My thoughts exactly. The second I heard the TI-89 was going to have flash bios I was thinking are they trying to encourage us to change the calculators. I bet before long you will see whole new OS kinda like a Shell war. Kinda of also like how PCs went too. First you had dos. THen windows on top of dos(I include win95 and win98 as being a shell since you can set it up to boot like dos). Then Win NT(and hopefully the next vers of win will be also a pure OS with no dos compatibilty because they messed it up in WIN95 anyways since half my games don't work in win95) Well thats all I have to say. Lets discuss what we want to see in a OS. As soon as I get a sparq drive I will then save up money for the TI-89

I wouldn't get a sparq drive if I were you...they're going out of business.

HONESTLY, WHAT does this have to do with an 89 OS?
You could've found some other way (email?) to voice that concern...
Anyway, I would expect that someone will modify a TI89/92+ ROM image and make an OS built into it, though I expect that would take a lot of work (and maybe the designer wants money for it). Aside from spreading such a 'hacked' ROM image being illegal, it can also potentially cause a calc's ROM to be completely destroyed, lost, and render a calc inoperable (permanently, as opposed to your standard 'ti85 virus' which can be eliminated)
Good luck to the man (or woman, I'm not a chauvenist) who attempts it.

Actaully, the computer should be able to send a ROM to the calc even if the existing ROM is damaged, destroyed, or 'lost' :) I don't remember how this is accomplished, but the subject came up on TI's 89/92+ discussion group a few months back. And technically, you can _write_ a new ROM for the 89 and 92+ legally, but you can't 'reverse-assemble or reverse-compile' TI's ROM, which would make it _very_ hard to write a new one!

My thoughts exactly. The second I heard the TI-89 was going to have flash bios I was thinking are they trying to encourage us to change the calculators. I bet before long you will see whole new OS kinda like a Shell war. Kinda of also like how PCs went too. First you had dos. THen windows on top of dos(I include win95 and win98 as being a shell since you can set it up to boot like dos). Then Win NT(and hopefully the next vers of win will be also a pure OS with no dos compatibilty because they messed it up in WIN95 anyways since half my games don't work in win95) Well thats all I have to say. Lets discuss what we want to see in a OS. As soon as I get a sparq drive I will then save up money for the TI-89

I agree because I am wrating Calc-Linux (TM) for the 89


Landon Rodgers
L+B Software Inc. TI-Calc divsion

What would be nice is an OS with a built in Z80 emulator, or at least a TI-8x BASIC interpreter. This would give the TI-89 power to use all the old math programs from the other 8x calcs, and if it is possible, be able to play all the old Z80 games. I dont know if Z80 emulation is possible on a lowly 10 mHZ chip, but maybe it is possible with an acceled calc. The one thing that bothers me about flash, though, are virii. Although if you have a link you can always "flash" back to original roms, it would be a nuisance if you are in math class taking a big test and you discover that game you just ran removed the ability to do graphing...

No, emulation on calc is impossible. It takes 4 commands to run 1 Z80 command, slowing down the chip to nothing. What I have heard will be developed (if by no one else, Juan will do it) is a program where you stick in the Z80 source, and out comes a compiled 68k 89 file. This would run on a computer.

Now, if it were possible to make an OS with the FLASH ROM (I still don't know if it's possible, seeing as TI doesn't have any documentation for programming ROMs), wouldn't it be possible for those destructive "hackers" out there to seriously mess up you calc, like, permenently? Seeing as FLASH edits the ROM (I believe that is what it does, at least) a "virus" in the FLASH would be difficult to get rid of, seeing as, even if you turn off your calc, the ROM is still there.

