So I was in an OS-patching mood, and speeding up flash access was an idea I've had for about a year. After you apply this patch, reading data from flash (unarchiving) will take 1/3 as long as it normally would and writing data to flash (archiving) will take 2/3 as long as it normally would. These effects will take place across the entire OS (including basic and assembly programs).

As always, I made a patch for OS's 1.19_BE, 1.19_SE, 2.43, 2.53, and 2.55 (yes, the 83+BE and 83+SE require different patches). I was lazy and didn't include any kind of progress bar, so, you'll just have to wait in fear. I feel bad for the 83+BE users though because they have to wait far longer than what is acceptable.

Before:	After:

As far as I can tell, this mod is stable. I currently have it installed on my calculator and the only thing I've noticed is that stuff basically unarchives instantly. I didn't include an option to unpatch your calculator this time since an unpatch isn't really feasible (one part of the patching involves a find/replace of a certain OS call), but that's ok, because if you are unhappy with this mod, you'll probably need an OS reinstall anyways

Lastly, I'd like to mention that there are a few things this won't speed up. Most notably: Axe when it writes an app, OS modding programs, and receiving OS's. All of these tasks still use the old WriteFlash routine and there's nothing I can do to change that (besides mod the boot code (and I'm not going to)).

Oh, and as far as compatibility is concerned. Both version of the universal flash unlock still work (that was annoying) and this patch fixes the 2.55 fraction glitch (in a different way).

So, install and enjoy your faster calculator.

Edit:
    I cannot forget Runer112 who optimized the new _flashToRam routine and cut off like 20 bytes. So he gets credit too.

Edit2:
   This program takes a long time to run and gives no display of progress, give it a solid 3 minutes before you assume it crashed.

I think The Reign of Legends 2 fans will love this...

That seems really cool. I might give it a try at one point. By the way you should really bundle your patches together or in packages (eg those together and your other patches in another package) and put them in Omni download section or add a link to them there. It would give them more visibility.

Does that speed up Garbage Collecting too?

That's going to be a mega .zip file

And yes, Garbage Collection should take around 2/3 the normal amount of time.

Quote from: DJ_O on November 10, 2012, 10:19:12 pm

I think The Reign of Legends 2 fans will love this...

That seems really cool. I might give it a try at one point. By the way you should really bundle your patches together or in packages (eg those together and your other patches in another package) and put them in Omni download section or add a link to them there. It would give them more visibility.

Does that speed up Garbage Collecting too?

That's going to be a mega .zip file

And yes, Garbage Collection should take around 2/3 the normal amount of time.

Actually I would keep the Faster FLash ones in one zip file/separate file and only put the OS patches that fix bugs or compatibility issues together (along with the OS 2.71MP joke)

Also I think this pretty much deserves news. What do others think? (It would be even greater if there were two ROL2 screenshots side by side, one with the patch and the one without it)

You might want to specify in red/bold that it will take a long while to load (it took me 1 minute on WabbitEmu), so people don't think their calc crashed and remove a battery

Just send it with Ti-Connect or TiLP then run it with Asm(prgmFSTFLASH

Ya, it needs to be in RAM.  Without special programs/apps like Doors, you need to run them in RAM.

After I ran it on my TI-84+ SE (2.55MP), all of the buttons stopped functioning. I turned it on holding clear to clear the RAM, and it worked again. Did I get the wrong file? I downloaded "fstFlash_255.8xp". Or maybe I have to wait a minute after I turn it on?

Yeah, just wait a few minuets!

And this is sounding epic penguin!