CodeWalrus

Development => Calculators => Calculator News, Coding, Help & Talk => Topic started by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 07, 2016, 05:15:01 AM

Title: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 07, 2016, 05:15:01 AM
I discovered on Ticalc.org mailing lists that somebody uploaded an ISO image of the 2001 ticalc.org CD that used to ship with the TI-Fun Kit and the Connectivity Value Kit, and I also noticed it has been available on Archive.org for browsing since 2012.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!topic/ticalcorg-advanced/7ObqnI7xZZ4
https://archive.org/details/ticalc-org-cd

Back in the days, ticalc.org was affiliated with Texas Instruments and their entire file archives was made available on a CD that TI included with the two aforementioned products. However, back then, ticalc.org did not screen files that were uploaded to their archives for their content and on October 2001, TI decided to issue a recall of the CD because parents found innapropriate content on it (rumors in the community over the years claim it was because of the Drug Wars game, while others claim it was due to ASCII c) and then they permanently ended their partnership with ticalc.org, to the point where they refused to link to the site anymore on their site (instead, TI decided to link to CalcGames and Detacheds Solutions).

Ticalc.org then put their website offline for a week before finally re-opening it, apart of the archives. Then the file archives were screened one by one and all innapropriate content rejected. Afterwards, stricter rules about said content were instated, with a File Report form being added in the process to allow community members to help. But because of all this, this ticalc.org CD is now a very rare collectible in its physical form.

I don't know if the authors of the files on ticalc.org at the time were OK with them being included on a CD or published for browsing via ISO files years later, but I thought I would share this in case anyone wanted to browse ticalc.org archives before they were censored. (possibly NSFW?) Who knows? Perhaps there are some NSFW games in there that were actually good or long-lost classics (I know for example that Drug Wars is very hard to find anywhere because no site wants to host it)?
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: GalacticPirate on June 07, 2016, 09:05:12 AM
Seriously ? ASCII pr0n ?  >:D  :banghead:

/me facepalms and headbangs
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Adriweb on June 07, 2016, 01:24:45 PM
There are also mentions of it on TI's online store website, though only titles:
- the one included in a connectivity kit : https://epsstore.ti.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10023&item=45558
- v1: https://epsstore.ti.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10023&item=45560
- v2: https://epsstore.ti.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpItmDspRte.jsp?minisite=10023&item=46986
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on June 07, 2016, 04:04:54 PM
@STV I don't know if those rumors are true, but since they came from multiple people over the years, I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Else, perhaps the recall was really caused by the game Drug Wars, like other rumors suggested, since it's gone from ticalc.org archives.

@Adriweb thanks for the links. I thought all mentions of the CD were gone from TI website since long ago. The only evidence I could find was the recall page on Archive.org
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Adriweb on June 07, 2016, 04:08:32 PM
Yeah, those are items you can't buy anymore, unsurprisingly :P
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: GalacticPirate on December 02, 2016, 04:22:25 PM
Hello walruses and walruses,
I've downloaded the ISO, so I'll be able to browse its content. I'll soon updload screenshots and some info if I find anything strange :trollface:
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on December 02, 2016, 05:39:11 PM
Tell us if you find anything out of the ordinary :)
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: critor on December 03, 2016, 01:38:41 AM
Instead of browsing the CD (http://ia800801.us.archive.org/isoview.php?iso=/16/items/ticalc-org-cd/ticalc_org_rev_b.iso) file by file, another way is to compare ticalc.org 2001 and 2002 web pages captures.

For example, http://www.ticalc.org/pub/86/asm/graphics/ :
in 2001 -> http://web.archive.org/web/20011007071831/http://www.ticalc.org/pub/86/asm/graphics/
in 2002 -> http://web.archive.org/web/20020615233516/http://www.ticalc.org/pub/86/asm/graphics/
in 2003 -> http://web.archive.org/web/20020615233516/http://www.ticalc.org/pub/86/asm/graphics/

Just at the top of the list, you can note 3 archives were removed :
   86gray4.zip   17K   97-09-27   [4 grays] 5 Grayscale Pictures
   all86.zip   65K   01-05-10   Allecto v1.3006   Special version of Phoenix for the ticalc.org CD
   babes86.zip   62K   01-04-21   Babes!!!   These are VERY hotpics of Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Anna Kournikova, & Carmen Electra. (No Nudes, sorry guys!)

