Today !
ControlX 4.4 has just been released.
This is a major update with lots of new features and possibilities :
- you can now store your default choices in the ControlX menu
- new ability to run CX/CM Boot2 images older than 4.0.1
- new ability to run CX/CM OS images older than 4.0.1
- new ability to run light OS images (see nTNOC)
- added the 3.1CX, 3.1CM, 3.6CX and 3.9.1CX Ndless installers
- added the 4.4CX Ndless installers
- now also auto-installs Ndless when directly hot-running decrypted OS images
About
default choices :
To store a choice as a default boot choice, just hold
while pressing it.
You can choose up to 2 things :
- a default boot action in the main ControlX menu (clearing minOS for example)
- a default boot image in one of the Boot2/Diags/ExtnD partitions
Although it's possible, you shouldn't make minOS=0 a default boot action, and select it manually only when needed.
Choosing it as a default boot action means a NAND block always in the same 2-3 NAND blocks is going to be erased+rewritten each time the calculator does reboot.
And NAND chips are supporting a huge but still limited number of erase+rewrite cycles for each block. It's very unlikely you'll run into problems before taking your exams, but it's still not a good choice.
It's not very useful to make something else than Boot2 4.0.3 as the default boot image.
But by manually specifying your Boot2 4.0.3 image as the default boot image, ControlX is going to store its location,
and thus will boot your calculator a little faster as it won't have to search for this image anymore.
About
OS launching :
This is important to understand things below.
Let me remind you you have 2 interesting ways of launching TI-Nspire OSes :
- through the Boot2 in which ControlX is going to inject its payload with several OS patches (only Boot2 4.0.3 is fully supported)
- by directly flashing and hot-running a decrypted OS image (raw or compressed) in the ExtendeD partition, *if* you are able to decrypt OS images
About
hot-running decrypted OS images :
You're completely skipping the Boot2 and all its checks.
Thus you are able to :
- run a CAS OS on a non-CAS calculator (up to version 3.6)
- run a non-CAS OS on a CAS calculator (up to version 3.6)
- run a CM OS on a CX calculator
- run a development OS on a production calculator
The incomplete source code
(keys missing) of an OS decrypting tool is available :
archives_voir.php?id=4281But you should also be able to get the decrypted OS image by dumping the SDRAM in th Firebird emulator with a breakpoint on execution at 0x10000000.
As hot-launching is skipping the OS installation, the resources files aren't updated. Thus you should keep versions of your hot-launched decrypted OS image and of your installed OS image as near as possible
(for example, if you have a CX non-CAS with OS 4.3 and want CAS, decrypt, flash and hot-launch the 4.3 CX CAS OS image).
The only way to really install such "forbidden" OS images and thus not having to decrypt them is to also install Nlaunchy, if compatible with your hardware.
About
Boot2 4.0.3 OS patches :
When running OSes normally through the Boot2, you'll still need Boot2 4.0.3 for patches to be applied to the OS
(nBoot fix for versions older than 4.0.1, Ndless auto-installers, discrepency fix, disable Boot2 updater...).
The discrepency is a set of auto-checks performed by the OS itself, and triggering an OS self-destruct process if the OS considers itself as unsafeThe Ndless auto-installer only works if you have the right ndless_resources.tns file in your /ndless folder.
Thanks to the new discrepency fixing patch, you can use
nTNOC to gain some space by removing useless things
(Boot2 image + sample files) from your installed OS image.
The size of the payload injected in Boot2 4.0.3 is limited. So not all patches are available when launching the OS through a Boot2.
Patches enabled by default in the Makefile are :
- OS 3.1 (nBoot fix + Ndless auto-installer + discrepency disabled)
- OS 3.6 (nBoot fix + Ndless auto-installer + discrepency disabled)
- OS 4.2 (Ndless auto-installer + discrepency disabled)
- OS 4.4 (Ndless auto-installer + discrepency disabled)
For other OS versions, you'll either need to rebuild ControlX by disabling support for some of the above versions, to flash and use a decrypted OS image in your ExtendeD partition, or to also install Nlaunchy if compatible.
About
downgrading.
Boot2/OS 3.6+ won't let you install OSes older than 3.6
(although they'll still be able to boot them).
To install older images, you'll have to :
- temporary install a Boot2 image older than 3.9.1 somewhere in your partitions
- trigger the maintenance menu and remove the current OS
- ask ControlX to reset the minOS version
- ask ControlX to launch the older Boot2
- then send your OS older than 3.6
Of course, the Boot2 image will have to be compatible with your hardware.
Boot2 3.1 for example won't work on harware revisions J-V, but you can use Boot2 3.2.4 in its place.
The OS will also have to be compatible with your hardware - see the table over there :
viewtopic.php?f=57&t=17770To sum up things :
- no OS older than 3.2.3 on hardware revisions J-R
- no OS older than 3.9.1 on hardware revisions S-V
nsPartManagic4.3alpha.zip
. Thanks for all your efforts. By the way, is it possible to dual boot Non-CAS and CAS with Control X, and if so how difficult would it be for someone to get that up and running?
