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Calculator Community => Other Calc-Related Projects and Ideas => Topic started by: z80man on February 09, 2011, 01:24:03 am

Title: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: z80man on February 09, 2011, 01:24:03 am
Next year when I take physics i'll have to use a Ti-30 :P. and I do not want to use an unprogrammable calc. I happen to already own a TI-30xs II calc. In a way it is similar to the TI 83+. The screen dimensions are 32x96 (half size) and the text chars are the same. But is has no linkport and a very limited OS. My idea was what if I did some hardware modifications to get the calc to accept machine code. And does anyone know how the TI-80 got hacked because that could provide some valuable insight.

(http://img.removedfromgame.com/imgs/41OtPtvErsL.jpg)
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: aeTIos on February 09, 2011, 03:54:15 am
I dont think it is possible to program on this calc.
Reason 1: No [prgm] key
Reason 2: No [alpha] key
Reason 3: No catalog
Reason 4: MathPrint (XD)
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: critor on February 09, 2011, 04:39:13 am
The TI-30XS ROM has been dumped.
It is using machine code for a Toshiba T49 (T4x series) cpu.

Note that's a 4-bits cpu.

You can test things by feeding the ROM (or a modified ROM) to the online emulator:
http://xandrean.free.fr/T4X/TIScientific.html


The TI-80 is not fully dumped yet (let's say 97%), but the missing bytes are very hard to get.
Anyway, it is using a 16-bits proprietary cpu from Toshiba (T6M53A).
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: fb39ca4 on February 09, 2011, 09:05:29 pm
Those calcs seem very limited. They probably have only th ebare minimum to support mathprint.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: critor on February 13, 2011, 01:50:46 pm
Those calcs seem very limited. They probably have only th ebare minimum to support mathprint.

With 128Kb of ROM (like the TI-82 or TI-85), with a 4-bits CPU (like the HP-48), and with a dot-matrix LCD like all graphic calculators, I don't think those calcs are limited.

They have a very interesting hardware.
The CPU has 64 registers.
You've got 4Kb of DataRAM, 1Kb of WorkRAM and 2Kb of DisplayRAM.

The RAM might be small, but just think to what has been achieved with the TI-81...
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: Munchor on February 13, 2011, 02:58:10 pm
I dont think it is possible to program on this calc.
Reason 1: No [prgm] key
Reason 2: No [alpha] key
Reason 3: No catalog
Reason 4: MathPrint (XD)

Hence he wants to hardware hack it......
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: JosJuice on February 13, 2011, 03:41:19 pm
I dont think it is possible to program on this calc.
Reason 1: No [prgm] key
Reason 2: No [alpha] key
Reason 3: No catalog
Reason 4: MathPrint (XD)

Hence he wants to hardware hack it......
Programming is always impossible when there's MathPrint :P
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: critor on February 13, 2011, 03:42:41 pm
I dont think it is possible to program on this calc.
Reason 1: No [prgm] key
Reason 2: No [alpha] key
Reason 3: No catalog
Reason 4: MathPrint (XD)

Hence he wants to hardware hack it......
Programming is always impossible when there's MathPrint :P

 ???
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: Xeda112358 on February 13, 2011, 03:43:57 pm
Those calcs seem very limited. They probably have only th ebare minimum to support mathprint.

With 128Kb of ROM (like the TI-82 or TI-85), with a 4-bits CPU (like the HP-48), and with a dot-matrix LCD like all graphic calculators, I don't think those calcs are limited.

They have a very interesting hardware.
The CPU has 64 registers.
You've got 4Kb of DataRAM, 1Kb of WorkRAM and 2Kb of DisplayRAM.

