rom8x is a tool to create ROM files for TI-83+ series calculators which can be used in emulators. It supports the following calculators.
The general process of building a ROM involves dumping some data from your calculator, then combining that with a calculator OS upgrade file to create a ROM.
Before beginning, determine which of the above models your calculator is, and make note of the 5-character abbreviation that corresponds to it. You will also need a linking program such as TiLP or TI-Connect and an appropriate cable to transfer files between your calculator and computer.
To dump the necessary data from your calculator, transfer the one or two 8xp files provided with rom8x that correspond to your calculator model to the calculator. For example, if you have a TI-83+ use G83PBE1.8xp, or if you have a TI-84+ Silver Edition use G84PSE1.8xp and G84PSE2.8xp.
Run the program you just put on your calculator. It will create a new AppVar in RAM with name corresponding to the program's name. For example, the program G83PBE1 creates AppVar D83PBE1. Transfer this AppVar back to your computer and place it in the same directory as rom8x.
If your calculator takes two programs (all 84+ models), repeat this process for the second program.
Now acquire an OS upgrade file for your device. These can be obtained from TI's web site- find and download an OS file for your calculator, and save the resultant 8xu or 8Cu (for the 84CSE) in the same directory as rom8x.
The final step involves running rom8x to combine all the files into a single ROM. Open a terminal (the exact procedure depends on your operating system- on Windows, open a Command Prompt) and cd to the directory containing your rom8x files.
Now invoke rom8x with your calculator's model, and the -u option specifying the name of the OS file you obtained. For example, for a 83PBE:
rom8x 83PBE -u ti83plus_1.19.8xuOr for a 84CSE:
rom8x 84CSE -u Ti84Plus_OS.8CuThe program automatically looks for AppVar files with names corresponding to the specified calculator model. If you have renamed them, use the -1 and -2 options to specify their names as applicable.
rom8x 84PBE -1 MyDump1.8xv -2 MyDump2.8xv -u 84pbe.8xuIf the process is successful, rom8x will create a new .rom file in your working directory.
If you wish to build rom8x from source, there are two components that must be built separately: the PC-side application that joins dumped ROM pages with an OS file, and the calculator program that dumps the ROM pages.
Familiarity with the concepts of compiling software is assumed throughout this process. For most users, the pre-compiled binaries provided with distribution packages should be sufficient.
Compiling the PC-side application is up to your discretion due to the wide variety of platforms it should run on. For example, on a typical Linux system:
$ gcc -o rom8x rom8x.cOr perhaps to cross-compile for a Windows target:
$ i486-mingw32-gcc -o rom8x.exe rom8x.cSimilar to the PC application, assembling the calculator programs may require some manual configuration. However, two automated build scripts are provided for Windows and UNIX-like systems.
The build scripts assume you have SPASM on your PATH, which should work for both *NIX and Windows users. They will emit .8xp files for each supported calculator into correspondingly-named directories.
Thus, the following on a *NIX system generates 8xp files in five subdirectories of the current directory:
$ sh build.shAnd functionality is the same using the Windows batch processor:
C:\>build.batIf you can't or don't want to use the provided build scripts, manually building binaries is a fairly straightforward process. You must define progName, pageNum and bootPage appropriate for the target calculator model. Refer to the build scripts to see what these "approriate" values are-- they are specified on the assembler command line as -d<name>=<value>.
For example, the configuration for a standard 83+ (83PBE) might be as follows:
#define progName "83PBE"
#define pageNum "1"
#define bootPage 1FhSend questions, comments, etc to Peter Marheine: .
rom8x is the work of Andree Chea, now maintained by Peter Marheine. Assistance was provided by the following individuals:
Copyright (C) 2013 Peter Marheine
Copyright (C) 2005 Andree Chea
Portions copyright (C) 2003 Benjamin Moody
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
ROM images are copyrighted by TI and should not be distributed. The author of this program is not responsible for any issues that arise from your (mis)use of this program.