Hey all,

I had this idea last night. I am certain that at least some of you are aware of the concept of abandonware. For those of you who aren't, it is software that has been presumed abandoned by its publisher and is therefore fair game to download for free (I have commonly seen that once a software is no longer supported and ten years since the initial release date has passed, it can be considered abandonware). I was wondering if the same concept applied to TI calculator ROMs. Given that TI no longer hosts older versions of the operating systems, would it be acceptable to use the abandonware principle on certain versions of the TI-89 OS for instance, where TI is no longer selling the original 89 and the older versions cannot be run on TI-89 Titaniums. Also I was wondering if this might also apply to calcs such as the TI-85 and the TI-82 with fixed ROM versions.

Thoughts? Smile
If you are talking downloading ROMs, it's illegal to download ROMs, you need to use your own device to do so. I don't think that's what you meant, but I can see where this might be going. The OSes on the TI site are free to download, which leaves some gray area here: certain calculator emulators just need an OS to create a room image. Going back to the abandonware principle, 8d still look into the legality of using older OS versions

Hope this made sense, I'm still kinda tired... Razz
Well... Abanonware is not going to be free. It's still under copyright and the copyright holder may still be looking for any infringements.

That said, downloading ROMs could likely land a DMCA notice in the (e-)mail box of the account holder for your ISP.

There's definitely a grey area when it comes to this stuff and we here at Cemetech prefer to make it a bit more clear: Sharing links of places to download ROMs or places to obtain other copyrighted material for free is not permitted on Cemetech and those links, posts, and topics will be removed and you will be warned.
Alex wrote:
Well... Abanonware is not going to be free. It's still under copyright and the copyright holder may still be looking for any infringements.

That said, downloading ROMs could likely land a DMCA notice in the (e-)mail box of the account holder for your ISP.

There's definitely a grey area when it comes to this stuff and we here at Cemetech prefer to make it a bit more clear: Sharing links of places to download ROMs or places to obtain other copyrighted material for free is not permitted on Cemetech and those links, posts, and topics will be removed and you will be warned.


Ok, cool. Thanks! Smile
You're welcome! I'm going to take off my admin-hat here and say that there's likely a difference between a ROM and a calculator OS (as the OS is made freely available by TI for updating your calculator) BUT on things I'm unsure about I always err on the side of caution. The law is finicky and I'd rather be on the right side of the law than trying to wade through the gray area with lawyers and court. I'm probably making it sound scarier than it is but I don't want to find out. Razz I can't stop you from doing what you want to do though.

That said, your post was equally about TI-OS as it was ROMs. In this case, I think it's clear and I would download an older calculator OS; I've downloaded an older iOS version and I see a calculator OS no differently. But I wouldn't download a ROM.
Alex wrote:
You're welcome! I'm going to take off my admin-hat here and say that there's likely a difference between a ROM and a calculator OS (as the OS is made freely available by TI for updating your calculator) BUT on things I'm unsure about I always err on the side of caution. The law is finicky and I'd rather be on the right side of the law than trying to wade through the gray area with lawyers and court. I'm probably making it sound scarier than it is but I don't want to find out. Razz I can't stop you from doing what you want to do though.

That said, your post was equally about TI-OS as it was ROMs. In this case, I think it's clear and I would download an older calculator OS; I've downloaded an older iOS version and I see a calculator OS no differently. But I wouldn't download a ROM.


Ok, thank you. I agree with you on that, I like to err on the side of caution as well. Very Happy
  
Register to Join the Conversation
Have your own thoughts to add to this or any other topic? Want to ask a question, offer a suggestion, share your own programs and projects, upload a file to the file archives, get help with calculator and computer programming, or simply chat with like-minded coders and tech and calculator enthusiasts via the site-wide AJAX SAX widget? Registration for a free Cemetech account only takes a minute.

» Go to Registration page
Page 1 of 1
» All times are UTC - 5 Hours
 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 

Advertisement