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Topics - critor

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46
News / HP Prime: the official video!
« on: April 19, 2013, 03:46:15 am »
On the official "hpcomputers" Youtube account, there's now a marketing clip of the HP Prime calculator :)




The 3.5" multi-touch color screen is mentioned, and we can also see the alpha keys superposed to other keys (like on the TI-Z80, TI-68k and many other models from other manufacturers), as well as a battery :D
However, no information about the CPU, RAM and storage room - which are the pieces of information of highest interest to me, as they truly are what defines a platform :(

Through functionalities such as dynamic geometry, and specific students mention, we can see that the calculator is much more students-oriented than many other HP calculator models.

Speaking on my own, I think that the alpha keys superposed with other keys are much more convenient than the Nspire keyboards' two sets of keys and their tiny keys - even with long, thin fingers.

Looks like, from the clip and image, that those who indicated that its screen resolution and CPU / memory characteristics were the same as the 50g's, didn't have access to the correct pieces of information.

Anyway, this calculator technically makes HP calculators much closer to the state of the art in the matter of calculators, or even define said state of the art :)
Of course, this calculator is unlikely to be cheap, but all calculators are too expensive for the limited functionality they provide. Earlier today, I read once again about a platform much closer to its real price: a $12 phone: http://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/?p=3040 ...

We'll see what TI does with the CX Premium :)



Source:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=11613&lang=en

47
Some months ago we got nLaunch, a permanent OS loader for TI-Nspire ClickPad/TouchPad.
It was using a flaw in Boot2 1.4, and let you run any hardware-compatible OS by skipping all checks (RSA signature, minimal installable OS version, model ID, model type...).

I then released a pack based on a fork of nLaunch, enabling you to have both 3.1 and 3.2 OSes on your calculator and to switch between them - making you able to run both Ndless and Lua 3.2 programs!  :thumbsup:



It didn't hit the news here maybe because it was released on the 1st of april, but nLaunch has now been updated with CX support.

And tonight, I'm releasing you a new pack which will let you enjoy the best of both Ndless and Lua worlds on your TI-Nspire CX too! :thumbsup:



Source & download:
http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=11021&lang=en

48
News / TI-Planet arithmetic contest !
« on: April 04, 2013, 12:49:20 pm »
Hello everyone,

It has been time TI-Planet have not organized a contest, and here is the lack filled ;)
So we organize an international contest, about 5 weeks, mixing arithmetic and algorithmics.


Make a program, as fast as possible, to find the n-th prime palindromic number.


We'll gladly accept programs for the:
  • TI-Nspire
  • TI-82Stats/83/76
  • TI-83+/84


Prizes include:
  • a TI-Nspire CX for the fastest TI-Nspire program
  • a TI-84 Pocket.fr for the fastest TI-z80 program
  • TI posters
  • TI-Planet stickers








Have fun, trying to be the fastest! :thumbsup:



Links:
TI-Planet news in english
Contest topic on Omnimaga with complete rules

49
News / TI-83 Plus moves to TI-84 Plus hardware worldwide !
« on: March 31, 2013, 05:58:22 pm »
UPDATE (April 2nd): The worldwide 15 MHz 83+ was an April Fools joke (as did the Justin Bieber tribute and site name change). :P

In a previous news, we were testing the new TI-83 Plus.fr for back to school 2013 in France.

This new version will use the TI-84 Plus hardware and the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition case, bringing many improvements over the old TI-83 Plus.fr:



    • 1.5 times more RAM: 48KB instead of 32KB ;D
    • 2.5 times faster: 15MHz instead of 6MHz ;D
    • 3 times more archive memory: 480KB instead of 160K ;D
    • direct connection with a standard USB A <-> mini USB B cable on any computer ;D
    • interchangeable kayplates ;D[/color]

    We now learn that this won't be limited to France. From back to school 2013, the TI-83 Plus distributed worldwide will move to the new TI-84 Plus hardware, and form a coherent TI-z80 line with the design of the new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition! ;D

    I also received a DVT prototype of this new TI-83 Plus, just for you! ;)






    See you soon!



