New third party firmware (Not HP'PRIME TEAM)

[Claudio L.]

(12-30-2015 12:26 PM)DrD Wrote:  In the formative decades, ala 70's-90's perhaps, hacking commercial software based products, often resulted in improved utility value. More often it led to additional troubles, including outright device destruction. The 'pride of accomplishment' in hacking today's genre of computing devices seems so petty, as to be completely juvenile, and boring. If ones skills are so finely tuned in this area, why not put them to better use? Make your own calculator, with your own superior feature-set, for example. That would be far more self aggrandizing.

I think we are all talking about the same thing. Hacking the existing firmware is not the point here. Creating a new firmware from scratch is comparable to creating your own calculator. CPU, keyboard and screen don't define the calculator as much as the software that runs on it.
Hardware nowadays is more of a commodity, as software becomes more ubiquitous.
The entry barrier to design and produce hardware is very high, versus developing software so it makes sense for hobby projects to repurpose existing commercial hardware.
I agree that the goal is "your own superior feature set", that's exactly what we are talking about here.

(12-30-2015 12:26 PM)DrD Wrote:  If you're able to improve the software, why not convert your skill to "the general good," or possible financial gain, by working WITH product design leaders? If you're not quite that good, as hackers, the production will speak for itself. In any event, just putting alien firmware out there, after spending hours and hours of devious methods, is similar to watching terrorists build an I.E.D., only to have it blow up prematurely, as society continues without further concern...

Comparing new software development to a terrorist act seems completely out of line here.
Creating a new firmware doesn't require "devious methods", just reading some manuals and basic information about the physical device.
newRPL allows you to run your calculations with up to 2000 digits of precision, or about 100x faster than before. I fail to see the "devious" part or any terror in that.
The way of doing business is to create open ecosystems where third party developers can create and expand on the products you sell, bringing new life to them (or extending its current one). Just look at hpcalc.org and you'll see why an open ecosystem pays off big time.
The WP34S project probably extended the life of the 20b/30b hardware (not by much, given the low volumes, but still), and was actually encouraged by HP.
On the Prime, this is not currently encouraged by HP, but is not being actively blocked by them either. As long as the alternative firmware does not erode sales or compromises their exam certification, I don't see why they would oppose.