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Author Topic: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless  (Read 32722 times)

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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« on: May 29, 2014, 03:31:22 pm »
TI-Nspire OS 3.9 is now available on Texas Instruments servers, although since the release date is set to June 4th, it is not listed yet on their official website. Version number dates from May 16th and is 3.9.0.461. It is 10 KB larger than OS 3.6, meaning that it should not be a big issue for people concerned about space.

However, it blocks downgrades to OS 3.6, as well as Ndless, so do not upgrade if you still plan to use Ndless in the future!

According to TI-Planet and the T3-Europe website, this OS update, despite the high version jump, seems more like a minor update on the functionality end, but a major security update, meaning that it might have been released mainly to block Ndless, something common from TI-Nspire OS updates. It is unclear if the bugs present in OS 3.6 (some of which have been around for several years) have been fixed.

It is also unclear yet if the older Nspire CX hardware A through I can still circumvent the anti-downgrade protection by flashing Boot2 3.1 or using nLaunchy, so even if you have an older model, you should still wait before upgrading in case.

If you do not plan to use Ndless programs such as nDoom, Nover, nGL, Crafti, the Game Boy and NES emulators or many more advanced softwares, then here are the download links:

OS TI-Nspire CX CAS 3.9.0.461
OS TI-Nspire CX 3.9.0.461
OS TI-Nspire CAS 3.9.0.461
OS TI-Nspire 3.9.0.461

Remember that when a new TI-Nspire OS comes out, it can take nearly a year before a compatible Ndless version comes out for it and such Ndless release is quickly followed by yet another TI-Nspire OS update by Texas Instruments, so if you upgrade now, it might take a very long while, if not forever, before you can install Ndless again.

Recently, the HP Prime firmware also got updated, fixing many issues and adding some features. While ASM and C are not yet possible on the HP Prime, it appears that the calculator has little protection against third-party hacks and it looks more open than the TI-Nspire CX. It can be a nice alternative for those who wants more freedom for programming. However, the HP Prime has its share of bugs too (although the calculator is fairly recent) and misses some features important for math and science outside North America.


Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=163953
http://www.t3europe.eu/resources/product-information/ns-39/
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=163894
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=163776
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #1 on: May 29, 2014, 05:08:24 pm »
That sucks.
* Streetwalrus slaps TI
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Offline bb010g

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #2 on: May 29, 2014, 06:31:46 pm »
Has anyone successfully decompiled/analyzed the Nspire firmware/OS? I wonder what exactly they changed (besides Ndless blocking).
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Offline CalebHansberry

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2014, 12:54:56 am »
TI is acting so horrible when it comes to the Nspire.
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Offline Springyboy

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #4 on: May 30, 2014, 01:53:33 am »
Quote from: bb010g on May 29, 2014, 06:31:46 pm
Has anyone successfully decompiled/analyzed the Nspire firmware/OS? I wonder what exactly they changed (besides Ndless blocking).

There's new boot2 files look here:
3.6.0
3.40.0
 
TI-Nspire.img
8E7C572BF2CE821B9DEDC7EC9B59A07B3FA65ECF69C47162421BEA1EBC69CD8F
 
TI-Nspire.cer
BC46F26A6CDE35371652E56E484A47D21BD4D0174E24CDE495183899BADE79CC
 
samples.zip
85F3B663C501CCFCD86E4F173AB52B3FA3A43F8729D457ECACCBFC42EEA8FD06
 
boot2.img
30A8567643707B21457E91388A37053853CE9B444BD8D2D1277D8247CBB95AD0
 
boot2.cer
4FA74D4E90648FDEB22C69084DFBC7789C5DB0764A5602325CB4796A4416ABD5
 
boot2.dat
F91A58FE1A2107DA6A472277E6DCD377D2AB796D73894B3A2DC0DDA4517AF4BA
 
 

and now:

3.9.0
3.40.0
 
TI-Nspire.img
F23789D2FEA30D907D7BAD6532BD0D6DAB3B992101EBDF6BBB7858F3C91DE21C
 
TI-Nspire.cer
BC46F26A6CDE35371652E56E484A47D21BD4D0174E24CDE495183899BADE79CC
 
samples.zip
4A9CE92F75659347E7F8EACE30FCA930E5376C7BC35C20EC0F94F580E68B58C9
 
boot2.img
30A8567643707B21457E91388A37053853CE9B444BD8D2D1277D8247CBB95AD0
 
boot2.cer
4FA74D4E90648FDEB22C69084DFBC7789C5DB0764A5602325CB4796A4416ABD5
 
boot2.dat
B9E9C409243EBFBE16C0D53CF21E517AE5C117FD484F99C797DC22DB6F8AA3DE
 

 
« Last Edit: May 30, 2014, 02:26:02 am by Springyboy »
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Offline ACagliano

