wow i joined this morning and cemetech is already helping out soooo much thanks everyone. another question though, has anyone acheived wireless transmitting of programs, apps, or maybe an IM program? i tried a while back with 2 walkie talkies (kinda dumb really) and of course, no luck. so, is there any form of wireless transmitters/ receivers for a calc?

There's the IR Link, though I've never built it so couldn't say how well it works. It should be relatively easy to build a wireless transmitter/receiver pair using a microcontroller and cheap RF module at each end. The microcontrollers would convert the TI link protocol into a more typical serial signal which could then be passed to the RF modules.

Wireless links tend to have requirements that aren't covered by the calculator's link port (e.g. what if you have more than two calculators trying to communicate)? It would probably be worth investigating some sort of wireless bridge to CALCnet2.x or similar.

I actually bought a pair of 434MHz wireless transmitters and wireless receivers (one each for each calculator), but I haven't gotten a chance to try implementing anything with them yet.

you should. my budy and me were wanting a wireless link for IM sending during boring chemistry lectures ill check out that IR link though, sonds interesting...

uhh, why is this in TI-Basic?...

i asked if there was any programs (tibasic programs) out there for this kind of stuff but i got skewed off twards asking if theres a transmitter :/

That makes sense, but I'll probably request that a moderator (as opposed to a lazy uberadmin like myself) move this to the Calculator Mods and Hardware subforum. It would be nearly impossible to write any low-level drivers in TI-BASIC; they'd have to be in ASM. However, it would be possible for them to expose functionality to TI-BASIC programs.

well... i dont know crud about ASM except that when i need it, it works but ok i think ASM isnt that a faster kind of more effecient way to write and execute programs? wow i really am a newbie...

Since there isn't a "Calculator Mods and Hardware" section, I moved it to the "Calculator Hardware" section.

That's right, I forgot that I recently renamed it. Thanks, Merth.

The IR link is a cool project! I never built one though because it was a little vague. I didn't feel like breaking anything trial and error to try to do it. IR is so weak anyway, you still have to see the other person. And it's not that bad to just make ur own extra long link cable!

Excellent points all around. One of the thing that scares most beginners away from the IR link is that not only does it require components and either breadboarding or soldering, but also requires a PIC to be programmed.

that too! programmers suck for a beginner! they cost monies that the beginner doesn't have.

Quite so, and the complexity of buying both a chip and a programmer would discourage many people who would be willing to just go to their local Radioshack and spend $10 or $20 on parts.

when i got started, i wuz so cheap, i made my own programmer. it really only worked that one time. lots of reprogrammings before there was few enough errors for the program to function!

Is there something about being in school that's making everyone forget their grammar? *When *I *was *It *Lots

Congrats on that, though, that's quite impressive.

PICs are rather fiddly due to the requirement of a high voltage on the Vpp pin (~13V) to enter programming mode. The simple DIY programmers I've seen use the serial port (often around ~12V) but the actual voltage varies widely between computers and as such they can be quite unreliable. (Another win for AVRs there).

I did an AVR chip. It WAS (emphasis on spelling BECAUSE Kerm complained) on the serial port. that might have been the problem! I might add an external power source to make it work again!

AVR chips don't require a special voltage to enter programming mode. That said, simple bit-banging serial port programmers for the AVR are very slow; a parallel port programmer is significantly simpler and faster.

OK then. I'll probably buy one eventually. I wish I had one all the time. Take my tuner project for an example. Or any of the other multitudes of projects I've started.