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=11480&lang=en

    50
    News / Ndless CM - Ndless ported to the TI-Nspire CM !
    « on: March 26, 2013, 05:28:12 pm »
    The latest beta version (r685) of Ndless 3.1 was published last August, nearly 8 months ago. :'(

    Until now, Ndless 3.1 handled the following Nspire models:
    • TI-Nspire & TI-Nspire CAS
    • TI-Nspire TouchPad & TI-Nspire CAS TouchPad
    • TI-Nspire CX & TI-Nspire CX CAS
    • TI-Nspire CX-C & TI-Nspire CX-C CAS
    In other words, until now, the users of two Nspire models were unable to use Ndless: the chinese TI-Nspire CM:  :(
    • TI-Nspire CM-C
    • TI-Nspire CM-C CAS
    Tonight, we're glad to release Ndless for the Nspire CM-C!

    After the Nspire CAS+, Ndless has therefore been ported to all Nspire models! :)


    In fact, this CM-C support was made months ago, and it was supposed to be integrated to Ndless. It didn't get done yet.

    We think that the fact that Nspire CM-C users, who will soon be taking exams, have access to reduced functionality (even more so than by the mere fact of using an inferior model, that is), is no good, so we're releasing Ndless CM 3.1 as a fork of Ndless 3.1. We hope that the integration to the main Ndless can be done some day in one of the next updates if there are any.


    Obviously, Ndless CM 3.1 requires using OS 3.1, as the vulnerabilities exploited to install Ndless have been simultaneously fixed in the OS 3.2 versions.

    Ndless programs which are not defining their own syscalls in the source code should work directly without the need to be rebuilt.
    The others will have to be adapted and rebuilt.

    Note that the TI-Nspire CM-C CAS is not supported yet.



    Source & download:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11458&lang=en

    51
    News / TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition text output performance test
    « on: February 24, 2013, 03:13:57 pm »
    In a previous news, the first performance test of the new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition made it appear as an extremely slow device.
    But this test was comparing it with a TI-83 Plus that has a different CPU clock and which is not weakened by the MathPrint mode. When we compare things, we must try to only change one parameter at a time.

    Later on, we confirmed this sluggish behaviour by only looking at the menu display time.

    However the fist 84C ASM game, by Kerm Martian showed very correct performances.


    All this seems to be a little blurry and weirdly contradictory, so let's test the performances of text output function in TI-Basic on the text screen :

    We'll be thus testing the performances of:
    • TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, MathPrint mode
    • TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, Classic mode
    • TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, MathPrint mode
    • TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, Classic mode
    • TI-83 Plus.fr (2008, Classic mode)
    Let's start with a simple loop displaying the integers from 1 to 500, with the Disp instruction.

    Here are the results:
    • 1st) TI-84 Plus Silver Edition Classic Mode (0min33s)
    • 2nd) TI-83 Plus.fr (0min35s)
    • 3rd) TI-84 Plus Silver Edition MathPrint Mode (1min53s)
    • 4th) TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition Classic Mode (2min14s)
    • 5th) TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition MathPrint Mode (2min33s)
    So:
    • On this program, the Classic TI-84 Plus, despite its 2x faster 15MHz CPU, has similar performances to the TI-83 Plus with its little 6MHz CPU.
    • When enabling the MathPrint mode, as already known since the 2.55MP OS release, the TI-84 Plus becomes 2.5x slower but the TI-84 Plus C only slows down by 14%.
    • In Classic mode, the TI-84 Plus C is 4x slower than the 84 Plus.
    • But in MathPrint mode, the 84 Plus C is only slowed down by 35% more than the 84 Plus. Would the slowness issues in MathPrint mode be fixed ? Or is it the overall slowness of that beast that's "hiding" it ?
    Anyway, the 84 Plus C, whether in Classic or MathPrint mode, still is at the end of the rankings. The vertical scrolling needs a full-screen refresh, which is now slow for 16-bit colors for the little z80 CPU that does that in about 1 second for 2 new lines...

    But even if it comes last, we could in theory have expected something like 16x slower than a 84+, since it's going from 1 to 16-bit colors, which is far from being the case. :o



    Let's go on and try to find these optimizations with a 2nd test, but using the Output instruction. We now have no more vertical scrolling.

