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Linux On the TI-Nspire Graphing Calculator
An anonymous reader writes "Developers been working hard for the past few months to get Linux ported to the TI-Nspire calculator. The port is not yet fully stabilized nor quite ready for broad consumption and requires some user-level knowledge of Linux systems, but is definitely worth a try. Experimental support for root filesystem installed on USB mass storage is being worked on, so that Datalight's proprietary Flash FX/Reliance filesystem used by TI's OS isn't a limit anymore. This also means that the native TI-Nspire OS image is not replaced by the Linux system, and Linux can been booted on demand. Support for USB keyboard, X server, directFB, Wi-Fi (with the help of a powered USB hub) and text-based Internet browsing is progressively being added and tested."
I bet you TI would do anything to stop it. Remember this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_signing_key_controversy
I ported Linux onto a piece of whole wheat bread. I don't have support for the root filesystem, USB keyboard, X server, Wi-Fi, or internet browsing yet, but it is ready for broad consumption.
Does chess have a worthwile purpose? Is this made for your benifit?
This is news for nerds, remember. The question should be "Why not?".
Here be signatures
"Does chess have a worthwile purpose?"
Does your comment have a worthwhile purpose? As for why not - this project makes the calculator less useful since it'll be crap as a general purpose computer and now it'll be crap as a calculator too. Which rather defeats the point of most "nerd" projects which is generally to improve things.
Which bit of the subject line didn't you understand?
What every US student has been asking for for decades: The ability to install a decent calculator on their TI.
Would the world be populated with your clones the American Indians would still be hunting their buffalo's and the Pyramids would not even be the dream of a king.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
There are a couple of things that make TI calculators different from your average hackable smartphone or Raspberry Pi device.
First, they have terrible specs. The TI-NSpire, which is the creme-de-la-creme of these calculators has 20 MB of RAM. Compare to a recent Galaxy S3 smartphone - 2 GB, or even a $35 Raspberry Pi - 512 MB. The CPU is also woeful in spec, as is the flash, etc. They're also locked down to their dumbed down operating system which is extraordinarily limited, even when you consider the lack of the device's hardware prowess.
Second is the fact that these TI calculators are allowed on the SAT, ACT, and other standardized tests. This in my opinion is the reason for the awful specs. That they are allowed is precisely because the calculators are limited. It would be much easier to put a whole bunch of cheating software on a Galaxy S3. Heck, I could see apps like that in the Android marketplace for sale for $9.95! Or imagine - you could "ask an expert" during the test and have the answer transmitted to you over the smartphone's 4G coverage. Doesn't it make sense that the TI calculators have no built-in-networking, not even Bluetooth?
TI has to balance the fact that people want to cheat their way through these tests or math class and yet give them a nice calculator, one that can aid students in relieving the drudgery of basic arithmetic and maybe even have features that make people's lives easier. But again, this cannot come at the expense of having a platform that's ready for cheaters.
So in my opinion, this concept of putting Linux on the TI N-Spire is probably not a good idea, for a number of reasons. First, TI will likely try their darndest to prevent the calculators from being loaded up with a custom OS that could then be loaded up with cheatware. Moreover, if cheatware became easy to load, the people that run the SAT and ACT test would look to disqualify the TI from being used on these tests. This would then hurt the people that are honestly looking to use the calculator as intended on those exams.
If you're looking to hack on a piece of hardware, buy a Raspberry Pi, load a custom ROM on your smartphone. You're not doing anyone any favors by hacking Linux to run on the TI calculators except cheaters, and even that would only last a short while.
Maybe I could run an HP emulator on it then? RPN or RPL on a TI would be very cool - probably not to TI though.
"You can lead a horse to water but a pencil must be lead!" - Stan Laurel
Why? Because we can. TI's are always going to be terrible. That's not the point. The fact that someone can get Linux running on such an abstract platform is where all the fun comes from. Hacking on an Android device or RBP isn't fun because you're doing what they're intended for. Doing so on a TI is because you're pushing it to do something it wasn't meant to do.
Does your comment have a worthwhile purpose?
Yes. Try reading the comment.
As for why not - this project makes the calculator less useful since
That's your opinion.
it'll be crap as a general purpose computer
Again, your opinion. It's not a general purpose replacement for a PC. Is there any other generally programmable machine which is as low power, has as long a battery life, screen which can be as easily read in sunlight etc etc.
and now it'll be crap as a calculator too.
I don't see why. One could certainly write a good calculator program for it. In fact, using a general purpose system, one could almost certainly write a better calculator program, or at least one that was more suitable for certain things.
Which rather defeats the point of most "nerd" projects which is generally to improve things.
No, it's to do stuff for the hell of it. Some times one is driven by a desire to improve. Other times one is driven by a desire to see if something can be done.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
There are a couple of things that make TI calculators different from your average hackable smartphone or Raspberry Pi device.
Indeed, another whole class of device with didderent specs to play with!
First, they have terrible specs. The TI-NSpire, which is the creme-de-la-creme of these calculators has 20 MB of RAM. Compare to a recent Galaxy S3 smartphone - 2 GB, or even a $35 Raspberry Pi - 512 MB. The CPU is also woeful in spec, as is the flash, etc.
Not terrible, just differet. A PIC12F675 has a whole 64 bytes of user memory, but it's still extremely useful.
It's not meant to be a full sized PC or a full sized smartphone. It will also last very much longer off the batteries than either of those two, has a screen which works well in any conditions, is robust etc. The PI doesn't even have a screen or case, it's a totally different class of product.
You don't always need a fast computer in the place you want a computer. Sometimes you just want one at all. The specs of it put it many orders of magniture above what I can do in my head.
They're also locked down to their dumbed down operating system which is extraordinarily limited, even when you consider the lack of the device's hardware prowess.
Not any more, which is rather the point :)
Second is the fact that these TI calculators are allowed on the SAT, ACT, and other standardized tests.
This is someone else's problem. I don't even live in a country where SATs or ACTs are used.
You're not doing anyone any favors by hacking Linux to run on the TI calculators except cheaters, and even that would only last a short while.
That's pure rubbish. This entire thing is by hackers for hackers. It has nothing to do with cheaters. Maybe at some point in the future, cheaters will figure out how to load Linux, how to make it work, how to install a cheating program and then use it.
Well that's sad.
If it's available as a standard calculator, then the exams should provide one of these in the hall, and not rely on students bringing in potentially hacked hardware.
How hard would it be to hack a smartphone into the hollowed-out shell of a TI calculator anyway?
SJW n. One who posts facts.
What, this story has been up for a whole day so far and nobody has yet imagined a Beowolf cluster of these?
What's Slashdot coming to these days?