Omnimaga

Omnimaga => News => Topic started by: critor on September 03, 2013, 12:30:25 pm

Title: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 03, 2013, 12:30:25 pm
In a previous news (http://ourl.ca/19460), we announced you the arrival for back to school 2013 of a new TI-Nspire CX hardware revision. TI-Nspire CX equipped with this new hardware could not properly run system and Boot2 versions 3.1, and thus there was no way to use Ndless or Nlaunch on them.

Next (http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=12891) we did teach you, at least for France, how to spot old Ndless/Nlaunch compatible calcultors directly in stores without having to unseal the bundle. ;D(http://www.omnimaga.org/Themes/default/images/gpbp_arrow_up.gif)

Finally (http://ourl.ca/19500), we made you discover this new hardware.


HW-J calculators reported to us so far had the "P-0313J" or "P-0413J" datestamps on the back at the right of the serial. This meant that they were manufactured in China in March and April 2013.

The Ndless/Nlaunch community hasn't even been able yet to understand exactly which change in the new hardware was responsible for the 3.1 incompatibility, that Texas Instruments has already released a new hardware version, hardware revision K which was reported today on the TI-Planet chat. The "P-0613K" on the back shows us it was manufactured in june 2013.

We don't know yet if HW-K is a minor HW-J revision, or if new protections were added. In their sudden race for the closure and the safety of the TI-Nspire CX it's very likely that Texas Instruments did add some another additional protection again, just to be sure that Ndless and Nlaunch will never come back.
(http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=thumbnail&image_id=2877) (http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image_page.php?image_id=2877) (http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=thumbnail&image_id=2878) (http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image_page.php?image_id=2878) (http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image.php?mode=thumbnail&image_id=2876) (http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image_page.php?image_id=2876)



Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12913&lang=en
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 03, 2013, 06:09:44 pm
That seems suspicious, unless hardware J had some defect and they are releasing an update quick >.<.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Sorunome on September 03, 2013, 06:14:48 pm
Wow, they did indeed release new hardware versions quickley/me suspects a bug in HW J
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: lkj on September 03, 2013, 06:25:59 pm
A new hardware revision every few months seems quite normal for the CX: after about 3 years we're already at revision K.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 03, 2013, 06:43:49 pm
It may seem normal yes, and all hardware revisions A-I didn't seem to change anything for the end user.

But if you replace this in the current context, after the big surprise in hardware revision J, it's normal to wonder what kind of other similar surprise might have been packaged with hardware revision K, in case of the Ndless-team managing to deal with hardware revision J.

And in the same logic, I'm starting to fear what's going to come with the next 3.6 OS.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Roboman on September 04, 2013, 08:33:18 am
Why does TI even hate Ndless so much anyways?  Doesn't that make more people buy Nspires and earn them more money? :(
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Lionel Debroux on September 04, 2013, 08:38:27 am
Quote
Doesn't that make more people buy Nspires and earn them more money? :(
This line of thinking, shared by pretty much everyone in the open development community, is a sign of being reasonable, thoughtful and paying attention to history and basic common sense :)
Sadly, the fact is that standardized testing regulation authorities in multiple important countries, and TI EdTech's top-level management, are lacking common sense.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Adriweb on September 04, 2013, 08:47:37 am
Well apparently it's the common thing now that we can only be sad about : none of the recent new big calcs (HP Prime, Casio fx-CP400) offer native coding capabilities. The Nspires were just a bit ahead of their time, I guess ; maybe since TI is the major seller in the US.
It's mainly because the exam institutions require them to lock down the device (or at least make it very safe), and well, TI/HP/Casio just go the hard way by not providing native access on top of PTT.
Especially when we're talking about their flagship product : they certainly don't want troubles with the exam institutions arguing wethere the platform is very secure or not... (and not only that, but they want to keep their main customers (teachers/schools) in trust, saying that protections are effective etc.

