Author Topic: Everyone Should Use Calcsys  (Read 8597 times)

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Offline LincolnB

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Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« on: July 19, 2011, 03:59:53 pm »
Okay, the title is a little presumptuous. However, in my programming experience Calcsys (search for it on ticalc.org if you don't know what it is) is a wonderful application that really made me realize how the calculator works on a very basic level. I especially like to mess around in the VAT and the Disassembler. Those two, plus the Console, and it's staying on my calculator forever. It's probably the last thing I'd delete (except for probably Axe) if I absolutely needed the space.

So yeah.  ;D How often do you guys use Calcsys, and what are you opinions on the program?
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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #1 on: July 19, 2011, 04:01:56 pm »
I use it all the time.  Good for changing the type of format data in the VAT is treated, for seeing the exact disassembly of my Axe programs so I can try to spot optimizations and tricks, and many other things.  It is horribly outdated, but for now it's the best of it's kind.

Offline AngelFish

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #2 on: July 19, 2011, 04:04:23 pm »
Personally, I never use it unless I'm monitoring line states in the serial port. The hex editor isn't fast enough compared to PC ones and it doesn't really offer any features that I use regularly.

PS: I wrote my own hex editor that's a heck of a lot faster than calcsys' in Axe. I generally use that if I need something on-calc.
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SirCmpwn

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #3 on: July 19, 2011, 04:04:49 pm »
I have a small list of things that every programmer's calculator should have on it no matter what: CalcUtil and CalcSys.

Offline LincolnB

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2011, 04:11:05 pm »
I used to love CalcUtil....I kept my programs in archive, all the time. But once, when quitting out of an archived program, my calculator crashed and my RAM cleared and I lost my most important project at the time. I agree, though, that it is a pretty awesome utility.
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Offline Eeems

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #5 on: July 19, 2011, 04:13:18 pm »
PS: I wrote my own hex editor that's a heck of a lot faster than calcsys' in Axe. I generally use that if I need something on-calc.
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Offline Juju

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #6 on: July 19, 2011, 04:22:23 pm »
PS: I wrote my own hex editor that's a heck of a lot faster than calcsys' in Axe. I generally use that if I need something on-calc.
Same, I wrote one in Axe which is kinda better than CalcSys, might share it one time.

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #7 on: July 19, 2011, 04:23:23 pm »
Funnily enough, so have I :)
It seems everyone writes their own hex editors, sprite editors, and base converters.

Offline JosJuice

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #8 on: July 19, 2011, 04:25:12 pm »
Funnily enough, so have I :)
It seems everyone writes their own hex editors, sprite editors, and base converters.
And quadratic solvers, of course.

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2011, 04:53:25 pm »
I don't use CalcSys a lot, but it will always remain on my calc: I use it often when testing strange things in the calc community or when messing with the VAT.  Plus it's calc-community-wide understood and used.

Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2011, 07:20:23 pm »
Calcsys is incredibly helpful if you ever accidentally your archive.
PS: I wrote my own hex editor that's a heck of a lot faster than calcsys' in Axe. I generally use that if I need something on-calc.
Same, I wrote one in Axe which is kinda better than CalcSys, might share it one time.
Ditto that (look for Calcley).




Offline thepenguin77

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #11 on: July 20, 2011, 09:46:28 am »
Now that the surge is over, let me explain just how useful Calcsys is to me.

I use calcsys pretty much every day. Here is what I have used it for:
  • Sending link high/low
  • Discovering the LCD mirror ports
  • Discovering that port 15 exists
  • Discovering that protected ports don't require the special sequence
  • Finding out what different LCD commands do
  • Playing around with the timers
  • Unlocking flash (I've done it)
  • Discovering ports 25/26 (i.e. the ones that allow you to access all ram)
  • Figuring out how to setup the usb driver as host
  • Discovering how to toggle individual lines in usb
  • Finding the address of bcalls
  • Checking memory locations for data
  • Searching for specific memory sequences
  • Scoping out an area before an OS mod
  • Checking to make sure the OS mod worked
  • Checking to see if my boot mod worked
  • Testing out opcode sequences (before @z80)
  • Discovering I only had 48KB of ram
  • Reading information that I wrote to ram when I modded my boot code
  • Learning how the certificate works
  • Looking at the certificate at any time
  • Protecting/Unprotecting programs
  • Changing a program type
  • Renaming a program
  • Viewing a program data
  • Finding out what pages apps are on
  • Viewing app headers
  • Viewing OS headers
  • Viewing OS signature


So yeah, I use Calcsys a lot, so much that I have it saved into every single one of my savestates on WabbitEmu. Sometimes, it's just easier to use than the calcsys debugger.
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Offline Broseph Radson

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #12 on: July 20, 2011, 10:26:49 am »
Calcsys is definitely a great tool. I think it was one of the first apps on my 84 besides mirage, of course.

Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #13 on: July 20, 2011, 05:38:21 pm »
Lol I think the first app everyone downloads is a shell of some sort.




Offline Darl181

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Re: Everyone Should Use Calcsys
« Reply #14 on: July 20, 2011, 05:40:53 pm »
Hm I remember not finding mirage for a while, first thing I found was Ion (a group) :P

I don't use calcsys too often, but have calcsys nonetheless for the times when I might happen to need it :)
« Last Edit: July 20, 2011, 05:41:05 pm by Darl181 »
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