In a previous news, we announced the release of the new TI-84 Plus Orion for 2013's back to school, a TI-84 calculator enhanced with a voice module. This module is yet another example following the 40 years of commitment from Texas Instruments for the blind or visually impaired students through the production of many talking calculators or braille display, through various partners. Here, a collaboration of Texas Instruments, Orbit Research, and APH(American Printing House for the Blind).


Adriweb had even brought you back some pictures of the sample that he had the pleasure to hold in his hand at the 2013 T3 conference:


It is a TI-84 calculator topped with a voice module. The latter allows the reading of all the text on the screen and an audio description of function variations when drawing graphs.
The module requires the TI-84 Plus to have a specific OS, here the 2.55/ORh, and uses the top connectors : mini-jack and mini USB.


Today, the TI-84 Plus Orion is finally available on the APH's online store, and it is an opportunity for us to discover its price... 599$ . . .

The TI-84 Plus Orion therefore is five times as expensive as a normal TI-84 Plus.
The hardware used in the module, even produced in small quantities, shouldn't probably cost $500. But we have to remind you that, behind all this was a big R&D effor, from probably a small group of very skilled people.

Let's try to understand more by discovering what's in the box:

• 1 TI-84 Plus secured with the voice module Orion
• 1 dedicated cover "Orion TI-84 Plus Talking Graphing Calculator"
  
• 1 USB key APH
• 1 pair of 3.5mm headphones
• 1 standard USB-A male cable <-> mini-B male
• 1 electrical standard USB A female adapter (North America format)
• 4 AAA batteries
• 1 quick start guide paper format
• 1 quick start guide in braille

I have no idea of the cost to print in braille a guidebook, but it probably starts to justify the price wisely.

The TI-84 Plus Orion therefore comes with a dedicated cover higher than the TI-84 Plus usual covers, allowing it to cover both the calculator and the voice module. Unlike the prototype that was presented to us by Adriweb, here the writings on the keys of the module are printed correctly. We discover that it is possible to pause the module right while a message is spoken, to adjust the volume or to mute the sound.

The voice module has a separate power different than the TI-84 Plus, thanks to its own rechargeable battery.

On top, four connectors are visible:

• 1 jack 3.5mm
• 1 USB mini-B port
• 1 USB micro-A / B port
• 1 2.5mm stereo mini-jack port

The 3.5mm jack module allows to use headphones instead of the internal speakers, allowing easier classroom use by not disturbing other students.
The mini-jack 2.5mm module is probably a simple extension of that of the TI-84 Plus and therefore is used to transfer data between calculators.

Now remains the mystery of the two USB ports ...
According to the documentation listed here, the USB mini-B connector of the module (which is different of the USB mini-A/B of the calculator) is used to charge the battery module. We wonder whether it is still possible to use this port to communicate with another calculator or computer, or if you must remove the module for that (which shouldn't be possible since the final production units are screwed to the calculator). Because the presence of two USB ports could be justified by features that are split:

• USB mini-B: charging module
• Micro USB A/B: communication with the computer or other calculators

If this hypothesis were correct, it would cause huge troubles because we would require different micro USB cables from our usual mini-USB plugs:

• 1 standard cable USB A male <-> micro B male for communication with a computer
• 1 micro USB cable A / B male <-> mini B/A Male to communicate with a normal TI-84 Plus
• 1 micro USB A male <-> micro B male for communication between two TI-84 Plus Orion

However, not even a micro USB cable oddly comes with the calculator.
It is also possible that the micro USB plug is specific to that particular module and allows to update the firmware, while the mini USB plug is connected to the TI-84 Plus.

The guidebookss of the TI-84 Plus Orion which can be viewed below do not seem to answer this question, because addressing communication capabilities very quickly, and sometimes with awkwardly passages taken without adaptation of the TI-84 Plus normal calculator guidebooks, and would require here a dismantling of the module to apply those parts. Lets skip this, we will solve this mystery in the future.

