WikiTI - User contributions [en]

User talk:Bzimmerly

2010-05-31T19:16:44Z

Bzimmerly:

:Welcome!
:It is not habit to welcome in this particular wiki (I don't know about others) but you have an impressive story.
:Have fun coding, it is nice to see more coders!
:For sharing TI calculator projects almost everyone release in ticalc.org, for forums there is unitedti.org and you can also try omnimaga.org. This are the most active forums recently. If you like experiments there is a lot to see in the TI-84+SE around the Internet.
[[User:Galandros|Galandros]] 21:09, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

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Thanks [[User:Galandros|Galandros]]! I look forward to getting more experience with the TI-84 and hope to contribute soon. So far, I'm very impressed with what you guys have already done with the Wiki to pack it full of useful information. Well done!
: - [[User:Bzimmerly|Bill]]

User:Bzimmerly

2010-05-31T18:32:17Z

Bzimmerly: Minor edits to get used to this Wiki's capabilities.

'''05/29/2010''' - Bill Zimmerly (aka "WBZ") joined the WikiTI community.

''Status:''

:WBZ is a retired computer programmer and writer who goes by the nickname of "the Geezer Gadget Geek."

''Brief but relevant history:''

:I've been a computer/calculator fanatic since the early 1970's and own a substantial collection of great machines - TI-89, TI-55, HP-41CV, HP-41CX, HP-71B, HP-50G, HP-12C, HP-11C, and many more. I recently purchased from Amazon a TI-84 Plus Silver-Edition and as of the writing of this posting have not received it yet.

:In the early 1980's, I programmed Medical Terminals for EDS in Z80 assembler. I contributed to EDS's custom terminal OS by adding drivers for the AMD 9511 and 9512 co-processors and hooks into DPL (the HLL language used for programming the terminals) to support hardware floating point via those chips. I loved Z80 assembler back then and have longed to work again with such a fun processor. When I found out that the heart of the TI-84 series was the Z80, I placed an order and began studying what the web had to offer for such hardware.

''Plans:''

:The first task I plan on taking on (when I receive my TI-84) is to port zForth (my version of FORTH) to the calculator such that terminal sessions can run on the calculator from the built-in keyboard/display *AND* on terminal programs like minicom on Linux via the calculator's USB cable. I don't know how long it will take to accomplish this, but who cares (?) after all, I'm retired. ;) It will be freely shared with the community in hopes to generate interest and provide others with a fun tool like this.

User talk:Bzimmerly

2010-05-31T18:28:00Z

Bzimmerly: Reply to Galandros.

:Welcome!
:It is not habit to welcome in this particular wiki (I don't know about others) but you have an impressive story.
:Have fun coding, it is nice to see more coders!
:For sharing TI calculator projects almost everyone release in ticalc.org, for forums there is unitedti.org and you can also try omnimaga.org. This are the most active forums recently. If you like experiments there is a lot to see in the TI-84+SE around the Internet.
[[User:Galandros|Galandros]] 21:09, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

----

Thanks [[User:Galandros|Galandros]]! I look forward to getting more experience with the TI-84 and hope to contribute soon. So far, I'm very impressed what you guys have already done with the Wiki to pack it full of useful information. Well done!
: - [[User:Bzimmerly|Bill]]

User:Bzimmerly

2010-05-30T03:06:21Z

Bzimmerly: Created page with '05/29/2010 - Bill Zimmerly (aka "WBZ") joined the WikiTI community. Status: WBZ is a retired computer programmer and writer who goes by the nickname of "the Geezer Gadget Geek.…'

05/29/2010 - Bill Zimmerly (aka "WBZ") joined the WikiTI community.

Status:

WBZ is a retired computer programmer and writer who goes by the nickname of "the Geezer Gadget Geek."

Brief but relevant history:

I've been a computer/calculator fanatic since the early 1970's and own a substantial collection of great machines - TI-89, TI-55, HP-41CV, HP-41CX, HP-71B, HP-50G, HP-12C, HP-11C, and many more. I recently purchased from Amazon a TI-84 Plus Silver-Edition and as of the writing of this posting have not received it yet.

In the early 1980's, I programmed Medical Terminals for EDS in Z80 assembler. I contributed to EDS's custom terminal OS by adding drivers for the AMD 9511 and 9512 co-processors and hooks into DPL (the HLL language used for programming the terminals) to support hardware floating point via those chips. I loved Z80 assembler back then and have longed to work again with such a fun processor. When I found out that the heart of the TI-84 series was the Z80, I placed an order and began studying what the web had to offer for such hardware.

Plans:

The first task I plan on taking on (when I receive my TI-84) is to port zForth (my version of FORTH) to the calculator such that terminal sessions can run on the calculator from the built-in keyboard/display *AND* on terminal programs like minicom on Linux via the calculator's USB cable. I don't know how long it will take to accomplish this, but who cares (?) after all, I'm retired. ;) It will be freely shared with the community in hopes to generate interest and provide others with a fun tool like this.