The museum thread
Why this brand matters
Texas Instruments entered personal electronic calculation early and repeatedly tried to turn programmability into a platform: magnetic-card scientific calculators, the TMS9900-based TI-99/4A home computer, Z80 classroom graphing families and finally the Motorola 68000-based symbolic line.
The TI story is therefore broader than its calculator lines. It connects semiconductor manufacturing, an unconventional 16-bit home computer, educational distribution, exam policy, downloadable software and the unusual longevity of school calculator interfaces.
Major machines and families
This is a historical map of the machines relevant to this museum's story, not merely a list of the models currently emulated.
| Period | Machine / family | Why it belongs in the story | Museum status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | SR-50 | Early scientific calculator that competed directly with HP in the professional pocket-calculator market | Not yet emulated |
| 1975 | SR-52 | Programmable scientific calculator with magnetic-card storage | Not yet emulated |
| 1977 | TI-58 / TI-59 | Powerful programmable calculators; the TI-59 added magnetic cards and a large program-memory model | Not yet emulated |
| 1979–1981 | TI-99/4 / TI-99/4A | Home computers built around the 16-bit TMS9900 CPU, TMS9918A-family video, GROM firmware and TI’s tightly integrated hardware ecosystem | Playable: TI-99/4A |
| 1983 | TI CC-40 | Compact Computer 40: a battery-powered BASIC handheld that placed TI in the pocket-computer branch as well as the calculator market. | Not yet emulated |
| 1985 | TI-74 BASICALC | Calculator-sized QWERTY BASIC computer descended from the CC-40 concept. | Playable |
| 1986 | TI-95 PROCALC | Menu-driven keystroke-programmable professional calculator with alphanumeric display, file/register memory and ROM/RAM expansion. | Playable |
| 1990 | TI-81 | Established TI in the school graphing-calculator market | Not yet emulated |
| 1992–2004 | TI-73 / TI-82 / TI-83 / TI-83 Plus / TI-84 Plus SE / TI-85 / TI-86 | Parallel classroom and advanced-scientific Z80 lines that built a huge program-sharing culture and a durable educational platform | Playable: 8 profiles |
| 1995–2002 | TI-92 / TI-92 Plus / Voyage 200 | QWERTY Motorola 68000 handhelds with 240×128 display, computer algebra and downloadable software | Playable: 3 profiles |
| 1998–2004 | TI-89 / TI-89 Titanium | Calculator-bodied descendants of the 68000 CAS platform, complementing the separately playable TI-92/Voyage QWERTY branch | Playable: TI-89 Titanium |
| 2004 | TI-84 Plus Silver Edition | Faster flash-based classroom successor within the TI-83 family lineage | Playable: Silver Edition |
| 2007– | TI-Nspire | New document-oriented graphing/CAS platform with a different software model | Not yet emulated |
Continue the story
Texas Instruments in context
Brand histories overlap: CPUs, operating systems, standards, classroom adoption and software ecosystems routinely crossed manufacturer boundaries.
Technical specifications and chronology on this manufacturer page are intended to remain traceable to original documentation and established archives. See the source path for this family →