USB, missing RAM pages, and more questions

[Michael_Lee]

I have questions!

1]  I want to try using msd8x, and it appears I need a mini A to female A thingymajig.  I already have a mini A to mini B cable, and a mini A to male A.  Using these, and other common household items, is there any way to make my own USB adapter thing?  I think I might be able to just find 4 thin paperclips, and try and connect my USB to the mini A to male A cord, but I don't think that would be particularly sturdy nor safe.

2]  Can anybody recommend a set of cheap but reliable set of USB adapters that I could look at buying?

3]  Missing RAM pages - the serial number on the back of my calc (TI-84+ SE) ends with P-0509M.  I believe I read somewhere that serial numbers ending with F and higher are missing RAM pages -- is this true?

4]  What are RAM pages?  What are they used for?  Why do some programs use them?  If I don't have them, but want to use programs that require them (like TI-Boy or msd8x (I think)), are there workarounds available?

5]  My full serial number starts with 4 numbers, then six, then the before-mentioned set of characters.  What do all of the numbers and letters mean?

[calc84maniac]

3) It's actually H and higher, so your calculator is missing RAM pages.

4) RAM pages are pretty much 16KB blocks of RAM that can be used. The original TI-83+ has two RAM pages (32KB total), and the TI-83+SE has eight pages (128KB). The TI-84+ and TI-84+SE also had 128KB until early 2007 (around the release date of the TI-Nspire), when TI reduced the number to three (48KB total).

TI-OS uses 2 of them normally, and on the 84+ series it uses another one for scratch space during USB routines, among other things.

As for apps that use too many RAM pages (TI-Boy, Realsound, Emu8x, Msd8x, Omnicalc being the main ones), the only workaround is to rewrite them to not use that many pages -- assuming that there is still enough space left for what needs to be done (Omnicalc is impossible to fix because it needs two pages in order back up the main RAM). I am currently rewriting TI-Boy to use 48KB RAM maximum, except for the few games that require more RAM (which will consequentially have to be run on calculators that have 128KB).

[Happybobjr]

2]  this should do the trick http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-a-female-to-mini-usb-5-pin-female-adapter-26780

[Michael_Lee]

Ah.  It sucks that my calculator is missing RAM pages.  Random question: when emulating, does the TI-nspire simulate having the extra RAM pages?

Thanks, happybobjr, I'll take a look.

[Happybobjr]

I believe the ram is inside the keyboard. 
No problem

[calc84maniac]

Ah.  It sucks that my calculator is missing RAM pages.  Random question: when emulating, does the TI-nspire simulate having the extra RAM pages?

Thanks, happybobjr, I'll take a look.

Yes, it does. TI-Nspire isn't exactly short on RAM

I believe the ram is inside the keyboard. 
No problem

Nope, definitely not

[Happybobjr]

Dang, curse my ignorance.

[jnesselr]

2]  this should do the trick http://www.dealextreme.com/p/usb-a-female-to-mini-usb-5-pin-female-adapter-26780

for your mini-A to mini-B cable, that is, on the mini-B end.

[willrandship]

The keyborad is just a keyboard, probably with some ID pin to tell whether its touchpad, click or 84+, otherwise internally the keypads are identical, and only hook to the keys.