TI Community Timeline

1967 — First handheld electronic calculator invented at TI
1972 — TI-2500 introduced, the first commercial calculator
1976 — Little Professor introduced, the first educational toy
1977 — TI-58 and TI-59 introduced, the first programmable calculators that have plug-in modules containing pre-written programs in math, statistics, finance, etc.
1978 — Students at Ohio State University use programmable calculators
1982 — TI-30 SLR introduced, the first solar-powered calculator allowing math and science students to eliminate the expense of batteries
1987 — TI-12 Math Explorer introduced, the first TI product designed with the help of teachers, which begins the practice of involving educators in product development

1990 — TI-81 Released

  • July — TI-81 released by Texas Instruments

1991

  • Fall — First issue of The TI-81 Graphing Calculator Newsletter released by Nils Ahbel, Terry Walsh, Linda Antinone, and John Mahoney

1992 — TI-85 Released

  • AprilGraph-TI mailing list and newsgroup started by Professor Bert Waits of Ohio State University in support of educators
  • July — TI-85 released by Texas Instruments
  • Summer — The Computers and Calculators in Precalculus (C2PC) project founded in Summer 1988 by Professors Bert Waits and Franklin Demana of Ohio State University renamed Teachers Teaching with Technology (T3)
  • Fall — The TI-81 Graphing Calculator Newsletter renamed Eightysomething! by Dave Slomer when he became an editor with the release of the TI-85

1993 — TI-82 Released

  • July — TI-82 released by Texas Instruments

1994

  • January 31 — Math and science data collection tool, Calculator-Based Laboratory (CBL), released by Texas Instruments
  • JanuaryCompuTech Software founded by (cousins) Brian Hill and David Smith
  • AprilCalc-TI mailing list started by Texas Instruments to support the programming hobbyist with more technical information and discussions
  • July 15Unofficial TI-FAQ started by by Shawn Jordan for the Graph-TI and Calc-TI newsgroups
  • SummerTI Graphing Calculator Magazine (TIGCM) started by Brian Hill and David Smith
  • Fall — First TI graphing calculator websites start appearing on the Internet on college networks
  • September 1Hacking the TI-85 Calculator (85HACK.TXT) released by David Boozer, detailing how to dump the ROM and program assembly
  • DecemberDrugwars released by Jonathan Maier for the TI-82 in TI-Basic
  • November — First assembly shell for TI-85, ZShell, released by Dan Eble

1995 — TI-80 & TI-92 Released

1996 — TI-83 Released; Native Assembly Introduced

  • JanuaryTI-92 Link Interface Protocol released by Ben Eater and George Nachman
  • February 2 — Collaborative web site (i.e., ticalc.org) suggested by Isaac Salpeter to maintainers of the Unofficial TI-Calculator Home Page, The Official ZShell Home Page, Connect-85 and Unofficial ZShell pages, and TI Net Sites
  • March 29TI-92 Technical Information (TI-92_tech.txt) released by David Ellsworth
  • AprilProgrammer's guide to the TI-85 RAM (TI-RAM.TXT) released by Dan Eble and Rob Taylor
  • May 30TI Protocol Information (TI-PROT.TXT) released by Pascal Bouron
  • Spring — The primary IRC channel for TI calculator discussion, #calc-ti on EFnet server, founded by "perki" and "Intel"
  • June 21Ticalc.org unveiled to the public
  • JulyList-ZShell and TI-Emulator mailing lists started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • August 1 — The TI Calculator Center started by David Ordal
  • August 14ZShell School started by Jimmy Mardell to teach TI-85 assembly programming
  • August — First graphing calculator with native assembly support, TI-83, released by Texas Instruments
  • SummerKevtiva Interactive founded by Kevin Mallory
  • OctoberTI-Hardware mailing list started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • November 10 — First assembly shell for TI-92, Fargo, released by David Ellsworth
  • November 21 — First Internet terminal for TI-92, FTerm, released by David Ellsworth
  • November 2468k Assembly Guide for Fargo programmers started by Jimmy Mardell
  • NovemberAssembly-92 mailing list started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org

