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TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #1 Posted by jacksonconsult on 23 Sept 2009, 12:06 p.m.

The Register

      
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #2 Posted by hugh steers on 23 Sept 2009, 3:47 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by jacksonconsult

So this has to be to do with calculators in education. Firstly, it's an enormous amount of work to rewrite a new calculator, or "OS" as they call it. it takes literally years to get all the bugs out - and then you still find some. It's not something that Ti should be afraid of. ie repurposing.

so presumably this is to prevent exam approved calculators from being repurposed into better calculators that can be used to cheat. Frankly, anyone who can repurpose a Ti83 into a Ti89 should be hired by TI !

            
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #3 Posted by Joerg Woerner on 23 Sept 2009, 4:06 p.m.,
in response to message #2 by hugh steers

Hugh,

I'm not kidding - there are "kits" available to convert the TI-83 Plus to a TI-89 or a TI-84 Plus to a TI-89 Titanium ;-))

Basically you just swap the printed circuit boards ;-))

Regards, Joerg

                  
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #4 Posted by hugh steers on 23 Sept 2009, 5:12 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by Joerg Woerner

Hi,

Yes i've heard of these case swaps. So what you're thinking is that you could hack the ti89 firmware to identify itself as a Ti83, then re-sign it and load it onto a ti83 with a 89 internal board, and thus fool the invigilators?

cracking idea!

            
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #5 Posted by Egan Ford on 23 Sept 2009, 5:21 p.m.,
in response to message #2 by hugh steers

Quote:
Firstly, it's an enormous amount of work to rewrite a new calculator, or "OS" as they call it. it takes literally years to get all the bugs out - and then you still find some.
I'd see new OSes more targeted to something special purpose. It's an embedded platform with a screen, I/O, and a keyboard. Could be a game machine, data collector, etc...

Why not embrace this? Have a repurposing kit and a contest.

Quote:
It's not something that Ti should be afraid of. ie repurposing.
Furthermore the percentage of people that would actually do this rounds to zero.
                  
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #6 Posted by hecube on 23 Sept 2009, 8:38 p.m.,
in response to message #5 by Egan Ford

Quote:
Furthermore the percentage of people that would actually do this rounds to zero.

Maybe on a TI calculator. What would be the percentage on a HP calculator? :-)

                        
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #7 Posted by Egan Ford on 24 Sept 2009, 1:54 a.m.,
in response to message #6 by hecube

The same. The new 20b and 12C can be repurposed and with HP's blessing. See http://www.wiki4hp.com/doku.php for details. Incredible! However, I'd wager that < 10 people have actually done it. How many 10s of 1000s of HP financial calculators are sold each year?

IMHO, the repurposing of anything (cars, computers, calculators, etc...) will only attract a very small minority.

                              
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #8 Posted by David Hayden on 24 Sept 2009, 11:55 a.m.,
in response to message #7 by Egan Ford

Quote:
IMHO, the repurposing of anything (cars, computers, calculators, etc...) will only attract a very small minority.

I'm not so sure. One reason for the success of the Palm Pilot was that they made it easy to customize it and develop new software for it. I think the same is true of the iPhone and iTouch - they're nice platforms for 3rd party applications.

I'm currently working on an application for the 40gii. When in the field, the calculator will basically be a dedicated platform for this application and will probably not be used as a calculator at all (or very little).

Tim Wessman's surveying program is another example of a repurposed calculator.

                                    
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #9 Posted by Egan Ford on 24 Sept 2009, 2:42 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by David Hayden

Quote:
I'm not so sure. One reason for the success of the Palm Pilot was that they made it easy to customize it and develop new software for it. I think the same is true of the iPhone and iTouch - they're nice platforms for 3rd party applications.
Applications for an existing platform using the platform API is not repurposing. It's actually a supported purpose of the device.
Quote:
I'm currently working on an application for the 40gii. When in the field, the calculator will basically be a dedicated platform for this application and will probably not be used as a calculator at all (or very little).

Tim Wessman's surveying program is another example of a repurposed calculator.

My point exactly, very small minority.
                                          
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #10 Posted by Chan Tran on 24 Sept 2009, 6:33 p.m.,
in response to message #9 by Egan Ford

So the motive is clear. TI don't want you to repurpose their calculators because they would be banned from school exam. Although, only a very few would do it, many teachers may take the safe side and ban them all.

                                                
Re: TI Aims Lawyers at Calculator Hackers
Message #11 Posted by Tim Wessman on 24 Sept 2009, 6:34 p.m.,
in response to message #10 by Chan Tran

I'd say lets make sure that happens! ;-)

Would it be a bad thing?

TW

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