    Here are the results:
    • 1st) TI-84 Plus Silver Edition Classic Mode (3s)
    • 2nd) TI-83 Plus.fr (5-6s)
    • 3rd) TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition Classic & MathPrint Mode (7-8s)
    • 4th) TI-84 Plus Silver Edition MathPrint Mode (16s)
    So:
    • On this program, the 84 Plus in Classic mode still gets first.
    • The TI-83 Plus is almost twice as slow, which is coherent.
    • With MathPrint enabled, the TI-84 Plus is also 2.5x slower, but the TI-84 Plus C seems not to be slowed down at all ! :D
    • The TI-84 Plus C is then 2.5x slower than the TI-84 Plus in Classic mode, but 2x faster than the TI-84 Plus in MathPrint! :D
    This confirms the fact that optimizations were done, otherwise the 84 Plus C would still have been last.
    More precisely, KermMartian from Cemetech discovered that contrary to the other calculators, theTI-84 Plus C does not necessarily refresh all the screen, but can limit the refresh to a specific area of the screen. An optimization perfectly fitted for our test ! :D



    In conclusion, the TI-84 Plus C is not, in my opinion, the catastrophe that some websites try to present.

    It is clear that it isn't fitted for games needing a full-screen refresh, like games using horizontal/vertical scrolling, emulators, or Doom-likes.

    But on other types of games, it is perfectly capable of doing even better than its predecessors and moreover in color, especially since most users stay with the latest OS with MathPrint enabled (by default), which is the now-optimized configuration ! :D



    Video for the test:



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11309&lang=en

    52
    News / TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition menus performance test
    « on: February 23, 2013, 10:49:57 am »
    In a previous news we started to address the performance of the new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition with ticalc.org.

    But before even speaking of the TI-Basic and asm performance, let's have a look at the system menus behaviour.



    Firstly the MODE menu. Its display was almost instantaneous on the TI-83 Plus. It was a little slowed down on the the faster TI-84 Plus because of the use of small font.

    Now on TI-84 Plus Silver Edition C it needs almost one second to display! :O
    Its display is so slow that it becomes perfectly feasible to take a photo with half the menu:



    Now for the system menus using the large font.
    Navigating through those menus was instantaneous on the old TI-83 Plus and TI-84 Plus. But now on the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition we see clearly see the refresh from top to bottom.

    This means in particular that we can not use the calculator on the same typing speed as the old calculators. We must wait until the screen refresh is completed, or some keypresses are going to be ignored.

    For example in the video below, I press four times the right arrow at the same speed on TI-84 Plus and TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition to navigate the menus. The TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition ignores half of my keypresses! :O

    I admit that it is quite painful when using the TI-Basic editor in insert mode or when you are at the bottom of the screen, but maybe it's because I'm too accustomed to previous TI-z80 models and a new user wouldn't mind?



    If there is no way to improve this speed, it would be nice to create a buffer capable of storing a list of unhandled keypresses, which will have to be processed in order later, once the cpu is available again - it allready existed in the early 1990s on the HP-48 calculators.



    Video of the test:



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11302&lang=en

    53
    News / TI bans community calculator emulation
    « on: February 22, 2013, 05:58:03 am »
    It is commonly held, and explained on many sites distributing ROM images (for instance for gaming consoles), that downloading them for emulation purposes is legal if one has the hardware containing said ROM image.

    Actually, the problem is much more complicated, and this "rule" is not legal, in the sense that it's not part of any piece of law.



    At the end of the previous century, the TI calculators community spent significant effort on producing TI graphing calculator emulators, in which each user had to manually enter a ROM or OS image retrieved by his/her own means. That way, emulator authors passed legal problems (if any) on to their users.

    Over the last few years, many changes have occurred in the emulation field:
    • many community emulators of various quality and completeness have blossomed for smartphones and tablets
    • the community now provides online emulators, which largely free users from compatibility headaches between computer types or installation procedures (let's mention TI8XEmu on TI-Planet or jsTIfied on Cemetech)


    However, things also evolved on TI's side:
    • TI started to take seriously the simulation (less advanced than emulation) of their machines, through the Nspire software (or TI-SmartView for pour TI-83+, TI-84, TI-73, TI-Collège Plus, TI-30X MultiView, TI-30X Pro MultiView, TI-34 MultiView, which are quality software)
    • TI offers some sort of online Nspire simulator, through the TI-Nspire Document Player
    • TI recently started to sell a Nspire simulator for the iPad




    In this context, as mentioned on #cemetech, a "small" change has just been introduced in the TI-Software/App license, presented to users when downloading an OS from TI's site:
    Quote from: TI
    TEXAS INSTRUMENTS APP SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT   

    By downloading the software and/or documentation you agree to abide by the following provisions.   