1997 — TI-86 Released

  • JanuaryTicalc.org goes offline due to Isaac Salpeter's college (Florida State University) deciding to no longer host the site
  • January 6 — First graphing calculator with built-in assembly commands, TI-86, released by Texas Instruments
  • January 6 — Math and science data collection tool, Calculator-Based Ranger (CBR), released by Texas Instruments
  • January 9 — First assembly game for TI-83, Turbo Breakout, released by Bill Nagel
  • February 13 — Mel Tsai released Expander Serial-Flash (ESF), a battery-powered, small external device that allows you to hold vast amounts of data, accessible anywhere
  • March 2 — Bryan Rabeler joins ticalc.org after running The Fargo Archive
  • March 24TI Calculator Webring created to connect TI community sites
  • MarchTI-Files founded by Alex Highsmith and Harper Maddox
  • April 4Fryed Software webpage started by Ed Fry
  • April 20Ticalc.org is back online after purchasing new hosting and moving to a new server
  • May 1TI-83 Z80 Assembly founded by Chaveiro
  • May 6Calc-TI FAQ compiled by Mattias Lindqvist from Calc-TI mailing-list and Unofficial TI-FAQ by Shawn Jordan
  • May 7 — First assembly game for TI-86, Turbo Breakout 2, released by Bill Nagel
  • May 19Icarus Productions founded by Andreas Ess and Sam Davies
  • May 27Cidragon Software founded by Matt Renfrow and Eddie Gallagher
  • MayTI-8x Webring started by Ben Skigen and Brandon Turok
  • SpringStuffy Doll Productions founded by Colin Butler
  • June 1 — First assembly shooting game for TI-83, Spaze Invaders, released by Hannes Edfeldt
  • June 8 — First assembly shell for TI-82, OShell-82 (OS-82), released by Jason Todd
  • June 9Shell-Developers mailing list started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • June 15 — Compression assembly programs for TI-83, Squish and Zasmload, released by Pat Milheron of Texas Instruments
  • June 15Filenews-Binaries mailing list started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • June 18 — First assembly shell and GUI for TI-83, Aurora, released by Bill Nagel
  • June 25Assembly-82 mailing list started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • June 25 — First ticalc.org overhaul completed, with the site getting a new design and a new features section with support for user-submitted columns, articles, and program reviews
  • June 27 — First assembly scrolling platformer, Penguins, released by Bill Nagel for the TI-83
  • June 24 — Second assembly shell for TI-82, Ash, released by Mattias Lindqvist & Dines Justesen
  • July 17 — First assembly shell for TI-86, AShell, released by Bill Nagel
  • July 22 — Second assembly shell for TI-86, Iridus, released by Alan Bailey
  • July 25Assembly-83 and Assembly-86 mailing lists started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • July 25 — Chris Dornfeld of ticalc.org writes first article for features section on ticalc.org, detailing why ticalc.org was created
  • SummerShermco Industries founded by Sherman Cahal
  • August 7TI-Basic mailing list started by Magnus Hagander at ticalc.org
  • September 5Dimension-TI founded by Adam Berlinsky-Schine
  • September 6 — #ticalc becomes the primary IRC channel for TI calculator discussion
  • September 7TI Headquarters (TI-HQ) founded by Dan Englender
  • September 14 — Assembly shell for TI-86, Usgard, released by Andreas Ess, Sam Davies, Jimmy Mardell, Austin Butler, and Mel Tsai
  • September 18TI-8X Haven founded by Shaun McCormick
  • September 30 — Terry Peng writes first programming column for the features section on ticalc.org, detailing how to make programs for Usgard
  • SeptemberTI Graphing Calculator FAQ (TI-FAQ) started by Ray Kremer
  • SeptemberDestination Software founded by Kodi Mosley
  • October 4 — ticalc.org archive passes 2,000 files
  • October 19 — First major assembly RPG, Dying Eyes, released by Alex Highsmith for the TI-82
  • December 20 — Next assembly shell for TI-83, AShell83, released by Bill Nagel
  • December — Third assembly shell for TI-82, CrASH, released by Hideaki Omuro and Jeff Mears
  • SometimeMacross Software founded by Mikel Blanchard