Here is the 84gray4 readme :
http://ia800801.us.archive.org/isoview.php?iso=/16/items/ticalc-org-cd/ticalc_org_rev_b.iso&file=archives%2F86%2Fasm%2Fgraphics%2F86gray4.zip%2Fafs%2Fathena.mit.edu%2Fuser%2Fb%2Fd%2Fbdaddy%2Fz80%2Fmygray%2Fgray4.txt

And it's mentionning an R-rated picture :
http://archive.org/download/ticalc-org-cd/ticalc_org_rev_b.iso/archives%2F86%2Fasm%2Fgraphics%2F86gray4.zip%2Fafs%2Fathena.mit.edu%2Fuser%2Fb%2Fd%2Fbdaddy%2Fz80%2Fmygray%2Fgirl2.86p
Juste download and run it as an Asm program on your favorite TI-86 emulator if appropriate for you.


If it can be found so easily, there there's probably much more of it...
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Travis on December 03, 2016, 02:34:11 AM
Apparently I missed this thread when it originally started, but as far as I recall (or at least from what I gather from looking at the internal server software commit history from back then), authors were contacted for consent before their programs were included on the CD, and I think there were probably criteria that had to be met. (For some odd reason, I can't seem to find any kind of announcement about the CD on ticalc.org other than the recall notice; am I overlooking it?)

According to staff member Issac a couple of years ago when an internal discussion about this came up, there was a screening process, but there was at least one inappropriate/nude pic or something embedded in a game that slipped through, and evidently someone found it. ticalc.org didn't have any money nor a written contract or anything with TI, and TI realized that they screwed up by not checking the CD themselves.

The archives were then shut down and screened and the feedback form for reporting problems was implemented in order to show the public that ticalc.org's staff was taking the situation seriously.
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on December 03, 2016, 08:02:47 AM
So basically, this confirms the existence of rule 34'd calculator programming years before rule 34 existed. I wouldn't be surprised if drug-related content was a problem as well. Back in the days, Drug dealing RPGs were popular on TI calcs and generally seen as humoristic, but not everyone saw things that way.

I remember the archives shut down in 2001. This was when I first discovered ticalc.org, but I didn't understand what was going on at the time, so I thought that ticalc.org was just a TI-News clone and did not return until much later (due to being only interested in downloading games at the time)
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: p2 on December 05, 2016, 09:06:42 AM
I guess @STV is scrolling through the files as crazy now, hoping for some ASCII pr0n  :thumbsup:
But I'm not sure if that'll be worth the effort xD

I wonder if the guy who first introduced ascii pron to calculators is probably among us D:
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: GalacticPirate on December 06, 2016, 07:28:45 AM
Well, I didn't find anything compromising excepted that one R-rated picture on the TI-86 that critor told about. And no ASCII pr0n for now :trollface:
Title: Re: Ticalc.org CD ISO (2001)
Post by: Dream of Omnimaga on December 30, 2016, 03:53:10 AM
Quote from: STV on December 06, 2016, 07:28:45 AM
Well, I didn't find anything compromising excepted that one R-rated picture on the TI-86 that critor told about. And no ASCII pr0n for now :trollface:
IIRC it was not just because of adult content, but also drug-related content. For example, Drug Wars and Drug Cartel were two popular TI-82 games back then (compatible with the TI-83+) and there were multiple variations, such as Pimp Quest. Nowadays, ticalc.org has many Drug Wars clones, but all of them are censored so that instead of selling drugs, you either sell stupid stuff or you sell electronics on the black market. While Drug Wars depicts the sale of illicit substances, it's kinda a shame that they did not add a setting on ticalc.org that asks people's birth date before accessing such file, because it came out in 1994 (and is based on a DOS game released in 1984 IIRC) and it was considered a calculator gaming classic for years. Heck, Gamesradar even featured it on their front page once, along with The Reign of Legends 3, Reuben Quest series and Desolate in a TI-83+ RPG article.

http://www.gamesradar.com/the-best-ti-83-rpgs-ever/ (sadly, the article got cropped so only Drug Wars appear there anymore it seems. Not sure why)