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Calculator Community => Other Calculators => Topic started by: critor on December 28, 2010, 07:48:22 pm

Title: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 28, 2010, 07:48:22 pm
Nover is an overclocking Ndless program for the TI-Nspire.


The overclock persists after turning the calculator on/off.
It is cancelled by a reset.

If you know what you are doing, there shouldn't be any problem.
TI has overclocked the Nspire with the 2.1 OS: calculations are around 2 times faster.


Nover lets you play with 3 parameters:
* Base frequency: 27MHz or 114MHz-300MHz (by steps of 6) - default is 180MHz in all OSes
* Base/CPU ratio: x2-x254 (by steps of 2) - default is x2 in all OSes (x0 can be set but seems to be the ame as x2)
* CPU/AHB ratio: x1-x8 - default was x6 in OSes 1.x & 2.0, and is now x1 in OS 2.1

Base/CPU ratio cannot be improved (but you can make your calculator 127 times slower if you want :p ).

Setting CPU/AHB ratio to x1 made my calculator around 2 times faster with time-consuming mathematical sequences calculations.


Base frequency is a problem.
I could increase it to 300MHz (with the original Base/CPU=2 and CPU/AHB=6, which means 150MHz for the CPU) without crashing the calculator.

But there is a problem with the screen which is quickly oscillating horizontally, and less often vertically.
(seems to be similar with some Ndless 2.0 bugs)

The screen is readable, so I could make the test: calculator is around 4 times faster!!!!!
Would be great if we could stabilize the display.

Strangely, the screens stops oscillating when you launch an Ndless program, and resumes oscillating when you quit it.

So the good news, is that it doesn't seem to be hardware problem.
It seems to be a problem either with Ndless, either with the OS.

In fact, any base frequency different than 180MHz  is causing the problem (even 186MHz and even frequencies lower than 180MHz).

Maybe that 180MHz frequency is used somewhere hard-coded by the OS...
Maybe there is a screen refresh rate that should be changed somewhere...


Going to release the program with the sources.
You'll have full control of the 3 parameters, and also shortcuts to set the 2.1 OS overclock, or to set the original overclock. (which should work even if the screen is unreadable)

If it doesn't work: just remove the batteries to force a reset.


The program is  in a releasable state.
I'm working on the ReadMe. (saying that it's not my fault if anything happen... just use the official 2.1 overclock, and nothing bad should happen)

Nover is only 10Kb large. OS 2.1 reduces your available space by more than 1Mb.
The choice seems simple to me! :P
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: calc84maniac on December 28, 2010, 07:59:25 pm
I believe that the screen oscillation is caused by the OS's idle loop, which sets the clock speed lower (I think it outputs 0x00145006 as opposed to 0x00145002 on the older OSes). So it can change the base frequency quite regularly if it is not already at 180MHz, which probably messes with the LCD driver's internal timing.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 28, 2010, 08:12:00 pm
Woah I was so convinced the Nspire could not go above 150 MHz. Awesome critor! This kinda reminds me that Casio FX-9860G program that let you speed up the calc processor, except that on the 9860G, it did not overclock it, it just allowed you to setup the CPU at its max speed instead of the downclocked 29 MHz.

It would be cool if it works in 84 mode too.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: calc84maniac on December 28, 2010, 08:14:08 pm
Woah I was so convinced the Nspire could not go above 150 MHz. Awesome critor! This kinda reminds me that Casio FX-9860G program that let you speed up the calc processor, except that on the 9860G, it did not overclock it, it just allowed you to setup the CPU at its max speed instead of the downclocked 29 MHz.

It would be cool if it works in 84 mode too.
CPU only goes up to 150MHz, it is base clock that goes up to 300MHz.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 28, 2010, 08:20:53 pm
Oh ok, what's the difference between both, though? ??? I'm not familiar with that stuff...
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 28, 2010, 08:22:56 pm
Default Base/CPU ratio is set to 2 and it seems it cannot be decreased.

So the CPU working frequency is half of the base frequency.

