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Aliases
Wormhole
Site URL
Ticalc.org URL
Location
France
Years Active
1997 to 2000
Affiliations
Gérald Gamain (Wormhole) was an assembly programmer and hacker for the TI-89 graphing calculator. He was one of the first people that was able to figure out the internal design and mapping of the TI-89 to allow for the execution of a third-party operating system. He died in a car crash in 2000 at the age of 20, a tragic end to a life cut short.
Person Significance
He was a member of the TI-Calculator Programming Alliance (TCPA), although he did not release anything under the group banner.
Person Contributions
- List of their programs and games
- Include a screenshot for some of their best games/programs
Person Milestones
- List of their important milestones (date joined TI community, important programs, etc.)
Site URLs
- List of the URLs their site has used
Site Screenshot
(Screenshot of Person homepage circa year)
Person History
(Taken from ticalc.org news article)
http://www.ticalc.org/archives/news/articles/4/40/40790.html
WORMHOLE Passes On
Posted by Phil on 9 September 2000, 23:27 GMT
TI-News and several other sites are reporting the tragic death of WORMHOLE, a programmer who was well known for his research into flash protection on the 68k calcs, passed away in a car crash on August 26th. You can see the "official" pronouncement on his web page.
He will be missed.
(Taken from TCPA page)
One of our past TCPA members named Gérald Gamain, known by the alias of "Wormhole", was killed in a car crash on August 26th, 2000. We have provided a Eulogy written by Jason Kovacs in memory of Gérald, and we wish to pass on the information that was known about him. Please read this tribute we have given to him in spirit, located at the above link.
Gérald Gamain:
December 8th, 1979 – August 26th, 2000
Gérald Gamain, who was known by the alias of "Wormhole", died in a tragic car crash on August 26th, 2000, at the age of 20. He will be greatly remembered for the contributions he made to the TI-Calculator Community during his lifetime. This page on the TCPA website is a tribute to Gérald, containing information of what we know of him and wish to pass on to the public in his memory.
We had first heard of Gérald when he appeared around the TI-Community in early 1999, when 68K programming became more in demand for the TI-89/92+, after the TI-89 was released in August of 1998. He contributed to some of the discussion on the Assembly Language mailing lists at ticalc.org (A89 and A92), and communicated with several other people who programmed in 68K Assembly Language as well. His existence on the TI scene was not too open, but known only by a few people, and his programming skills and knowledge of the TI-89/92 Plus were not apparent due to the lack of public releases. Gérald was known for his work with the FlashROM, and was suspected to be creating innovations for those calculators, which would prove to be true later on.
Gérald lived in Paris, France, and upon joining the TI-Calculator Programming Alliance in April of 2000, he wasn't able to communicate with our staff regularly due to a time-zone difference. He was also quite busy with other things in his life that were time consuming, and which caused a lack of participation with the TCPA; However, he did make many achievements on his own. His abilities were above those of our staff, and we understood that he chose not to release any of his advances through the TCPA, but instead under his own name of Wormhole on several other TI-Calculator sites. Some of our staff received early copies of his OpenOS software that he and other French programmers were developing, which was kept secret until Gérald would decide the tell the public himself.
There were other aspects of Gérald Gamain's life that were not very public, but that only some of his closest friends knew of. He was greatly involved in computers and other programming languages, and through his talents became involved in computer hacking. These activities got him into trouble with the French government, and it has been said that Gérald spent some time in prison for his actions in the late spring of 2000. Afterwards, he had difficulties in his life as many people do, but we believe he continued to live in order to better his life and make positive advancements using his programming skills and knowledge.
On July 10th, 2000, Gérald gave an announcement at ticalc.org concerning his resignation from the TI-Calculator scene, along with the release of a great amount of Flash Information for TI-89 and TI-92 Plus calculators. This collection of source and programs involving the unlocking and writing to FlashROM can be found in the zip file flashinfo.zip. The information found there is currently in use by many other programmers to enhance the programming and usage of the TI-89 and TI-92 Plus. July 10th can also be considered the date of Gérald's resignation from the TCPA, even though he hadn't given us an official statement. Through the influential programming discussions he had among our staff, he will always be remembered as a great TCPA member.
Most people did not know Gérald… Some people knew him but only knew him as Wormhole… Those of us who knew him know he was a great person. We will miss Wormhole and we thank him immensely in spirit for his important contributions to TI calculators. Despite his unfortunate death, we will continue to progress and make advancements to let his memory live on and do something that he had always loved to do in his life, and that is Program.
Rest In Peace, Gérald Gamain.
- Jason Kovacs
Sept 9th, 2000