In the fx-9860G 2.01 update, there are 2 UpdateCode.bin files:

• resource 3040 (OS datestamp is 2010.1227.0915) for fx-9860G, fx-9860G SD, Graph 85, Graph 85 SD
• resource 3041 (OS datestamp is 2010.1015.1156) for fx-9860G AU

The difference being that fx-9860G AU OSes limit the archive (storage) space to 800KB instead of 1.5MB.


But in the fx-9860G II 2.01 update, there are 3 UpdateCode.bin files:

• resource 3071 (OS datestamp is 2010.1115.1723)
• resource 3073 (OS datestamp is 2010.1227.0935)
• resource 3074 (OS datestamp is 2010.1227.0954)

But this time I don't understand what the differences are, as the fx-9860G AU+ no longer has the archive space limit.

Also, I wonder if it'll work on a SE with modded OS.

Yes, we need to dump the OS and install it with the module on a TI-84+SE.

We also need to check if it would partially work with standard TI OSes or not at all.

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

Some corrections:
SDRAM capacity is 16 MB

Thank you.


Then 512KB RAM usable among 16MB RAMis even more unacceptable.

What are your sources by the way?
For me, 2Mbits x 16-bits x 4banks = 2MB.

And that's why we shall add it ourselves!

Errors fixed.
I wasn't available yesterday, sorry.

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