1998 — TI-73, TI-89 & TI-92+ Released; Flash Memory and Computer Algebra System (CAS) Introduced

  • January 17 — ticalc.org archive passes 3,000 files
  • February 10 — Next major assembly RPG, Joltima, released by Justin Karneges for the TI-83
  • FebruaryThe Guide released by Jimi Malcolm
  • FebruaryTI-86 Central founded by Matt Johnson
  • February — First issue of TI-Files newsletter, The Files Monthly, released with TI community news, letter to the editor, game of the month award, top ten list, and an interview
  • March 2Fargo Files founded by Mikkel Skovgaard
  • March 13 — First graphing calculator with built-in computer algebra system (CAS) and Flash memory, TI-89, released by Texas Instruments
  • March 13 — First graphing calculator for middle school with Flash memory, TI-73, released by Texas Instruments
  • MarchMXM Projects founded by Norbert Schönach and Alexander Grutschs
  • April 1Hays Games Company founded by Mike Smith, Mike Delsi, Derrek Stevens, Hulk Kuhn, Ron States, and Chuck Taylors
  • April 12 — ticalc.org archive passes 4,000 files
  • April 25ASM Guru released by James Matthews to teach TI-83 assembly programming
  • SpringCalculator Central Intelligence Agency (CCIA) founded by Elliot Olney
  • MayNew Programmers Order (NPO) founded as a cover for Hays Games Company
  • July 7 — ticalc.org archive passes 5,000 files
  • July 9Plexus Publishing founded by Ken Ritzert
  • July — Upgrade to TI-92 with support for Flash memory, TI-92+, released by Texas Instruments
  • JulyZ80 Assembly Coders (Z80AC) founded by Will Dempster and Tim Buckingham
  • SummerSiCoDe Software founded by (brothers) David Hall and Matt Hall
  • August 2 — First assembly scrolling platformer for TI-86, Super Mario 86, released by Bill Nagel
  • August 11 — First assembly shell and program for TI-89, PlusShell, released by Rusty Wagner
  • August 18 — First news media attention on the TI community, as ticalc.org is mentioned in the technology section of the San Francisco Chronicle
  • August 30 — ticalc.org announces their upcoming newsletter
  • September 5 — First issue of Dimension-TI newsletter, Dimension-TI Monthly, released
  • September 13 — First issue of ticalc.org newsletter released, and includes TI community news, ticalc.org news, an interview, and Program of the Week (POTW) award
  • September 14TI World community site founded by Nicholas Young-Soares
  • September 14 — First ticalc.org newsletter released
  • September 20Telnet 83 released by Justin Karneges to allow connecting of the TI-83 to the Internet
  • September 21 — Emulator for Chip8 and SChip8 programs for TI-85, uChip8, released by Andeas Ess
  • September 23TI Calculator Programming Alliance (TCPA) founded by Patrick Wilson(?) and Laine Walker-Avina(?)
  • September 25Techno-Plaza founded by John David Ratliff
  • SeptemberEllis Industries founded as a cover for Hays Games Company
  • FallRadical Software founded by Michael Vincent
  • October 1Program of the Month (POTM) award started by ticalc.org
  • October 9TI-Files purchases their own domain name (http://www.ti-files.org)
  • November 6Gravitics Team founded by Pascal Martin
  • November 10 — Bryan Rabeler of ticalc.org issues a public apology on ticalc.org for his involvement in the TI-Files "hacking" incident
  • NovemberAssembly Coders Zenith (ACZ) founded by Dux Gregis, Clement Vasseur, Brett Barwick, David Phillips, and Dave Scheltema
  • December 8Void Productions founded by Derrick Ward and Sam Heald
  • December 20Twilight-TI (T3) founded by Jason Gauer
  • December 21 — First game released by the TCPA, Yoshi v1.0 for TI-83, written by Brandon Sterner
  • December 24Virtual TI (VTI) graphing calculator emulator released by Rusty Wagner
  • December 25Abacus Software, Inc. (ASI) founded by Chris Rojewski
  • December 28Dimension-TI and TCPA agree to a merge, with TCPA the first site hosted by Dimension-TI
  • December 29TI-BASIC Programming Alliance (TBPA) founded by Big MAC
  • December —- Mogsoft, Inc. founded by Thomas Peeples
  • DecemberZ80 Assembly Programmers Organization (ZAPO) founded by Chris Phelps and Tim Adkinson
  • SometimeBASIC Guru released by Ben Ilegbodu

