| Author | Comment |
djgustashaw
Probe
Posted: 18 Aug 2003
17:45 GMT
Total Posts: 14 | please, help a n00b.
i recently got a TI-83+ SE for ap calculus... i know that a TI-89 would have been more helpful for calc, but i don't think i need to get into any bad habits of letting my calc do everything for me :)
anyway, i'm completley new to putting games and such on my calc. i've already put a few on. when i go to my memory manager, it says RAM FREE 22030 and ARC FREE 1086K. why are there two different readings for how much memory is free? are calculators just like computers in that they purge their ram every time they're turned off? if that's the case, then is ARC the memory that is saved even when its turned off, like apps and games?
also, what does ARC stand for? and what is the amount of RAM measured in? it doesnt have a unit after it like the ARC does.
one last question. on the box, TI seems to hype up the fact that the 83 SE has 1.5 MB of flash memory. but it also has a crapload of pre-installed apps, many that i have no use for. so does this thing have 1.5 megs free even with all these apps installed, or is the actual number that is available lower than advertised?
sorry for all the questions, thanks in advance for any help!
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zkostik
Carrier
Posted: 18 Aug 2003
18:19 GMT
Total Posts: 2486 | Hey djgustashaw,
First of all, welcome to the site!
Okay, RAM is the memory your calc uses for temporary storage of program data when they run as well as for file storage. Archive or flash is a protected memory and can only be used to store files in. Archive also retains data even when batteries are taken out (nonvolatile memory).
Alight to make things simple think of RAM as computer RAM and Archive as harddrive but calc RAM does not get cleared when you turn your calc off. You'll want to put your files into archive so that they don't get lost when calc crashes or batteries go out and to free more RAM because some games/programs may demand a lot of it.
On TI-83+ SE you have only 25kilobytes of RAM and 1.5megabytes of archive. This is a lot of memory considering most games/programs only take 5-10kilobytes. You calc shows memory in bytes when its less than 100kilobytes or can fit within 5 symbols if i remember right.
Yes, there's a bunch of preloaded apps which take a lot of space and most of those are for beginning math classes. 1.5M of space is your total storage, but to get all 1.5M you'll need to delete these apps. I'd keep them because you probably will never need this much mem unless you wanna take all the games with you! :)
FYI: apps on TI-83+/SE have are put into fixed app spaces of 16K each. So, even any app will take AT LEAST 16K of your archive memory. Usually you can find regular programs with same functionality as many apps you have and they'll take much less memory.
OK, that was a long essay. I hope this was useful and feel free to ask any other questions. ;p
Cheers!
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djgustashaw
Probe
Posted: 18 Aug 2003
19:00 GMT
Total Posts: 14 | thanks man! that was extremely informative, many of my questions are cleared up now.
i did think of a few more questions, however. i have three games: ztetris, mario bros 3, and a lotus racing game. i also have ion to run them. when i use TI connect, where do my games/files go to by default: RAM or archive? it told me after loading both lotus racing and mario that the memory was full, but i have a hard time imagining that these two tiny games and ion could fill 1.5 megs. if it is in the RAM by default, how do i move it to archive?
ok, my second question is about ion. i have to put the entire ion folder, which consists of 3 items, on my calc to install it. then after i install it, it puts another 2 items under my programs list, before i've even installed any games. they are: A, ZMINFO, <THETA>ION, ION, and IONZ. do i need to keep all of these on there to keep things running smoothly, or can i get rid of a few? or is there any alternate way of cleaning things up?
and finally, if i do delete some of the needless pre-installed apps from my calc, can i get them back without paying to dl them? are they included on the TI resource cd that came w/my calc?
i'm sorry for all the questions, but thanks!
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spiral
Wraith
Posted: 18 Aug 2003
20:19 GMT
Total Posts: 958 | in my opinion, if u have 1.5 megs archive space, you mighit want to try MirageOS, from detacheds, because it's an app with the same functionality as ion, but doesn't take up any space in ram (but a lot more in archive), another advantage of it is a bit more functionalitly without plugins, and no need to install after a reset.
I'm not sure where the needless pre-installed stuff can be found again, I only have an 83+, not silver edition, which only came with the CBL/CBR app, which I deleted since it was useless.