For exemple, your Nspire cpu is currently running at 90MHz, because your base frequency is 180MHz.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: calc84maniac on December 28, 2010, 08:25:35 pm
The base clock frequency divided by the Base/CPU ratio (which, as critor said, is from 2 to 254 in steps of 2) is the CPU speed. The base clock is likely used for timing by other parts of the device, too (such as the LCD driver, which seems to stutter if the base frequency is changed a lot)
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 28, 2010, 08:27:24 pm
Ah I see now, thanks for clarifying.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 28, 2010, 09:48:34 pm
English readme is completed.

I'm translating into french now.

Should release on TI-Bank before you go to bed :p


Code: [Select]
+-----------+
| Nover 1.0 |
+-----------+
by X. Andréani
http://www.ti-bank.fr/912


1) Introduction:
   ------------

Nover is a program to downclock / overclock your TI-Nspire.
In theory, it can make it 4 times faster.
But you'll only be able to make it 2 times faster without any problems.

TI has overclocked the Nspire and made it 2 times faster with the 2.1 OS.
But unlike OS 2.1:
* Nover doesn't reduce dramatically your available free space (only 10Kb for Nover,
13-15Mb for the 2.1 OS -> free space is decreased by 1.5Mb when upgrading 2.0 -> 2.1).
* Nover doesn't install a downgrade protection
* Nover lets you use the overclock from OS 2.1 on previous OSes.

If you allready have OS 2.1, you can try to overclock more,
but you should only try if you are familiar with ocerclocking.


2) Hardware required:
   -----------------

Any TI-Nspire calculator.


3) OS required:
   -----------

Any OS supported by a Ndless 1.7 compatible kernel.

As of this date:
- 1.3.2438 (non-CAS) [Ndless 1.3]
- 1.3.2437 (CAS) [Ndless 1.3]
- 1.4.11653 (non-CAS) [Ndless 1.4]
- 1.4.11643 (CAS) [Ndless 1.4]
- 1.7.2741 (CAS & non-CAS) [Ndless 1.7 & Ndless 2.0]
- 2.0.1.60 (CAS & non-CAS) [Ndless 2.0]


4) Software required:
   -----------------

Nover has been built for the Ndless 1.7 kernel.
You need Ndless 1.7, or a Ndless 1.7 compatible kernel.

As of this date, you'll need:
- Ndless 1.3 for OSes 1.3.2438  & 1.3.2437
- Ndless 1.4 for OSes 1.4.11653 & 1.4.11643
- Ndless 1.7 for OS   1.7.2741
- Ndless 2.0 for OSes 1.7.2741  & 2.0.1.60 (still in development)


5) Usage & keys:
   ------------


   a) If you're not familiar with overclocking:
      ----------------------------------------

Press the [*] [Enter] to set the config from OS 2.1 (2 times faster).
Press the [/] [Enter] to go back to the original config from OSes 1.1-2.0.


   b) If you are familiar with overclocking:
      -------------------------------------

Nover lets you play with 3 parameters:

* Base frequency: 27MHz or 114MHz-300MHz (by steps of 6)
  default is 180MHz in all OSes

* Base/CPU ratio: x2-x254 (by steps of 2)
  default is x2 in all OSes (x0 can be set but seems to be the ame as x2)

* CPU/AHB ratio: x1-x8
  default was x6 in OSes 1.x & 2.0, and is now x1 in OS 2.1

Press [1], [2] or [3] to choose the parameter to modify.
Press [+] or [-] to increase or decrease it.
Press [Enter] to set your changes.


Base/CPU ratio can be set to x0, but it seems to be exactly the same as x2.
So this parameter cannot be improved.

Base frequency seems to be causing problems with the LCD refreshing,
when set to any value different than 180MHz.
The screen is quickly oscillating horizontally, and less often vertically.
It only happens after exiting Nover.
Running any "long" calculation or any Ndless program is temporarilly
stopping the oscillations.
So the problem seems to come from the OS idle loop, and might be hard to fix...

What a pity! 300MHz makes your calculator 4 times faster... :(


6) In case of difficulty:
   ---------------------

Your screen is oscillating or filled with garbage?