1999 — TI-83+ Released

  • January 11 — Successor to TI-83 with more memory and Flash technology, TI-83+, released by Texas Instruments
  • January 22Dimension-TI acquired two domain names for its website (http://www.dimension-ti.org and http://www.calc.org)
  • JanuaryTI-Galaxy founded by James O'Neal
  • JanuaryBlankware Programming (BASM) founded by Trevor Blank and Adam Brooke
  • JanuaryTangy Interactive founded by Philip Ringsmuth and Alan Taylor
  • JanuaryBASIC Coders Zenith (BCZ) founded by Chris Flanigan
  • February 4Millennium Advanced Programming (MAP) founded by Adam Ziemba
  • February 7 — First four sites hosted at ticalc.org, which includes Link Cables, Sami Khawam, Stuntworks, and Turbosoft
  • March 18SiCoDe Software IRC channel opens at #sicode
  • April 22 — Texas Instruments introduces TI InterActive!, an integrated learning computer software program for math and science
  • May 24Longview Programming Group (LPG) founded by Aaron Lanclos and Jacob Maples
  • MayProgrammers Anonymous (PA) founded by Grant Elliott
  • July 16 — First C compiler for TI-68k calculators, TIGCC, released by Jean Canazzi, Sebastian Reichelt, Xavier Vassor, and Zeljko Juric
  • SpringDamol Software founded by Dam Zeugma
  • August 6 — Texas Instruments acquired Soft Warehouse, Inc., the maker of the DERIVE Computer Algebra System (CAS) built-in to the TI-89 and TI-92+
  • August 15Elcobbola's TI Pages started by Dave Cobb
  • August 24 — First TI-83 and TI-83+ compatible shell, Ion, released by Joe Wingbermuehle
  • August 26Deep Brain Activity (DBA) founded by Frédéric Jouault and Antoine Jalabert
  • August — Texas Instruments bought rights to modify and distribute ASM Guru by James Matthews
  • AugustTI-Basic Quality Alliance (TBQA) founded by David Hall of SiCoDe Software
  • September 8TI-News founded by Tim Buckingham
  • September 26eXatomic Programming founded by Reman Child
  • September — ZX Spectrum emulator for TI-89, Tezxas, released by Samir Ribic
  • October 21 — Upgrade to Calculator-Based Laboratory, CBL 2, released by Texas Instruments
  • October 29 — TI-83+ Flash SDK released by Texas Instruments
  • OctoberBasic and Assembly Programmers Group (BAPG) founded by Chris Dietz
  • November 2 — First third-party Flash application, CalcSys, released for TI-83+ by Dan Englender of the TCPA
  • November 2Reviewer of the Month (ROTM) award started by ticalc.org, with Sam Heald winning the first award for writing over 80 reviews
  • November 24HillVisions founded by Aaron Hill
  • November 25Basmic Campaign started by SiCoDe Software to get recognition for TI-Basic programmers
  • November 28Ti-Fr (fr) founded by François Goldgewicht
  • December 4Puzzle Pack Flash application released for TI-83+ by Jason Kovacs and the TCPA
  • December 5Parasoft Productions founded by Andrew Matta
  • December 6Otaku Programming Association (OPA) started by Chris Rojewski
  • December 12Source Guru released by Patrick Davidson
  • December 29SowbySoft Technologies founded by Rob Sowby

