Despite having been released a few years after the ubiquitous Mirage OS calculator shell, Doors CS has gained quite a strong following among TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus users. Doors CS offers features like a desktop, mouse, the ability to run almost all TI-83 Plus/TI-84 Plus programs and games, a HomeRun feature that lets you run any program (archived or in RAM, BASIC or assembly) from the desktop, and many other features. With the release of Doors CS 7.2 and end of new black-and-white Doors CS versions, though, I was not sure I wanted to create a color Doors CS for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, TI's new color-screen graphing calculator discovered last November by Cemetech and available in stores now. Having devoted thousands of hours over more than a decade to creating Doors CS, making it the most stable shell around, and marketing it as the best shell for students, teachers, and professionals, I wasn't sure that a color version would be worth my effort.

However, with the marked success of the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, as evidenced by Cemetech and ticalc.org download statistics for the past month, I decided that a new color Doors CS was indeed necessary. For about three weeks, I have been working tirelessly on a version of Doors CS for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, to be called Doors CSE 8 (for "Color Screen Edition", "C Silver Edition", or "Calculator Shell Enhanced"; take your pick). Doors CSE 8 is already surprisingly complete, including the following features:
  • Run BASIC, TI-OS ASM, and Doors CS ASM programs, whether Archived or in RAM.
  • Recognize and display icons and other information embedded in programs
  • Copy, rename, lock, archive, delete, edit, cut, and paste programs, and create and rename folders
  • Display in-shell help and information, and change Doors CSE options
In fact, there's not much left to add in the way of features before I start releasing beta version of Doors CSE 8. I will be initially providing betas only to specific users in a closed beta program, as I don't want an early beta with bugs or missing features to start spreading virally among students' calculators. The missing features include a desktop clock, the InfoPop feature from Doors CS 7.x, a version of xLIB from the venerable tr1p1ea, optimized sprite routines from Runer112, and a number of minor bugs. You can take a look at my project up to now in the Doors CSE 8 Brainstorming topic, or continue reading this topic for new details. Be sure to indicate your interest if you want to beta-test Doors CSE 8, and tell your color-calculator-owning friends that Doors CSE 8 is coming soon!

I don't know if I should apply as a beta tester. I don't use my CSE very often, mainly due to the fact it doesn't have a proper shell, but I don't know if I'd use it a lot more if I had DoorsCS on it. Of course, as a beta tester I would no longer have the argument "meh, too lazy to archive/unarchive", but on the other hand, I would mainly use the homerun hook, which other people use too, so I won't be af big use.

Anyways, nice to see it come finally ! I hope the beta testing + debugging phase will be fast enough.

And congrats in advance for your future feature on ticalc.org ^^
I don't have a CSE myself, but this is amazing. Hopefully this is another great milestone for cemetech!
It's been fun to watch the developments for the 84+ CSE . Excited that Doors CSE 8 is coming soon. I plan to update my programs to take advantage of the cool features that Doors CSE 8 will have.
Cool! Any chance I could be a beta tester?
Arcturus314 wrote:
Cool! Any chance I could be a beta tester?
Absolutely. I'll PM you a download link as soon as one is ready, possibly as early as this evening or tomorrow morning.

ohernandez wrote:
It's been fun to watch the developments for the 84+ CSE . Excited that Doors CSE 8 is coming soon. I plan to update my programs to take advantage of the cool features that Doors CSE 8 will have.
If they're BASIC, you can already add the icons without impacting anything else. The hybrid library will almost definitely be xLIBc, because I don't feel like rolling my own.

Eletronics, Hayleia: Thanks!
If xLIB comes out as a standalone version before it eventually merges with Doors CSE (assuming, for example, that tr1p1ea would prefer to not delay xLIB release), will games made with it run fine if Doors CSE is also installed? I am curious, since if xLIB does come out before the version of DCSE that includes it, I want to make sure that there is no compatibility issues.
Well ... They will be identical code wise so it wont matter what version you have enabled.
Ok thanks
Hey KermM, I'll gladly beta-test for you as soon as a certain package arrives.
Great work! I am sure to use this just as much as previous Doors versions. Especially excited for the xlib features and as always the home run hook. Thanks for all you do!
This looks great Kerm! I'd be more than happy to help with some beta testing Smile
This evening's progress:
- Added tr1p1ea's 16-bit-color line routine, taking 323 bytes
- Fixed launching the program editor on BASIC programs
- Added handling for having zero folders/programs in a folder but still being able to paste folders/programs and create folders
- Verified that Intelligent Writeback for ASM programs is functioning properly
- Finally fixed and verified all Properties Menu tools for both programs and folders
- Last item of the night, delaying me from sleep for an hour, was reverse-engineering the _GetTimeString BCALL (now called _FormTime), and using that to create a toggleable clock display. Thanks to you guys for your help in #cemetech tonight and the opinions in this thread asking whether I should add a clock. In the end, it only took about 50 bytes. Here's the clock and the setting for it.

Daggum, look at them BASIC icons-I mean that clock doesn't look half bad! lol

Good idea on being able to disable it. Smile

What's left before release candidate 1 is put up?
tifreak8x wrote:
Daggum, look at them BASIC icons-I mean that clock doesn't look half bad! 0x5

Good idea on being able to disable it. Smile
Haha, and thanks. It starts out disabled by default on the assumption that many people have their calculator clock set properly but that others might find the setting and decide they're willing to keep their clock set to the correct time in exchange for having the feature.

tifreak8x wrote:
What's left before release candidate 1 is put up?
1) Decide whether to implement the InfoPop feature in the remaining 501 bytes. It occurred to me that I have no good way to buffer the area behind the InfoPop (I would need about 250x38 pixels = 19000 bytes of storage, and while I could theoretically make it 215x38 and consume an entire 16KB spare RAM page to buffer, I'm not sure if that's the way I want to go.
2) Decide on sprite routine arguments with Runer112, and fix the vectors to the current sprite routines
3) Fix all my remaining TODO items marked on lines of code, which are mostly checking and fixing iy+NN flag equates to make sure they're correct for the TI-84+CSE
4) Give all my beta testers Beta 1
5) Collect bug reports, make fixes
6) Add xLIBc, do beta-testing with that
7) Release RC1
Seems like a good solid list to me. Smile Goodluck!
Do you move the battery icon all the way to the right when the clock is disabled?
elfprince13 wrote:
Do you move the battery icon all the way to the right when the clock is disabled?
Indeed I did. Smile I think it would look ugly sitting all lonely in the middle of the taskbar.
I'd be happy to beta test. I'm a pre-college student with some experience with calculators so I would be able to provide constant, solid feedback.
KermMartian wrote:
elfprince13 wrote:
Do you move the battery icon all the way to the right when the clock is disabled?
Indeed I did. Smile I think it would look ugly sitting all lonely in the middle of the taskbar.


\o/ My thoughts exactly.
tifreak8x wrote:
Seems like a good solid list to me. Smile Goodluck!
Thanks! New progress:

- Implemented InfoPop. Takes 365 bytes. Could theoretically be turned off if I really need the space; I added a #define for it.
- Fixed a small bug with disabling the clock
- Tweaked APD timing
- 71 bytes left to fix any expansion in my sprite routines and any bcalls necessary for xLIBc on Page 0! Space is very tight. I'll probably have to make an optimization pass or two.
- Beta testers: Look for a copy in your Cemetech PM mailbox soon. Please, please do not share with your friends, no matter how much they beg.

Edit: Doors CSE 8 Beta 1 sent to beta testers.

  
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