We discover inside the guidebook additional features that ultimately justify the use of a specific system:

• a sound announcing keypresses
• the possibility of having the text read:
• of the entire screen
• of the current line
• just before the cursor
• just after the cursor
• the ability to customize the behavior of the voice module directly from the menus inside the calculator software
• the existence of a kind of on-line help to get used to the TI-84 Plus keys and their functions: on this mode, pressing a key triggers its voice without affecting the screen, followed by a short description of what the key allows to access

Want to see what happens and to (finally!) hear the TI-84 Plus speaking? Then watch this video ! :



Downloads:
Quick printable starting guide for the TI-84 Plus Orion
Online TI-84 Plus Orion guidebook

Crossposted from:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12770&lang=en

Source:
http://shop.aph.org/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_Orion%20TI-84%20Plus%20Talking%20Graphing%20Calculator_1-07340-00P_10001_11051
via http://www.cemetech.net/?p=207138#207138

TI-Nspire CM calculators sold in China and TI-Nspire CX have almost the same software capabilities.
The only disprency between those is to be able to install a bilingual dictionnary for TI-Nspire CX and not for TI-Nspire CM.
A TI-Nspire CM to TI-Nspire CX transformation or the reverse would give no interest, that's why we didn't look forward about that.

But our chinese friends of cnCalc.org were struggling since one week to do this transformation.

What are their motivations ?
Nlaunch, the OS launcher for TI-Nspire, is available for monochrome TI-Nspire and TI-Nspire CX, but not yet for TI-Nspire CM because it is based on a Boot2 1.4 exploit (for monochrome TI-Nspire) and Boot2 3.1 exploit (for TI-Nspire CX) and the TI-Nspire CM uses a different Boot2.

But once a TI-Nspire CM has been modded into a TI-Nspire CX, it is theoretical to install Nlaunch CX and so :

• launch a Linux OS
• launch a TI-Nspire CX CAS OS

Lets recall how the different software modules (Boot2, OS) checks the calculator model where they run.

One the one hand, the NAND chip contains the model id at offset 0x804:

• 0x0C for TI-Nspire CAS but also TI-Nspire CAS+
• 0x0D for TI-Nspire Lab Cradle
• 0x0E for TI-Nspire
• 0x0F for TI-Nspire CX CAS
• 0x10 for TI-Nspire CX
• 0x11 for TI-Nspire CM CAS
• 0x12 for TI-Nspire CM

You may think it would be enough to modify this value, but a second value is stored in the ASIC chip:

• 0b00000 for TI-Nspire and TI-Nspire CX
• 0b00001 for TI-Nspire CAS and TI-Nspire CX CAS
• 0b00010 for TI-Nspire CM
• 0b00011 for TI-Nspire CM CAS
• 0b11111 for prototypes TI-Nspire DVT and TI-Nspire CAS DVT

And unlike the NAND chip, we are unable to rewrite the ASIC chip.

When the Boot2 and TI-Nspire OS launch or install an OS, they check if the latter is consistant to these two values:

• model id on NAND memory
• model type of ASIC chip

Take note that the special code 0b11111 found on TI-Nspire DVT prototypes is a debug code that doesn't state the calculator type, and thus disables this second check. That's why we could transform very easily TI-Nspire prototypes to TI-Nspire CAS by rewriting NAND chip.

Changing the model id written in the NAND memory incoherently with the a ASIC chip, is no less than a permanent brick of the calculator.
Indeed, whatever OS used after this modification, one of the two checkings written above would obviously fail and the OS sent will be rejected and/or deleted.
You end up with a OS-less calculator on which you wouldn't be able anymore to install any OS.



Well, nbzwt, member of the chinese communauty cnCalc.org has his hand on fire and effectively made a destruction of his TI-Nspire CM calculator:

• by changing his model identification to TI-Nspire CX thanks to a modified nsNandMgr (the only version I support has a security check forbidding this 'destruction')
  
• by flashing the TI-Nspire CX 3.1 Boot2

His calculator was now unable to approve the installation or the launching of any CX or CM OS.

