Just as the TI-83 succeeded the TI-82, the TI-86 followed up on the TI-85's advanced functionality while adding a stylish new case, assembly support similar to that of the TI-83, and greater memory capacity, while still maintaining compatibility with TI-85 programs.

» Official TI-86 home page at Texas Instruments
» TI Connect for the TI-86
» TI-Graph Link for the TI-86
» Guide Books from Texas Instruments
» TI-86 Manual
» Bid Specifications
» Graphing Calculator Comparison
» TI Online Store

» TI Connect
The TI Connect is the latest link cable produced by TI. It has a higher data transfer rate than the TI-Graph Link cable. It's a USB cable and lets you transfer data files (such as programs) between your calculator and your computer. TI Connect will only work on MacŪ computers.

» TI-Graph Link
The TI-Graph Link is the older link cable produced by TI. It does not have as high of data transfer rate, but it does work wih almost all calculators. It connects to your serial port and like TI Connect is widely used to transfer data files (such as programs) between your calculator and your computer.

From time to time, TI will update the internal code of their calculators to work around bugs, optimize functions, and even add features. This results in several versions of each calculator in the marketplace. You can check the ROM version of your TI-86 using the following key sequence and reading the number on your screen:

Known ROM versions: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6

» Boosting the TI-86
These modifications to your TI-86 can overclock the calculator to 3-4 times its original speed.

» Expander 2
The Expander 2 is an add-on device to add 512K of additional memory to your TI-86 for around $45.

» IR Link
The IR Link allows you to control infrared devices from your calculator or communicate with other calculators (to play games or chat) over a wireless connection.

» Link Cables
Link cables let you transfer data files (such as programs) between your calculator and your computer.

» Power Extension Page
The Power Extension instructions will show you how to use AA (instead of AAA) batteries without making any modifications to your calculator.

» TI-86 Turbo Page
These modifications to your TI-86 can overclock the calculator to 3-4 times its original speed.

» Electroluminescence Backlighting of a TI-86
Michael Vincent created his own method of backlighting an 86. If you ever wanted to be able to play games in the dark, you might consider looking into this procedure.

BASIC programming on the TI-86 is nearly identical to that of the TI-85.

» The Rogue's TI-86 BASIC Tutorial by Andrew Matta

Assembly language programming capability is built-in to the TI-86.

» TI-86 Assembly Programming by Texas Instruments
» TI-86 Assembly Guide: Lesson 1 by Ahmed El-Helw
» TI-86 Assembly Guide: Lesson 2 by Ahmed El-Helw
» TI-86 Assembly Tutorial by Ciaran McCreesh
» TI-86 Central by the Assembly Coder's Zenith
» The Guide by Jimi Malcolm
» SImmoralTech by Cassady Roop
» Home of the Z80 CPU by Thomas Scherrer
» 86 Asm Lessons by Jaymzroo
» Joshua's TI-86 Site by Joshua I. Grams

Several emulators are available to let you simulate TI calculators on your computer. To learn how to download a ROM image from your calculator, see our Emulators page.

Emulator Software
Name Platform   Calculator(s)   Emulator86 Windows             86          TI-86 Emulator DOS             86          TI-8x Emulator DOS     82  83    85  86          TI86EMU Windows Home Page          85  86          Virtual 86 Windows Home Page            86          Virtual TI Windows     82  83  83+"  85  86  89  92  92+