Author Topic: Turn on the light on the Nspire  (Read 25734 times)

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Offline ztrumpet

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #15 on: December 18, 2010, 09:28:15 pm »
Wow, this looks cool.  I wish I had an Nspire to test this on. :)  Great job critor. ;D

Offline critor

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #16 on: December 18, 2010, 09:39:29 pm »
Thank you ztrumpet.


I've finally rebooted my boot2 1.1 calculator myself.
The DEL was locked.


So let's sum up things:

- After "exit PTT" reboots, the DEL is unlocked and the program is fully working.
- After other reboots with OS 1.7, the DEL is locked and the program won't be able to turn it on.

Finaly, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with the boot2. Although my boot2 1.1 calculator does not reboot after exiting the program.
But the reboots might be totally unrelated to this program... I've had stange reboots while testing mViewer, while installing Ndless, and even when turning back on a Ndlessed calculator.


It would still be interesting to know if some other kind of reboot (reinstalling OS 1.7, reformatting the whole FS) leaves the DEL unlocked.

And it would still be interesting to test if only OS 1.7 is locking the DEL, of it even happens with OS 1.3/1.4 (which can be Ndlessed).
We can assume that OS 1.1 does not lock the DEL.
« Last Edit: December 18, 2010, 09:41:35 pm by critor »
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Offline critor

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #17 on: December 20, 2010, 06:11:00 pm »
I've made other tests for the "LED-locking" protection.

I've tested:
* a basic TI-Nspire with OS 1.3.2438 + Ndless 1.3
* a basic TI-Nspire with OS 1.4.11653 + Ndless 1.4

OS 1.4 seems to have the "LED-locking" protection.
But... OS 1.3 doesn't seem to have it.

So with OS 1.3.2438 (there is another one, 1.3.2407, which is not supposed to be compatible with Ndless 1.3), you just run my program and it should work on the 1st try! ;D


So we may assume:
* non-CAS OSes 1.1-1.3.2438: no "LED-locking" protection
* non-CAS OSes 1.4.11653 and newer: "LED-locking" protection (but which can be disabled temporary: see previous posts)

I don't know if it's the same thing for CAS OSes.
Nspire CAS ClickPad didn't have a DEL (although they have the circuit). So it's hard to test... That protection might be absent because of that.
Nspire CAS TouchPad do have the DEL. I should downgrade to 1.3/1.4 and test.
« Last Edit: December 20, 2010, 06:11:49 pm by critor »
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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #18 on: December 21, 2010, 08:06:52 am »
I've made the last tests for the "LED-locking" protection.

I've tested:
* a TI-Nspire CAS with OS 1.3.2406 + Ndless 1.3
* a TI-Nspire CAS with OS 1.4.11643 + Ndless 1.4

OS 1.4.11643 does have the "LED locking" protection.
OS 1.3.2406 doesn't have it.


So let's sum up things for both basic and CAS Nspire:
* OSes 1.1-1.3: no "LED-locking" protection
* OSes 1.4 and newer: "LED-locking" protection (but which can be disabled temporary by entering and exiting PTT - which should be impossible during an exam)

Going to release Norse soon.
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Offline fb39ca4

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #19 on: December 21, 2010, 10:25:55 am »
Oh I see now, exchanging info during exams could be pretty bad...
Though how many teenagers nowadays know morse code?

Offline ExtendeD

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #20 on: December 21, 2010, 10:46:21 am »
I think critor's Norse program includes a decoder, you won't need to know morse.
Ndless.me with the finest TI-Nspire programs

Offline critor

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #21 on: December 21, 2010, 11:02:15 am »
Yes, there will be a manual decoder.

Anyway it's not Morse. Morse code doesn't have colors.
But it's similar. And because there are colors, less signals are needed per letter.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #22 on: December 21, 2010, 04:51:25 pm »
Nice critor! :thumbsup:

Offline shrear

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #23 on: December 23, 2010, 01:03:38 pm »
Well I tested it on OS 2.0 and boot2 1.4
but there is not much to say as it acts like you described it for 1.7
the reboot happens around 1 out of 4 times.

Now then, I'm waiting for the full version :)
« Last Edit: December 23, 2010, 01:03:55 pm by shrear »

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #24 on: December 26, 2010, 10:07:09 pm »
Here's a beta of Norse.
The manual decoder is included.

Should be very close to the final release, which will include the source code and the readme.


Have fun.
« Last Edit: December 26, 2010, 10:07:44 pm by critor »
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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #25 on: December 27, 2010, 04:25:51 pm »
I'm on the readme files.
Release soon...
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #26 on: December 27, 2010, 04:27:47 pm »
Cool :D

Offline critor

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #27 on: December 27, 2010, 06:35:00 pm »
Test with Ndless 2.0 on OS 2.0.1:
The LED can still be unlocked by entering & exiting PTT.


Here's the english readme.
Going to work on the french readme now.

Feel free to tell me about any problem/error.


Quote
+-----------+
| Norse 1.0 |
+-----------+
by X. Andréani
http://www.ti-bank.fr/911 (link not active yet)


1) Introduction:
   ------------
A program to send and receive messages using the TI-Nspire LED.
Just type your message and it will be encoded into reg/green/yellow light signals.
The recipient just has to type the colors he/she sees and the message is decoded.


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

* TI-Nspire (blue)
* TI-Nspire TouchPad (black & white)
* TI-Nspire CAS TouchPad (black)

The TI-Nspire CAS (grey) does not have the LED.
The program will run but nothing will be turned on.
Although, the TI-Nspire CAS has the LED circuit.
Just the LED is missing: you just have to solder one.


