Author Topic: A new project for TI calculators on Linux  (Read 5537 times)

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Offline lxman

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A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« on: May 01, 2010, 06:26:36 am »
Hi all,

I am a dedicated linux user and entering school now I am required to have a TI.  So I went out and bought a Titanium.  I have been through and downloaded and installed the different versions of TI stuff that I could find for linux and I find the present support for linux to be a bit out of date.

Therefore, I have started a new project with the objective to code some simple command line utilities to work with my calculator.  By leaving out all of the GUI stuff (KDE, etc.) it should make the utilities usable for a greater length of time with less maintenance.

I am currently able to do a directory listing, take a screenshot and get the device information listing.  This has been coded specifically for my Titanium over the USB link and it works.

Source and compiled binaries (for a 2.6 kernel and libusb-1.0) are at http://calcutils.tuxfamily.org

Take a look if you like.  There is a link for an email to provide feedback as well.

Offline mapar007

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2010, 08:28:27 am »
Good idea, but I think tilp is still pretty up to date, though, so I don't see why you said that. Anyway, it's always good to learn new stuff through coding, so there's a +1.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2010, 11:32:27 am »
Hi and welcome here :)

Seems interesting. Keep in mind that TiLP is still updated regulary now, though, since it was taken over by other people. However, I guess your project might be useful in case TiLP would ever stop getting updated again and for people who prefer command-line-based stuff rather than GUI stuff

Offline lxman

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2010, 12:59:03 pm »
That's the idea.  Hopefully Lionel, Kevin and team will be able to get TILP, TIEMU and the rest up to snuff on the linux side.  The trouble with linux though is its lack of control in some respects.  KDE can decide to change their entire GUI basis tomorrow and anything that you designed based on the KDE libraries is now shot to pieces.

Of course the same happens with M$ and the rest, but linux sometimes does it more abruptly, it seems.  So by leaving the extra crap out, I'm shooting for something which will be a little bit more constant in terms of long-term usability.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2010, 04:10:52 pm »
Well for Kevin it would be up to him to decide if his version of TiLP goes this way, cuz he decided to go alone for development. I think Lionel and TheStorm has more chances to cooperate in such software dev. Kevin did not want to cooperate so when the original TiLP author retired, the community ended up with two TiLP projects, one called CalcForgeLP. I wish when they released new OSes that they kept backwards compatibility in mind. A lot of my games from the late '90s works perfectly on Windows 7 64 bits, but I had an hard time with Warcraft III installer, TI-Connect and TI-Nspire Link software (until the patches). I didn,t realise on Linux the same thing happened x.x

Offline lxman

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2010, 04:28:58 pm »
Yeah, with anything, the more complex you make it, the more likely it is to break.

That's why my idea is to stay simple.  Wish you the best.

Offline bwang

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2010, 07:16:52 pm »
I like the idea of some lightweight, command-line link software. Keep up the good work :)
Is Nspire support planned?

Offline lxman

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #7 on: May 02, 2010, 03:41:48 am »
Well, at this point all I have is a Titanium to play with, so that's all that works.

No promises for the future either way.   ;D

Offline Galandros

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #8 on: May 02, 2010, 04:49:19 am »
Well thought.

The README is well written and for Linux users that know how to deal command line there is nothing much to say.
I would only include the supported calculators in the documentation of the packages for now. Too bad there is no 83+ calculator supported.

Will be any utility to send and receive files?
I suggest that for sending, you put the files you want to send in a folder and call the program from command line or bash script.
And for receiving have options to receive all variables of a certain types (normally we will use programs, apps, appsvars and pics though)

For single and certain files receive/sending I would do my bash script but would be nice to provide some examples in the documentation.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2010, 04:50:19 am by Galandros »
Hobbing in calculator projects.

Offline lxman

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Re: A new project for TI calculators on Linux
« Reply #9 on: May 02, 2010, 04:57:09 am »
Yes, sending and receiving files is my current project.  Hopefully I will have that up in a week or two.

The support for other calculators might come when I get hold of some other models to play with.  I'm glancing over a few ebay ads as I have the time.