Re: LZ: Shells


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Re: LZ: Shells



ariwsi@juno.com wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 03 Jun 1997 00:22:57 -0700 <kyrie@telepath.com> writes:
> 
> >>You've got some good ideas, but you're
> >> also forgetting the main method of transport for these programs--THE
> >> TI-85.  VERY few people have a GRAPHLINK
> >
> >Ummm... If they have no access to a link...what are they doing on
> >list-zshell??
> 
> It is quite true that few people have graphlinks.  The majority of
> List-ZShell subscribers may have them, but overall very few do.
> 
> At my school there are about 200-400 people who have ZShell games
> on their TI-85's, and only 3 have graph links!  The primary method
> of distribution of games/shells is definitely calculator to
> calculator.  The ability for a new shell to be customized on the
> computer is not terribly useful, because most people who get it
> will not have the chance to customize it themselves.
> 
> I don't really think that anything too fancy is needed in a shell.
> Version 2.1 of CShell-NT all that you need (except security).  If
> anything else is needed, it is library support as in Fargo.  This
> might save a lot of memory in some cases.  For example, three of my
> games have the exact same title screen and highscore management code,
> and two of them the same sprite-plotting code.  The code for library
> handling might turn out to take more space than it is likely to save,
> but it's worth a try..
> 
> OS-85 v2.0 shows just the "trouble" that can result from a non-standard
> shell.  Since OS-85 v2.0 does not recalculate checksums, using it will
> result in your programs having bad checksums if they modify themselves in
> any way.  It is widespread in my school because of this!  When someone
> with ZShell wants to get games from an OS-85 user, they find that they
> don't work because of the bad checksum.  The ZShell user has to get a
> backup from the OS-85 user in order for the games to work.  Then this
> person too goes around spreading OS-85 backups for the same reason!
> 
> Many of the ignorant users actually believe that this is a problem in
> ZShell, and that OS-85 is better because it runs the programs when ZShell
> 
> can't!  OS-85 v3.1, which actually has proper checksum handling (and can
> recalculate the checksums in programs that were trashed by the old OS-85)
> is not used at all!
how about having a ZShell replacement shell that will overwrite zshell
and still be able to be loaded and have ZShell compatibility? I have
already gotten that to work so once i am done with my shell all you will
have to do is to copy a string file to your calculator and run it.
If you have any questions about my loader feel free to email me at:
hivelord@ix.netcom.com (it is not pcomp@ntsource.com anymore).

Peter Cordes
email: hivelord@ix.netcom.com


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