Restart Nover (if possible & necessary).
Then set one of the 2 official configurations:
- Press [*] [Enter] (x2 config used in OS 2.1)
- Press[/] [Enter] (x1 original config used in OSes 1.1-2.0)

If you cannot make this work, remove a battery for some seconds.
The Nspire should restart normally.


7) Problems/bugs:
   -------------

* Screen oscillations when base frequency is different than 180MHz (see 5.b)
Problem seems to be related to the OS.


8) Overclocking or not overclocking:
   --------------------------------

Although I've made by best, overclocking can be a dangerous thing as it makes
the hardware work in a non official way.
There is a possibility than some parameters values (or repetitive uses of those):
* do erase some of your data permanently
* do make your calculator unstable permanently
* do shorten your calculator life
* do damage the screen permanently
* do damage your calculator permanently
* and many other frightening permanent things

The fact that TI is using overclocking in the 2.1 OS should prove the (2x)
overclocking option is safe, but we can never be sure.

Overclocking your calculator with other parameters values than the one of the 2.1 OS
may cancel your warranty (if TI has a way to check this).

I am not responsible for what you are doing and if your calculator is damaged permanently.
Be sure to know what you are doing, or to ask for help/advices on TI calculator forums.


9) Licence:
    -------

GPLv2. Source code is included.
You may modify the source code according to the included licence.


10) Release history:
    ---------------

28.12.2010: 1.0 - initial public release


11) Thanks to:
    ---------
The TI-Bank community for their encouragements. ( http://www.ti-bank.fr )
The Omnimaga community for their encouragements.  ( http://www.omnimaga.org )
ExtendeD for Ndless 1.7/2.0.
Bsl for Ndless 1.3/1.4.
Calc84maniac for his analysis of the oscillating screen problem.


12) Contact:
    -------

Xavier Andréani
[email protected]
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: apcalc on December 28, 2010, 09:56:16 pm
Very impressive, critor!

You are doing a great and fast job bringing new programs to the Nspire! :D
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 28, 2010, 10:33:35 pm
Thank you apcalc! :)

Just found a very strange thing with the screen oscillations problem.


It's becoming much worse when:
- the calculator is connected to a computer through USB
- a mini USB A plug is plugged into the calculator, even if the cable is not connected to anything else.

The screen is still oscillating (doesn't seem to be faster or slower), but is totally unreadable.
You cannot see the text oscillating...
It's not blank either... it's as if it was oscillating garbage...


Anyway, I hope all users are going to be happy with the "x2" official overclocking, and that advanced users will find a way beyond, without oscillations...
I have not tried all base frequencies values yet.
You might find a magic value...
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: calc84maniac on December 28, 2010, 10:40:22 pm
Well, the OS idle loop waits for an interrupt before returning to the previous clock speed setting. I've tested before that decreasing the rate of the timer that normally causes interrupts also decreases the rate of the oscillations. Connecting USB will cause more frequent interrupts, which causes the screen oscillation to become worse.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 28, 2010, 10:54:08 pm
Thank you calc84maniac for all your comprehensive & interesting advices.
You've been mentionned in the readme.

Release!
Nover: the 1st TI-Nspire overclocking program!
Make your 1.1-2.0 OS as fast as the 2.1 OS, and even faster if you dare! :P
http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=2098


Have fun.
Please report any problem/error.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on December 29, 2010, 05:46:11 am
AWESOME!!! :thumbsup:

Now all we have to do is find out how to change the LCD's timer.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: apcalc on December 29, 2010, 10:47:09 am
One small issue:  this has to be built with the latest Ndless to be compatible with the touchpad keys.  Other than that, it works great! :)
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Hot_Dog on December 29, 2010, 10:50:53 am
Btw, way to go on this! :D
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: SirCmpwn on December 29, 2010, 11:06:54 am
At 300 MHz, GBA emulation would be no sweat.  This is awesome.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 29, 2010, 11:14:32 am
At 300 MHz, GBA emulation would be no sweat.  This is awesome.

If you want to overclock further and still being able to read the screen without catching a headache, we should fine some way to fix the OS idle loop problem.

The problem is not specific to the 1.7 OS.
I've just tried with non-CAS OSes 1.3 and 2.0.1 -> same problem with any base frequency different than 180MHz.