        Licence: Subject to your payment of any applicable license fee, Texas Instruments Incorporated ("TI") grants you a license to copy and use the software program(s) on a TI calculator and copy and use the documentation from the linked web page or CD ROM (both software programs and documentation being "Licensed Materials"). In addition to the copy resident on your calculator, you may keep a copy on your computer for backup / archive purposes only.


        Restrictions: [..]: You may not use the Licensed Materials on any emulator of a TI calculator unless the emulator is obtained from TI.



    Yup, from now on, using TI's OS images with community TI calculator emulators is forbidden, which is in complete contradiction with the simplistic rule mentioned at the beginning of this post. :'(

    Of course, we can think of the fact that no-fee virtual calculators that emulators provide conflict with calculator sales: why buy a physical calculator when one can have a virtual calculator on the computer for no fee ?
    Several years ago, the "problem" didn't exist, but nowadays, smartphone or tablet are computers with a form factor not larger than calculators (and they're much more powerful !), so the situation changed...



    Some persons will say that TI needs to evolve instead of taking part in downhill battles...
    But however, let's try to look beyond the facts, as there might be even more important issues at stake. So, as we're now allowed to use ROM and OS images only with emulators provided by TI... would this mean that TI intends on investing even further in the area of simulation and emulation of their products?

    We're impatiently and excitingly awaiting:
    • an online TI-84+ emulator, in order to replace TI8XEmu (TI-Planet) and jsTIfied (Cemetech) which we seemingly no longer have the right to use
    • a 89/92+/V200/89T emulator
    But we can also wish that TI removes such clauses...



    Situation to be watched...



    Source:
    #cemetech via http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=11296&p=135986


    Edit: Indeed, TI is planning an online TI-84 emulator for the PARCC mathematics assessments for High School as you can read here (in french):
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=10813

    54
    Other Calculators / TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition hardware test
    « on: February 17, 2013, 03:26:33 pm »
    Hello,



    After a first flance at our new TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition in a previous news, you may have expected the software test ?

    Well, no, there would ave been so many things to say and to test on the OS if we want to make something good, that you'll have to wait a little bit, and meanwhile, here's a hardware test ;-)


    The motherboard reveals an architecture based around 2 main chips, very usual on the latest TI-82 Stats, TI-83 Plus et TI-84:
    • the ASIC
    • The Flash ROM memory
    As supposed, the Flash ROM memory is a MX29LV320ETTI-70G from MXIO, with a capacity of 4MB !
    Once the OS installed, 3.5MB of archive memory is coherent. The size of the OS would be similar to the 84+'s one.
    We have already met this manufacturer recently with the external Flash-NOR chip in the prototype TI-Nspire Color.



    But the most important with a historical evolution, it's the ASIC, the chip that contains the processor and the RAM!


    Nothing comes to mind ?
    Let's clean its surface:


    The ASIC chip is TI-REF 84PLUSB/TA3! :~o
    We are talking about the 4x36 ping ASIC chip that equips the TI-84 Plus with HW rev. G and below, as explained in a previous news, and that featured 128KB of RAM!
    On the TI-84 Plus with HW rev. H and later, which is the majority of them right now and those on the 84 Pocket, TI used an ASIC called TI-84PLCR/TA1, smaller with  4x25 pins, but which only featured 48KB of RAM. :(




    Even if it hasn't been tested yet, we can bet on having 128KB of RAM for the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition, and a 15MHz z80 processor.


    Having 128KB of RAM is a great news for resources-hungry apps developers (which will be even more with the color....)

    The use of the same ASIC chip that on the old 84+ is probably a very good omen for the updates of actual TI-z80 emulators



    Let's just hope that the supposed 15MHz will be enough to handle a display color depth of 8 or 16-bits, requiring 4 to 8 times more processing power on screen output operations.