I'd say put your games in archive by default, since ion or mirage can run programs from archive, and programs in archive will survive a battery removal, where ram would be cleared.
The reason your memory was filled so fast was it was put in the 24kb of RAM, not the 1.5 megs of archive. To access that, press, 2nd, and -, which takes you to the memory menu, and then press enter to give items asterick, which puts them in the archive space. |
zkostik
Carrier
Posted: 19 Aug 2003
10:45 GMT
Total Posts: 2486 | Yes, I agree with spiral. On 83+ SE go with MirageOS (found in our program downloads). Memory isn't an issue on SE and Mirage adds so much more functionality. However, some ION games will not run under Mirage.
In TI-Conect (if i remember correctly) you'll see two buttons, one sends stuff to RAM and other to archive. Also, you'll periodically encounter a "Garbage Collect" message to which you should say "Yes". It'll clean up all the temporary stuff from your RAM but it takes some time.
To put stuff into archive just do what spiral said, archived items will have an sterisk ( * ) next to them.
ION comes in a group, think of it as uncompressed zip. After you install the shell, you may delete its installer (ION). I usually don't bother with that since it only takes 1-2k. I'd suggest you keep the group in archive just in case you calc gets reset and you lose your installation.
Program named A is just a loader for ION. Its named A so that it appears first in your program list and you can easily find it. You'll need it to run ION unless you want to type command to run an assembly program manually.
As far as apps go, use your TI-connect to backup them to your computer so that you can use them later if you need to. But you can probably download them from education.ti.com as well. Actually, if you can backup all the apps and put them into a zip and email me we can put them on this site so that people can easily download and restore them.
Ask away any questions you have, this site is especially for that purpose. :)
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djgustashaw
Probe
Posted: 19 Aug 2003
16:14 GMT
Total Posts: 14 | thanks! all of my questions are clear now. now i'm using mirageOS with all of my games archived. i'm still having a few probs however, but this is with TI connect, not the calculator itself.when i go to the device manager, it wont let me delete apps. i right click an app, and on the pop up menu it has "edit" and "delete", but both are faded and unclickable. when i right click a program, only "edit" is faded. so i'm not sure as to how i could get rid of my unneeded apps... or how i could put them on my pc and give em to you guys for the site. do ya'll know whats goin on? also, every time i open TI connect it's saying i need to upgrade my calc to OS 1.16. should i bother with an OS upgrade? will it mess with my archived memory or screw with my calculator any other way?one last thing. i must be driving yall crazy. but what are "application variables" that show up in TI connect right above "applications"?thanks. also, this forum rocks. ya'll answer questions extremely well.[EDIT] - i figured out how to copy apps to my pc in TI connect. but i still can't figure out how to get rid of them from the calc... i really have no use for most of these, and i'm all about keeping my pc's hard drive clean of uneeded stuff, same thing here. i'll back them up to the pc so i can put them back on if needed, but it would be nice just to free up a little more memory.
[Edited by Digital on 20-Aug-03 03:28] |
Digital
Guardian
Posted: 19 Aug 2003
18:39 GMT
Total Posts: 1051 | Well I would have gotten an 89 for AP Calc but that is irrelevant. As far as I know with TI Connect you can only delete variables that are in the RAM. Apps are in the FLASH and so are archived variables (Archive is a specific user section of the FLASH memory). You have to manually delete the applications from the calculator. You cannot edit programs with TI Connect, but if you have TI Graph-Link installed on your machine and TI Connect knows about it, then you should be able to edit non-asm programs. If you upgrade to the new OS you will have to backup all the data on it or it will be deleted. The Backup program in TI Connect will NOT backup the Apps on your calc. Application variables are variables that are created by an Application and can only be opened in a certain application. By all means, if your not using an App, delete it from the Calcs memory because they take up RAM even when they are not being used. But be sure that you have a copy of ALL of the apps on you computer because some of them you have to pay for from TI's store.
We are always glad to help out with any questions you have. Enjoy the rest of the site and be sure to check out ticalc.org if you haven;t already. That site has the largest archive of science, math, misc programs, and games. |
zkostik
Carrier
Posted: 19 Aug 2003
22:39 GMT
Total Posts: 2486 | Nice reply D!
I actually have nothing to add. :)
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