TI - 83 BASIC SCHOOL OS

Welcome to what will hopefully be your best friend in high school... 
an operating system (if I can even call it that) that launches several
math and science related applications, provides chat capabilities and
has many other useful tools.

ABOUT THE PROGRAMMER

My name is Chris an I'm actually new to the world of programming.  I
learned a bit of BASIC in grade 9 but pretty much taught myself the
TI - Calc language.  As you can probably guess, my programs are nothing
special but I've spent a lot of time on them and I think that their still
pretty damn useful even without all the bells and whistles.  I'm 18 as of this
profile and have just graduated from high school.  I'm going into engineering
in hopes of doing something in the aerospace industry.  Now that you've heard
all the boring crap about me lets get to the slightly less boring stuff.

CONTENTS IN BRIEF

This package contains 25 programs (i think) and all but one of your pic slots will be filled.  If you put this os on your
calc, don't expect to put anything else on cuz there won't be space!

BINEX - A math program for pascal's triangle problems
BULLET - A physics program for projectile motion
COMM1 - A chat terminal
COMM2 - A chat terminal
FORMAT - A settings fixer upper used by other programs
GRAPH - A shell for graphing related programs
GRAV - A physics program about gravitation and orbital mechanics
LIGHT - A physics program on electromagnetic radiation
LIVE - A shell for the chat utilities
LOG - An exponent/logarithm related program
LORE - A physics program on relativity
MENU - The OS...a shell that runs pretty much everything
NTGRTN - A math program for integration (Calculus)
QQQ - A part of a screen saver (I know, I know...)
QUAD - A math program which solves quadratic equations
RAND - A screen saver
SYSTEM - A math program which solves double and triple systems of linear equations
TBOUT2 - Turbo Breakout (This is not my program! I didn't make it and am not taking credit for it!)
TETRIS - Tetris (Again...not one of my programs! Due credit goes to the maker of ZTETRIS!)
TIME - A stopwatch!  (May come in usefull)
TRIG - Soves the sine law
TRIG2 - Solves the cosine law
TRIG0 - A shell for the trig programs
VECTOR - A math program about vectors and related stuff
ZASMLOAD - A program required to run tbout and tetris (I didn't make this one either.  Credit goes to the maker of ZASMLOAD)

note:  I felt the games were a necessary part of the OS and essentially of a student's life.  All the same, I didn't make
the included games and don't want to be accused of ripping off someone's hard work.  TETRIS, TBOUT2 and ZASMLOAD are not mine.


Several programs require the included pics to run and will screw up if you remove them.  Just letting you know.  You 
do still have one slot free though.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS:

Keep in mind that my programs are pretty raw cuz I aint that good but they can be very helpfull

BINEX:  This is a pretty crappy program that provides some information about a particular row of pascal's triangle.  It comes
in handy on certain occasions but is not overly usefull.

BULLET:  A wicked program in my opinion.  It tells you everything you need to know about launching something.  All fields must
be filled in but of the three fields, LAUNCH ANGLE, RANGE TO TARGET and INITIAL VELOCITY, one field must be filled in
as 0 (0 represents unknown in my programs).  The other fields, while they are not always relevent to the problem
at hand must be filled in (with crap if you wish...it won't affect the other answers you're looking for).  The graphs
at the end give you a height vs. time graph for the launched object or a range vs. height graph.  You can use TRACE
on both to gain valuable info on the projectile.

COMM1:  This is the TERMINAL A for the chat utility in my OS.  I got excited when I finished this one.  It's no ICQ 
but its pretty cool and works damn well.  The person who wants to talk first runs this program.  He can then type
up to one complete line of text and send it to the other person via cable, who can then send text back.  The other
person must be running their respective program before the uplink can be established and text can be transferred.
This is cool for use during tests or quiet study periods.

COMM2:  Same as COMM1 but is TERMINAL B and starts out in wait mode.  Two chatters must be using opposite terminals
for the chat to work.

FORMAT:  This program is not for public use but simply restores default settings so that my programs can work even 
after you've been screwing around with your calc for hours.

GRAPH:  This is a little menu which lets you choose graphing related applications.

GRAV:  This program deals with gravitation, Keplar's laws, etc.  For each section of the program (there are a few)
you must enter an unknown (0) for only one field.  If prompted to skip forward to another part of the program
remember to use the alpha key and type either YES or NO.

LIGHT:  This program has a neat little chart of frequencies for all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum but 
it also lets you compute things like wavelength, frequency, photon energy, etc.  For this program, only fill in one
field.  Make all other fields 0.

LIVE:  A shell that runs the TERMINAL A and TERMINAL B for chat purposes.

LOG:  Leave only one field as 0.  This small program can find the exponent, base or answer of something in the form


BASE^EXPONENT=ANSWER

Not much for problem solving but comes in handy for quich computation.