    But for the 128KB of RAM, a big thanks to TI which not only proved listening its users asking for it for years, but also by making, I think, an ambitious choice towards the future, opening the gates to a number of community programs and applications that will make this model a success !




    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11268&lang=en

    55
    Other Calculators / A first glance at the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition
    « on: February 17, 2013, 03:10:47 pm »

    This might look like, to you, a TI-84 Plus cover ? ;)
    But actually, tonight, that cover hides your dreams' calculator, the latest member of the TI-Z80 family: the new TI-84 Plus Color Silver Edition !


    The time has now come to discover every aspect of this treasure! ;)





    Let's see the backside:

    The calculator shows a large "Marketing" sticker.
    Right below, no list of patent numbers, but the Patent pending mention instead, indicating that patents relevant to this model are still pending at the time the device was manufactured.

    Instead of the classic battery removable cover is a cover locked by two screws. Indeed, a rechargeable battery has replaced the non-rechargeable batteries!

    The rechargeable battery is a 3.7L0800SP, which is contained in the cheap rechargeable batteries of the chinese TI-Nspire CM. It packs 800 mAh under 3.7V, i.e. 2.96 Wh. The rechargeable battery is therefore fully compatible with the Nspire series', and should the need arise, could be replaced by the CX or Touchpad rechargeable batteries, for higher duration.

    Also noticeable is the first appearance in the TI-Z80 series of a 'reset' button on the back. Users are accustomed to remove a battery in order to perform a reset; of course, on this model, no joy. Unplugging the rechargeable battery requires unscrewing, because as mentioned above, the cover has screws. It's therefore pretty logical that a 'reset' button appears, TI thought about it!

    Let's have a glance at the serial number:

    The "K-1212" letters behind the serial number indicate that this calculator was recently manufactured in the K (China) factory, in December 2012.

    Actually, besides minor modifications, the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition's cover is based on the TI-84 Plus cover. It's therefore no wonder that we can use it with existing TI-84 PLus stands


    On the top side of the calculator, the usual 84+ connectivity: mini-jack serial port, mini-USB plug:




    On the calculator's sides, at the bottom, we can see a couple metal contacts:

    They're suitable for charging bays, for instance in classroom environments, when one has multiple calculators of the same model


    On the top right side, there's another small difference from the original 84+ cover.
    It's a LED indicating the battery charging process, lighting up when the calculator is connected to a powered USB host:




    On the bottom, the keyboard's faceplate is removable, just like on the 84+ Silver Edition:

    The 84+ C Silver Edition therefore has the same customization possibilities as the 84+ Silver Edition!




    In other words, a great model that we're very eager to boot up for you, in the next episode! ;)



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11266

    56
    News / The new black TI-82 STATS from Germany
    « on: February 08, 2013, 03:51:38 pm »
    In a previous news, we discovered the launch of a new black TI-82 STATS in Germany for back to school 2012.

    Let's have a quick look at the TI-82 STATS history:

    • For back to school 2001 the latest TI-83 adopts a 'Parcus' case and is equipped with ROM 1.10001.

    • For back to school 2004, you get the  blue TI-82 STATS. From both software and hardware points of view, it's a basic TI-83. The ROM is still the 1.10001. Presumably this name was chosen in order to keep a "TI-82" model, as they were quite popular.

    • For back to school 2006, the blue TI-82 STATS disappears in France while still being available in other countries, and is replaced by a purple TI-82 Stats.fr. The latter has a keyboard in French and runs a new basic TI-83 ROM translated into french, the 1.11fr7. But from the hardware point of view, it's a TI-83 Plus motherboard, modified to run only basic 256KB TI-83 ROMs. Known hardware revisions vary from E to G.

    • For back to school 2009, the purple TI-82 Stats.fr is replaced by a black TI-82 Stats.fr. It keeps the same ROM version 1.11fr7, and the same modified TI-83 Plus hardware revision G.

    • For back to school 2009 again, you get in France the TI-76.fr. It comes with a basic french TI-83 ROM, 1.00fr5, which combines features from the TI-83 and the TI-73. It still uses the previous modified TI-83 Plus hardware.



    Despite the similarities of the motherboards, it has never been possible up to date to turn a TI-82 Stats.fr or TI-76.fr into a TI-83 Plus, unlike what is possible with the Casio fx-9750Gii which can be turned into an fx-9860Gii.

