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Author Topic: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!  (Read 6039 times)

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Offline critor

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Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« on: October 08, 2010, 05:34:24 pm »
Soon, thanks to Ndless 1.7, we're going to have ASM support on the TI-Nspire with an OS which is also usable to work/study!
You won't have to choose any more...
You won't have to constantly upgrade/downgrade any more each time your needs vary...

Wonderfull,isn't it?

 
Well... There's another major big problem, and I would like it to be discussed here, and solved if possible.

We've got many games on the TI-Nspire (NES games, Game Boy games, Game Boy Color games...) but a large majority of them is unplayable without catching a headache!


Here is THE problem:

(all images in this post come from datamath.org)

Yes, the screen!
Because of its high remanence delay, we just can't play any game which updates the screen widely.

An you just can't hope for a better screen from TI... They perfectly know it's the last thing that is preventing us from playing fully with the Nspire.

Does that mean we are condemned to play classic board games like chess or checkers?...
Does that mean we are condemned to play games which will have lower graphics than TI-89/92/V200 games?


Then... we have to solve the problem.

The screen has a standard resolution of 320x240.
That's a good thing if we need to replace it!


The screen comes on a separate PCB.
That could have been a good thing, but those PCBs aren't just dedicated to the screen.
They take care of the exam LED, of the mini-usb plug, and of the rechargeable battery.
So it seems we'll have to keep those PCB, and cannot easily replace them...

Let's look at those PCBs:

non-CAS ClickPad:


CAS ClickPad:


non-CAS TouchPad:


CAS TouchPad:



ClickPad CAS and non-CAS PCBs are identical, except that the exam LED is not soldered on the CAS PCB. They're identified by a string: "P1R2/P3_LB_MP_2440".
They have a 34pins connector, identified by the string "Ph3_EVT1_FPC_1413".

TouchPad CAS and non-CAS PCBs seems identical. They're identified by a string: "TG2995-C-LB-2410".
They have a 38pins connector, identified by the string "Nspire2.0_FPC_130".


The LCD is controlled by 3 display drivers:
- 1 Novatek NT7702 chip caring of the 240 rows
- 2 unidentified identical chips care of 160 columns each


Now, we have to find out who's guilty.
The screen? One or severall of the display drivers? Both?

If a display driver is guilty, could we find (with Ndless) a way to configure it?

Can the drivers and/or the screen be "easily" replaced? Is the screen just attached to those wire-ribbons, or is there something else?


Any information/idea will be appreciated. Please post your experiences and photos.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2010, 11:36:44 am by critor »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2010, 05:41:23 pm »
One problem that might arise is that not everyone in the community are good at electronics, so even if a mod was created, not everyone would be willing to manipulate their calculator to modify its hardware. I'm not good with my hands so I would personally not risk myself. As a result, any game that is dependent on that new screen mod would have a much smaller audience.

However, it would be nice if we could replace the screen or some stuff to have something better than what they gave us. Right now, the only way to have a game look good on this calc is to reduce the framerate to 16 images per second or below, else it's impossible to see anything. :(
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Offline qazz42

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2010, 11:30:49 am »
but, is it is driver related then there is hope :D
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Offline ztrumpet

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2010, 11:49:54 am »
I hope it's driver related.  That would be wonderful. ;D
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Offline willrandship

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2010, 12:24:29 pm »
well, if it is driver related, wouldn't that mean that asm would be unaffected? If by driver you mean software, not hardware, that is. Hardware drivers would be hard to replace too.
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Offline JosJuice

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2010, 12:27:26 pm »
Quote from: willrandship on October 09, 2010, 12:24:29 pm
well, if it is driver related, wouldn't that mean that asm would be unaffected? If by driver you mean software, not hardware, that is. Hardware drivers would be hard to replace too.
As I understand it, Asm would be affected, since the OS is still running in some form. Asm uses calls to OS regularly.
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Offline willrandship

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2010, 12:32:26 pm »
Ah, yes, I forgot OS calls. Unfortunately, unless we find a way around the RSA stuff, there's no hope for patching the OS, except for maybe being part of ndless's starting individual games.
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Offline ExtendeD

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2010, 06:01:53 pm »
What do you mean with "being part of ndless's starting individual games"?

Patching the OS is quite easy since the OS is run from RAM, but the patch must be applied each time the OS reboot.
The HOOK_*() functions in common.h of Ndless 1.7 can be used for this (but perhaps still needs to be enhanced for easier use by programs).
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Offline qazz42

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2010, 06:10:45 pm »
sadly, that is a problem because it seems that ndless causes nspires to reboot for some reason >.<
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Offline TC01

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #9 on: October 09, 2010, 06:19:42 pm »
So we can make TSRs for the Nspire, then?

Could OS patches in the style of Hw3Patch, FlashAppy or FreeFlash be made, that write to the areas of flash memory containing the OS? Is that conceivably possible, or impossible for some reason?
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Offline ExtendeD

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Re: Nspire LCD mod - we need it!
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2010, 06:31:21 pm »
Unfortunately impossible at the moment because of boot1->boot2->OS signature chain.
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