Alfonso Maruccia

Cheating 101: First released in 2004 by Texas Instruments, the TI-84 Plus remains a highly popular computational device in the educational market. A custom-made mod is now introducing new features and capabilities to the calculator, potentially transforming a humble TI-84 into the ultimate cheating tool.

The TI-84 graphing calculator provides a standardized design that dominates the global education market, even in a world of equally capable smartphones. The popular calculator already offers some advanced features, but it can achieve even more with a touch of creative engineering.

Hardware hacker ChromaLock recently posted a video outlining how he added an invisible modification to the TI-84 Plus Silver Edition and TI-84 Plus C Silver Edition. The hack can provide internet access to the calculator, plus additional features like ChatGPT access and Wi-Fi support.

The TI-32 mod is undetectable and can bypass anti-cheating protocols employed by educational institutions. ChromaLock doesn't encourage "academic dishonesty," noting that he created the mod and video for educational purposes. Sure. Be that as it may, a modded TI-84 Plus calculator can do more things than Texas Instruments engineers ever imagined.

The TI-32 mod uses an ESP32 C3 microcontroller to emulate another TI-84, connecting the two devices over Wi-Fi. A modded TI-84 has no visible signs of being hacked, but tech-savvy users can unlock the mod's features through the calculator's textual interface. ChromaLock could even download additional features from a pre-configured server or even a home PC working as such.

In his video, ChromaLock demonstrates how he could use the mod to input complex math problems into ChatGPT's AI engine or quickly obtain vocabulary definitions without searching the internet. There is a "chat" feature, albeit requiring a complex setup involving two modded devices and an accomplice. Users can also access graphical resources with an integrated image viewer.

Users could improve a modded TI-84 calculator further by creating custom apps and making them available on the server. ChromaLock teased a few apps he has been working on, including a "camera app" he is testing.

Some other uses for the TI-32 mod listed on its GitHub page include changing Wi-Fi settings directly from the calculator's tiny screen, color image support, multi-page responses from ChatGPT, bigger menus, basic web browsing with HTTPS encryption, and more.

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TI-84 Plus calculator mod adds internet, ChatGPT, and undetectable cheating potential

passwordistaco

TI graphing calculators are obsolete garbage and should go the way of the sliderules they replaced.

JohnRambo4

I love how this thing is virtually unchanged since the windows 95 days yet costs almost exactly the same.

Smoot

JohnRambo4 said:
I love how this thing is virtually unchanged since the windows 95 days yet costs almost exactly the same.

So, you're saying it has essentially decreased in cost then, if it's the same price as 1995?

acrossthestars

Smoot said:
So, you're saying it has essentially decreased in cost then, if it's the same price as 1995?

Considering the far more powerful Raspberry Pi Zero is $5, if this thing actually cost what it was worth on the open market, and not because of some apparent price fixing by Texas Instruments to keep its value constant, it's price tag would be closer to $40.

It's not 2004 anymore.

JohnRambo4

acrossthestars said:
Considering the far more powerful Raspberry Pi Zero is $5, if this thing actually cost what it was worth on the open market, and not because of some apparent price fixing by Texas Instruments to keep its value constant, it's price tag would be closer to $40.

It's not 2004 anymore.

Exactly. A 100 dollar budget cell phone is about 1000 times faster. TI has a monopoly on the academic world. It's in the textbooks and curriculum. It's on the school supply lists. They have no reason to drop the price.

acrossthestars

JohnRambo4 said:
Exactly. A 100 dollar budget cell phone is about 1000 times faster. TI has a monopoly on the academic world. It's in the textbooks and curriculum. It's on the school supply lists. They have no reason to drop the price.

Now, of course, the reason their graphing calculator is the de facto standard, is because graphing calculators generally are, well, "poorly-optimized", poorly designed. Somehow, these devices have been on the market for over 30 years and yet, they still require all of those keys to work properly.

At no point, in the preceding 10-15 years, has any company come out with a graphing or scientific device that requires less than 3 key presses to do advanced computation. It would seem that, especially in the age of the smartphone and LCDs built into everything ala Internet-of-Things, trying to make a more intuitive device that can be used on the SAT just...never happened. I guess there's no money in it or maybe every company that tried got stomped out by TI before they got big enough to matter and there's a case to be made for anti-trust.

Who knows?

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Smoot

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