    The difference is that we've never been able to access any boot code on the TI-82 Stats.fr and TI-76.fr.

    But after seeing this, a new TI-83 Plus.fr using TI-84 Plus hardware wouldn't be surprising...



    So for back to school 2012, TI-Germany offers us a new black TI-82 STATS, and here is it allready for you!

    It comes with 4 AAA batteries, the manual, the warranty card and the calculator link cable.

    The serial number on the back shows us the hardware revision G. It can be assumed that it will be the same modified TI-83 Plus hardware as for the TI-82 Stats.fr and TI-76.fr, a hardware which then wouldn't have changed since 2009.

    It's exactly the same 'Parcus case reused since 2001, and the color design is the same one as on the back TI-82 Stats.fr, except that the keys are of course in english this time.

    The memory chip seems to be 32K, and there is no mention of archive memory. It would therefore still be a basic TI-83 ROM.



    Let's check the last two assumptions by opening the beast:

    The electronic circuit is organized around two chips:
    • ASIC REF TI TI-738X, with processor and RAM, which is the chip powering the TI-83 Plus and TI-73, reused for the TI-82 Stats.fr and TI-76.fr
    • 512KB Flash ROM chip EN29LV400AT-70TCP from cFeon, with the same capacity as the TI-83 Plus and TI-73

    It is therefore exactly the same modified TI-83 Plus hardware than on the TI-82 Stats.fr and TI-76.fr.



    Now to the ROM:

    It is a basic TI-83 1.11 ROM, in english of course this time, a ROM version which was unknown to us until now, and we now understand a little better where the ROM 1.11fr7 from the TI-82 Stats.fr did come from.

    Like other TI-82 STATS ROMs, it can be used on TI-z80 emulators in basic TI-83 mode.
    On the real TI-82 STATS hardware, this ROM only allows you read-only access to the first 256KB of the 512KB Flash ROM chip.



    It would seem odd for the TI-82 STATS to suddenly skip several years of development like this.

    So, I think that the blue TI-82 STATS sold out of France from 2009 underwent exactly the same hardware / software modifications than the ones introduced by the TI-82 Stats.fr.
    It just remained undiscovered until now because the TI-82 STATS is not available in all countries, and because it usually don't interest the TI community enthousiasts

    Got a TI-82 STATS with hardware revision A to D? Please reply and help us completing the history of this strange model.



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11215&lang=en

    57
    News / TI-83 Plus moves to TI-84 Plus case in France
    « on: February 04, 2013, 01:26:34 pm »
    TI hasn't finished surprising us with with his latest models in the TI-z80 family, after years of development which seemed to focus only on the TI-Nspire family.

    After the TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition which replaces the old TI-84 Plus Silver Edition, it's now the turn of the TI-83 Plus. ;D

    In France, here is the new TI-83 Plus.fr for back to school 2013: :o

    The TI-83 Plus.fr moves to a TI-84 Plus case, but keeps the french keys.

    Do you think that it's just a cosmetic change like when the TI-73 Explorer moved from a TI-83 Plus case to a TI-84 Plus case in 2009 without any change to the hardware specifications?



    Well... This time it seems to be more than that.
    Have a better look at the TI-83 Plus.fr image above...
    Did you notice? You've got MathPrint! ;D

    So a new TI-83 Plus OS in perspective?

    Or is it just TI-84 hardware with a 2.53/2.55MP OS put in a case labeled TI-83 Plus?
    When we think back to the current TI-82 Stats which include TI-83 Plus hardware, it wouldn't be so surprising...



    What is sure, is that like they did with the TI-73 Explorer, TI will have to design a new PCB in order to move the mini-Jack I/O port from the bottom to the top.



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=11214&p=135350&lang=en

    58
    News / Customize your TI-Nspire CX / CM boot screen
    « on: February 02, 2013, 04:32:19 am »
    In a previous news, after discovering a different boot screen on our TI-Nspire Color (TI-Nspire CX prototype), we started to study the format and announced you the coming possibility to customize your TI-Nspire CX / CM boot screen.
    Nothing complicated, because unlike the TI-Nspire ClickPad / TouchPad, the graphic elements of the boot screen are not stored inside the protected Boot1/Boot2, but directly in the first 128KB of the Flash-NAND memory, and can be reprogrammed with nsNandMgr.