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2014, 08:19:49 pm »
Why does it seem like TI spends so much more time and effort (and money) waging war on the community, than actually putting out a good product?
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Offline bb010g

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #6 on: June 02, 2014, 08:24:40 pm »
Quote from: ACagliano on June 02, 2014, 08:19:49 pm
Why does it seem like TI spends so much more time and effort (and money) waging war on the community, than actually putting out a good product?
Because they're in bed with textbook manufacturers and hyperparanoid schools/teachers.
Ninja edit: TI markets their calculators almost exclusively to the educational market (high school & college). A company like HP is focused mainly on engineers and what they'd like to use, which means stuff that doesn't suck and that they trust them to be responsible for what they do, even if they break their calc. Casio isn't big enough to afford assulting their community (AFAIK, but I'm not French). TI panders to the teachers who think that they shouldn't be responsible for ensuring the morality of their students on tests, which they really shouldn't be completely obligated to, but they should have to do a bit more on a suspect student than check to see if the CAS appears or if the reset screen shows (like try 2*x or look at the programs/apps). I know its a bit more work, but it doesn't kill the potential of those interesting in hacking their calcs.
« Last Edit: June 02, 2014, 08:30:37 pm by bb010g »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #7 on: June 02, 2014, 11:19:01 pm »
Actually HP is more aimed towards students now with the HP Prime. A lot of engineers are not happy about that move in fact. Casio is very popular in France but more open to third-party dev. TI just no longer want to give the community a chance, but the issue is that when they spend time blocking Ndless, they don't fix Nspire bugs.
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2014, 04:08:09 am »
Did they even try to fix or improve anything with the Nspire in the past ? AFAIK, it's been locked down since day 1.
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Offline JosJuice

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2014, 11:32:04 am »
Quote from: Streetwalrus on June 03, 2014, 04:08:09 am
Did they even try to fix or improve anything with the Nspire in the past ? AFAIK, it's been locked down since day 1.
The addition of Lua was a pretty big improvement over the Nspire's TI-BASIC. Their stance on native code hasn't changed, though.
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2014, 11:59:40 am »
What I mean is, there is not much that is seriously being worked on besides lua and security which is absolutely stupid because the primary functionality of a calculator is being forgotten. :/
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Offline Adriweb

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #11 on: June 03, 2014, 04:14:50 pm »
What you're also forgetting, here, is the amount of work/effort put into classroom setups with all the associated software (and hardware, in fact).
Most people [or at least, students, outside of the USA] don't know/realize that but it's actually huge in their business. (as it's been said, schools and teachers are their main targets (often the same target, in fact), so they develop solutions for their need, and tailored for what the tests organizations / exam boards "want". Wheter what these organizations do is bad or good, well, it's not the point here :P)
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #12 on: June 03, 2014, 04:18:25 pm »
Because vnc for calcs is actually useful ? Sorry, my hardware is mine, nobody touches it. Even remotely.
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Offline Adriweb

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #13 on: June 03, 2014, 04:26:39 pm »
Quote from: Streetwalrus on June 03, 2014, 04:18:25 pm
Because vnc for calcs is actually useful ? Sorry, my hardware is mine, nobody touches it. Even remotely.
Do you mean nRemotely ? :P

Joking aside, that's probably because you're not in a school where not only the calc is not yours but the teacher has extensive activities/courses made for the calc.
You don't get to decide whether/how your calc is managed by the teacher ;)

And anyway, you don't seem to know what the features are. Remote control is actually a debug thing, not at all what the teachers do/use in classroom setups.

I'm not a US student, but I'm pretty sure it would have been funner sometimes than with pretty much no calc stuff at all suring my high school years (well, that was several years ago, too, so...)
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Offline Streetwalrus

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Re: Nspire 3.9 available, blocks 3.6+Ndless
« Reply #14 on: June 03, 2014, 04:28:54 pm »
Are there schools where you can't bring your own calc there ? Also, in such a case (lent calculators), I'm OK with that I guess.
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