Author Topic: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification  (Read 13241 times)

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Offline mrmprog

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #15 on: July 02, 2011, 03:24:52 pm »
BrandonW is a calc god.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 03:25:01 pm by mrmprog »

Offline calcdude84se

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2011, 03:43:48 pm »
Don't forget thepenguin77; he did a lot of the testing and helped get most of the information in my post here: http://ourl.ca/11891/224537 :D
I played the minor role of beta testing FLASHY (I took my 84+SE 1.02->1.03->1.02), as did a couple others, who can speak for themselves. (I think DJ was among them, IIRC.)
« Last Edit: July 02, 2011, 03:44:19 pm by calcdude84se »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2011, 11:38:28 pm »
It's because the 83+ doesn't have the port that's been used to bypass the protection on the boot code.
We don't know whether or not modification of its boot code is possible yet, I think.
Thanks for the info. That said, it doesn't seem like they are willing to add the new boot code to the 83+ anyway, and the latest OS is the best it seems, unlike on the 84+. The only issue that could arise with a boot code update is not being able to run third-party OSes on the 83+BE.

Offline jnesselr

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #18 on: July 03, 2011, 09:53:13 am »
The only thing I'm actually wondering about this is if TI will actually even care enough to attempt to prevent a boot code change by some new OS.

Offline BrandonW

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #19 on: July 03, 2011, 04:36:46 pm »
The only thing TI has on us is the hardware and any read-only code on it, such as the boot code. That's what the initial fear over 1.03 was about. But now that we can change it, it doesn't matter. The 84+/SE/Pocket are permanently open.

It will be interesting to see if they remove this capability in new hardware. The very existence of it is an indicator that this might not be easy for them to do.

We can erase the boot code on the 73 and 83+, but we can't write back to it (yet). So it's not all that useful.

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #20 on: July 03, 2011, 05:30:31 pm »
On TI-BANK, the news about Flashy says something implying they don,t believe we permanently unlocked the 84+ with Flashy, in reference to how they countered the key factoring, Nleash, etc, and that they might try to come with another alternative to prove us wrong. However, I am wondering what kind of alternative they could find...

Offline DrDnar

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #21 on: July 03, 2011, 10:33:58 pm »
Like I said before, if they remove the ability to unlock the boot sector, we can still release a bricker using the little-known full chip erase function. Which won't really do anything except remind them that they can't control hardware they didn't manufacture.
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Offline BrandonW

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #22 on: July 03, 2011, 10:41:01 pm »
On TI-BANK, the news about Flashy says something implying they don,t believe we permanently unlocked the 84+ with Flashy, in reference to how they countered the key factoring, Nleash, etc, and that they might try to come with another alternative to prove us wrong. However, I am wondering what kind of alternative they could find...

While it's true that TI can always do something to counter what we do, the fact remains that every 73/83+ and 84+ series calculator manufactured to date (and so far, still being manufactured) is permanently hackable. The only move they have is to modify the hardware, and if you've already bought it, you're in good shape.

Offline Munchor

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #23 on: July 07, 2011, 06:21:40 am »
Downgrading Pocket and emulating other calcs on it? Sweeeet, nice job BrandonW!

Offline JosJuice

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #24 on: July 07, 2011, 07:35:53 am »
Downgrading Pocket and emulating other calcs on it? Sweeeet, nice job BrandonW!
I don't think this allows us to emulate other calcs... You can't just take the boot code from another calc and expect it to work, because of all the small hardware differences.

Offline Munchor

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #25 on: July 07, 2011, 07:36:32 am »
Downgrading Pocket and emulating other calcs on it? Sweeeet, nice job BrandonW!
I don't think this allows us to emulate other calcs... You can't just take the boot code from another calc and expect it to work, because of all the small hardware differences.

Can't we emulate the 84+ and 83+ OSs?

Offline JosJuice

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #26 on: July 07, 2011, 07:39:28 am »
Downgrading Pocket and emulating other calcs on it? Sweeeet, nice job BrandonW!
I don't think this allows us to emulate other calcs... You can't just take the boot code from another calc and expect it to work, because of all the small hardware differences.

Can't we emulate the 84+ and 83+ OSs?
The Pocket.fr is exactly like an 84+ hardware-wise, so you can just put the 84+ OS on it, and it'll work. The 83+ has some differences in hardware, plus the archive size is different, so it doesn't really work.

Offline Spyro543

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #27 on: August 05, 2011, 10:04:11 am »
Wait so if we can modify the boot code, we can boot from the USB port on the calc?

Offline calcdude84se

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #28 on: August 05, 2011, 11:43:47 am »
We could... sorta. It wouldn't be able to just run like any OS now, which can just run from flash. The boot code would have to read the flash drive and copy code to RAM, while also making the OS able to copy more code. Because you'll just be copying to RAM anyway, it would make a lot more sense just to make a minimal OS that did the same thing. No point in risking modification of the boot code. The closest you should ever get to that is making a very small mod that runs page $3C/$6C under certain conditions, and $3C/$6C could contain that code. Since $3C/$6C is a privileged page, (as is all of its sector, because $3F/$6F is more boot code...) you wouldn't need any other OS. To be honest, I still don't see much point in "booting from a flash drive" :/
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Offline Spyro543

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Re: FLASHY - 83/4 series boot code modification
« Reply #29 on: August 05, 2011, 12:23:21 pm »
To be honest, I still don't see much point in "booting from a flash drive" :/
Well, running an OS without installing it.
If it's possible, I should tell Venom.