We can see the "quick" reaction after nlaunch, and we continue to witness its extent even these days (OS 3.2.4 with now boot2, new HW revisions blocking exploits upstream (since boot2 etc. can't be downgraded) )


And also, I wouldn't think of native programming capability as an sole argument of selling (like "I want to program in ASM so I'll buy a 84+"), but more of a bonus to a choice when buying (like "I'd prefer buying this calc over this one because there is also native coding capabilities"). And since TI customers (more than 99.99%) are not native coders, they (TI) strictly don't care about it.



Edit : by "exam institutions" I mean "standardized testing regulation authorities", thanks Lionel :D
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Streetwalrus on September 04, 2013, 08:51:42 am
Sadly, the fact is that standardized testing regulation authorities in multiple important countries
IMO as long as PTT exists and noone tries to hack it they are OK with Ndless (unless someone tries to bring a non-CAS calc with nLaunch to have a CAS OS).

and TI EdTech's top-level management, are lacking common sense.
For these stupid guys I do agree. :P
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 09:03:07 am
Sadly, the fact is that standardized testing regulation authorities in multiple important countries
IMO as long as PTT exists and noone tries to hack it they are OK with Ndless (unless someone tries to bring a non-CAS calc with nLaunch to have a CAS OS).

PTT hacking tools released on Omnimaga were immediately moderated.
And I'm sure TI knows about that. So if that's what we get as a thanks...

As far as I know, PTT hacks are currently only available on cncalc.org for registered users with several posts (else, you can't download). And of course, only if you manage to find them in chinese...


Nlaunch purpose was not to bring CAS on non-CAS, but to have Linux and to be able to use Ndless together with OS 3.2. We didn't encourage other uses and nor did the ReadMe.
Who's responsible for fixing Ndless flaws in OS 3.2 ?...
If Ndless could have been easily installed on OS 3.2, would Nlaunch even have existed?...

By permanently fighting against Ndless, they just make people release more and more important hacks.
So, either HW-J/K + OS 3.2.4/3.6 is perfectly secure and TI has allready won the war they've just started...
Either the next hack is going to be a big nightmare for them.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Adriweb on September 04, 2013, 09:14:04 am
Also, giving the source of the crucial parts of ndless and nlaunch is making the life easy for TI, I think.
I guess it'd be better if those parts should be only accessible by community members who actually need them for [whatever] purpose.
Of course it's not something that can stop TI's security team, but it would largely make fixes take longer to release for them


Edit : typo
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 09:29:51 am
So you want the next exploit to be released only as a binary?


Ndless sources have been useful for user contributions, and there has been many of them.

Nlaunch sources were useful in order for us to maintain and slightly improve the tool - remember that the "Nlaunch team" and/or "Nlaunch guy" never came back.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Adriweb on September 04, 2013, 09:31:35 am
So you want the next exploit to be released only as a binary?

I said "crucial parts" ;)
(So, pretty much the exploit(s), I guess)
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 09:37:39 am
If some of us are able to dissassemble the huge OS/Boot2, TI guys should perfectly be able to disassemble our small tools.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Adriweb on September 04, 2013, 09:43:32 am
Perfectly , it's why I said it just would take longer for them to know what/how to fix, which can lead to more survival time for ndless, nlaunch, linux etc.



Edit:  phone typo grrr
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 11:12:26 am
Actually, releasing an exploit in "binary" is senseless as almost every exploit is a binary. In case of nlaunch, it's (IIRC) a hand-crafted tcc-header. Obfuscation in any kind is senseless as the exploit part has to stay the same. Analysing which bug makes an exploit successful is as easy as comparing a normal binary with the exploit and maybe running the code with a breakpoint at the particular code line which loads the exploiting part. But explanations, how it works, should be hidden and maybe even removed.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 11:55:18 am
The issue with lack of source code, though, is if the Ndless developers suddenly become way too busy or lose Internet access completely, preventing them from working on it again nor giving the source code to someone else to take over, then nobody else can take over. I doubt the current team would do that, but life is unpredictable sometimes. We all saw in the past what happened to many projects (especially for the TI-83 Plus) that had no source available after the author vanished off the face of the Earth. However, I would be curious about how many connections to Ndless servers are done by TI.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Lionel Debroux on September 04, 2013, 12:30:39 pm
Lack of source code for Ndless, nLaunch and suchlike tools would indeed not be much of an impediment for TI. It makes little sense to make those even partially closed-source.