Definately, the screen seems to be one of the most annoying things on the TI-Nspire...


By the way, Nover has just been queued on TiCalc.org.
But you'll still be able to download it there:
http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=2098
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: calc84maniac on December 29, 2010, 07:00:30 pm
At 300 MHz, GBA emulation would be no sweat.  This is awesome.
It's 150MHz, I don't want to say it again.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: fb39ca4 on December 31, 2010, 10:24:12 am
So why are we getting the problem now? Bwang's raycaster already OCed the nspire, and nothing odd happened.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on December 31, 2010, 11:14:24 am
The screen problems seem to dissapear when Ndless programs are run.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: qazz42 on December 31, 2010, 11:16:59 am
At 300 MHz, GBA emulation would be no sweat.  This is awesome.

what about SNES and the like?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on December 31, 2010, 12:24:23 pm
So why are we getting the problem now? Bwang's raycaster already OCed the nspire, and nothing odd happened.

The problem is with the OS.
Bwang's raycaster was cancelling the overclock when returning to the OS.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: willrandship on December 31, 2010, 01:54:43 pm
SNES Emulation is more likely than GBA. GBA has a snes emu :P GBA would be much harder, even with the similar hardware (which, by the way, really kind of cancels out with later nintendo handhelds. The GBA, DS, and I think the GBC  too, all had two processors. They had theirs and their predecessors, for backwards compatibility. This makes them harder to emulate, since the nspire only has 1 CPU, even though it is faster than the DS's two (ARM7 at 33 mhz and ARM9 at 66 mhz, not counting the DSi) combined.

However, yay for overclock! :P so 300 mhz (yes I know it's 150 really for the CPU) is as high as you can go, or can it go higher?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on December 31, 2010, 07:06:29 pm
SNES emulation might be hard for games like Star Ocean, Star Fox, Mario RPG or other games using all sort of special chips, but otherwise it should be easy. I guess even chipped games should be doable, but they would run slower. I think with Star Fox, you have to emulate an additional 30 MHz, right?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: fb39ca4 on January 01, 2011, 01:26:02 am
20mhz, but since its graphics drawing routines mainly, they can be optimized w/o too much problems.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 01, 2011, 07:52:14 pm
Thanks to Ncubate (Goplat's emulator customized by ExtendeD) I've just found the exact value for TI's overclocking in OS 2.1.
(as Ndless is currently not working in OS 2.1, there was no other way to get the exact value)

* OSes 1.1-2.0:
- base: 180MHz
- CPU: 90MHz
- AHB: 15MHz

* OS 2.1:
- base 180MHz
- CPU: 90MHz
- AHB: 45MHz


Nover sets AHB to 90MHz (90/1 instead of 90/2) in its default overclock config.

And of course, with 90MHz, programs/functions are a little faster. Just made the tests. (the difference is seeable with operations taking severall secs)


I should update Nover soon with 3 default configs:
- no overclock (180/90/15)
- TI's official overclock (180/90/45)
- best tested overclock (180/90/90)
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 01, 2011, 10:27:34 pm
Interesting. I am unfortunately unfamiliar with that stuff, though so I do not understand much, but does it means the CPU can finally not be overclocked to 150 MHz (to get, for example, something like 300/150/90) without any solvable issues? Or could a solution be found?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 02, 2011, 07:16:30 am
Interesting. I am unfortunately unfamiliar with that stuff, though so I do not understand much, but does it means the CPU can finally not be overclocked to 150 MHz (to get, for example, something like 300/150/90) without any solvable issues? Or could a solution be found?

The CPU can be overclocked to 150MHz within an Ndless program.
But this will have to be cancelled before returning to the OS.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 02, 2011, 07:47:51 am
Sorry for double-posting, but this is important information.


According to informations from ExtendeD, I'm correcting what I was saying above.

The hardware frequencies seem to be hard coded into Goplat's emulator, which means it returns 180/90/45Mhz for all OSes.


The official PDF from TI is clearly stating that speed has been improved by raising the AHB frequency, but is not giving any value. So the previous test doesn't prove anything.