LORE:  Another wicked program all about special relativity.  There are many sections to this program and each requires you to
leave only one field blank, unless there is only one field to fill in but use your common sense.  The problem should
indicate how much information you don't know and after a few tries you'll get the hang of it.

MENU:  For newbies or calculator clutzes, you will need this.  Simple baby instructions:  press PRGM, select MENU,
press ENTER twice, follow onscreen instructions.  This program is my meek attempt to make a graphical interface to 
access all other programs.  To tell you the truth, you don't need it.  All my programs are stand alone so you can
run them directly but the menu is easy and the cheap animations are kind of amusing so use your own discretion.
If your writing a test and are in a rush I DON'T SUGGEST YOU USE THIS.  You'll be wasting precious time.  Still its
kind of cool.

NTGRTN:  This program finds the area between two curves or under one curve.  All fields must be filled in.  This program
may have a few bugs in terms of the graphic display at the end but don't worry, the textual information it gives you
should be accurate.  Every time I've used it it has worked.

QQQ:  This is part of a screen saver I made for the calc.  Don't run it cuz it won't work on its own.

QUAD:  Very simple but VERY usefull I've found.  It finds the roots of a quadratic equation and displays the graph
for you.  Vital for grade 9 and 10.

RAND:  I don't want to hear your criticism on making a screensaver for a calculator.  I know its totally useless.
The only reason I made it was because I was bored and wanted to challenge myself.  The screensaver's based on random
arrangements of dots.  This dot animation, while random, has several different patterns and some of the ones at the
end make pretty designs.  Press the ON key to exit at any time.

SYSTEM:  I spent three fuckin days figuring out the formula to solve a triple system of linear equations and if you
don't believe me, go to the edit screen for the program and scroll down till you see a shit load of letters and
operation signs.  Deriving this one was a real bitch but it works will.  This program finds x and y for double systems
and finds x, y, and z for triple systems...you know..the ones that look like this AX+BY+CZ+D=0...

TBOUT 2: This is Turbo Breakout 2.  I didn't make it but thought it would be appropriate to include.  Its a great
game for a school setting so I just want to thank the guy who made it.

TETRIS:  Another appropriate addition to my OS.  I didn't make this either but its cool and many students find it
a popular classic.

TIME:  This is a stopwatch.  It is very accurate losing +- a second for every 5 min or so.  I have a feeling that the
battery strength and the CPU runtime have something to do with the timekeeping.  In that case this program may be 
useless to you.  But check it anyway against your own watch to see if its good.  For you advanced users (who probably
can make a way better stopwatch anyway) you can edit my program to restore the timekeeping.  Find the loop command
where I add a decimal to a variable after each loop. You can fiddle with the decimal to speed up or slow down the
stopwatch.

TRIG:  Only one field must be marked 0 and it has to be one of the first two fields.  This program then finds missing
angles or lengths of a triangle using the sine law.  Pay close attention to the diagram at the beginning.

TRIG2:  Leave only one field as a 0.  This program finds a missing angle or a missing length of a triangle using 
the cosine law.

TRIG0:  This is a small menu that launches either of the trig related programs.

VECTOR:  A very usefull program, it tells you virtually everything about vectors, their resultant and more.  Fill in all
fields for this one.  If you're given data is unrefined you can still enter it.  Example:  Where it says VEC. 1 X COMPONENT
you normally would put an integer like 6 but you can also put 7cos15 or something like that and the program will 
figure out what that is and store it just like an integer.

ZASMLOAD:  This, I didn't make.  It is used to run TETRIS and TBOUT.  Best to just leave it alone.


A WORD ABOUT MEMORY

Your calc will be completely filled when you install my programs with the exception of about 3 kilobytes.  Any less 
than this and certain programs will stop working because they don't have enough RAM to run.  You will have to do 
some house cleaning occasionally.  After using a lot of programs, go to your memory manager screen.  You will see 
lots of variables (letters) and strings at the bottom.  There might also be some lists labelled L1, L2, etc.
Only delete these items, not the programs.  When in doubt, start from the bottom and keep deleting till you see a
file with more than a couple of letters.  Memory should not be an issue but may be if you put anything else on your
calc.

KNOWN PROBLEMS

All programs are written in BASIC and so I would assume they would work across all platforms but I know that the games
and the chat utilities don't function on other platforms.  Most of my OS is very compatable but again, I can't promise
that everything will work on all calc models.  Don't run programs when a cable is plugged into the calc.  It messes 
up the timing of all the animated stuff.  Only use the link for the chat programs.

IN CLOSING

My TI operating system should be a valuable asset for you high school students and should prove reliable but if you
have any problems, mail me at esrevinu30@hotmail.com and I'll try my best to work it out.  You can also send your
opinions and comments to this address.  I'd like to hear how successfull of a programmer I actually turned out to be.
Good luck with all your school stuff and I hope you find my programs usefull.