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Author Topic: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors  (Read 9836 times)

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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« on: April 09, 2012, 04:30:15 pm »
For the last year or so, I have heard rumors and remarks about how the TI-Nspire Computer Link Software and the TI-Nspire Student Software, at certain points in time, have upgraded user's TI-Nspires without their permission.

I am wondering if this is really a forced upgrade, for example, when launching the software and connecting your calculator, a forced upgrade that was present at any point or another in previous software versions or if it might have been just a misleading software alert box tricking people into upgrading?

To those who had something like that happening, could you state if such upgrade just launched automatically or if it was due to a mistake from your part? If it was a mistake, could you state what made you upgrade, such as what message/alert box did you get? If it's a common mistake due to a misleading software warning, then maybe there could be some sort of sticky topic warning users about it?

Some people may not want to upgrade to OS 3.2 immediately (and they have every right to decide what gets installed on their calc or not), so it might be good to warn them if any of the forced upgrade or misleading upgrade warning rumors reveals to be true.

I would also like to know myself, because I use Nspire Student Software a lot with my CX and I would hate if it was upgraded without my consent. I know, for example, that in the version of Computer Link that I had, there were two boxes to uncheck to ensure that your calc doesn't get upgraded automatically, and those boxes sometimes would get checked again on next launch, even though you unchecked them before.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 04:32:33 pm by DJ_O »
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Offline jwalker

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #1 on: April 09, 2012, 04:31:09 pm »
I dont think i ever had that happen to me
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Offline alberthrocks

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #2 on: April 09, 2012, 04:32:18 pm »
This topic demonstrates the possibility of this happening. I'm writing software as we speak to potentially test this behavior.
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Offline Reo

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2012, 05:25:42 pm »
I've blocked education.ti.com from my computer just in case.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2012, 05:35:12 pm »
Wow alberthrocks, could that explain the rumors from people who seemed to have gotten a forced upgrade? Maybe they enable it whenever a new OS that blocked Ndless just comes out until Ndless seems quiet? Or maybe in the future they had the intention to add this forced upgrade?

Would this be legal from their part, btw, to force people to upgrade to something they do not want to use? I mean it's like if Microsoft made Windows 8 free for Windows Vista/7 users and forced me to upgrade to it even if I hate the interface and changes, right? In any case, it would be good if there was a script in Omni archives letting people block/unblock TI's servers if they desire, because not everyone might remember to unplug their router or stuff like that prior launching the software/connecting their calc.
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Offline alberthrocks

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2012, 05:55:46 pm »
A "forced upgrade" may be an upgrade that happens in the background or foreground, with no option to cancel such an upgrade. Note that I have absolutely no idea what it actually does, but knowing TI and the phrase "ForcedUpdate", that kind of action doesn't sound too far fetched. We don't know if this was present in older versions of the TI-Nspire Student Software, but we're pretty sure it exists in the OS 3.x incarnations of it.

I'm working on a HTTP filter server that will filter any traffic directed to education.ti.com so that I can look into the situation more.
In the meantime, to block any requests to TI... you need to modify your system's hosts file. It's basically a file that lets you override any requests to a host/domain name, like "education.ti.com" :P

On Windows:
1) Open up an elevated command prompt - that is, Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt, right click and hit "Run as Administrator..." Do any password typing/clicking as needed to gain elevated access.
2) Type in cd %SystemRoot%\System32\drivers\etc
3) Type in notepad hosts
4) Place the following line in: 127.0.0.1 education.ti.com
5) SAVE.
6) Log in or log out, OR reboot. This should let all the processes reread that config. Usually, this isn't necessary - especially if the TI-Nspire Student Software isn't running. If it is, just close it completely and re-open. If you are paranoid, do a reboot.
7) That's it! You're safe! :D

On Mac OS X:
I'm not a Mac user, so this may or may not be correct.
1) Open the Terminal app.
2) Type in the following: sudo -s "echo '127.0.0.1 education.ti.com' >> /etc/hosts" Do any password typing/clicking as needed to gain superuser access.
3) Log in or log out, OR reboot. This should let all the processes reread that config. Usually, this isn't necessary - especially if the TI-Nspire Student Software isn't running. If it is, just close it completely and re-open. If you are paranoid, do a reboot.
4) That's it! You're safe! :D

On Linux:
You must be crazy if you're trying to run a bloated piece of software on Linux with WINE.... :P
Nevertheless, you can simply follow the Mac OS X instructions.

