TI bans community calculator emulation

[blue_bear_94]

Hey, flyingfisch, you have a banner similar to mine!
On topic, fuck.
I'll have to buy a Casio Prizm and program some C on that, instead of my TI-89 Titanium. I simply cannot let TI get away with saying this.
But I'm a UCCP member, so I don't give a damn on what TI says. Actually, I can use TIEmu with PedROM and I won't be breaking TI's EULA.

[critor]

Is this really a new addition to TI's legal agreement? I could have sworn I read that same line like 8 years ago when I downloaded an OS for my TI-89.

Was a little harder, but this time I found back the old english EULA on the web archives.

June 2012:

TEXAS INSTRUMENTS APP SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT
By downloading the software and/or documentation you agree to abide by the following provisions.
License: Subject to your payment of any applicable license fee, Texas Instruments Incorporated ("TI") grants you a license to copy and use the software program(s) and documentation from the linked web page or CD ROM ("Licensed Materials"). In addition to the copy resident on your calculator, you may keep a copy on your computer for backup / archive purposes.
Restrictions: You may not reverse-assemble or reverse-compile the software program portion of the Licensed Materials that are provided in object code format. You may not sell, rent or lease copies of the Licensed Materials.
[...]

No mention of emulators.

Complete EULA here -> http://web.archive.org/web/20120626143305/http://education.ti.com/calculators/downloads/US/Software/Detail?id=6014&ref=/calculators/downloads/US/Software/Search/Results?cp%3D2%23view-1

So they did change this in the last 6 months.

[flyingfisch]

Hey, flyingfisch, you have a banner similar to mine!
[...]
I'll have to buy a Casio Prizm and program some C on that, instead of my TI-89 Titanium. I simply cannot let TI get away with saying this.

Yep, the 84C is nothing but over-rated junk.


Also, you should buy a PRIZM... soon

On topic, please note that casio even lets you have a free trial version of their emulators.

[blue_bear_94]

I made something small for this catastrophe. And sure, I'll play the sound and get my parents to let me buy a Prizm.
Alarm

[Adriweb]

@Critor : nice find.

@flyingfisch (& blue_bear_94 while I'm at it) :
If you're here to bash nonsensely and uselessly the 84C, just go do that away, since


Do I have to remind that I too can proclame that the Prizm is "nothing but overrated junk" ? Let's take a look at this device you seem to overly love :
Let me compare it to another device which share pretty much the same price and can actually be compared with it : the TI-Nspire CX (non-CAS, otherwise the CAS would be just way too above for the prizm) :

 

(and that's just one of many, many things a lot of people could argue about)

I don't have more time to spen on stupid arguments like this anyway now, but yeah let's stop this and get back on topic.

[flyingfisch]

[...]
I don't have more time to spen on stupid arguments like this anyway now, but yeah let's stop this and get back on topic.

Ok, but before that happens, I want to add that you are comparing apples to oranges. The nspire is not really a fair contestant to the prizm, just like the b&w nspire wasn't a true contestant to the fx9860. The TI-84 was.

Also, here is a great reason why the prizm beats the nspire: http://www.cemetech.net/news.php?id=443

[AngelFish]

I'd highly recommend that everyone calm down before this gets out of hand and I have to hit the fluffy pink LockThread button

Whatever your feelings of <insert device name here> and its manufacturer, discuss them as you might the weather.

[blue_bear_94]

Actually, the Nspire CX costs more. And at least Casio isn't actively trying us to stop programming.

Also, I wasn't bashing about the 84C. I was just mentioning that FF had a banner not too different from mine.

[flyingfisch]

Whatever your feelings of <insert device name here> and its manufacturer, discuss them as you might the weather.

agreed. I didn't mean to start a fight here, sorry.

[thepenguin77]

Well, I'll just add my little bit and say that you can't use an emulator on a math test. So I can't see students going their entire student career without buying a physical calculator.

[flyingfisch]

Well, I'll just add my little bit and say that you can't use an emulator on a math test. So I can't see students going their entire student career without buying a physical calculator.

TI's just touching all the bases, thats all. Don't want anyone to get hooked with the emulator and buy the real thing, you know what I mean?

[ben_g]

If TI is going to ban the jsTIfied, I think we can set up a server in P.R.China

If that's ever going to happen (I doubt it....), we can actually say that jsTIfied is 'just' a z80 emulator that happens to emulate TI z80 calculator quite well... After all, it's up to anybody useing it that TI can be angry at, not a service provinding legal emulation which doesn't host anything of TI.

If they complain abouth jsTIfied, jsTIfied can just be made so it doesn't look like a ti-83 anymore. Emulating devices is not against the law, and when everything that references to TI is stripped from it, they have no reason to complain.

Also, I don't know abouth the american law, but according to the Belgian law, You are free to use copyrighted software in any way, if
1) You have legaly bought or obtained the software
2) You do not share or distribute the software in any way, in modified or unmodified form, unless you have permission from the author.

Nothing that forbids you from using it with an emulator. The worst TI could do is not letting you download their OS from their website. Dumping the ROM yourself and using that in an emulator should always be possible.

[Stefan Bauwens]

Okay.
An obvious reason seems to me that TI somehow is feeling that they're selling less calculators due to some emulators. I believe that people will effectively rather download a ROM illegally and use an emulator(without planning on buying one).

Therefore they decide to make there own limited emulators, so people still will buy the physical calculator too.
It's quite clear why they decided to do this and it's there complete right. If you want to use a ROM image, use your own calc so ou don't have to submit to this.
It defenitly isn't the end of the calculator emulators, like some people seem to think.

Also, it's wrong to, because of this, start saying bad things about the Ti-84C which may not be the best calculator. Therefore I will not put such banners in my signature.

It's sad that TI decided to do this, and perhaps they better should instead not allow OS/rom free for download for anyone, but ask for you to put a file on your calc that will return a code that's somehow linked with you'r calcs ID or something, which you then fill in on TI's website to check if you effectively have a calc.
(Ofcourse, that probably could be tricked)

[flyingfisch]

Also, it's wrong to, because of this, start saying bad things about the Ti-84C which may not be the best calculator. Therefore I will not put such banners in my signature.

Its not because of this. I was going to do that a few days ago.

no offence, please.

[ben_g]

I think the main reason they don't do that is because the codes can easily be shared trough the internet. Also, iirc the ID/serial numbers follow each other. This also allows easy cheating.