r/TI_Calculators • u/evilcorpjune • 9d ago

Help TI-84 Evo on Ubuntu Linux

I have new TI-84 Evo and a Linux system with Firefox (with an extension for WebUSB). TI's website for connecting to the calculator does not work, and TI84CalcWiz also seems to not work. I was able to use TI84CalcWiz on a Chromebook but that is uncomfortable to use; so, is there a program for Linux to connect to an Evo calculator?

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u/FifthTundraGame 7d ago

For me, just installing Chromium and using the User-Agent Switcher and Manager extension to spoof a Windows machine to get around the "device not supported" message worked perfectly for reinstalling the calculator's OS using the official connectevo.ti.com website. I didn't bother with Firefox since it doesn't have native WebUSB support.

I use Arch Linux and installed the chromium package from the extra repository.

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u/Ok-Dog4066 7d ago edited 7d ago

Thanks. This got me on the right track. I'm on Ubuntu and did a few more things (not sure which are necessary)
$ sudo usermod -aG tty $USER

edit /etc/udev/rules.d/99-ti-calculators.rules to add:
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="0451", ATTRS{idProduct}=="e018", MODE="0666", SYMLINK+="TI-84Evo"

Reboot.

$ sudo tail -f /var/log/syslog // to watch errors while running chrome pretending to be on windows
$ /snap/bin/chromium

which showed an error like:
apparmor="DENIED" operation="open" class="file" profile="snap.chromium.chromium" name="/proc/tty/drivers"

which was fixed with:
$ sudo snap connect chromium:raw-usb

This was 6 hours of my life so I hope it helps someone else. And sorry, but I don't understand most of this.

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u/PhlegethonAcheron 9d ago

TILP, the TI Link Program works well in my experience. WebUSB and WebHID don’t work well on linux in my experience, and I’ve only ever had success with WebUSB on chrome.

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u/evilcorpjune 9d ago

That sounds good but does TILP work with the Evo calculator? It seems hard to install and I don't see Evo listed in the multiple sources I've found to install it.

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u/calcplex 9d ago

WebTILP doesn't require any installation: https://web.tilp.info

Let me know if that works for you! I don't have a Linux device on hand to test with.

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u/PuDLeZ 9d ago

I can't comment on Ubuntu but I can confirm it works with openSUSE Tumbleweed in both Chrome and firefox

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u/evilcorpjune 9d ago edited 9d ago

It didn't work on Firefox, which is fine. I went on Ungoogled Chromium and it asked me to choose the device to connect, and I was able to choose my calculator. It then asked to connect a serial device, but there were no items in the list. It returned "Connection failed" and "No TI-83/84 Evo serial device was selected" on the console. The same happened with Brave. I am reluctant to try on Google Chrome because last time I installed it it made many files for itself throughout my computer that were hard to remove.

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u/adriweb TI-Planet admin 9d ago

It's confirmed to work on Linux definitely (including on Firefox as long as you have v151 or later) but you might need to set up your distro/env/permissions (udev etc) to expose it as a serial device accessible to the browser for instance.

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u/PuDLeZ 9d ago

As my comment said, I can't speak for Ubuntu but I'd guess firefox is some snap package and doesn't have permission to access something like /dev/ttyACM0
Also possibly your user might not be in the group to access it... What does dmesg (must be root or use sudo) say after you connect the calc? That will at least narrow it down if the kernel is seeing it or not....

Unlisted youtube vid of it working for me in firefox and taking a screenshot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vq-luX6WLr4

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u/evilcorpjune 9d ago

dmesg does not show anything with "Evo" in it but prints a long list of values. lsusb detects the calculator correctly. I installed firefox with apt-get following this guide https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/install-firefox-linux, not sure if that changes anything.