ticalc.org
Basics Archives Community Services Programming
Hardware Help About Search Your Account
   Home :: Archives :: News :: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03

Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Posted by Nick on 10 December 1999, 01:10 GMT

AMS v2.03I found that TI released AMS 2.03, wrote a small blurb on ticalc.org as all of you have probably noticed, and then went to download the software. I snagged the whole thing in about 30 seconds on my ISDN line (at 14.6K/s).
The .exe file downloaded, I ran it and saw the WinZip installer we all know and love. I found it interesting that TI didn't put this in an auto-installing .exe, but a file with extension .89u that my TI-Graph Link software didn't support.
So, after I had installed the graph link software (v0.23), things worked fine. I upgraded the calc and it loaded surprisingly faster than when I experimented with version 2.01 of the AMS.
Now's where it gets fun.
My calculator was one of the first TI-89's produced, so naturally I have hardware version 1.00. I typed getConfg() at the home screen (My first command, yipee) and I noticed that TI has still not fixed the problem with the free archive RAM. Go to Zephyr Productions for more info about that one. I don't think this is fixable on calcs with HW v1.00, but TI hasn't said otherwise.
Running an ASM program caused an address error - as expected - and I had to pull out the lithium battery. This is a Bad Thing(TM). I'm guessing that the grayscale problems still exist as well.
Now for the intended features. I went to CATALOG and noticed the help menu. Expecting a short blurb a'la the TI-89 manual under each function, TI decided to instead repeat the exact same thing that shows up in the status bar when you move to select a function.
The user-defined functions in CATALOG are very nice. I like those. That's one of the better features I saw.
The serial number for the calculator is displayed in a much larger font (above). I thought that warranted a mention... but I don't see the reason why they did it, aside from clarity.
Some stuff in VAR-LINK that I thought interesting were the collapsible menus, the flash application management, and the contents of the folders you could get by pressing F6. Aside from that, no big deal to be made there.
Whether or not there's a limit on assembly programs remains a mystery to me. Anyone who would like to perform tests (with screenshots, please *g*) please email me as soon as possible.
Finally, there's language localization programs released by TI, supporting French, Italian, Spanish, German and Portugese. For more info, click here. Once again, click here to download AMS v2.03 for the 89.

 


The comments below are written by ticalc.org visitors. Their views are not necessarily those of ticalc.org, and ticalc.org takes no responsibility for their content.


Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Tran  Account Info

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
only problem is, i've been messing around with ams2.01 for a long time, and this is nothing new. not only that, asm still doesn't work.

well, at least, since this is an official release and not a leaked beta, programmers should be updating their asm programs soon to work with it

i don't know how long i can survive without games...

     10 December 1999, 02:44 GMT

Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Charles Yong  Account Info

"Update" their programs? Kinda hard, my friend recently programmed a 2d Duke-Nukem like game for the TI-89 (grayscale and all) but it's 37k, and worthless with the new 89's coming out.

"Updating" a program to ams v2.03 is harder than thought since the whole darn thing was practically rewritten. Yet another issue my friend is yet to solve is the stupid 8k limit. He was already getting tired of programming the same game for a year without that limit, but doing it again to break it up into separate files will be annoying. He says there should be a way to get around that barrier, but all he can think of is splitting up the files.

As for the games, hopefully you're happy with tetris and phoenix (working with that new 2.0x kernel) because that's about all we have for the time being.

Anybody have some info on that new kernel working with v2.03?

-Trailblazer

     10 December 1999, 02:51 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Phil Romagni  Account Info

So let me get this straight, not only was the new hardware incompatible with greyscale, but now the new AMS version is incompatible with ASM programs all together?? How long will it take for this to be fixed??
Is it possible to downgrade back to 2.01? Will the ti-89 problems never end??????????????

     10 December 1999, 03:25 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Reno  Account Info

doesn't this problem affect all 68k calcs? most people seem to exclude that calculator (computer?) known as the 92/92+

     10 December 1999, 03:32 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

Yes, the same thing is true for the TI-92 Plus. ticalc.org, and most other people, seem to ignore the TI-92 Plus since its huge, expensive, and most people don't own them. This does not affect the TI-92 since it does not have Flash ROM.

     10 December 1999, 03:56 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Nick Chaves  Account Info
(Web Page)

Doesn't 92+ have flash ROM?

     10 December 1999, 07:28 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

Yes it does, and the TI-92 does not. The TI-89 and TI-92 Plus are virtually identical.

     10 December 1999, 08:18 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Nick Chaves  Account Info
(Web Page)

Sorry, I didn't read your comment right.

