Texas Nspire "Clickpad" CAS calculator: What's inside (hardware view)

[jebem]

I saw these CAS machines for sale at an fair low price in a well known USA based TAS seller.

As I have the nSpire clickpad regular model (dual keyboard) in my collection, I decided to acquire the CAS model to join it.

Despite many people dismissing these Texas machines for one reason or another, I like their operating system environment and how easy is to work with.

As usual, I opened the calculator to inspect the internal build and condition, and once again I was pleased to find out on how easy is to open the case (just 6 screws), and I saw a well designed and clean inside, that is easy to maintain when needed.
The plastic build materials are good quality, the printed circuit boards (PCB's) and components quality are second to none in this class of equipments, the machine feels compact and on the heavy side, reinforcing the quality feel.

The only weak point is the way they have chosen to connect the battery power supply to the PCB by using metal spring clips. These clips will eventually isolate the power connection due to electrochemical phenomena corroding the PCB copper. Still, this is a easy fix when it happens.

[Don Shepherd]

(06-22-2015 02:42 PM)jebem Wrote:  Despite many people dismissing these Texas machines for one reason or another, I like their operating system environment and how easy is to work with.

You are right. The HP Prime developers, and others, are fond of casting aspersions on the NSpire, but the fact is the NSpire was successfully doing seven years ago what the Prime is trying--but not succeeding very well--to do now. The NSpire is a stable platform; perhaps the Prime will be one day.

I have used the NSpire CAS unit many times to check the answers to problems I make up for algebra tests, and it has always delivered flawlessly.

[Jlouis]

These are great photos.

I never saw such keyboard, very beatiful.

Thanks for this post.

Cheers

JL

[debrouxl]

Nice photos indeed.

The fact that there's no serial number or date code on the back (picture #2) is highly unusual, given that even most prototypes have serial numbers of a different variety.
The 73 VSC prototype I picked up from the previous libti*/gfm/tilp maintainer, who received it from TI, had no writing on the back (not even regulatory FCC notes), and a sticker indicating that it's an engineering sample not for sale, but that's pretty much the only other such calculator that I can remember of.

BTW: the correct case for "nSpire" is "Nspire"

[jebem]

(06-28-2015 08:08 AM)debrouxl Wrote:  ...the correct case for "nSpire" is "Nspire"

I stand corrected, and I have corrected the post title as well.
Thank you / Merci Beaucoup!

(06-28-2015 08:08 AM)debrouxl Wrote:  The fact that there's no serial number or date code on the back (picture #2) is highly unusual, given that even most prototypes have serial numbers of a different variety.
The 73 VSC prototype I picked up from the previous libti*/gfm/tilp maintainer, who received it from TI, had no writing on the back (not even regulatory FCC notes), and a sticker indicating that it's an engineering sample not for sale, but that's pretty much the only other such calculator that I can remember of.

I have noticed the missing serial number, but wrongly assumed that Texas was not printing the serial numbers anymore on these machines.

According to the eBay seller, this machine was "Manufacturer refurbished".

The calculator arrived with firmware v2.0, and I have updated it to the latest official available version (3.9).

I'm away from home for a couple of weeks and I can't do any checks right now, but is there a secure way to find out the original serial number in the ROM?