But then what was the reason for? No, nbzwt isn't crazy - per contra he showed an extraordinary malice.
Now that his calculator is using 3.1 CX Boot2, he is theoretically able to install the Nlaunch OS launcher, which then allows to install and launch any TI-Nspire CX, CM, and even CAS OSes! 


A small breakdown had to be known: TI-Nspire CM calculators have only 32 MB of SDRAM memory instead of 64 MB like on the TI-Nspire CX calculators, and official Nlaunch don't work.
But nbzwt released an Nlaunch fork that works with the TI-Nspire CX 3.1 Boot2 on TI-Nspire CM hardware. :bj:









Please take note however that I do not invite you to do this modification based on a bricking of the calculator. If for any reason Nlaunch cannot be installed/run (for instance like when future 3.2.4/3.6 OSes will try to fore the Boot2 3.2.4.7 update), the bricking will become permanent. 
That's why in the actual forecast, I won't change the security policies of nsMandMgr to allow this transformation.

Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/gallery/image_page.php?image_id=1307


Edit: And precisely, it seems that nbwzt had unfortunately completed the bricking of his TI-Nspire CM bricking by fulfilling complementary tests for the tutorial
Boot Loader Stage 1 (3.00.99)
Build: 2010/9/9, 17:29:13
Copyright (c) 2006-2010 Texas Instruments Incorporated
Using production keys

Last boot progress: 65

Available system memory: 33196
Checking for NAND: NAND Flash ID: MICRON     
SDRAM size: 64 MB
External Power Detected: VBUS.
SDRAM memory test:   FAIL TI_B1_ADDRESS_1
BOOT1 Error: Stubbornly refusing to boot due to memory failure.The Boot1 seeks here for the 64 MB RAM of the TI-Nspire CX, which aren't found because we are on a TI-Nspire CM with only 32 MB RAM.
This issue will not happen if you follow carefully, exactly and in order the linked tutorial.
If you want to share this with nbzwt some encouragement words or to send him a share so he can keep developping us other extraordinary tutorials or tools, do not hesitate: nbzwt @ live.cn

It was already known to us that the latest Casio Prizm fx-CG20 OS was supporting the Chinese language.

Note by the way the small sticker present on the top of Casio Prizm fx-CG20 calculators sold in China, intended to ensure that it is a real Casio calculator and not a counterfeit.

Omnimaga and Planete Casio had already announced that like Texas Instruments with its TI-Nspire, Casio was going to release a calculator specific to the Chinese market: the fx-CG20CN.

Today thanks to cnCalc.org, we finally get a first image of this new calculator which, as we had expected, got its keyboard labels translated into Chinese:


Crossposted from: http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=12691&lang=en

In several previous news, we had already announced you the new color touchscreen ClassPad from Casio, the fx-CP400 for back to school 2013.

Helder7 from Casiopeia has published what I believe to be the first test of this new calculator he has managed to obtain.

Several people made fun about the hardware of this new calculator, assumed to be largely inferior to the one of the TI-Nspire CX and HP-Prime.
But we must also consider another factor, whether the OS uses hardware optimally or not.

Helder7 seems to have experienced no discomfort with this calculator he qualifies as a serious competitor to the TI-Nspire CX, although he concludes, however, that the latter is better.

He's even released you some small programs!




Crossposted from:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12636&lang=en

Like DVDs, the TI-Nspire are using region codes.

The region code takes the form of a 2-5 characters language code (ISO 639 format) flashed in the NAND first pages ('manuf' zone, for manufacturer).
This code identifies the default calculator language and by extension its region.
For example, TI-Nspire CX-C calculators sold in China are flashed with the 'zh_CN' (simplified chinese) code, which lets the OS identify them correctly.