Quote
But explanations, how it works, should be hidden and maybe even removed.
That's what the author(s) of nLaunch did: the source code does not explain what any of the patches do. For adding CM OS support to nLaunchy, I reverse-engineered several of the patches, to find out what to patch (it was a filename), so as to be able to efficiently find the same data in other OS versions. Not that it was hard.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: compu on September 04, 2013, 01:30:38 pm
As far as I know, PTT hacks are currently only available on cncalc.org for registered users with several posts (else, you can't download). And of course, only if you manage to find them in chinese...
Well, PTTcopier is still available and findable with a simple google search.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 01:33:54 pm
So easily?... :o
Ok, then TI is right if Ndless PTT hacking tools haven't disappeared and can be found so easily with Google - we can't complain... :(
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Lionel Debroux on September 04, 2013, 01:46:18 pm
Of course we can complain. Tools which can be directly or indirectly used to attack their business model exist only because they're consistently behaving as worsening pricks against us programmers and users (all of them were released after, and presumably as a consequence of, the announced vulnerability fix in OS 3.2). TI EdTech has no business crossing our freedom to tinker.

The PTT is indeed "laughably insecure and extremely easy to beat". On the one side, TI EdTech should be ashamed, both for making ineffective so-called protections and for daring to present such ineffective crap to standardized testing regulation authorities using "hardware secure" and similar void bullshit talk. On the other side, regulators should be ashamed of their own bloody incompetence, both for making silly exams and for letting companies lie to them so blatantly...
Title: Re: Re: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 05:19:02 pm
So easily?... :o
Ok, then TI is right if Ndless PTT hacking tools haven't disappeared and can be found so easily with Google - we can't complain... :(
in our defense, those tools were made after TI locked the Nspire down and tried to prevent downgrading Z80 models, partially as an act of revenge against TI's actions. I am fairly sure that similar tools will take much longer to arrive on the HP Prime or if the PRIZM gets a teacher mode but still unofficially allows ASM/C, simply because the community won't be as angry against them.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 05:24:12 pm
I hope we can get someone like anonymous to f*** up TI's website. But that's not what I am commenting about.
My nspire cx cas says "P-02131" on the back. What hardware revision is that?
And didn't extended mention in one of his posts (@ ndlessly.wordpress.com) that ndless may be possible through lua?
Also, as long as an nspire has a serial port, it should be hackable right? I don't know much about nspires, but couldn't a new version of ndless be made as a modified boot2 (send to your nspire through serial port)?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Jim Bauwens on September 04, 2013, 05:27:04 pm
No, the boot2 is also signed by a private key. It is therefore only possible to use official boot2's. Ndless might indeed be possibly by exploiting bugs in the Lua framework, but those bugs have to be uncovered/found first before that can happen. Bugs that can be exploited and that can result into execution of custom code are very rare. That's the reason why Ndless 3.1 took such a long time to be released in the first place.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 05:31:06 pm
I hope we can get someone like anonymous to f*** up TI's website. But that's not what I am commenting about.
My nspire cx cas says "P-02131" on the back. What hardware revision is that?

Hi.

Your datestamp is probably "P-0213I" - you've got hardware revision I, the one before the evil hardware revision J.

It would be nice to check if you can install Ndless on it ;)

And didn't extended mention in one of his posts (@ ndlessly.wordpress.com) that ndless may be possible through lua?