For now, Nover will remain with both default configs: 180/90/15 (OSes 1.1-2.0) and 180/90/90 (the best overclock without issues with the OS).
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on January 02, 2011, 08:42:28 am
Nice, that means we can make it even faster now! ;)
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: qazz42 on January 02, 2011, 01:27:53 pm
SNES emulation might be hard for games like Star Ocean, Star Fox, Mario RPG or other games using all sort of special chips, but otherwise it should be easy. I guess even chipped games should be doable, but they would run slower. I think with Star Fox, you have to emulate an additional 30 MHz, right?

what about Super Castlevania 4?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: shrear on January 03, 2011, 06:52:57 am
I did just run nover with ndless 2.1
without having changed anything the nspire displays:

Base / CPU = 2
CPU / AHB = 2
Base / AHB = 4
Base = 240 Mhz
CPU = 120 Mhz
AHB = 60 Mhz

So Ti has made OS2.1 run the CPU at 4/3 of 2.0's speed and AHB  4 times faster
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 03, 2011, 06:59:13 am
I did just run nover with ndless 2.1
without having changed anything the nspire displays:

Base / CPU = 2
CPU / AHB = 2
Base / AHB = 4
Base = 240 Mhz
CPU = 120 Mhz
AHB = 60 Mhz

Very interesting, thanks.
Unfortunately, as allready noticed setting this on a previous OS is causing problems with screen refreshing.

Maybe TI has fixed the idle loop bug on OS 2.1 ?
Or maybe there is another parameter that has to be set...
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: shrear on January 03, 2011, 07:01:26 am
Maybe TI has fixed the idle loop bug on OS 2.1 ?
Or maybe there is another parameter that has to be set...

changed base to 300 Mhz...





...esc





...screen still normal :) :)



Edit: Tested it Nspire is really another 4/3 faster
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 03, 2011, 07:37:48 am
Wonderfull!!!

It would be great if we could overclock previous OSes to 300MHz base (instead of 180MHz) without having that screen problem.

Upgrading from 2.0 to 2.1 makes you lose 1.4Mb of free space.
It's useless to fasten the cpu, if we don't have enough free space anymore to store BMP/WAD files...

Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):
(http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/13/23/13/53/tnoc-s10.gif)

("light" is what you're getting when patching your TNO/TNC file with TNOC (http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=1922))
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: JosJuice on January 03, 2011, 07:52:46 am
Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):ac=voir&id=1922]TNOC[/url])[/i]
Aren't all the languages stored in the OS, no matter what language is used?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 03, 2011, 08:08:24 am
Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):ac=voir&id=1922]TNOC[/url])[/i]
Aren't all the languages stored in the OS, no matter what language is used?

Read about the patch.
The difference doesn't come from the translated system strings, but from the samples which are included in all languages in the TNO/TNC file. (around 15 languages if I remember well - that's a huge size!)
When you select the working language, the matching samples are extracted from the TNC file which is kept in "/phoenix/install/" and copied to the file system, which is making the little difference.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: ExtendeD on January 03, 2011, 08:11:04 am
I have updated Hackspire (http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Memory-mapped_I/O_ports#900B0000_-_Power_management) with this info, could you please check I didn't write anything wrong?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: shrear on January 03, 2011, 08:24:22 am
I have updated Hackspire (http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Memory-mapped_I/O_ports#900B0000_-_Power_management) with this info, could you please check I didn't write anything wrong?
looks correct to me
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on January 03, 2011, 02:52:34 pm
Code: [Select]
raw config: 2
Base = 300 MHz
CPU = 150 MHz
AHB = 150 MHz
These settings seem to work on OS 2.1 without any problems, and are apparently the fastest we can achieve through programs.
I'll keep these settings on my calc, and see if I run into any long-term problems...

EDIT: I also tried with raw config=0, but the calc froze...
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: fb39ca4 on January 03, 2011, 04:43:10 pm
Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):ac=voir&id=1922]TNOC[/url])[/i]
Aren't all the languages stored in the OS, no matter what language is used?
Could we use an ndless program to delete those?