So everything is allready ready for a TI-Nspire CX.fr maybe someday
The current TI-Nspire OSes are supporting 16 different language codes and so 16 zones:

• ar: arab (TI-Nspire 3.3 systems only)
  
• da: danish
  
• de: german
  
• en: english (international)
  
• en_GB: english (United Kingdom)
  
• es: spanish
  
• fi: finnish
  
• fr: french
  
• it: italian
  
• nl: dutch
  
• nl_BE: flemish
  
• no: norwegian
  
• pt: portuguese
  
• sv: swedish
  
• zh_CN: simplified chinese (China)
  
• zh_TW: traditional chinesel (Taïwan)

Region codes are a digital rights management technique designed to allow to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region.
For example, Texas Instruments a released a chinese-english dictionnary which only installs on TI-Nspire CX-C.
But this can also be used the other way, removing some features for some regions. For example TI-Nspire CX-C and CM-C only let you select 4 of the 16 supported languages: both chinese languages and both english languages.



Today, you become able to modify/remove your TI-Nspire region code thanks to the latest version of nsNandMgr, the TI-Nspire NAND utility, now updated with new features and TI-Nspire CM support.
You can unlock the region code of your TI-Nspire CX-C, allowing you to use all 16 supported languages.
Same thing is possible with the TI-Nspire CM-C, resulting into a supported but unreleased model - a TI-Nspire CM!

The other way, you can mod your TI-Nspire CX into a TI-Nspire CX-C, allowing you to install the english-chinese dictionnary.

As far as I know it's useless, but the same thing is possible with TI-Nspire ClickPad/TouchPad and you can mod your TI-Nspire CX into a TI-Nspire CX.fr or an arab TI-Nspire CX too, if those possible models are someday realeased with specific features.



Source & download: http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12618&lang=en

In the Dragon Ball Z anime, C-16 is a cyborg created by Dr. Gero for the Red Ribbon Army.

It is damaged in an attempt to protect cyborgs C-17 and C-18 against Cell, and is repaired by Bulma and her father at the Capsule Corporation in order to participate in the tournament organized by Cell.



In episode 168 of Dragon Ball Z, while attempting to repair it Bulma manages to dump some part of the source code of the cyborg C-16 on her computer.
We briefly see two code segments, and we note that this is Basic code, Basic being a very common language in the 70s and 80s which was preinstalled on many 8-bits and 16-bits computers.

Here is a small part of the episode with:

• a first code segment visible between 0min11s and 0min20s
• a second code segment visible between 0min32s and 0min39s

We have the pleasure to invite you to a contest in order to win great prizes:

• 1 TI-Nspire CX non-CAS with its software and licence + 2 TI-Planet stickers
  
• 1 TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition (new color calculator for back to school 2013) with its USB charger + 2 TI-Planet stickers
  
• 1 Texas Instruments calculator poster (model of your choice, if available) + 2 TI-Planet stickers
  
• 1 Texas Instruments USB pen + 2 TI-Planet stickers
• 1 Texas Instruments notebook + 2 TI-Planet stickers
• 4 TI-Planet stickers

Go hunting for the seven crystal balls, and if you success before the others, you'll be able to ask dragon Shenron the prize of your choice!  ;D

To complete your quest for the seven crystal balls and invoke the Shenron dragon, you just have to send us by email at [email protected] before Wednesday, June 2013 5 at 23:59 CEST (France time):

• a valid email address to you contact
• your names and address
• your answers to some or all of the following 7 questions:

	1st crystal ball question: Copy exactly in a text file the 1st Basic code portion visible between 0min11s and 0min20s in the above video.
	2nd crystal ball question: This 1st Basic code segment is actually taken from a much larger project. What could it be? (multiple answers possible)
	3rd crystal ball question: This 1st code segment is actually incomplete and the end is missing. Without changing the already copied lines, develop and add a coherent end for the code and add it to your text file. (multiple answers possible)
	4th crystal ball question: Copy exactly the 2nd Basic code segment visible between 0min32s and  0min39s in the above video.
	5th crystal ball question: Many families of Basic languages ​​have existed, and the 2nd code segment actually uses a very specific dialect of Basic. Give the exact name of the Basic language used here in the 2nd code segment. Which computer (brand and model) could possibly have been available at the Toei Animation when the anime was being produced, so that they were able to copy this 2nd code segment from it? (multiple answers are possible)
	6th crystal ball question: This 2nd code segment is actually incomplete and the start is missing. Without changing the already copied lines, develop and add a coherent start for the code and add it to your text file. (multiple answers possible)
	7th crystal ball question: Copy or adapt the 2nd code segment on the hardware, emulator or software of your choice. (the choice of monochrome or low definition screens is not penalized - only correct/complete adaptation of the code within the chosen constraints is taken into accound) Ignoring the part you had to complete, what does this 2nd code segment perform? You'll send: the name and version of the chosen hardware, emulator or software in a text file, the used source code, adapted if necessary for the chosen hardware, emulator or software a file directly usable with the chosen hardware, emulator or software in a text file, your description of what the program does perform (you have the right to attach fixed or animated images if some things are hard to describe)

Extracts from the rules:

• If we receive several entries from you, only the latest will be valid

(meaning that if you send a second entry with new answers/modified answers, don't forget to add the other answers you sent us the previous time)

• we will grade you answers once the contest is finished, and we will establish a ranking
• if several people end up with the same grade, the sending date/hour will be used to choose
• each winner will be contacted in the ranking order, and will be able to choose among the prizes left in

The full rules are available here: http://tiplanet.org/forum/archives_voir.php?id=12093 or on UPECS




Source: (with hints)
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=11923&p=140702&lang=en

A fan who wishes to remain anonymous, took the initiative to send us a great gift for you tonight ...

The first HD Photo ever of the new HP-Prime graphing calculator taken at the NCTM conference, a calculator scheduled for back to school 2013!  

The photo is a little blurry unfortunately, but do not forget that HD picture for lovers of high resolutions:

We notice (thank you Adriweb) some important differences as the model name is different: instead of "HP-Prime Graphing Calculator", here we get a "HP Advanced Graphing Calculator " meaning it's probably a prototype.



Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11894&lang=en

In a previous news came out the new Ndless 3.1 r765 with USB support!

For the moment, USB support is not available from Ndless programs, but it allows the use of USB devices that are not officially supported in the Nspire OS.

Currently, only USB keyboards and mice are supported through Ndless.



The first problem you'll have is the connection of these devices. Because in order to work properly here, they will have to be connected to the TI-Nspire via a mini-USB A (male) plug you'll have a lot of trouble finding because it has been abandoned by the USB standard.

However, several solutions do exist.


Firstly the barbaric method: just take the mini-USB A (male) <-> mini-USB B (male) cable coming with any TI USB graphic calculator and sacrifice it in order to replace the mini-USB B (male) plug by a USB B (female) plug in order to be able to connect USB devices equipped with an USB A (male) plug.



You can also directly buy this type of cable. But as they do not conform to the USB standard, they will be available exclusively online at a few shops and therefore expensive.



Or if you're a little smarter, just use a method of my invention which will have all the benefits! :bj:

Simply buy a USB hub that connects to the host via a removable cable and a mini-USB B (female) plug.

You can then connect directly to the TI-Nspire with the mini-USB cable A (male) <-> mini-USB B (male) provided with the calculator!

No need to sacrifice your cable anymore!
And as a bonus you can connect USB keyboard and mouse simultaneously!


USB mouse and keyboard work very well together!

For the mice, it is sometimes difficult to activate the pointer when it is hidden - but if you think about it, this is the TI-Nspire OS fault - it is not uncommon to have to polish the TouchPad for long seconds touch before the pointer shows up. So in short nothing wrong, it just works as weel as the TouchPad.

For the keyboard, too little keys are supported in order to get rid of the TI-Nspire keyboard.
We've got:

• control keys
• Shift keys
• alphabetic keys
• numpad keys
• arrow keys
• entry key

Except those on the numpad, symbols aren't supported yet.






Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11634&lang=en

Link:
Topic with a different video testing USB mice and keyboard together too