Transferring TI Files

This page is devoted to presenting, in a step by step fashion, the keystrokes and the screen images for transferring programs from one TI-83 (TI-83 Plus, or TI-84 Plus) calculator to another. The two calculators will be called the sending and the receiving machines. Note that the two calculators need to be connected via a transfer cable for this to work. Also, be sure that the cable is firmly seated in both calculators.

Figure 1	On the receiving calculator (the one that will get receiving the program), press to open the screen shown in Figure 1.
Figure 2	Use the key to move the highlight to the RECEIVE field. Then press to shift the calculator into receive mode.
Figure 3	The receiving calculator should be in the waiting state as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 4	On the sending calculator, press to open the screen shown in Figure 4. Then, use the key to move the highlight to the third option, 3: Prgm..., again as shown in Figure 4. Press to move to Figure 5.
Figure 5	The image shown in this Figure 5 is determined by the programs that are currently installed on the sending calculator. This screen shows the start of a listing of all the programs that are on this particular sending calculator. [Notice that of all the programs show here, only the COINS program is in archive memory. The rest of the programs are in the active memory.] For the purpose of this demonstration we will transfer the COLLATE2 program from the sending machine to the receiving machine. To do this we must first move the highlight down to the COLLATE2 program.
Figure 6	Use the key to move the highlight to the desired COLLATE2 item. Unlike other selections on the TI calculator, just highlighting the desired program is not enough. We must mark that program for transfer. As shown in Figure 6, COLLATE2 is not yet marked. We press to mark the highlighted program and the marking will appear as in Figure 7.
Figure 7	The difference between Figure 6 and Figure 7 is hardly noticeable. The mark on the COLLATE2 program is really a small black square that is partially hidden by the arrow used to highlight that same item. Merely to help us see the mark we will move the highlight up one program via the key, with that new display shown in Figure 8.
Figure 8	Now, with the highlight moved off of the COLLATE2 program we can see that COLLATE2 is indeed marked for transfer.
Figure 9	Once all of the programs that are to be transferred have been marked, we press the key to highlight the TRANSMIT option, as shown in Figure 9. At this point we have connected the two calculators via the appropriate cable put the receiving calculator into a Waiting... state marked the programs to be transferred highlighted the TRANSMIT option on the sending calculator Once all that is done, on the sending calculator we press the key. The transfer starts, and if there are no problems it completes.
Figure 10	While the sending calculator is doing its work it will display the name of each program sent. Once all the files have been sent the calculator indicates that it is Done.
Figure 11	On the receiving calculator the display shows Receiving... and then it displays the names of the programs that have been received. Once the process is complete the calculator displays Done. It is somewhat confusing at times to have the Receiving... and the Done both on the screen, as is the case in Figure 11. Understand that once the calculator has displayed the Done the process is complete and the Receiving... can now be ignored.

The example shown above took place without a warning or an error. The images below show some other situations that may arise.

Figure 12	Figure 12 shows the message that would appear on the receiving calculator if the program we are sending, in this case COLLATE2, is already on the receiving calculator. This is exactly the case that we would have if we had messed up that program on the receiving calculator and we wanted to "reinstall" the program from the sending calculator. In such a situation, we want to Overwrite the existing but broken program on the receiving calculator.
Figure 13	To do this we use the key to move the highlight to Overwrite. Then we press to perform that Overwrite
Figure 14	The receiving calculator then continues the process and merely indicates that the version of the program has been received.
Figure 15	Another common experience is to get the screen message shown in Figure 15. The process has failed. You will need to start the process over once you have fixed the cause of the error. Almost always, the cause of the error is that the cable being used is not firmly inserted into one calculator or the other. This is especially common with the old style "plug" cable; it is less often a problem with the mini-usb cable.