Ndless can be used from Lua programs, but it has to be installed first.


Also, as long as an nspire has a serial port, it should be hackable right? I don't know much about nspires, but couldn't a new version of ndless be made as a modified boot2 (send to your nspire through serial port)?
We thought so and were wrong.
For Ndless (and Nlaunch), we need Boot2 and OS versions 3.1.
And versions 3.1 just don't run properly on hardware revision J, K and above (we don't know about hardware revision I yet).
A modified Boot2 is going to be rejected by the Boot1.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 05:32:11 pm
If you find a bug which results in the nspire doing weird things (crashing, displaying crap) or something similiar, report it, please ;)
The serial port is nice to have and absolutely necessary to rescue a calculator with broken diags or boot2 which can both (?) be deleted with keyboard commands. So there's almost no chance in TI removing the uart :)
The possibility to upgrade the OS means they have to expose the binary to the public and it is always possible to decrypt it.
Hardest thing is to find bugs in the disassembled code and exploit them.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 05:42:23 pm
My normal nspire (grayscale) boots the TI-Nspire OS when I am using the TI-84+ keypad. I have to remove the keypad multiple times for it to boot correctly. But, I am running os 3.1 on my normal nspire. Some guy mentioned in a post that his friend's nspire cx screen would turn upside down.
EDIT:
Could an ndless 3.1 program be made to downgrade another calc through the mini usb cable?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 05:43:58 pm
Hardware faults, not reproducable on every calc.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 05:50:58 pm
Does OS 3.2.6 fit in the TI-Nspire CX/CX CAS memory, by the way?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 05:53:47 pm
If it doesn't, it wouldn't run :P
The CX has 64 MiB of SDRAM, so that's enough even for Windows 95 ;)
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 05:58:49 pm
But... but... according to this graph: :P

(http://i33.servimg.com/u/f33/13/23/13/53/oscasg11.gif)

OS 3.2 should be 4 times larger than 2.1 and 4.4 should be 4 times larger than 3.2 O.O
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 05:59:34 pm
Well, in a situation like this, there are two things that people can do:
1. Hack or
2. Boycott

TI and Apple should become partner companies; they both make stupid decisions regarding their products.
And even though Apple has no reason for what they do, TI doesn't have a good enough reason. "Our calculators must be test safe..blah blah blah." "Teachers don't like calculator games blah blah blah (F*ck all teachers like this)." "We don't  want you to run CAS on a non-CAS nspire blah blah blah." Even though this may be true (I am one of the people who is running CAS on a non-CAS nspire, on my grayscale nspire), why would you spend a bunch of money on two different calc models when you could just advance the ones you already have?

BTW, I am running OS 3.3.0.538 on my nspire CAS, with boot2 3.2.4.5. Could I downgrade my boot2 through RS232 and then use nlaunch CX?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:03:30 pm
If it's the correct HW revision, you definitely can.

And even 4*size of 2.1 = 35.32 would still fit into the memory.
With OS 4.4 it's time for swap, but still, no problem. 4*35.32 = 141.28 MB, a bit too large, but with compression and decompression on-the-fly still feasible.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 06:12:02 pm
If TI makes games (or at least used to), why do they go through so much trouble to prevent them? (ex. TI Invaders for the TI-99)
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:13:31 pm
The TI-99 was a home computer, so that's a totally different business.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 06:17:58 pm
What language is the TI-Nspire student software written in? I'm trying to decompile it, but without success.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:18:30 pm
Java, mostly.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 06:19:31 pm
BTW, I am running OS 3.3.0.538 on my nspire CAS, with boot2 3.2.4.5. Could I downgrade my boot2 through RS232 and then use nlaunch CX?

What's your hardware revision?

If it's not J, K or something newer, you should be able to downgrade the Boot2 to 3.1 through RS232, and then install Nlaunch.

