About TI Story

Why the Name?

The name TI Story was carefully chosen as a portmanteau of 'TI' and 'history', which is what the site is all about.

TI Story was created to document the TI graphing calculator community history. This site provides a detailed look at the TI community, including all of the notable people, groups, sites, products, and events that have been a part of it over the years and helped shape it into what it is today. After going through all of the information, it is hoped that the reader leaves with a better understanding and greater appreciation for the TI community.

You can navigate the site by using the links in the navigation bar at the left of the page, or by going to the sitemap for a hierarchical view of the site. The home link is accessible on the other pages by clicking the title, and you can search the site by using the search box at the in the navigation bar at the left of the page.

Site Content

We've tried to create a broad base of information, including the most notable and worthwhile things that have happened in the community. Exploration is encouraged to fully digest the information, and to get a better appreciation of just how expansive the community is. The site content can be broken up into five general, interdependent parts:

  • People — The contributors that provided their talents and service to the TI community, including writing programs and games, writing documentation and programming tutorials, or just helping with site maintenance.
  • Groups — The people working together as a team to create high-quality games, programs, and other useful tools that we all get to use and enjoy (and that make your $100+ TI graphing calculator actually worth the investment :D).
  • Sites — The places where you go to find programs and games to download to your calculator, the latest projects being developed, forums to communicate with other TI community members, and all of the news from around the TI community.
  • Products — The games, programs, software applications, and hardware that people have produced over the years, which is the real life-blood of the TI community and why we are all here.
  • Events — The major happenings from around the TI community, including the release of innovative products, the founding of high-quality sites and programming groups, the ground-breaking achievements, and the drama and politics.

Each reader can read the information in whatever order they desire. For the average reader, though, the suggested approach is to just start with the TI community history or timeline or communication pages and then go wherever they feel led. The different parts of the site are very much connected together, so you will most likely end up visiting everything anyway.

Site Goals

The main goal of this site is to present the notable things that have happened in the TI graphing calculator community. There have been lots of people, groups, and sites involved with the TI community over the years, and most of them have since moved on to other things and have minimal involvement with the community today. Unfortunately, their contributions are largely taken for granted by the new members that are coming into the TI community now.

Related to the first goal, the second goal of this site is to highlight the quality things that were overlooked by the TI community when they were released and never got the attention and recognition that they deserved. For example, many well-written and entertaining TI-Basic games have been released over the years, although ticalc.org only usually features assembly programs.

The third goal of this site is to present the TI community in a more connected format. Many of the people involved with the TI community not only had their own personal website where they posted their games and programs, but also contributed collaboratively as a member of a group and often assisted with maintaining other sites in the community. This interconnectedness is a major reason for the success of the TI community, but it has never really been documented.

The last goal of this site is to inspire the TI community. It seems like every year someone is saying that the TI community is dying, and that there aren't any new innovative products being released anymore. That was first said all the way back in 1999 on ticalc.org ironically, and look at what has been released since then. If anything, the TI community has continued to push the boundaries and thrive.

Contact Information

If you wish to contact the administrator burrburr for any reason, you have a few different routes you can take:

  • Create a Wikidot account and send a private message (PM). Just click on the arrow at the top right corner and select "private messages".
  • Send an email directly to ti ba si cd ev @ gm ai l. com (remove the spaces) with your question.

He will try to respond in a timely manner, hopefully in a day or two. Please just be patient.