TI- 58/59 ROM Modules

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The early TI-58/59 ROM modules 1-7 had common capabilities in the 01 diagnostic and module check programs. These were that 1) you could run a diagnostic program by the sequence 2nd PGM 01 SBR = that would return a 1 if the module were functioning properly, 2) you could return the number of the module installed by 2nd PGM 01 SBR 2nd Write (this would be useful if you wrote a program using a program of a module as a subroutine and you wanted to make sure that module was installed), and 3) a statistics initialization routine could be run by 2nd PGM 01 SBR CLR. You could also, as a bonus, you the sequence XY 2nd PGM 01 SBR 012 to clear registers 01 through XY.

One quirk is present if you run the diagnostic program with the master library (or the agricultural) module in place. It will fail the diagnostic if you have the calculator in EE or ENG mode. You should preceed running this test by pressing CLR.

Modules numbered 8-13 do not follow the same rules as modules 1-7.

This is a list of the TI produced ROM modules for the TI-58/59, excluding any custom ROMS they made...

Module Number    Name
      1          Master Library
      2          Statistics
      3          Real Estate
      4          Surveying
      5          Navigation
      6          Aviation
      7          Leisure
      8          Securities Analysis
      9          Business Decisions
     10          Math Utilities
     11          Electrical Engineering
     12          Agriculture
     13          RPN Simulator

Which of these modules are "worth" getting? Well, that will depend on what you're trying to do and what your interests are! My opinions are listed below.

First: Module #10, Math Utilities. This module is a very good module with lots of programs for additional math functions as well as useful utilities such as a plotting program. Get one of these if you can find it.

Second: Module #7, Leisure. This module contains some games, always a reason to pull it out and turn it on. It also included some additional programs that won't make it particularly useful these days, such as photograph developing utilities and a bowling scorekeeper (like I'm going to take my TI-59 to the bowling alley!). There are games for craps, blackjack, rocket lander, etc. Might as well find this one.

Third: Module #3, Real Estate. This module is essentially the Finance pack for the TI-58/59. It contains programs for annuities, compound interest, different depreciation methods, curve fitting, and internal rate of return/cash flow analysis, although some of these will no doubt be much easier these days in a spreadsheet.

Fourth: Module #13, RPN Simulator. Although I have one, I have never used it. This module was a very strange one for TI to make. Apparently, they were getting tired of people claiming HP's were better calculators so TI decided to make this module as its answer to HP and RPN. (Or they may have realized that there was a lot of software programs out there for HP's and wanted to give their users access to it). It's an entire module with one executable program on it. You run the program and key in HP-97 program KEY CODES. You could take a printed program listing for the HP-97 (this would NOT work for HP-67 key codes, only the HP-97) and key in the program steps keycode by keycode. When finished, the program would go off and compute and eventually (and this took a while) print out a TI-59 equivalent program. This then had to be KEYED back into the TI-59 to run. The usefulness of this module is somewhat suspect. First, only keycodes from a HP-97 listing can be used. Second, not all instructions from the HP-97 can be interpreted or emulated by this module. The manual (woefully concise) provides a list of these functions. Also, the resulting program often doesn't run very well at all speedwise. TI did give a very good effort, however. Their timing was terrible, as this module came out only a few months before HP introduced their HP-41. This module did NOT work except to translate programs.

By the way, there was a TI-59 to HP-41 compiler program written and published in the PPC Journal. I'll try to find it.

Modules I've not seen: I've never seen a Securities Analysis and Statistics modules, though I'd like to have one if someone has a spare! I've also never seen the Agriculture, EE, and Navigation ROMs. I'm unlikely to see those, since they are outside my range of interests.

I do have spares of the Master Module and spares of the Business Decisions module.

That's it. Enjoy.