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In prison, only non-programmable calculators were allowed. A friend somehow had gotten a TI-85 in. I programmed it to say "NON-PROGRAMMABLE CALCULATOR" as its
by clamprecht 7y ago
In prison, only non-programmable calculators were allowed. A friend somehow had gotten a TI-85 in. I programmed it to say "NON-PROGRAMMABLE CALCULATOR" as its startup message, so they wouldn't take it during a random search.
I also wrote a basic stock portfolio manager - this was the only chance I had to program during my 5 years there.
- russfink 7y agoWhy would they care about a calculator?
- Jtsummers 7y agoRules in prisons and other high-security places are often extreme. They start with a simple kernel, which may or may not make sense: No personal computing devices (under the assumption that computing devices can be used for un-controlled communication, this may not have been articulated). Someone asks about people using calculators for their GED or whatever, so they permit them. Someone else realizes calculators can be computers (not in just the basic sense of performing computation, but general computers). They extend the rules but keep the carved out exception for non-programmable calculators.
- esrauch 7y agoThey presumably didn't want people using a TI-83/85 effectively as a gameboy.
- onemoresoop 7y agohttp://tiwizard.com/downloads/ http://tiwizard.com/downloads/
- esrauch 7y agoRight: I meant the prison presumably doesn't want prisoners playing games (as is easy to do on these calculators). I'm actually a little confused that was a controversial thought.
- clamprecht 7y agoNon-programmable calculators were fine - computers were not. A programmable calculator is basically a computer. In a computer you could store data that they couldn't access (encryption, even if it's very basic). Could be a list of gambling debts, escape plans, or other horrors. Most prison rules are "written in blood", so to speak.
- make3 7y agoI mean you could store some dumbly ciphered information on a sheet too, but I guess it's not as convenient
- morpheuskafka 7y agoA microcontroller with a decent CPU (a Zilog Z80 in this case) could, given enough time, run some serious AES-256 encryption. The storage is minimal but it could be good enough. Of course, you could always use a paper one-time pad, and if you can get the pad distributed without interception, there's no way they can ever break that.
- rajibsingh 7y agoonce you've gotten to this level, you're pretty much guaranteed an A regardless
- travisjungroth 7y agoNot sure if you caught the convo swapped to prison lol
- CobrastanJorji 7y agoSome prison rules are written in blood. Most prison rules are written in bureaucracy and profit motive. No prison escape movie ever ended with the guard preventing future escapes by instituting a new "no sleeveless shirts when visiting an inmate" rule.
- justinator 7y agoFound the guy who doesn't keep good accounting of his drug dealings while in prison.
- wallace_f 7y agoI remember watching the Troy Kell documentary and how they mentioned him OD'ing while in solitary. His only contact was with the guards. That must be the problem with how he got the drugs while in solitary -- the guards are allowed to have graphing calculators.
- loblollyboy 7y agoWhat'd they get you for?
- aasasd 7y agoIllegal operations.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- lancebeet 7y agoThis doesn't seem to be an entirely American phenomenon. Gottfrid Svartholm, one of the founders of PirateBay, had significant issues getting a graphing calculator for self-study in Swedish prison. Graphing calculators were apparently deemed a security risk. https://file.wikileaks.org/file/anakata/13.1_GSW_09042013_APPEAL_Calculator_ENGLISH.pdf https://file.wikileaks.org/file/anakata/13.1_GSW_09042013_AP...
- lenova 7y agoI fascinated by the hinted-at backstory here. Would you mind sharing how you came to program in prison? Was it before, or during your time that you learned?
- gield 7y agoHe has a Wikipedia page [1] if you want a bit more background information. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Lamprecht https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Lamprecht
- clamprecht 7y agoI learned before I went to prison.
- rwmurrayVT 7y agoWe had one also in a low security facility. Random things always end up floating in when people transfer from camps to lows. For some reason at the camp we weren't allowed to have beard trimmers or fans. We didn't have AC so people would run out and smuggle in fans.. $250 just to have some minor comfort in the 95F heat :(