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USB Peripherals for the 84+
Posted by Michael on 16 August 2005, 17:07 GMT

A few weeks ago, the ever-famous Dan Englender released a revolutionary new flash application called usb8x. Usb8x is a driver that interfaces with the On-the-Go USB port in the TI-84 Plus and TI-84 Plus Silver Edition. It is designed to be used by other programmers to create drivers for a variety of USB peripherals. Dan has included demos for a USB mouse, keyboard, and a loopback test for the USB Silverlink. Theoretically this means that drivers can be written to support nearly any USB device (so long as it consumes 100 mA or less of bus power). Usb8x will open up an entirely new world of possibilities for graphing calculators. Congratulations to Dan on an extremely impressive achievement!

You may be thinking that ticalc.org is awfully slow in reporting this news, but due to the recent news drought, I thought I would hold off on this article until it could be as amazing as possible: I have been working on a driver that runs on top of Dan's to allow USB flash drives to connect to the calculator. Yesterday I finished FAT16 reading support and so I now present a demo video (4.4 MB), exclusively available on ticalc.org, of a movie playing off my 1 GB Lexar JumpDrive. You may recognize the clip as part of The Matrix's infamous lobby scene. There is no dithering or grayscale, although both are probably possible. There is still much more work to be done before we have utilities and file explorer-type programs at a level where general users can use their USB drives.

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[ ! ]
anykey  Account Info
(Web Page)

*does his happy dance*
\o/ \o\ /o/ \o/
USB!
I STILL can't believe it!
This is probably one of the most monumental achievments we've seen in a while.
When MV was telling us on IRC what he was doing, I almost pissed myself.
OMFG
I still can't believe it!
I just hope it isn't too good to be true! :^)

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 02:37 GMT

Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
MusicMan.7KalcProductions Account Info

I just want to point out that the 100ma limit is with the current cable architecture. Usb has two data lines and two power lines. If you knew which ones were the power and you have the right circuitry, you could make it a full power usb bus. Scince this calc isnt meant to do this kind of thing, it may be that there are power limits on he incoming signal on the usb bus. You would have to talk to TI about this....

You could also (theoretically) run the cable from the calc to a plugin or battery powered USB hub, thereby eliminating the power limit, as the hub would supply as much power as the device wanted. Theoretically you could also use multiple devices, although I dont know how the software would handle this.

If you could use a battery powered hub, this would be the best possible arrangement, allowing multiple devices. This would allow a mouse/keyboard combo. Or other things..... Now i just have to become an electronics engineer and learn asm!! (j/k of course - this stuff is farly basic.... if you have experience (i dont))

Keep in mind that the only thing here that is FOR CERTAIN and NOT THEORETICAL is that you could supply more power than the 100ma.

So again: Power limit is based on cable architecture

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 12:56 GMT


Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
MusicMan.7KalcProductions Account Info

Also: My 84+SE is giving me a 'version' error when i try to run any of this... Can anyone help?
.07 doesnt work either....

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 13:01 GMT


Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Michael Vincent  Account Info
(Web Page)

You have to have OS 2.30 or higher.

Also, your other comment is kind of wrong but yet correct in this instance. Normally USB won't supply power at all if the device asks for more power than the bus is capable of. However, it seems that the TI-84 Plus attempts to provide too much power anyway and fails. That would let us provide more power by splicing into the cable.

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 14:30 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Ultra_64  Account Info

Did anyone say that somebody might make one for the TI-89 Titanium (HW3, AMS version 3.10)? I either overlooked at this discussion forum or... IDK. Anyway, how does this work? I mean, I do have a QuickiDrive (512 MB)... I wonder if I'm able to store stuff from my QuickiDrive to my calculator, provided that the TI-89 Titanium has a USB port?

On another unrelated topic, what do you call those usb port thingies that connects between 2 TI-89 Titaniums (not the one that we used to have the I/O port with the regular TI-89's)? I'm just wondering. Thanks!

P.S. Of course, I know this topic was merely for the TI-84+/SE, but seeing that the TI-89 Titanium also has the USB ports, I wonder how that program of yours would work? Again, thanks.

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 16:00 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Andy Janata  Account Info
(Web Page)

I suppose you could TRY to run the program on an 89T, but since it has a different processor and much different hardware, the results would be ... interesting.

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 17:17 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Nikky Southerland  Account Info
(Web Page)

Those USB ports on the calculators are called Mini-B.

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 17:29 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
ExtendeD Account Info

They are mini-AB receptacles actually.

About plugging USB devices on your Titanium, please wait, there is work in progress.

Reply to this comment    18 August 2005, 19:35 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info
(Web Page)

Horay!!! *breaks out the champagne*

Reply to this comment    19 August 2005, 18:36 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
MusicMan.7KalcProductions Account Info

Thanks!

