alpha version. Check the alpha out in the thread, and if you want to see the alpha progress into a final release, let matkeller19 know!
- First Fantasy II: Pokéwalrus (Magenta version): Hot on the heels of the release of this Pokemon-inspired game, DJ Omnimaga added some bugfixes. You can downloaded the updated version from the Cemetech file archives, or give DJ Omnimaga your accolades and suggestions on the game in the topic!
- Generative Art Inspired by Interacting Fields: After I watched merthsoft post increasingly elaborate generative renderings on Facebook, I was glad to see him bring them to Cemetech. Merthsoft started with visualizing gravity simulations using cellular automata (logical given his history of creating Conway’s Game of Life for the TI-84 Plus CE), then added many customizations to control the simulation and the visuals. Check out the many cool screenshots and videos of this intersection of science and art in the topic!
- KhiCAS, a full-featured CAS for Casio CG50/Graph 90+e: After a long lull, parisse added a new experimental feature to KhiCAS: the calculator can now display a QR code that allows you to transfer your calculation session from the calculator to the mobile version of Xcas. You can grab the download from the attached topic’s first post, and give parisse your support and feedback for this powerful CAS while you’re there!
- Modding my CE w/ Backlight, Speaker, and Wireless Charging!: TheLastMillennial has made several forays into calculator modding, the latest effort of which modifies the concept of a modern graphing calculator more than the physical device. He connected solar panels to the battery terminals of his TI-84 Plus calculator, and experimented with the number of panels and minimum voltage that would allow the calculator to function in direct sunlight. TheLastMillennial plans to incorporate solar panels into a 3D-printed case to make a solar scientific calculator-like graphing calculator.
- New Personal Website: Eleven years after first creating his intuitively domained personal website, z80.me, KermMartian release a complete overhaul built on top of the hugo blog software. Previously maintained via hand-edited HTML, the website can now be updated by writing Markdown files and “recompiling”. In the topic, Kerm also reveals a project that he had been documenting on the beta website and later transferred to a proper Cemetech topic.
- Othello (83+/84+/CSE/CE, TI-BASIC): Returning to Cemetech after a very long hiatus, JWinslow23 showed off the first project he created on a brand-new TI-84 Plus CE he got for himself, the classic Othello (Reversi) game in TI-BASIC. You can grab the game from the topic, and be sure to give JWinslow23 feedback on it!
- Pinball for fx-CG10/20/50 / Graph 90+E: Continuing a run of publishing impressive Casio graphing calculator software and games, slyVTT showcased a pinball game they’re making. It began during a recent Planète Casio programming contest, but without enough time to do the concept justice during the contest, slyVTT continued the project afterwards. There are some impressive videos to check out in the thread, and we look forward to further updates!
- RPN83P: RPN calculator for TI-83+ TI-84+ inspired by HP-42S: bxparks continued their RPN calculator project for the TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus, written in z80 assembly. The newly released version 0.5.0 contains plenty of updates, including 1- and 2-parameter statistics functions, curve-fitting functions, and updates to menus. Check it out and grab the download in the topic!
- A Shmup for fx-CG50: slyVTT added lasers to this impressive Danmaku/bullet hell-type Casio Prizm game. Also announced and demonstrated is a new collision detection system, which we can see finding a home beyond this game as well. Check out videos of the game’s project in the topic, and be sure to encourage SlyVTT to continue working on it!
- [CE] Starlight Conquest - inspired by Dune & StarCraft: mid added plenty of updates to this TI-84 Plus CE game, including improved transitions between dialog screens and other graphical improvements, improved pathfinding, and more! Check out the latest videos and add your own feedback in the topic.
- TILP: beta-testing...: Incidentally continuing one of Cemetech’s oldest active threads, Lionel Debroux popped in to announce a new update to TILP, the open-source link software for TI calculators. This update adds fledgling support for the TI-Nspire CX II calculator line, with hopefully more progress coming soon!
- tivars_lib_py Development Thread: kg583 released documentation and version 0.8.0 of this Python library for manipulating TI-82/TI-83/TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus-family files, including tools for manipulating groups and a PIL (Python Image Library) interface for calculator image types. They indicate that version 1.0 will be coming soon after support for Flash Apps, so give them your feedback and encouragement in the topic.
- TwoStep - The challenging, multiplatform puzzle game!: It’s not often that a project author makes a five-year necropost in their own nine-year-old topic, but Muessigb reappeared to release a Godot PC port of their TI-84 Plus game from 2015. Incorporating elements from games like Chip’s Challenge, Blockdude, and Laserstrike/Laser Mayhem, you need to carefully plan your steps to progress through the 2D levels in as few moves as possible. Check out both the calculator and Godot versions in the topic.
Whew, that was a long one! A few of these projects reached a finished state; vote for the one you consider the best in this month’s poll.