Boot2 3.2.4.5 is something new for us by the way.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 06:20:13 pm
Well, if TI ever went too far and Omnimaga admins wanted to take action (like I considered doing in 2011), they could always sacrifice some site space just above OmnomIRC by putting an ad-line banner there that would say in big letter (with a lock around the Nspire and various alternatives) "TI-Nspire updates harms your freedom. Do not buy new, do not update! Click this banner to learn why and how to support the future of the TI community". Along with that, any future programming contest could maybe just feature non-Nspire products (unless Ndlessable) as prizes.

The banner would link to a topic that lists alternatives and solutions, such as buying their Nspire on Ebay (used, making sure it's an older production model with OS 3.1 or lower), getting a Z80 or 68K model instead or even a Casio model. The banner should also contain a Facebook share, Reddit, Google+ and retweet buttons with a message encouraging people to spread the word.

This wouldn't be an anti-TI boycott, but rather a boycott against TI-Nspire updates, although it would put an heavy emphasis on the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, TI-89 Titanium (which has a CAS), HP Prime (same) and Casio PRIZM, as well as cheaper models such as the TI-83 Plus and FX-9860GII.
If TI makes games (or at least used to), why do they go through so much trouble to prevent them? (ex. TI Invaders for the TI-99)
They don't try to prevent games, but rather cheating tools such as PTTKiller, but by doing so, they pretty much harms the entire development community. Also they might not realize it, but some students learned programming with a calculator, since they had limited computer access when they were young or it was too complicated. By locking the Nspire down, TI severely limits those kids' chances to learn programming to its full potential. BASIC on that calc is extremely limited when it comes to interfaces and interactivity and Lua isn't as accessible if you have no computer to grab an on-calc Lua editor from.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:22:01 pm
Most people (I, at least) got an nspire because they had to buy one. So boycott wouldn't work.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 06:22:52 pm
Heheheh... i just found some jar files in the student software directory. I'm going to open them to see what I can find...
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:23:47 pm
Much stuff.
Nothing interesting, mostly boring interfaces to dlls. What do you expect?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 06:26:47 pm
Could the jar files be modded (Kinda like minecraft.jar)?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 06:27:40 pm
Most people (I, at least) got an nspire because they had to buy one. So boycott wouldn't work.
They could simply argue with their school (or get their parents to) that the Nspire is just too expensive and that the TI-84 Plus can do the job as well for the most part (as it did before the Nspire came out). And if the school lends TI-Nspires as an alternative, then there's still a brand new Nspire that the student will not be buying, since he'll be using an used model instead. Also apparently some people saw plenty of 82/83/83+ users in their schools. Also, if TI decided to get every school to switch to the Nspire, then why did they just release a new color TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition and why are they still selling older models?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:30:16 pm
Of course you can mod the .jars quite easily but what would you want to do?

Our school only supports nspire (CX) CAS calcs. But it's your choice how to get them.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 06:31:10 pm
Does your school flat out bans other calc models from classes or do they just force students to use one in class without necessarily having to buy one?
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 06:33:55 pm
When sending an old os to the nspire, what causes it to be rejected? The software or the nspire itself? It's probably the nspire, but just making sure.
Also, the annoying upgrade message could be removed, and the force update option could be also.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:34:45 pm
In grade 9 we can choose whether we want to make Math-Abitur with or without CAS.
It also states something like "The calculator which is going to be used is an Nspire CX CAS or older model".
I don't know if it is allowed to use other calculators, but the nspire CAS is the most powerful and feature rich (yet), so it would be stupid not to use it.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: njaddison on September 04, 2013, 06:36:12 pm
Uhh.. there is always the TI-89 Titanium! CAS and no battles with TI either!
Although the nspire may be the newest and have the newest features, using a TI-89 could get around the CAS problem.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:37:32 pm
The nspire CAS is cheaper here..
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 06:39:53 pm
In grade 9 we can choose whether we want to make Math-Abitur with or without CAS.
It also states something like "The calculator which is going to be used is an Nspire CX CAS or older model".
I don't know if it is allowed to use other calculators, but the nspire CAS is the most powerful and feature rich (yet), so it would be stupid not to use it.
Well, if it states "older model", then this pretty much means any older model from 1990 until today, so you could argue that you didn't have enough money to afford a TI-Nspire CX and bought a TI-92 instead :P.