     12 December 1999, 02:17 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Charles Yong  Account Info

<SARCASM>Isn't it comforting to know that TI is blatantly trying to sabotage our programming efforts? It's wonderful to see them destroy grayscale (although that "might" have been just an accident) in HW v2.00 although the complete incompatibility with asm games is an obvious action that they could have easily fixed</SARCASM>

-Trailblazer

     10 December 1999, 03:34 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

You can downgrade a HW1 calculator to 1.00 and a HW2 calculator to 1.05. I don't know why you would want to go back to 2.01 from 2.03, they are both incompatible with most, if not all, current assembly programs.

     10 December 1999, 03:55 GMT

Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Priceb Account Info
(Web Page)

<Sarcasm>
BASIC Games still work
</Sarcasm>

I e-mailed ti and was told that the sdk will be available the first quarter of the year 2000.
Until then it looks like we will have to settle for what we have.

     10 December 1999, 03:44 GMT


Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
AuroraBoriales  Account Info

Well, it seems like us ASM programmers have just been suckling at TI's teeth for a long time. We found loopholes to make our programs work such as kernels, shells, etc.. But the final truth is, TI IS in command here, and their new assult aginst ASM is merciless...

     11 December 1999, 05:01 GMT

Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Tran  Account Info

wow, ticalc.org actually mentioned the unofficial ams2.01 on the front page- for a while now it seemed they were avoiding the topic. messages about it were deleted, and it wasn't mentioned as a news topic (like dim ti)

     10 December 1999, 02:54 GMT


Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

Technically, they did _not_ mention AMS 2.01 on the front page. Notice Nick's huge paragraph is only shown on this page, not the front page.

     10 December 1999, 03:21 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Nick Disabato  Account Info
(Web Page)

Uh, yes we did mention it on the front page - note the second update. And you posted that comment well after I updated the news item, so you should have seen that.

--BlueCalx

     10 December 1999, 03:33 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

Sorry, you assume I reload the front page every 5 minutes, which I don't. That would be a stupid thing to do.

     10 December 1999, 03:51 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
ikecam  Account Info

Next time, before you attack ticalc for not putting something on the front page, LOAD THE FREAKIN' FRONT PAGE. It's not their fault that you have an ancient copy of the index in chache.

     10 December 1999, 06:05 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

Note that Nick did not put the time that he posted those "updates". And I did not attack ticalc.org.

     10 December 1999, 08:21 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
fatman  Account Info
(Web Page)

Hehehe, I like how bryan here is very negative to everyone. Bryan, I still think you should be on ticalc.org. Anyway, onto the subject, I don't think TI is trying to sabotage programming. It doesn't make sense. The best people to make their flash updates would be those who understand it. Kirk Meyer understands the TI-86 quite well and could probably help TI in some way with another calculator. I think that this is all just an overlooked mistake. If they were trying to sabotage the TI programming, they would have done it long ago; they wouldn't actually have programs on their web site.

Dan

     10 December 1999, 06:26 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

I must disagree, I don't think my comment was that negative.

TI isn't trying to sabotage calculator programming, they just want to get a piece of the action. They don't like it that every calculator they make, we turn around and "crack" it. They also want to make some money off these well-made programs. They probably think they can sell some of this stuff.

     10 December 1999, 08:24 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Munkies  Account Info

does anyone beside me think selling ASM games would kill the <PUN>industry</PUN>.
I know I wouldn't pay more than a cent online for a game, yes they are good (some bery good), but unless I could pay the programmer in person (which is next to impossible), I wouldn't... No one has seemed to mind making games for us for free, in thier "spare" time, in the past. I would, but I seem to be having trouble finding the "spare" time to learn 68k. Go figure!

     12 December 1999, 02:08 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Tran  Account Info

i meant that little blurb that nick just added- the one about the unofficial 2.01 and ti-fr's kernel. it seemed to me that before they were trying to avoid that topic because people complained it was an illegal release.

     10 December 1999, 03:35 GMT

Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Nick Disabato  Account Info
(Web Page)

Not that it was illegal (it probably was) - I didn't want it mentioned because it wasn't an official release by TI. You didn't know what they were going to finally release to the public.
Now we do. :)

--BlueCalx

     10 December 1999, 03:43 GMT


Re: Re: Re: Re: Texas Instruments Releases AMS v2.03
Bryan Rabeler  Account Info
(Web Page)

Or maybe because TI complained.. :)

Anyway, I didn't see that little blurb Nick added because I don't reload the front page every 5 minutes.

     10 December 1999, 03:52 GMT

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  

You can change the number of comments per page in Account Preferences.

  Copyright © 1996-2012, the ticalc.org project. All rights reserved. | Contact Us | Disclaimer