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MGaddict@MGaddict

December 09, 2022

Yesterday, I left off talking about the TI-85, the second Texas Instruments graphing calculators.
The 85 had a huge problem, it was designed for college level calculus. It could be used to solve polynomial expressions. This was a problem for highschool algebra classes as well as the SATs. (I can't find any records of when the policy changed, but I know that initially, the TI-85 was banned from use on the SATs for this reason.)

What was TI's response? The TI-82 in 1993, less than a year after the TI-85.
This new calculator had many of the features people loved about the 85, like the ability to use the link cables, and a backup battery, but TI cut the functionality down to something closer to the 81, then cut the memory in order to bring down the price.
This made the TI-82 the most sought after calculator for highschool classrooms. It also makes it probably the most popular of all the models sold in the 90s.

The TI-82 was so successful, that Texas Instruments didn't release any upgrade for 3 years. But there were other models in the mean time.

In 1995, Texas Instfuments released 2 new graphing calculators taking the features of the previous models to the extreme.

The TI-80 was a cut down version of the original 81 but much smaller and capable of running on 2 coin-cell batteries.

The TI-92 was the biggest beast of them all sporting more pixels, more memory, and a full qwerty keyboard. It also used a Motorola 6800 processor at 10hz. So it was basically a Macintosh in your pocket.

While the 80 basically flopped, the 92 did really well despite the fact that it was banned from use on any national exams due to that keyboard. And it remains banned for that reason today. Despite that, college level calculus classes loved it due to its inclusion of CAS (Computer Algebra System, basically it can do everything you learned in Algebra). (I will definitely be talking more about this one over the weekend.)

In 1996, Texas Instruments finally released a successor to the TI-82, the TI-83.
Functionally the only changes were a much better screen (although at the same resolution) and a little more memory for programs (4k to be exact). The change that got most people to switch, was the new design of the case. Like Apple, Texas Instruments decided form was more important to consumers than function. (More on the 83 this week as well. This was my highschool baby.)

1996 also saw a small improvement in the 92 which was really just them fixing bugs in the firmware.

In 1997 a successor to the TI-85 was released. This was mostly the same as the 85, but with the same form factor as the 83 and the newer screen. (BTW, did I ever mention that the 85 had a wider screen?) But the big improvement, the new TI-86 had 128kb of memory while still using a z80 processor. (Yes, at this point in the story, the z80 is nearly 20 years old and still in use.)
The TI-86 was a huge success in colleges, (and it looks like the SAT board got over the whole polynomial equation thing by this point.) However, highschools still avoided it because they felt it allowed Algebra students to cheat on tests. So sales were not as good as TI had hoped.

In 1998 Texas Instruments released the TI-89. This was nearly identical to the 92, but in the same form factor as the 83, and 86. This new model nearly killed the 86. For only $10 more, it had 2x the memory, higher resolution, faster processor, CAS, and it was allowed for use on the SATs. Again, highschools avoided it, but by this point every college student had grown up using graphing calculators and colleges were dependent on them.

Also in 1998, a few revisions were made to the TI-83 and some new cheaper calculators were released. The TI-83 Plus was the last model released in the 90s and ends our history here.

To date, according to Texas Instruments, the TI-84 Plus, released in 2004 and still available today, has been the best selling of any model. But, there is nothing retro about something you can still buy brand new at Walmart.

All of these calculators, except the 83, were purchased from local thrift stores for less than $5 each since Lunduke announced handheld week.

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It’s Nerdy Q & A time!

You know the drill. Ask me a question. Any question at all. Just make sure it’s good and nerdy.

(Retro computers, programming, modern computing, tech news, advice, hypothetical, you name it.)

Post that question in the comments of this post on Locals.

Then give the thumbs up to your favorite questions.

I’ll sort by “most liked” and answer as many as I can.

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Nevernown@Nevernown

6 hours ago

Okay, so I'm still very much in the great country, behind the great wall, but there is so much tech to talk about!

Of course that is not why I am in the country, but since the other part is my wife's private matters I'll just report on the tech :)

First of all, the Chinese cars are amayzing. We take Didi (chinese Uber) everywhere, and for under 10 yuan (€1.25) you have a 1 mile ride in the inner city.
The cars themselves all look like fancy minimalist teslas on the inside, with huge dashboard computers and often neon lighting.

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2disbetter@2disbetter

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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

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Last week at The Lunduke Journal (Oct 20 - Nov 2, 2024)

Linux v. Russia! Internet Archive Weirdness! RISC OS Web Browsing!

Ok, first off: I totally forgot to publish a "week in review" article last week. Woops. My bad. So this article covers the last two weeks.

Second: Over the last 14 days, apparently there's been 16 shows. Hot dang.

