Re: TI-H: Expander drivers...


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Re: TI-H: Expander drivers...




The smaller program would be on a separate piece of paper you can keep 
in your bag or somewhere. All I'll do to make that is remove the user 
input, mem check, send routines, and user interface - ie just have the 
receive routines retrieve a file named I2CExp from the expander or 
something.

The point of making it as small as possible is just to allow the people 
that want to use it but don't have access to a computer/ti-link can type 
in the shorter version ang have the calc download only the regular 
driver.

I could just release the code for the regular driver but that has lots 
of extra stuff. It would save time to just type the shorter version and 
use it to download the regular version (it's probably not gonna be that 
short, but it should be alot shorter than the regular drivers)

I wanted to build a driverless expander, but it would become alot more 
complicated than what I have now (current hardware is just 2 resistors, 
your I2C EEPROM, and a 5V power supply), and I don't know how to yet. I 
think I'll leave that to the more experienced expander builders...


Muhammed


>I'm curious, how would a smaller program to load the driver be of any 
>use? Chances are, if you lost your main driver, it was through a crash. 
>Then everything would be gone. I would recomend a microcontroler 
>programmed with an internam hardware driver that recognizes TI 
protocol. 
>It should recognize the sequence of data when the TI-BASIC program 
>"EXPANDER" is send via the standard link screen. You could type 
expander 
>commands like Get, Send, Delete, Wipe, and DIR. It wouldn't matter what 
>chips you used, as long as you had a powerful microcontroler. You would 
>simply create a blank TI-BASIC document and then the first line would 
be 
>a command and the second line would be an argument, such as a file 
name. 
>You could type DIR and it would send the data to start a TI-BASIC file 
>named DIR and place each file on the expander as a new line on the 
>program, giving you a list of all the programs. You simply send the 
>EXPANDER program, switch the calc to recieve mode, and press a button 
on 
>the expander. You could probably just send files to the expander. Maybe 
>you could even have backups stored. It would just store the data 
exactly 
>as it recieves it. to send it back, you would create the TI-BASIC 
>program EXPANDER and type get and then backup. you'd send the expander 
>the TI-BASIC Program. You could then set the calc to recieve and just 
>hit the expander's send button to start sending the backup. Hit 
continue 
>on the calc and you have a memory backup. You wouldn't even realy need 
a 
>driver at all on the calc! you could create an ASM driver that would be 
>on the expander so you can recieve it with the TI-BASIC comand file 
>after you recieve a backup. This would be an AWESOME expander. You 
could 
>use under 100 bytes for the calculator driver, since it is only a 2 
Line 
>TI-BASIC program file. The DIR program file the expander sends could 
>always be deleted. Imagine though! other ASM drivers have been as much 
>as 4K! imaging saving 3.9 K!
>
>I really urge anyone with the skills for such a project to do it. If 
>anyone has ever created a link program for the PC, they might be a good 
>source of information or even might beable to do the hardware driver. 
>This would be the best expander EVER because it would support backups 
>and not even require a driver to opperate!
>
>Richard Piotter
>
>richfiles1@hotmail.com
>
>
>
>>
>>
>>I'm building an I2C Expander for the TI-86 (maybe for the 85 soon 
>after, 
>>but the 86 first). It will use I2C compatible chips ranging from 16K 
to 
>>256K (up to 32KB. It can also be directly connected to a computer the 
>>the parallel port (does not require parallel link).
>>
>>I have completed the hardware and the computer link part. All that is 
>>left now is to make a good user interface for the computer, and write 
>>the calc interface software.
>>
>>I think I should have 2 versions: the normal one, and a very tiny one 
>>that just loads the complete driver off the Expander in case the 
driver 
>>is accidentaly erased from the calc. (maybe it won't be too short, but 
>>if you're stuck in school for the next few hours you could do that in 
>>between classes - better than waiting till you get home!)
>>
>>
>>Muhammed
>>
>>
>>>Ok, there seem to be a lot of projects that come and go very quickly.
>>>BEcause of this, it has been very hard for me (anyone else?) to keep 
>>track
>>>of what people are currently working on. So, could everyone please 
>post 
>>a
>>>list of projects that THEY (themselves) are currently working on. I'm 
>>trying
>>>to avoid flooding the list with this, so please if you know someone 
>who 
>>is
>>>working on something, and they're already on the list, let them tell 
>us
>>>about it. Don't take the liberty of doing it yourself. This way, we 
>can
>>>avoid a lot of duplicate posts.
>>>
>>>Thanks.
>>>
>>>- Jon Olson
>>>
>>>
>>>


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