OSLauncher 3.1

[compu]

OSLauncher is deprecated; Use nLaunch or nLaunch CX instead.

I decided to port OSLauncher to OS 3.1 some weeks ago, because it would only require one line of code change. However, memory allocation failed because a decompressed OS 3.1 doesn't fit into RAM.
ATM OSLauncher decompresses directly from a file to allocated memory, and then copies the decompressed OS to the OS base address (0x10000000). This requires a lot of memory (around 11MB for OS 3.1 CAS).
So I decided to change the way OSLauncher decompresses the OS; It loads the compressed OS into RAM and directly overwrites the old OS at 0x1000000. Using this method requires a port of zlib because syscalls won't be available with disabled interrupts.

Basically my code works, I can launch DummyOS and it works fine, but OS 3.1 CAS reboots. I have calculated some checksums to see if there are any errors at decompressing, but the decompressed OS is okay.


BTW, CX compatibility isn't far away, but DummyOS won't compile anymore which I would need for testing purposes.

Spoiler for Error:

$ make clean all
rm -f *.o *.elf
rm -f ./phoenix.raw.tns
nspire-gcc -Os -g3 -Wall -W -Wwrite-strings -marm -c dummyos.c
nspire-ld --no-startup -T ldscript dummyos.o -o phoenix.raw.elf
z:/Nspire/ndless/bin/../system/osstub.o: In function `exit.clone.0':
osstub.c:(.text+0x28): undefined reference to `__crt0_savedsp'
osstub.c:(.text+0x2c): undefined reference to `__crt0exit'
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [phoenix.raw.tns] Error 1

I think it stopped working after updating SVN.

If anyone is interested in helping me, here is my code (+ executable).

[Lionel Debroux]

Good to see this pre-version released

I've propagated the news at http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=8879

[Spacetime4.0]

Yay!!! I was hoping someone would port it to os3.1....in fact I was just getting ready to learn asm so I could do it, but now I don't have to  . Keep at it.

[DJ Omnimaga]

I was actually surprised to see it was getting ported since we were trying to keep good relations with TI, but I guess that considering what they are doing, I don't see why we should really care that much. Plus it's nice if we can run multiple OS versions at once on one calc.

Just one thing though: It doesn't mean that Omnimaga will start supporting cheating in exams, so although a lot of people may not like it, when people beg for OSLauncher help to not fail an exam, we will still simply resort to saying that the person should study more.

[Yeong]

is that mean I can have 3.1 cas in my nspire cx?

[calc84maniac]

I could be wrong, but I don't think OSLauncher works on the CX yet.

[Lionel Debroux]

OSLauncher hasn't yet been tested on the CX because DummyOS hasn't been tested there.
But in its current state, it's unlikely to be able to run the CAS OS on the non-CAS CX model, because this doesn't work anymore (for now) for the Clickpad & Touchpad series.

[compu]

I was actually surprised to see it was getting ported since we were trying to keep good relations with TI, but I guess that considering what they are doing, I don't see why we should really care that much. Plus it's nice if we can run multiple OS versions at once on one calc.

Exactly. TI won't change their position so I don't see a reason why it shouldn't be updated. And TI announced that they will block Ndless before this version of OSLauncher was released.

But in its current state, it's unlikely to be able to run the CAS OS on the non-CAS CX model, because this doesn't work anymore (for now) for the Clickpad & Touchpad series.

Yes, for now, but I still have hope to get it to work

[critor]

Basically my code works, I can launch DummyOS and it works fine, but OS 3.1 CAS reboots.

Yes, OS 3.1 CAS does reboot when hot-launched by OSlauncher.

But previous OSes don't.

So you can perfectly run and use an older CAS OS.
I've made successfull tests with CAS versions 2.0.0, 2.0.1, 3.0.1, and 3.0.2.



Check the TI-Planet news for more information and bigger photos:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=8886

[compu]

Well, I should have done some more testing...

Here is a completely untested CX version that I quickly made

[Spacetime4.0]

I saw on tiplanet that the success rate of launching the cas os on the non cas nspire with oslauncher is about 5%. One thing I have noticed about my calc is that if I launch oslauncher with the enter key it freezes 100% of the time on the thatched screen. But if I launch oslauncher by clicking, it loads successfully 100% of the time. (note that I'm launching os 2.1)

[compu]

Yes, I know about that - but I have no idea why, it must have something to do with interrupts I think.

[njaddison]

When I try to open oslauncher, it says can't open os file.

[Lionel Debroux]

Have you transferred DummyOS with the appropriate name, or generated a file in the format expected by OSLauncher, using one of TI's OS upgrade files as a starting point ?

[njaddison]

Yes, I have. I used unspire to compress the TI-Nspire.img, and then I sent it to my calc. Also, I have a non-cx nspire with touchpad. I didn't want to buy the clickpad  because our teacher told us to buy the nspire with touchpad.

I haven't tested DummyOS on my nspire, because it is just proof to show that OSlauncher works.