And yeah it's a shame that the 89T is so expensive compared to the Nspire CX (although over here it's way cheaper than the CAS now).
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 06:44:08 pm
When sending an old os to the nspire, what causes it to be rejected? The software or the nspire itself? It's probably the nspire, but just making sure.

It's the Nspire, yes.
 
Also, the annoying upgrade message could be removed, and the force update option could be also.

So we're back to a modified Boot2 image, which will be rejected by the Boot1.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 06:46:45 pm
I (or rather my parents) payed 108€ for the calculator and 140€ overall with 60 Months extended warranty, case, power supply, handbook, and student software.
We can also lend for 20€ per year an old nspire cas clickpad if a new model is too expensive or we don't want it. For obvious reasons I chose otherwise ;)
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on September 04, 2013, 06:52:26 pm
My main gripe about school forcing TI-Nspires, though, is that they also force students to upgrade their calcs to be allowed in class. I don't know if it's your case, Vogtinator, but in United States, certain schools do that. Of course I still like some of the Nspire functions and playing games on it, but it will never get upgraded further than 3.1 and if I ever decided to return to school, where Nspires are required, I assure you that I would never bring my own CX calc to the class. I wouldn't mind doing so with my Clickpad model, though.

Also, one thing I noticed is that certain people who got TI-Nspires or Casio PRIZM calc sometimes end up buying a TI-84 Plus later to start Axe Parser programming.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 07:01:13 pm
Oh, at my school most teachers don't even know that the PTT mode exists.
The older clickpads don't even have an LED and also don't have a PTT mode (?).
My math teacher was quite surprised after I showed him my calculator playing music over the speakers we have in every classroom and he doesn't even care about the wires I soldered onto the dock connector.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Adriweb on September 04, 2013, 07:18:35 pm
Oh, at my school most teachers don't even know that the PTT mode exists.
Yeah, like probably most teachers outside of USA actually :P

The older clickpads don't even have an LED and also don't have a PTT mode (?).
The CAS Clickpads don't have LEDs, and the OSes < 2.0 didn't have the PPT mode yet IIRC.

My math teacher was quite surprised after I showed him my calculator playing music over the speakers we have in every classroom and he doesn't even care about the wires I soldered onto the dock connector.
Eh :P
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Vogtinator on September 04, 2013, 07:21:08 pm
No, it's OS 3.2, actually. 3D Graphs worked, but holding ESC + on didn't do anything. After the second try I gave up.

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My math teacher was quite surprised after I showed him my calculator playing music over the speakers we have in every classroom and he doesn't even care about the wires I soldered onto the dock connector.
Eh :P
He calls me DJ now ;)
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: critor on September 04, 2013, 07:21:52 pm
PTT was already there on OS 1.3, Adriweb.

Remember, when we were exiting the PTT mode, the LED wasn't relocked properly and could be taken control of via Ndless programs.
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: Adriweb on September 05, 2013, 07:22:12 am
Oops I got confused with that presentation : http://www.covenantchristian.org/bird/TTT/NspireCalc/PressToTest.ppt  It was showing "2.0" etc. :P
(it's the one saying the leds are "hardware-secure"...)
Title: Re: New TI-Nspire CX hardware revision K
Post by: floris497 on September 08, 2013, 05:08:31 am
Looking trough the pictures That the new boards contain the RU logo
(http://f.cl.ly/items/130E0d1k3C1Z1t3e1G0S/cert_ru.gif)

does that mean something?