2000

2001 — TI-83+SE Released

  • February 6Ticalc.org has more than 15,000 files in its archives
  • February 7 — Wireless classroom system that facilitates student learning and interaction in the classroom, TI-Navigator, released by Texas Instruments
  • February 10Dimension-TI renamed to "calc.org" with accompanying site URL, and other calculators are supported besides the TI series
  • February 20Flameblade Programming founded by Chris Coykendall
  • February 25 — 3D ray-casting engine for TI-68k calculators, FAT-Engine, released by Thomas Nussbaumer of TI-Chess Team
  • March 10Lightyear Studios founded by Chris Nicolson
  • MarchTicalc.org and Texas Instruments started a cooperative project to produce a ticalc.org CD to be packaged with the TI graphing calculator interactivity kits
  • AprilFred Coughlin appeared on ABC's hit gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and won $16,000
  • May 23 — TI-68k emulator, GtkTiEmu, released by Romain Lievin and Thomas Corvazier
  • SpringTI World programming group founded by Joe Flint
  • June 5MaxCoderz Software founded by Steve Riekeberg and Martin Johansson
  • June 6 — First Java compiler for TI-68k calculators, Waba Virtual Machine (WVM), released by Stephan Effelsberg
  • June 19 — TI-83+SE released by Texas Instruments
  • JuneHays Corporation founded as a cover for Hays Games Company
  • JulyCirrus Programming founded by David Lindstrom
  • Summer — Texas Instruments starts an annual Application Development Contest for the TI-83+ and TI-89, with several TI community programmers entering and winning
  • Summer — Texas Instruments commissioned several programmers from the TI community to create TI-83+ Flash applications in order to enhance the amount of software titles available to the public
  • September 1Omnimaga founded by Kevin Ouellet
  • December 14Symbolic released by Brandon Sterner of Detached Solutions
  • December 18Get Connected (Getcon) founded by Merlijn den Boer
  • December — TI Connect software application released by Texas Instruments

2002 — Voyage 200 PLT Released

  • January 13 — TI-89/TI-92+ SDK released by Texas Instruments
  • January 21Basic Editor started by Edwin Louwerse
  • January — Voyage 200 Personal Learning Tool (PLT) released by Texas Instruments
  • March 6CalcGames founded by Barrett Anderson and Konstantin Beliakov
  • March 22The Calc Site founded by Alam Hamlett
  • March 31 — Adam Berlinsky-Schine retires from Dimension-TI (calc.org) and Nate Buda becomes his successor
  • April 2Dojo Productions founded by Tristan Dahl
  • April 11Omnicalc released by Michael Vincent
  • AprilMidKnight Software founded by Kodi Mosley and Luis Lebolo as a resurrection of Destination Software
  • May 5 — Patrick Davidson passes one million downloads at ticalc.org
  • June 20Learn TI-83 Plus Assembly in 28 Days released by Sean McLaughlin
  • July 9TI-Freakware founded by Daniel Thorneycroft
  • August 15 — Texas Instruments celebrates the 35th anniversary of its invention of the electronic handheld calculator
  • October 6Les83plus founded by Sébastien Laoût
  • NovemberProkul Interactive founded by Glen Lee

2003

2004 — TI-84+/SE & TI-89 Ti Released

  • JanuaryBasicbuilder TI-Basic program packager released by Martin Warmer
  • JanuaryTi-Gen founded by Geoffrey Anneheim and Frédéric Bour
  • MayEpic Programming Studios founded by George Daole-Wellman and Jake Finley
  • MayPrgmerz founded by Larry Bucio
  • SpringOrage Studio founded by Vincent Corfdif
  • August 24Calc WebZine founded by Vincent Jünemann
  • September 1TechniCalc founded by Andrew Cacovean, Bhuvanesh Bhatt, Ray Kremer, and Doug Burkett
  • October 12Suicidal Psycho Software (SPS) founded by Patrick Stone
  • OctoberRevolution Software founded by Jonathan Janevski and Travis Supalla
  • OctoberPenguin Studios founded by Bryce Taylor
  • NovemberElectroshock founded by koolmansam375
  • December 9xLIB assembly library released by Patrick Prendergast
  • December — Steven King leads revival attempt to revamp calc.org

