Getting started

Getting started with Calc-U 59

Install the app, load a state file, drive the printer and card reader, and find your way around the debugger.

Calc-U 59 runs the original Texas Instruments ROM, so the calculator in front of you behaves the way a TI-59, TI-58 or TI-58C did in 1977 — the same AOS arithmetic, the same 480 program steps traded against 60 data registers, the same Solid State Software modules.

Most people need three things: get the app installed, open a state file, and know where the printer and the debugger live. Each is a short page.

01Setup

Installing on iPhone and iPad

Install from the App Store, pick the calculator model, and open .ti59 files from the file picker.
02Setup

Installing on Mac

Download the release from GitHub, drag it to Applications, and get past the first-launch Gatekeeper prompt.
03Files

Loading a state file

What .ti59, .ti58 and .ti58c files contain, and how each section — partition, program, registers, keystrokes — is applied.
04Hardware

Printer and card reader

The PC-100C panel in dot and text view, printing and advancing paper, copying the strip, and where card files are kept.
05Debug

Using the debugger

The CALCULATOR, CPU and LOG tabs, freeze and step, F.START, and binary trace files for offline analysis.
06Help

FAQ

Where files live, how to capture a trace, and the other questions that come up first.