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Development => Calculators => Calculator News, Coding, Help & Talk => Topic started by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 09, 2015, 04:56:41 PM

Title: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 09, 2015, 04:56:41 PM
Normally, as soon as a new version of Ndless comes out, a new TI-Nspire OS is announced shortly afterward. This is the case again after Ndless 3.9 release :P

http://www.t3europe.eu/resources/product-information/ns-40/

It apparently comes out on March 26th 2015. Note that this OS drops compatibility with the grayscale TI-Nspire handhelds. However, the writing was on the wall for many years, as newer OSes kept growing in size, to the point where those using OS 3.9.1 would only have about 2 or 3 MB of free memory available for their programs once Ndless was installed. This means, on the other hand, that Nspire Clickpad/Touchpad users will be able to stick to an Ndlessable OS as long as their school allows grayscale TI-Nspire models!

The OS 4.0 announcement page advertises the usual anti-downgrade protection, although it also comes with many new features. Ideally, you should wait before upgrading until a new tool such as DowngradeFix is released, in case you want to downgrade back to OS 3.9.1.

Source found via http://tiplanet.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16161
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on March 09, 2015, 06:01:17 PM
I don't see any groundbreaking features that would worth the jump to a new major version. Is there any other addition to the OS?
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 09, 2015, 07:57:12 PM
The tool to draw shapes is quite promising but from what I can read, it's not available on the Nspire CX handheld. I'm unsure if this means it's a CAS-only feature of if it's only on the iPad. I am curious if it fixes some long-time OS bugs, though.

For those who want to use ASM without constant risks of getting locked down by new TI OSes, wants a color model but do not absolutely need CAS features, they might want to consider the TI-83 Premium CE (France-only), TI-84 Plus CE, Casio PRIZM or HP Prime (although the latter might be disallowed at some tests due to its touchscreen) as an alternative.
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Legimet on March 10, 2015, 11:47:35 PM
Quote from: Eiyeron on March 09, 2015, 06:01:17 PM
I don't see any groundbreaking features that would worth the jump to a new major version. Is there any other addition to the OS?

TI never adds features to their OS. :P
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 11, 2015, 12:14:19 AM
I do notice new additions but not enough to justify such upgrade IMHO.

I personally wish good luck to the Ndless team.
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Duke "Tape" Eiyeron on March 11, 2015, 09:10:04 AM
GLHF, you'll need that, guys.
Quote from: Legimet on March 10, 2015, 11:47:35 PM
Quote from: Eiyeron on March 09, 2015, 06:01:17 PM
I don't see any groundbreaking features that would worth the jump to a new major version. Is there any other addition to the OS?

TI never adds features to their OS. :P
Ah? MP wasn't a new feature? Lua's physic engine wasn't a new feature? I'm lost there.
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 11, 2015, 11:17:34 AM
He was kidding about how those features are generally considered not important enough to justify sacrifying Ndless compatibility to upgrade. That isn't a problem anymore with the Lua physics engine because Ndless now runs on 3.6, but some people still prefer using OS 3.1 for size reasons.

Also MP was on Z80 calcs, not the Nspire, and while it's fine on color models, the monochrome version of MathPrint is hated by many people and most have it disabled.
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Snektron on March 11, 2015, 04:11:07 PM
Except me and people who use their calcs for actual calculating. I like mathprint and never had any problems with it <_<
Title: Re: Nspire OS 4.0 announced
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on March 11, 2015, 08:44:56 PM
Actually, to be fair, the main issue with MathPrint is that many ASM programs and hybrid BASIC programs made before MathPrint OSes came out stopped working (xLIB and Omnicalc were prime examples) and some pure BASIC programs did as well if they used Text command tricks and stuff like that. Also, making sure your programs were cross-compatible became a nightmare and you couldn't really afford to lose the massive 2.43 audience that refused to switch. I am betting that today, since most calc users got their calc with Mathprint by default, they might be more used to it than classic mode.

The other issue was that 2.53 MP was very unstable. 2.55 MP was better, but still has some major bugs IIRC.