2005

2006

  • January — Ben Trettel leads revival attempt to revamp calc.org
  • February 3 — Flash application and OS signer for TI-83/84+, RabbitSign, released by Benjamin Moody
  • February 8xLIB Guru started by Brian Benson
  • April 9Hikaru Rakuen Programming (HRP) founded by Loki Kun
  • June 3PindurTI released by Patai Gergely
  • July 17 — Online TI File Converter, TI.Zewaren.net, released by Erwan Martin
  • JulyTestGuard released by Texas Instruments to prevent cheating in the classroom
  • September 1TI-Basic Developer (TI|BD) founded by Steve Hartmann using his same-name programming guide
  • September 12msd8x released by Brandon Wilson and Michael Vincent
  • October 8BlueCrimson founded with merger of Fryed Software and Nomad Software

2007 — TI-Nspire / CAS Released

2008

  • March 4Omnimaga shuts down as result of increasing disputes with other community members. Only the IRC channel remains.
  • May 29Novasoft founded by Jonah Scheinerman
  • July 1Latenite Z80 IDE released by Benjamin Ryves
  • August 25Omnimaga re-opens as a forum due to high demand.
  • September 3TI Wizard founded by Andrew Munsell
  • DecemberBBC BASIC for TI-83/84+ released by Benjamin Ryves of Maxcoderz

2009

  • January 3 — Fork of TIGCC development environment for 68k calculators, GCC4TI, released by Lionel Debroux because of disputes with TIGCC maintainer
  • July 15 — Texas Instruments closed calculator discussion groups on its site
  • July 19Virtual TI (VTI) emulator by Rusty Wagner passes one million downloads at ticalc.org
  • July 24 — Brandon Wilson released Free83P tools to enable loading of custom operating systems on the TI-83+/84+ calculators
  • July 30 — Benjamin Moody posted the cracked TI-83+ OS signing key on United-TI
  • August 22TI-81 custom interrupt routine created by Randy Compton to enable execution of user-entered machine code on the TI-81
  • Summer — 13 512-bit RSA public keys used for validation of OS and FlashApps in TI-Z80 and TI-68k applications are factored
  • September 13 — Flash application and OS signer for TI-89/92/V200, resign68k, released by Brandon Wilson

2010 — TI-Nspire with Touchpad / CAS Released

  • February 2Axe Parser language released for the TI-83 Plus series
  • February 27Ndless released by Olivier Armand and Geoffrey Anneheim to allow for third-party C and assembly development on the TI-Nspire
  • April 19ClrHome founded by Deep Thought
  • June 2 — First assembly program loader for TI-81, Unity, released by Benjamin Moody
  • July 27 — TI-Nspire assembly tool to downgrade the OS, Nleash, released by Olivier Armand
  • October 1 — First on-calculator assembly IDE for TI-83+/84+, Mimas, released by Benjamin Moody

2011 — TI-Nspire CX / CAS Released

  • October 13 — First TI-80 emulator, ti80emu, released by Randy Compton

2012

  • January 24 — Javascript TI-83+ emulator, jsTIfied, released by Christopher Mitchell
  • February 1TI-Story founded by Steve Hartmann to document the TI community history
  • April 21United-TI (UTI) merges into Cemetech to preserve the forum contents for posterity

2013 — TI-84+CSE Released

2014

  • October 24CodeWalrus founded by aeTIos, DJ Omnimaga, Juju, pimathbrainiac and Streetwalrus. Site remains private until January 1st 2015.

2015 — TI-84+CE and TI-83 Premium CE released

2016

2017 — Nothing interesting in calculator related news happens after this point

2018 — Technological singularity ends human civilization as we know it. Possible caused by a buffer overflow in a Texas Instruments graphing calculator.

2019 —A blank and lifeless void awaits the heat death of the universe.

2020 — Happy Raven M'nuuten Snuuten Day @Bippleyipsnip