Now I have a real reason to upgrade... (I'm running 2.22, had a problem with 2.30 initially...)

Would be great if TI would include docs on some of the rarer errors....

Reply to this comment    19 August 2005, 01:20 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Stan Janssen  Account Info

Yeah, my 84+ was really slow with 2.30, has anyone found a way of fixing that? Graphing and such was even slower than an 83+...

Stan

Reply to this comment    19 August 2005, 07:05 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
MusicMan.7KalcProductions Account Info

I dont care about SLOW, but I cant get it to talk to my compy!!!

At least, i cant transfer files...

I run connect 1.1 on mac osx 10.3.9 on an imac g4

would be nice to get an update from ti...

This is really... i cant say it... me off... Im working on a basic rpg called gods realm... and my movement code is buggy, so i want to rewrite it..... But i cant get it onto my computer!!

Reply to this comment    19 August 2005, 21:40 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Andy Janata  Account Info
(Web Page)

If the Mac version numbers correspond to the Windows version numbers, you need a newer version for it to work. If there's a 1.6 for Mac, go download it an install it.

Reply to this comment    20 August 2005, 15:20 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
MusicMan.7KalcProductions Account Info

Well, unless they released it since 2.3 came out (i checked that day) they haven't

/writes email to ti cust. service

Reply to this comment    20 August 2005, 18:12 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
CajunLuke  Account Info
(Web Page)

The Mac versions don't ususally match Windows, but there I have Mac version 1.6, but it is the dev. prev. for Tiger, so get the 1.5 version on the TI website.

Reply to this comment    21 August 2005, 01:51 GMT

Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info
(Web Page)

I have taken the liberty of creating an article about usb8x at Wikipedia. Edit away!

Reply to this comment    19 August 2005, 20:03 GMT

Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info
(Web Page)

*Link*

Reply to this comment    19 August 2005, 20:05 GMT


Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Andy Janata  Account Info
(Web Page)

Please see the article's talk page; I'm not sure if it warrants a Wikipedia article (yet).

Reply to this comment    20 August 2005, 15:21 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info
(Web Page)

As I state on the talk page, I really started the article so that others could consider it. If people don't think it is a bad idea, then by all means, delete it.

Reply to this comment    22 August 2005, 04:12 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info
(Web Page)

*good idea

that was a bad typo...

Reply to this comment    22 August 2005, 04:13 GMT


Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
frenchman113 Account Info
(Web Page)

I just listed this for deletion :^)

Reply to this comment    21 August 2005, 00:50 GMT


Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Andy Janata  Account Info
(Web Page)

Just wondering, why did you list ticalc.org's article on VfD some months ago? It's clearly not a programming organization, just a repository of data. It is very clearly the kind of thing that warrants an article on wikipedia.

Reply to this comment    21 August 2005, 01:53 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
frenchman113 Account Info
(Web Page)

Well... If it didn't deserve to be deleted, you could put up a request for undeletion. However, I remember a unanimous decision to delete so...

Reply to this comment    21 August 2005, 12:33 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Andy Janata  Account Info
(Web Page)

URL above. 3 delete, 1 keep, 1 nonvoting.

It should be pointed out that at Wikipedia talk:Deletion policy#Notability not a criterion for deletion.3F, it is said (in way to many words) that notability is NOT a criterion for deletion (hence the page name and heading...), but also that "Currently, in VfD a sockpuppet vote is invalid, but a real vote citing bad reasons or no reasons is valid."

Anyway, some of the other things stated, such as "Unofficial calculator programming organization." and "Calculator programming organizations", are also incorrect -- last I checked, ticalc.org doesn't pump out their own programs. You could apply that reasoning to MaxCoderz, UTI, Cemetech, and the like, but I can't see it applying to ticalc.org.

However, I did go over the undeletion policy, and it doesn't really look like we can get it back. I'm half-tempted to start it over; perhaps I'll be bold.

For a discussion of this I had with other people on IRC #calcgames, see http://andysoft.ath.cx:2080/ ~andy/logs/calcgames/ calcgames.082005.txt at time index 21:27:45.

Also, we did figure out your identity. If you're trying to hide, you shouldn't put your URL in your comments.

Reply to this comment    21 August 2005, 14:29 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Andy Janata  Account Info
(Web Page)

Rather, 4 delete. Didn't see the one without a bullet in front the first time.

Reply to this comment    21 August 2005, 14:30 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
Lewk Of Serthic  Account Info
(Web Page)

I do feel that ticalc.org is worthy of an article. It has been a major part of the ti-community for many years, and has even been recognized be TI (no doubt a feat in itself).

Reply to this comment    22 August 2005, 04:19 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USB Peripherals for the 84+
frenchman113 Account Info
(Web Page)

Um, I'm not Mike Morrison

Reply to this comment    30 August 2005, 00:20 GMT

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