The RAM might be small, but just think to what has been achieved with the TI-81...
Ooh, wow. 64 registers is a lot to work with... I wonder how easy it would be for others to get programs on theirs...
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: Munchor on February 13, 2011, 03:47:35 pm
I dont think it is possible to program on this calc.
Reason 1: No [prgm] key
Reason 2: No [alpha] key
Reason 3: No catalog
Reason 4: MathPrint (XD)

Hence he wants to hardware hack it......
Programming is always impossible when there's MathPrint :P

:S

What is MathPrint?
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: critor on February 13, 2011, 03:48:37 pm
I dont think it is possible to program on this calc.
Reason 1: No [prgm] key
Reason 2: No [alpha] key
Reason 3: No catalog
Reason 4: MathPrint (XD)

Hence he wants to hardware hack it......
Programming is always impossible when there's MathPrint :P

:S

What is MathPrint?

PrettyPrint made by TI.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: Goplat on February 13, 2011, 04:41:11 pm
The TI-80 is not fully dumped yet (let's say 97%), but the missing bytes are very hard to get.
Anyway, it is using a 16-bits proprietary cpu from Toshiba (T6M53A).
I thought you dumped the 8000-FFFF but were missing 0000-3FFF, so that's 32kB out of 48kB or 67%. How did you get another 30%?
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: matthias1992 on February 13, 2011, 04:47:23 pm
Hardware hacking this would involve just adding more ram in the first place. That means you need to figure out how the 4 bit cpu adresses memory and how much it can adress (since the rom is 128k you should be able to hook up a similiar amount of ram).

Only problem is going to be in actually hooking it up unless ti has left some pins for you....
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: critor on February 13, 2011, 04:53:40 pm
The TI-80 is not fully dumped yet (let's say 97%), but the missing bytes are very hard to get.
Anyway, it is using a 16-bits proprietary cpu from Toshiba (T6M53A).
I thought you dumped the 8000-FFFF but were missing 0000-3FFF, so that's 32kB out of 48kB or 67%. How did you get another 30%?

You're right. There is a trick that makes the TI-80 print chars representing the ROM content, starting from 0x0000.

Just try:
* create a program performing an INPUT
* launch it
* on the input prompt, type [ . ] (or anything triggering  an error)
* when shown the error menu, type [ On ]
* enjoy ^^

I'm getting the system messages that were missing in the previous dump.

Why are 3% still missing?
Some bytes values aren't printing a character...
Severall bytes values are printing the same character...

And 3% of 12Kb, is still too much to be processed by hand... :(


(Randy did all the job of converting/typing readable bytes by hand, using that trick)
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: brendtlindsay on June 12, 2013, 09:40:51 pm
I love this site ALREADY ;D
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: TIfanx1999 on June 13, 2013, 08:07:34 am
Hello brendtlindsay, welcome to Omnimaga. When posting you should always check the last post date, (in this case, 2.5 years ago). Generally you should refrain from posting in old threads (necroposting), especially if you are adding nothing new to the discussion.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: Dapianokid on June 13, 2013, 02:44:25 pm
After seeing this, I'll see what can be done about using these (and other common  TI calculators that cost only 5 bucks.) and abusing these into instering mainline code. It's got the potential and hopefully there is an easy exploit. Every hardware has a way to communicate with it.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 13, 2013, 08:13:28 pm
Sucks that Staples don't have these anymore, though. They were on clearance for $9.99 here.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: TIfanx1999 on June 13, 2013, 08:55:09 pm
I *think* there was another topic that expanded on the possibility of hacking this particular calc. further. IIRC it was a no-go.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on June 13, 2013, 10:47:53 pm
Yeah true, although I wasn't sure if more work was done on trying to find a solution afterward. I didn't follow these discussions as regularly anymore at one point. Is the calc still sold, by the way?
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: ben_g on August 22, 2013, 04:48:02 pm
Yeah true, although I wasn't sure if more work was done on trying to find a solution afterward. I didn't follow these discussions as regularly anymore at one point. Is the calc still sold, by the way?
I think they are still sold. A friend has bought one a few months ago in The Netherlands (might have been Belgium as well). I don't know if it's fully the same calc though. It's white, but looks the same for the rest, and I don't know the full version number, though it starts with TI-30x.
Title: Re: TI-30xs II programming
Post by: Aiki62 on October 02, 2013, 01:07:25 am
Greetings,

just looking to help a US student prepare for his GED.

Best,
Aiki62