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Parzi
5y

TIL that TI has no goddamn chill

Texas Instruments released the TI-83+ calculator model in 1996. The Z80 was not at all stock and has the following features:

- 3 access levels (priveleged kernel, kernel, user)
- Locking Flash (R/O when locked for most pages, some pages protected and unreadable as well, only unlockable from protected Flash pages by reading a certain order of bits then setting a port)
- Locking hardware ports (lock state always the same as flash)
- Customizable execution whitelist range (via locked ports)
- Configurable hardware (Flash/RAM size changeable in software via locked ports, max RAM is 8MB which is fucking mental compared to the 64k in the thing)
- Userland virtualization (always-on)
- Reset on violation of security model
- Multithreading
- Software-overclockable CPU
- Hardware MD5 and cert handling

TI made a calculator in 1996 with security features PCs wouldn't see until like 2010 what the *actual* fuck

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  • 1
    5y
    I used a bit earlier model when I was in school. I fucking coded most of math exams on it. So I had answer, then finding mathematical solution was easy.

    For probability and statistics, it was just “cheat code” letting me use that during exam.
  • 5
    5y
    I wish I was smart enough to understand all this.
  • 2
    5y
    Bloody seriously?
  • 3
    5y
    Makes me sad.
    All I had access to was the standard TI-83
  • 0
    5y
    @Root standard TI-83 has a small amount of this, mainly the NX and flash protection/unlocking.
  • 1
    5y
    @Parzi Flash, what flash?
    Mine had (iirc) 32kb ram, 28kb usable.
    None of that fancy flash memory.
  • 0
    5y
    @Root Flash is referred to as Archive, and is also where the OS is held.
  • 1
    5y
    @Parzi That sounds vaguely familiar. I can't check, though; my 83 died years and years ago 🙁
  • 1
    5y
    fun fact: they're stupid bitches and all of this is pointless as i can unlock flash and protected everything by overwriting a pointer in RAM (because you should always put an important pointer, jumped to from the ring 0 equivalent, in unprotected RAM)
  • 1
    5y
    I have 2 ti84+ sitting around if anyone need them, pay shipping and have it.
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