# General Information about TiCables library

The TiCables library is a part of the TiLP project and constitutes with the other libraries a complete framework for developping linking and/or TI calculator files oriented applications.

### Overview

The ticables library is able to handle the different link cables designed for TI's graphing calculators (also called handhelds) in a fairly transparent fashion. With this library, the developer does not have to worry about the different link cables' characteristics as well as the different platforms.
The library provides a complete API which is very easy to use and makes things easier.
The library is completely independent of the Operating System and can be used on several platforms such as:
- any flavour of Linux (x86, Alpha, Sparc, iPAQ, ...),
- Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7,
- Mac OS X.
The library supports all the currently available link cables:
- the home-made parallel (aka $5-cable),
- the home-made serial (aka $4-cable),
- TI's BlackLink,
- TI's GrayLink,
- TI's SilverLink,
- TI's DirectLink.
The library supports also some 'virtual' link cables for connection with emulators:
- Virtual TI (VTI),
- TiEmu,
- TilEm.
This library has already been used by various projects (such as TiLP, TiEmu, KTIGCC) and by other developers (the Ti Winamp project, for instance). A list of developers/users can be viewed on the TiLP web site (Developers section).

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### Requirements

In order to work, the library may need some external drivers:

- the dhahelper [Win32] / rwports [Win64] driver: is needed for using the home-made parallel & serial cables as well as TI's BlackLink. No driver is needed for those cables under GNU/Linux.
- the libusb (userspace) / libusb-win32 and its driver: is needed for using TI's SilverLink and DirectLink cables (USB).

You also need GLib 2.x.

### Bug Reports

There may still be some bugs in the library, please send an email to the tilp-devel@lists.sf.net mailing list.

### History

This library is a part of the TiLP project. I have been working for 10 years on TiLP as well as on some other projects (TiEmu, TiGCC).
I wroten this library for several reasons:
- split code,
- share code between my various project,
- provide source code to others.
As most of Linux programs, I maintain a file which lists modifications. This is called a ChangeLog that you can find here.

### Copyright

>     Copyright (C) 1999-2009 by the TiLP Team.
>     See AUTHORS for detailed authorship information.

>     This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
>     the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
>     Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later
>     version.

>     (A special exception applies when linking the library into TilEm, see the
>     COPYING file for details.)

>     This library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
>     WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
>     PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License for more details.

>     You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
>     this library (in the COPYING file); if not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

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