Read about the patch.
The difference doesn't come from the translated system strings, but from the samples which are included in all languages in the TNO/TNC file. (around 15 languages if I remember well - that's a huge size!)
When you select the working language, the matching samples are extracted from the TNC file which is kept in "/phoenix/install/" and copied to the file system, which is making the little difference.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 03, 2011, 05:13:02 pm
Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):ac=voir&id=1922]TNOC[/url])[/i]
Aren't all the languages stored in the OS, no matter what language is used?
Could we use an ndless program to delete those?


The samples are stored in something like 15 different languages in the TNO/TNC archive, which is stored in /phoenix/install/ . That file is vital for the OS as it is used at every boot.

You've got a PC program to delete those before installing the OS: TNOC.
A Ndless program won't be easy to develop, as you'll have to port zlib.
Moreover, if anything goes wrong with the Ndless program, your OS won't boot again (with TNOC, the patched file just won't install -> nothing dangerous).
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 04, 2011, 02:53:26 pm
Wonderfull!!!

It would be great if we could overclock previous OSes to 300MHz base (instead of 180MHz) without having that screen problem.

Upgrading from 2.0 to 2.1 makes you lose 1.4Mb of free space.
It's useless to fasten the cpu, if we don't have enough free space anymore to store BMP/WAD files...

Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):
(http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/13/23/13/53/tnoc-s10.gif)

("light" is what you're getting when patching your TNO/TNC file with TNOC (http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=1922))
Pretty huge difference indeed. I am still a bit scared of how large OSes will be in two years or so. X.x
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on January 04, 2011, 02:55:32 pm
*cough* SD cards reader *cough*
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: NeoCrisis on January 04, 2011, 02:56:45 pm
*cough* SD cards reader *cough*

yeah, probably... but how much would this cost? X.X
long live TNOC :P
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on January 04, 2011, 02:58:05 pm
In the future, we might be able to install our own OSes...
Imagine NightOS... XD
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 04, 2011, 03:23:05 pm
In the future, we might be able to install our own OSes...
Imagine NightOS... XD
Yeah, sadly we have to deal with a 1024 bit RSA key, though. Otherwise, someone could just write a 64 KB OS or something like that and give people 32 MB of RAM and archive to use for themselves.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 06, 2011, 10:26:17 am
Wonderfull!!!

It would be great if we could overclock previous OSes to 300MHz base (instead of 180MHz) without having that screen problem.

Upgrading from 2.0 to 2.1 makes you lose 1.4Mb of free space.
It's useless to fasten the cpu, if we don't have enough free space anymore to store BMP/WAD files...

Check the free space available after a full reset with each OS in english language (can change but very slightly with another language):
(http://i63.servimg.com/u/f63/13/23/13/53/tnoc-s10.gif)

("light" is what you're getting when patching your TNO/TNC file with TNOC (http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=1922))
Pretty huge difference indeed. I am still a bit scared of how large OSes will be in two years or so. X.x

Cough cough... go on like that, TI, yeah!

In a year, you'll have to use the maintenance menu to totally reformat your Flash ROM, before installing a new OS.
Because the TNO/TNC file won't fit in the free space if an OS is allready installed! :P

In 2 years, OSes simply won't fit in the Nspire Flash ROM! :P :P
But TI won't notice before releasing them, as they mostly care for their computer software, on which most tests are performed. :P :P :P
(fortunately, TNOC will still be there...)

Finally, the Prizm is better with its 16Mb user Flash. Just remove the preinstalled add-ins, and you get more free space than on a TI-Nspire!
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 06, 2011, 04:16:35 pm
Made some tests about setting base/cpu=0 or base/cpu=2.

With OS 1.7, 0 and 2 seem to give very similar performances.

With OSes 2.0.1 & 2.1, 0 gives you a freeze after returning to the OS.
(so the problem comes from the OS and not the hardware)


I'm wondering if I should forbid setting base/cpu=0 or not...
What do you think ?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: shrear on January 06, 2011, 04:24:55 pm
As long as there seems to be nothing to gain with "0", you can as well add this "protection"
also everyone who really wants to experiment with it has probably no problems to set it "manually" at "0"
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: calc84maniac on January 06, 2011, 08:08:37 pm
Made some tests about setting base/cpu=0 or base/cpu=2.