And the news has been all over the map! The big story, obviously, was the "Linux v. Russia" craziness. The really wild part of that story is that it's still ramping up. The next month is going to see some wild stories relating to open source software and sanctions compliance.

Oh! Oh! And the Internet Archive stuff! Insane!

But, you know what my absolute favorite news story was for the last two weeks? The one about RISC OS having WiFi and a modern web browser now. That story just made me happy. It's nice to know that, even when various software companies and organizations are losing their darned minds... there's still bright spots of nerdy joy out there.

The Shows

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Previous Few Months

Reminder: Check out Lunduke.com for all the handy URLS. Podcast RSS feeds, contact info, direct links to some of the big shows and articles and a bunch of other goodies. And be sure to subscribe to The Lunduke Journal to help support the work... and make sure you don't miss out on anything.

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Bryan Lunduke@Lunduke

November 02, 2024

Apple Removes Ability to Run Unsigned Apps in macOS 15.1

Big Tech's war against "sideloading" continues.

On Monday, October 28th, Apple released the macOS 15.1 update. And, with that update, Apple has ratcheted up their war on "sideloading" by completely disabling the ability to run unsigned macOS software.

And signing software, of course, requires an Apple Developer Connection subscription. Which, for most people, is a costly thing.

Every Few Months, A Little Less Freedom

Just a little over one month ago (September of 2024), the initial release of macOS 15.0 brought with it a new round of restrictions on running non-signed (also called "non-notarized") applications. With 15.0, users could still run non-signed software... but they needed to jump through a few extra hoops by openning the System Settings and manually enabling each application they wanted to run.

This change made running unsigned software on macOS a bit more annoying -- additional steps to do something that used to be a simple "double click on the darned icon" process. Annoying, to be sure. But, luckily, all software could still be run.

That all changed -- less than 45 days later -- as Apple released the 15.1 update to macOS, which included the removal of the "Click around in System Settings" option to allow unsigned apps to run.

Now, in 15.1, when you attempt to run a non-notarized piece of Mac software, you will be greeted by a simple error message: "The application 'Finder' does not have permission to open '(null)'."

No option to run the software whatsoever. Effectively banning all non-signed software (such as those developed by a hobbyist).

The War on Sideloading Continues

This isn't exactly a surprising move by Apple. Over the last few years, all of the Big Tech operating system companies (Microsoft, Apple, and Google) have pushed -- with increasing intensity -- to lock down what software users are allowed to run on their computers.

Increasingly restrictive "application signing" systems, and the removal of "features" which allowed non-signed applications to run, have been a stated goal of all three corporations.

All in the name of a war on, what Big Tech has termed, "Sideloading".

What is "Sideloading", you ask?

"Sideloading" is most simply defined as "The act of installing software on a real computer." And Apple, Google, & Microsoft are determined to stop people from doing that.

These companies haven't exactly been quiet about their goal to stop people from installing software on their computers (outside of approved, heavily restrictive mechanisms). Back in 2021, Apple published a whitepaper entitled "Building a Trusted Ecosystem for Millions of Apps - A threat analysis of sideloading".

That's right. Apple considers you having the freedom to install whatever software you want on the computer you own -- something every real computer (including those made by Apple) have done since the dawn of Personal Computing -- to be a "threat".

With macOS 15.1, Apple is taking significant steps to neutralize that "threat".

No software freedom for you.

The Last Workaround

As of now -- with macOS 15.1 -- there remains one final way to work around these draconian and artificial restrictions.

To do so requires the complete disabling of "Gatekeeper", the system which verifies downloads and restricts the running of non-signed applications.

This can be done via a fairly simple terminal command run as root:

sudo spctl --master-disable

However, it should be noted that with Apple's ever increasing requirements of application "notarization" -- and increasing reliance on the Mac App Store for software distribution (which ties into Gatekeeper) -- the full disabling of "Gatekeeper" seems likely to cause issues going forward with "Apple approved" methods of installing software.

Likewise, at Apple's current rate of attacks against "sideloading", the ability to turn off Gatekeeper may not be long for this world at all.

Don't Laugh, Google & Microsoft Users

While the news, today, is focused on Apple (their fight against the most basic freedoms of computing -- the ability to run software)... both Microsoft and Google have made it clear that they are all in on the war against sideloading.

Case in point: Google is migrating Android software away from "APK" application packages... to the far more restrictive "AAB" application bundles. Microsoft, likewise, is pushing for a reliance on their online store.

So users of Android, ChromeOS, & Windows shouldn't laugh. You're next.

Users of a variety of open source, alternative operating systems (such as Linux, BSDs, and many others), however, can laugh all they want.

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