In the future, you guys will be able to play with my HTTP filter server, which uses the hosts file change to monitor TI's evil! ;)

EDIT: Oops! The Windows instructions had a little mistake: it should say 127.0.0.1 education.ti.com instead of 127.0.0.1 gs.apple.com (and it's fixed above). Sadly, the update insanity from Apple also spreads to TI... :P

EDIT 2: I guess I'm addicted to having root... :P I've modified the Mac OS X instructions to be a bit more concise, thanks to a tip from linuxgeek96! :)
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 06:02:55 pm by alberthrocks »
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Offline linuxgeek96

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2012, 05:59:50 pm »
1. gs.apple.com? Do you mean education.ti.com? EDIT: Ninja'd
2. use sudo -s, not sudo bash or sudo su (better practice)

Otherwise, really helpful tutorial!
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 06:00:37 pm by linuxgeek96 »
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Offline alberthrocks

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2012, 06:03:35 pm »
I've updated the post with your tip, thanks! :)
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Activity remains limited due to busyness from school et al. Sorry! :( Feel free to PM, email, or if you know me well enough, FB me if you have a question/concern. :)

Don't expect me to be online 24/7 until summer. Contact me via FB if you feel it's urgent.


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Spoiler For "My Projects! :D":
Projects:

Computer/Web/IRC Projects:
C______c: 0% done (Doing planning and trying to not forget it :P)
A_____m: 40% done (Need to develop a sophisticated process queue, and a pretty web GUI)
AtomBot v3.0: 0% done (Planning stage, may do a litmus test of developer wants in the future)
IdeaFrenzy: 0% done (Planning and trying to not forget it :P)
wxWabbitemu: 40% done (NEED MOAR FEATURES :P)

Calculator Projects:
M__ C_____ (an A____ _____ clone): 0% done (Need to figure out physics and Axe)
C2I: 0% done (planning, checking the demand for it, and dreaming :P)

Offline linuxgeek96

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2012, 06:04:48 pm »
no problem, I used to sudo su ALL THE TIME until I found out about -s :-)
Oh, and thanks for the upvote.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2012, 06:05:15 pm by linuxgeek96 »
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Offline Yeong

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2012, 06:05:58 pm »
So do I have to do this every time I run student software?
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Offline linuxgeek96

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #10 on: April 09, 2012, 06:06:31 pm »
nope, just once
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Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #11 on: April 09, 2012, 06:17:18 pm »
Quote from: alberthrocks on April 09, 2012, 05:55:46 pm
You must be crazy if you're trying to run a bloated piece of software on Linux with WINE.... :P
Nevertheless, you can simply follow the Mac OS X instructions.
Is it even possible to run a Windows linking program through Wine?
Quote from: TBO_Yeong on April 09, 2012, 06:05:58 pm
So do I have to do this every time I run student software?
Nope, you're basically changing a setting on your computer so that any request that goes to education.ti.com (such as the Student Software's update check) gets redirected. (So you wouldn't be able to access education.ti.com through your browser, either.)
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Offline Yeong

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #12 on: April 09, 2012, 06:18:01 pm »
aw. so when I have to visit the website, I just delete the line from the same thing and log off/in?
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Offline Deep Toaster

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #13 on: April 09, 2012, 06:18:59 pm »
Quote from: TBO_Yeong on April 09, 2012, 06:18:01 pm
aw. so when I have to visit the website, I just delete the line from the same thing and log off/in?
That's right.
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Offline Adriweb

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Re: Forced and misleading Nspire OS upgrades rumors
« Reply #14 on: April 09, 2012, 06:19:11 pm »
yep, basically.

On Mac, you would just have to flush the dns cache though
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