Just like the TI-Nspire OS 3.6 had been found on the Texas Instruments website
seven weeks ago, the TI-Nspire softwares 3.6 have just been discovered and this suggests that we are getting closer and closer to the official release of version 3.6 !
Their version number is 3.6.0.546 , exactly the same as the OS version. So it seems that the found OS was really the one intended for the release and we do not know the reason for this period of 7 weeks.If you have already specified license number to use the TI-Nspire software on your computer, it will automatically be recovered during the update. If you were in the evaluation period, it is not reset and will go on unaltered.
]Note that you can combine several evaluation periods without a license on one computer for up to 300 days (10 months), by sucessively installing and using different editions of the TI-Nspire software. But this means you musn't not install/launch the new edition before the former edition evaluation period has expired:
- TI-Nspire CAS Teacher Software (90 days)
- TI-Nspire CAS Student Software (30 days)
- TI- Nspire CAS Teacher Software Navigator (30 days)
- TI-Nspire Teacher Software (90 days)
- TI-Nspire Student Software (30 days)
- TI-Nspire Navigator Teacher Software (30 days)
Beware, it has not been well explored so far, but if you update your software to version 3.6, it is possible that some documents you are going to create with it in the future will no longer be usable with the the old 3.1 and 3.2 OSes.In a
previous news, we noticed that TI-Nspire units running OS 3.6 were unable to connect to a TI-Navigator wireless network managed by the TI-Nspire Navigator 3.2 software.
We assumed that it was either a bug in the OS, or that there had been some changes in the witeless protocol with version 3.6.
The changes have now been officially confirmed by TI. If you use a TI-Navigator wireless network, they advise you to update the calculators with OS 3.6 before updating the TI-Nspire Navigator software to version 3.6.
If you don't comply with this, wireless connectivity will be permanently lost and calculators will all have to be connected one after the other in USB in order to be updated to 3.6 and to get back the wireless connectivity. The TI-Nspire Navigator 3.6 is also prompting you for this on its first launch:
The TI-Nspire Navigator 3.6 software also comes with a new firmware 3.6.0.19 for the TI-Nspire Navigator access Point and makes you install it on its first launch. Fortunately, in practice this does not appear to affect the ability of the access point to communicate with TI-Nspire handhelds running OSes 3.1 and 3.2 with the TI-Nspire Navigator 3.2 software.
Let's sum up the problem :
- TI-Nspire calculators running OSes 3.1 or 3.2 can not communicate properly with the TI-Nspire Navigator 3.6 software
- TI-Nspire calculators running OS 3.6 can not communicate properly with the TI-Nspire Navigator 3.2 software
In both cases, the wireless network status on the handheld gets stuck in the following state:
For schools using a set of calculators belonging to them, it's just a simple matter of choice.
For the teacher who accepts on his TI-Nspire Navigator wireless network the personal calculators of his students, this change is extremely problematic. In fact:
- if he's using the TI-Nspire Navigator 3.2 software, he will have to forbit his students to install OS 3.6 on their own calculators
- if he's using the TI-Nspire Navigator 3.6 software, he will have to force his students to install OS 3.6 on their own calculators...
In the absence of apparent new features or a noticeable hacking interest for such networks, we may wonder about the reasons for a sudden change in the wireless network protocol, and if it is not rather a pretext to force massive updates to OS 3.6.
Source: http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13525&p=153481&lang=enDownloads: (each edition of TI- Nspire software contains two versions of the software, CAS and non-CAS, each with separate and independent evaluation periods which will start on the first launch of its version)
