How to install Mirage OS onto your Ti-83+ or Ti-84 Graphing Calculator

So, with the messing around with my calculator comes the inevitable idea to put Mirage OS onto it.  Mirage OS is a flash shell which allows for different apps to be run.  It is a pseudo Operating system, or a mirage of one.  It does not replace the OS on your calculator, nor does it modify it in anyway.  It does however, work nicely alongside it make your calculator do more.  Installing it is really quite easy.

1. Download the software necessary to talk with your calculator.  You can get that here.
2. Install the software.
3. Plug in your Ti-connect link.  It looks like this, and yes, you need one to do this.
4. Download Mirage OS (Current version when I wrote this was 1.2) (Direct link here).
5. Extract the contents of the file.
6. Right Click "MIRAGEOS.8xk" and click "Send to TI Device..."
7. A window will pop up.  Don't worry about any options, just hit "Send to device"
8. Let the TI software do all the magic from there!

Congrats, now you have Mirage OS installed on your calculator. It can run its own programs and everything.  For installing programs, the process is exactly the same.  Read the ReadMe for each program you want to install to make sure you are sending the correct file.
Edit:  In the same way you can install Puzzpack and almost any other flash applications you want!

Ti-83+ Caclulator

I have a Ti-83+ calculator.  Maybe you have one, maybe you don't.  This nice thing about this calculator is what you can do with it.  You can do basic arithmetic, but that is so below what it can do it hurts me.  Some of the fascinating things the calculator can do are:

• Program in BASIC
• Program in Assembly
• Connect with your computer for updates

Those may not seem like much, but for many people, Basic is their first real touch with programming.  I know it was for me, and I fell in love with it then.  The language itself is one of the easiest to learn, but it can still be very powerful.  I bring this up because I am tempted to make a few posts on the ideas behind basic and perhaps some more interesting concepts.  Also, for my Calculus class we were studying integrals, and the idea behind some of the rules made me sick, so I made a program to do them all.  This greatly simplifies the work on my part, and allows me to easily check my tests!

If you want to use the program, download it here and send it to your calculator!