    But although using the same format, above boot screens are not interchangeable. Yes... the image data is signed with the RSA keys, which are different for prototypes and production models. So it is impossible to change the contents of the image data. :(

    But ... Just before this data area is the description of the different elements to display on the boot screen, and it turns out that this description is not signed! ;D

    Each element is a rectangle described by in order:
    • a vertical offset on the screen
    • an horizontal offset on the screen
    • the width
    • the height
    • an offset in the signed image data

    It is therefore possible to:
    • change the position of an element
    • deform a horizontal element by playing 'slightly' with its width
    • truncate the bottom of an element by reducing its height
    • truncate the top of an element by increasing its data offset
    • 'reverse' the colors of an element - as colors are coded on 2 bytes (16-bit R5G5B5), we just have to specify an odd data offset instead of even

    The boot screen of the TI-Nspire CX / CM consists of:
    • 5 error icons
    • a full progress bar
    • an empty progress bar
    • a background

    That makes 8 elements, but only two of them are permanently displayed:
    • the empty progress bar
    • the background

    It would be possible to customize the boot screen by breaking these two elements, which would give two rectangles whose content would be derived from the signed image data. For sufficiently small rectangles, you could therefore have black, yellow, red, blue and gray colors, by pointing the appropriate zones of the signed image data, and you could also get their inverse colors in R5G6B5 which would make 10-12 colors!:)

    But great surprise, there are actually 12 elements supported by the boot screen format! ;D
    The last 4 elements are simply unused on the current TI-Nspire CX / CM current and as a bonus, when filled they are permently displayed items!

    Without having to break the two official permanent elements mentioned above, we can use ​​4 rectangles to customize our screen! ;D

    Do you want to remove the brand and model names? ;)

    Look, I have a new Nspire, the TI-Nspire CX+! :P

    And now, here is a speedy background for overclocked TI-Nspire: ;)

    Excale even offers you a home! ;D

    And let my present you 'Booty', my new TI-Nspire CX starting companion: :D


    Unimpressive are you going to say?

    But there is another application, which is the digital signature of your TI-Nspire. With the positions, sizes and colors, there are many combinations! It is therefore possible to affix a small discreet and unique symbol on your boot screen, permanently identifying and protecting your TI-Nspire CX/CM against theft. ;D

    Indeed, this signature can not be removed by any official reset menu! ;D

    The only way to destroy it is to reprogram the first 128KB Flash-NAND again, which is not the scope of your average thief, and will be even less when Ndless soon finds itself blocked by the next TI-Nspire OS



    Source: (with the format)
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11194&lang=en

    Credits to Elementcoder for the translation of the news.

    59
    Other Calculators / TI-Nspire CX+
    « on: January 31, 2013, 05:30:34 pm »
    Here's a photo from me (no trick with the image, and no use of mViewer):


    Now try to guess what the news could be! ;)

    60
    News / New black TI-82 Stats in Germany
    « on: January 25, 2013, 02:12:09 pm »
    Do you know the TI-82 Stats?

    In several countries it's been the TI graphing calculators 1st price since 2004.
    The TI-82 Stats is just a basic TI-83. It includes the latest TI-83 Parcus hardware from 2001 and runs the latest 1.10001 basic TI-83 ROM.
    It's probably been named this way in order to avoid confusion with the new TI-83+ in those countries.



    In France in 2006, the TI-82 Stats was replaced with the TI-82 Stats.fr.
    But the hardware was completely different: it wasn't a basic TI-83 hardware anymore, but a TI-83+ hardware, slightly modified in order to run basic TI-83 ROMs.
    The included 1.11fr7 ROM had been translated to french.

    In 2009, the TI-82 Stats.fr was redesigned in black but kept the same ROM and hardware.



    In Germany, since back to school 2012, we've now got a new TI-82 Stats redesigned in black too:

    We're wondering if it's still based on the basic TI-83 hardware, of if they moved to the modified TI-83+ hardware from the TI-82 Stats.fr, and if they've used a new ROM version or not.
    But of course, the specifications are the sames as the basic TI-83.



    Source:
    http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11166&lang=en

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