With OS 1.7, 0 and 2 seem to give very similar performances.

With OSes 2.0.1 & 2.1, 0 gives you a freeze after returning to the OS.
(so the problem comes from the OS and not the hardware)


I'm wondering if I should forbid setting base/cpu=0 or not...
What do you think ?
Yeah, it actually gets set to 2 if you use 0. The OS crashes might occur because 0x900B0000 still reads the value last written (while 0x900B0024 reads the actual current clock control value)
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 06, 2011, 09:19:27 pm
Thanks for the interesting explanation calc84maniac.


I've also noticed strange things with the lowest values of CPU/AHB.

CPU/AHB=2 (value set to 1) and CPU/AHB=1 (value set to 0) seem to give very similar performances. Tested with 180MHz, 240MHz, and 300MHz.

For reference, CPU/AHB=3 (value set to 2) is around 20% faster.


Any idea of what's going on ?
Is CPU/AHB set to 2 when we want CPU/AHB=1 ?
Or is more than half of the cpu frequency useless?



Here are the relative performances for the same OS:
(http://i33.servimg.com/u/f33/13/23/13/53/nover10.gif)

Note that for the same config, different OSes have slightly different calculation performances.

For example:
- OS 1.7 is slower than OS 1.4
- OS 2.0.1 is faster than OS 1.7
- OS 2.1 is slower than OS 2.0.1 but faster than OS 1.4
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 07, 2011, 05:35:21 pm
Finally, noticed a little problem on HackSpire:

Quote from: HackSpire
900B0000 (R/W): Clock speed load value

    * Bits 1-7: Multiply by 2 to get base/CPU ratio (OS < 2.1: 1 -> CPU at 90 Mhz, OS >= 2.1: 2 -> CPU at 120 Mhz)

On all OSes, the ratio is 2, because the written value is 1.
There is no difference between OS 2.1 and older OSes.


http://hackspire.unsads.com/wiki/index.php/Memory-mapped_I/O_ports#900B0000_-_Power_management
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 07, 2011, 07:11:24 pm
Just updated Nover on TI-Bank with the 1.1 version.
http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=2098

New features:
- support TouchPad keypad
- support OS 2.1

You can still set all possible values. I have not forbidden anything.
Just be aware that:
- you'll crash the OS by setting a x0 ratio with OSes 2.x
- using any base frequency different than 180MHz will cause screen refreshing & USB transfers/detection problems with OSes 2.0 and older
- if the CPU frequency becomes too low, you'll have problems with the screen refreshing too

Don't want to have problems?
Juste use the official preset configs:

[ x ][ enter ] for fastest config on 1.1-2.0 OSes (x1.8 )
[ 9 ][ enter ] for fastest config on 2.1 OS (x3)
[ / ][ enter ] for official config on 1.1-2.0 OSes (x1)
[ 6 ][ enter ] for official config on 2.1 OS (x2.4)


Please report any problems.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: critor on January 09, 2011, 10:19:49 am
No problem?
Then I'm going to update Nover on TiCalc too.

I've posted a french news:
http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=news&ac=commentaires&id=919

The plot is in english: feel free to reuse it in a news.
If I didn't want that, I would have made it in french...
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: NeoCrisis on January 09, 2011, 12:53:58 pm
absolutely no problem ^^ it worked well on my touchpad, and overclocking it is super^^
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: SirCmpwn on January 09, 2011, 01:32:02 pm
In the future, we might be able to install our own OSes...
Imagine NightOS... XD
What do you think I'm planning on the *moment* that we can install 3rd party OSes?  ;)
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: ExtendeD on January 09, 2011, 01:57:10 pm
Booting your own OS as an Ndless program could actually be possible.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: Silver Shadow on January 10, 2011, 07:54:25 am
I assume you're speaking of RunOS or something of the sort?
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: ExtendeD on January 10, 2011, 04:05:22 pm
RunOS shows at least that it's possible.
Title: Re: Let's overclock Nspire to x2 or x4
Post by: DJ Omnimaga on January 10, 2011, 10:53:22 pm
Sorry I did not have time to try this yet, but I probably will, soon, if I have time. I'm certainly gonna post a news at one point, though.