-Phil
PaSTE of America

I'd like to know, How do you send the new Rom image to the Flash Rom? Does the calc have to be on? Do you have to hit Link/FLASHROM/Recieve or something on the calculator?
Thanks for an answer

And who the heck cares if sparq hd's are not what these posts are about...just by saying "honestly...blah blah blah" your getting away from the topic.JustMHO.
|--- CW ---|

Hmmm... I only had a 83+ and did this yesterday, but this is what I did:

- download the new TIOS
- Plug in the calc to the GraphLink (I don't know if you can do this with other cable, since the TIOS came in a EXE file with the comm software built in)
- back up everything, just in case.
- Run the file, follow instructions. (OK, port & cable, wait)

Yes and no. I upgraded my TI-92 to a TI-92 Plus, and were something catastrophic to happen, I could always pull the Plus module and revert to plain vanilla TI-92 status. Now, When the Plus module is pulled, the module keeps it's OS in NVRAM. So, your Plus module might be rendered defunct. As for the programming for the flash rom, there are several chips on the module; flash rom might be implemented on ROM. For the curious, the chips are, from largest to smallest: "LH28F016SUT-70 / SHARP / JAPAN / 9753 1 OL" , "TOSHIBA / TC551001BFTL-85L / JAPAN 9746HAK" , "ORBIT 61096B / 9742" , "MAX858 / CSA / * 636". Ther are also several resistors, a couple other misc. componets, and very small 5-pin IC that I cannot read.

Ok, I hopped on over to the FLASH info page at http://www.ti.com/calc/flash/92pwindetails.htm ... There are procedures for recovering your calc, say, if the flash procedure should fail half way through. So, flashrom in built into the ROM on the Plus module. No need to worry about hackers. Case closed. You can recover your calc. End the paranoia.

Get you're vocabulary checked. By definition, a hacker is NOT destructive. That's a cracker. A hacker is simply an individual that attempts to know a system completely and entirely. Most lame M$ windows aren't hackers because they just care about pretty GUI's and nice, colorful windows. But *real* computer users, like those who run Unix and it's varients strive to completely understand their system. They're hackers, but by no means destructive. Get your terms straight. What you speak is called FUD, which is an acronym for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

Jeff

I personally would like to see Mac OS running on a 89/92+. Unfortunately, that would take up too much memory on the calc. If TI was trying to make a more powerful calculator, why stop at a M68k processor? Why not a 200Mhz StrongARM?

I think the key word is 'overheating'

Nah, a 200mhz StrongARM wouldn't overheat. StrongARMs are chips designed for palmtop computers. However, they are rather unimpressive chips, at least in the palmtop world. Despite their seemingly impressive 200mhz speed, they only perform as well as a 100mhz SH3. (don't quote me on that, its approx ;) But a palmtop CPU is not a bad idea at all, and it may be what TI decides to do with their next series of calculators.

Why would anyone need that kind of speed for doing the tasks of a calculator? To have a calc that fast is beyond the point of math class. Why not just get a palmtop PC? Though less affordable, they could actually use the 200 mHz. And besides, every reasonably priced Palmtop these days are usually 100 mHz max.

Number theory, factoring of very large integers, cryptanalysis,etc seem like the obvious answers.

There is no reason for a Mac OS on a calc, much less a GUI. Just give me a DOS prompt and ill be happy...

DOS shell?!? Ack!! Phht!! Please put that horrible beast to death. An approximation of the Bash prompt would be nice. GNU readline, aliases, filename completion; hmm...

I'll second the bash shell!

I like DoorsCS

The Pc processors are generally not desgined to work in a hand held device like the ti-92. You do have a good point though there are many more powerfull processors that ti could use though. One being the RISC processors used in many of the new palmtops. personally I would like to see a ti-89 with a 75 mhz Risc processor 4 megs of static ram and a flash card port. I hp had the right idea with the hp48gx with the ram cards. Ram cards or flash cards allow for as much more expandabilty. They allso provide a means of storing backups safely in case the calc crashes.

You would not be able to run the MacOS (even 1.0) on a flash rom calc. Aside from memory probs, The Mac OS would not run because needs several features that aren't available on any ti calc.

How many houres of battery life do you think you will get out of four AAA (or AA for the 92) batteries powering a 200Mhz StrongARM?
Maby they also wanted to keep the price down? And it is a *calculator*.