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:
   -----------------

Norse 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) Security:
   --------

In TI's Press-to-Test documentation, you can read:
<<The flashing LED is hardware-secure
and cannot be impacted by coded software>>

Seems the 2nd part of this sentence is a lie.
(TI's documentations have never been very
realiable for technical informations)

But the 1st part is partially true.
I don't know if it is hardware though, but there is
some kind of security on OSes 1.4 and newer.

On OSes 1.4 and newer, the LED is locked:
the writing to its memory I/O port is ignored.
So whatever you do with the program,
the LED state will remained unchanged.

On OSes 1.1 & 1.3, the LED is unlocked.
The program should work on the 1st try without any problem.
I assume the LED is unlocked in all OSes 1.1-1.3.


6) LED unlocking for OSes 1.4 and newer:
   ------------------------------------

On OSes 1.4 and newer it is possible to temporarily unlock the LED.

You just have to enable and disable Press-to-Test mode.
After disabling Press-to-Test mode,
the LED will be unlocked... untill the next reboot.

To enable PTT:
- turn off your calculator
- hold [Esc] and [Home] while turning the calculator on.
- a dialog box should be triggered: just validate with [Enter]
The calculator is now rebooting in PTT mode.

To disable PTT, you'll need one of the following:
* another TI-Nspire
* a computer
Just connect your calculator and choose the "Exit Press-to-Test"
option in the Tools menu ([Ctrl] [Home] with a ClickPad keypad).
The calculator is now rebooting in standard mode.
And the LED will remain unlocked after the reboot.

Note: This "bug" has only been tested only on OSes 1.4, 1.7 and 2.0.1.
I assume it is working with all OSes 1.4-2.1.
Now that it is public, TI may fix it in the next OS releases.


7) Main menu
   ---------

"Messages editor":
Lets you type a complete message and then send it,
and resend it if necessary.
The sending progress is shown on screen.

"Typewriter":
Each character you're typing is sent immediatly.
Usefull for short answers to yes/no questions or MCQ.

"Messages decoder":
Just type the colors seen on the remote calculator
and the message will appear on screen.

"Codes table"
Display the current encoding/decoding table with
all supported characters.

"Test LED"
Lets you test if the LED is locked.
Lets you test the 3 LED colors: red, green, yellow.


8) Norse code:
   ----------

The current version uses Norse code 1.0.

A character is coded by 1-3 color signals.

For each color signal, the DEL is turned on for 300ms.
Between color signals for the same character, the LED is turned off for 100ms.
Between words, the LED is turned off for 1000ms.

Character   |   Color signals
----------------+--------------------
space      |   aucun
-      |   YGY
.      |   YYR
0      |   GGG
1      |   GGY
2      |   GYR
3      |   GYG
4      |   GYY
5      |   YRR
6      |   YRG
7      |   YRY
8      |   YGR
9      |   YGG
A      |   Y
B      |   RGY
C      |   YY
D      |   YG
E      |   R
F      |   RGG
G      |   RYR
H      |   RYG
I      |   RR
J      |   RYY
K      |   GY
L      |   RRG
M      |   RY
N      |   YR
O      |   RRR
P      |   RGR
Q      |   GR
R      |   G
S      |   RG
T      |   GG
U      |   RRY
V      |   GGR
W      |   GRR
X      |   GRG
Y      |   GRY
Z      |   YYG


9) Cheating or not cheating:
   ------------------------

Norse has not been designed to cheat by exchanging informations during exams.
Remember cheating during exams is illegal.

Norse has been designed:

- to prove that it is possible to exchange complex
messages wirelessly with the Nspire LED

- to interest young people with encoding/decoding messages,
which is a very interesting branch of the mathematics

- to prove that TI's documentation is lying

- to prove that TI is very stupid
(the LED they added especially for the exams "could" be used to cheat during those same exams...)

- to help teachers designing new kind of activities for their students:
in typewriter mode, the LED can be used to quickly answer Yes/No questions or MCQs.

Anyway:
* it is very hard to find OSes 1.3 and older online
* the latest TI 2.x OSes are forbidding downgrades to the oldest 1.x OSes
* according to TI, there is no way for you to exit PTT mode during
an exam as you shouldn't be able to connect your calculator to another
calculator or a computer during an exam.


10) Licence:
   -------

GPLv2. Source code is included.
You may modify the source code according to the included
licence, but I'm just asking one more thing:

- If you do change something with the encoder/decoder, please keep
decoding compatibility with messages encoded with this version.
- If you do not keep this compatibility, please do not pretend to
use "Norse" code any more.


11) Known problems/bugs:
    -------------------

* Random reboots while (or after) using the program
when the LED is locked. It may not be a bug in the program...
It might be a Ndless 1.7 bug, or another protection from TI.


12) Release history:
    ---------------

27.12.2010:   1.0 - initial public release


13) Thanks to:
    ---------
The TI-Bank community for their encouragements.    ( http://www.ti-bank.fr )
The Omnimaga community for their encouragements and tests.  ( http://www.omnimaga.org )
ExtendeD for Ndless 1.7/2.0.
Bsl for Ndless 1.3/1.4.


14) Contact:
    -------

Xavier Andréani
[email protected]
« Last Edit: December 27, 2010, 06:36:06 pm by critor »
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Offline critor

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #28 on: December 27, 2010, 08:59:51 pm »
Norse has just been released.
http://ti.bank.free.fr/index.php?mod=archives&ac=voir&id=2097

French & english readme files are included.
Source code is included too.

Have fun.
Please report any unlisted problem/error.


I'm returning to mViewer development.


Just train yourself decoding this to test, if you don't have a remote Nspire:

(a little faster than the true hardware, sorry about that... although it's a good training :p )
« Last Edit: December 27, 2010, 10:05:09 pm by critor »
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Turn on the light on the Nspire
« Reply #29 on: December 28, 2010, 01:06:20 am »
Cool to see it released :D