I've created a certificate patch for installing freeware TI-73 Flash applications, so now we can create them ourselves.

It's called Free73, and it's at http://brandonw.net/calcstuff/free73.zip. It's a one time only patch, immune to any reset or OS update.

With this, I created a shell called Tortoise (at http://brandonw.net/calcstuff/Tortoise.zip) which is capable of running Mallard-compatible programs. I intend to add some really cool stuff to it involving hooks and embedding variables within the application itself, creating a pseudo user archive (which the 73 currently lacks (it's app only)).

So why should anyone care? I don't know, really, but hopefully this adds some life to the TI-73, which is actually a very nice calculator. Hardware-wise, it's identical to the 83+ (you can even put the 83+ OS on it if you don't want to deal with any of this), and it has some interesting differences from the 83+ OS (for example, it has an interrupt hook similar to the TI-86, and tons of other things).

This certificate patcher also paves the way for making third-party 83+/84+ series OSes easy. People can install a patch, and then we can sign OSes using our own key and send them to the calculator using any of the currently available software, including TI's.

So, long story short, buy a 73 if you see it.

That sounds amazing. I just wish I had a 73 to try it out.

Awesome job, Brandon; I-c_Y told me about your success. I was always under the impression that you never completed the 83+ OS >> 73 port; was I incorrect?

I patched it enough to get it to boot. Unfortunately the boot code between the 73 and the 83+ is where the problem is...the RAM equates are all different between the two, so where the 73 boot code thinks OP1 is ends up being completely different from where it actually is (according to the 73 OS). That causes things to go a little wonky, like _Div32By16 (a boot code BCALL).

The only major side effect is that the Mem Mgmt/Del screen wouldn't report variable sizes and free memory correctly, and minor things like that. These things can also be patched.

What I never wrote was a program that would take an 8XU as input and convert it to a 73U file.

So, yeah, you can turn a 73 into an 83+, but any assembly programs that use boot code BCALLs like _Div32By16 are going to go wonky. Fortunately, most of us don't use them, or even know they exist.

Wow BrandonW, you sure are smarter than this Kerm hack.

Yeah, at least BrandonW doesn't need to take other people's work and stick it all in a big bag and call it his own.

....? Are you seriously trying to call me out by flaming blatant troll-bait on my own forum? C'mon, don't be that dumb.

I see you're not actully trying to defend yourself at all. Interesting.

FEEEEEED ME!

See, at least Nikky is baiting properly. Yours was too obvious to have any chance of succeeding.

Except that you don't have to post for me to continue to be entertained. ALTHOUGH, you did bite on my trolling, simply because you replied. Simply by replying with "I'm not going to bother with that", you've fallen into my Trap of Trollage...

Nice work brandonw, oh and WTF is up with Nikky and this jvndrbrg person?

Ignore them. Anyway, BrandonW, where do you plan to take this from here?

I'm not going to touch the third-party OS stuff...someone else can do it.

I'll probably come up with some sort of patcher for the 73 and 83+ OS files so you can transfer them to the other calculator. These kinds of hacks are extremely hard-coded, so I guess I'll just have a generic patcher and then little patch files you import and will make the appropriate changes on a version-by-version basis. That's the most legal way I can think of.

The 73 has some interesting hooks which differ from the 83+ ones, so I'll probaby embed MirageOS/Omnicalc-like functionality into it, an all-in-one hook manager.

I'm going to allow for embedding variables directly into the application, but I'm not sure how big the application should be. If I keep it as-is, I'm pretty much leaving only around 8KB for space. If I expand into other pages, it would be more like 16KB/24KB or more.

The 73 only has 8 app pages (it has two swap/temp sectors), which is a little bit dumb, but whatever.

There's lots of research to be done on the 73 OS, so who knows what will come next.

/me messes with it.
I'm just not very motivated to test things. I just need to finish my OS image packer (which is written, but untested) and modify free73 to add key 008 to the 83+ certificate.

You know, joining just to flame someone (your one previous post was also like this...) under a random name is not exactly a good way to start a flamewar here... We will all just ignore you...

Did I miss something how is that reliant? Oh and if I understood Tari Right that'll mean all third party os's for the 83 will be runnable on the 73.

Its relevant because Harq was all "blah blah blah we're going to ignore you and I'm going to ignore you by quoting you and by further acknowledging your existence".

You'd need to add my 005 key to free73 and probably change some equates in the OS and rebuild it, but that should be possible.