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The Tandy 1000 was a line of more or less IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack chain of stores.
The machine was geared toward home use and a modest budget, and it copied the IBM PCjr's 16-color graphics (PCjr's graphics were an extension of CGA video) and 3-voice sound, but didn't use the PCjr cartridge ports. As the Tandy 1000 outlasted the PCjr by many years these graphics and sound standards became known as "Tandy-compatible" or "TGA," and many software packages of the era listed their adherence to Tandy standards on the package.
The Tandy machine had built-in game ports compatible with those on the TRS-80 Color Computer, as well as a port for a "light wand". Most Tandy 1000 models also featured line-level sound and composite video outputs so that a standard television could be used as a monitor, albeit with much poorer video quality. Unlike most PC clones, several Tandy 1000 computers had MS-DOS built into ROM and could boot in a few seconds. Tandy bundled DeskMate, a suite of consumer-oriented applications, with various Tandy 1000 models.
The original line was equipped with the Intel 8088 CPU, which was later extended to faster clock speeds and also the 8086 and 286 processors. Common models of the machine included the Tandy 1000, EX, HX, SX, TX, SL, RL, and TL.
Eventually the Tandy Corporation sold its computer manufacturing business to AST Computers. When that occurred, instead of selling Tandy computers, Radio Shack stores began selling computers made by other manufacturers, such as Compaq.
Selected Tandy 1000 Models
Tandy 1000
The original Tandy 1000 was a large computer similar in size to the IBM PC, though with a plastic case to reduce weight. The original Tandy 1000 featured a proprietary keyboard port along with 2 joystick ports on the front of the case. The rear featured a digital monitor connector (compatible with CGA/EGA monitors), a composite video-out connector, a single RCA-style monophonic line-level audio connector, a port for a light wand, and an unusual edge-card connector used to attach a parallel printer. The original Tandy 1000 came standard with one 5.25 disk drive, with an additional bay usable for the installation of a second 5.25 disk drive (available as a kit from Radio Shack). 128k of memory was standard, with the computer accepting up to 640k of total memory with the addition of expansion cards. MS-DOS 2.11 and DeskMate 1.0 were included with the system.
Tandy 1000 EX
The Tandy 1000 EX was designed as an entry-level IBM compatible personal computer. The EX was a compact computer that had the keyboard and 5.25" drive built into the computer casing. The 5.25" drive was accessible from the side of the computer, on the right hand side. The EX was marketed as a starter system for people new to computing, and sold for $1000.00 from Radio Shack in December of 1986.
Tandy 1000 HX
The Tandy 1000 HX, released in 1987, was designed as an entry level IBM compatible personal computer. The HX was meant as the successor to the EX. Like the EX, the HX was a compact computer with the keyboard built into the computer casing. The computer came with an Intel 8088 CPU, 256 kilobytes of memory, and had one 720k 3.5 inch disk drive on the right side of the machine behind the keyboard. HX computers came with MS-DOS 2.11 built into the ROM. Deskmate 2 was included with the HX.
The computer's memory could be expanded to 640k. This would be accomplished by placing a memory expansion card in the expansion slot, which came with 128 kilobytes, and adding another 384 kilobytes in memory chips to this board. Contrary to popular opinion, the expansion cards were compatible with the 8-Bit IBM slot standard. Called specialized "Plus Cards" that were built by Tandy, they used a pin attachment instead of the slot used by the IBM bus. Radio Shack eventually sold an adapter card that allowed the installation a of "Plus Card" into an 8-Bit IBM slot. There were three slots available in the computer case. There was another 3.5 inch drive slot in the computer case. On the back of the machine there was a port which allowed a user to connect an external 360 kilobyte 5.25 or 720 kilobyte 3.5 inch disk drive. There was also a slot to connect a printer.
The 1000 HX did not come with a hard drive, and Tandy Corporation did not manufacture fixed disks for this type of computer. However a number of third party vendors made fixed disks for the HX available for sale.
The settings on the computer could be changed so that instead of looking in ROM for DOS at bootup that it would go to the floppy drive instead. Most versions of MS-DOS worked with the 1000 HX, including DOS 3.x, DOS 5.x, and later versions. There was a quirk in the DOS 4.0 environment that prevented that version of DOS from working with HX computers.
Tandy 1000 SX/TX
The Tandy 1000 TX was very similar to the Tandy 1000, having an external keyboard and similar casing. The most major difference was the addition of an 80286 CPU; otherwise, it was nearly identical to the Tandy 1000, including the odd parallel port edge connector. The TX had a 3.5" drive, with an optional 5.25" drive. It contained hookups for two joysticks in the front along with the keyboard, and included a volume control with a phono input on the front. The back had all of the same ports as the Tandy 1000. The memory size was 640k (upgradable to 768k, which was devoted to video) and the computer came bundled with Deskmate. The SX was identical to the TX except it used a 8088 processor and came with 2 5.25" drives.
Tandy 1000 SL, SL/2, TL, TL/2, TL/3
The Tandy SL and TL series of computers were an update of the SX and TX respectively. They came in a redesigned case and, in the case of the TL/2 and above, featured onboard XT IDE hard disk controllers. (These controllers are not ATAPI compatible and thus will not work with modern ATA hard drives.)
The Tandy 1000 SL featured an Intel 8086 processor running at 8 MHz. The 8086's 16-bit bus gave it a small but definite performance advantage over the earlier 8088-based Tandy 1000s. The SL came with 384k of memory preinstalled, whereas the SL/2 offered 512k. Both machines can be expanded to 640k.
The Tandy 1000 TL and TL/2 use 8 MHz Intel 80286 processors, whereas the TL/3 uses a 10MHz 80286. These computers had 640 kilobytes of memory. On the TL/2 there was also room for an extra 128 kilobytes to be installed to bring the total to 768 kilobytes. The TL/2 was designed to use part of its RAM as video memory, so a machine with 768 kilobytes of memory would provide 128k for video and 640k to the operating system. However, it is impractical to expand the memory beyond 640k once a VGA graphics card is installed, as that 128k was intended to be used by the ETGA hardware only, thus rendering it unavailable to the operating system. Also, even though the TL series uses 286 processors, they are still XT-class machines so it is impossible to install or use extended memory (XMS), although expanded memory (EMS) can still be used in conjunction with an 8-bit LIM EMS memory card.
The SL and TL series offered two innovations over the earlier SX and TX series. One is high resolution 16 color graphics (the earlier Tandys could provide 16 colors only at low resolution.) The other is an improved sound circuit, using an 8-bit mono DAC alongside the PSSJ 3-voice sound source. The DAC gave the SL/TL series digital sound output capabilities not much unlike those of the early 8-bit SoundBlaster line of audio cards.
External links
- The Tand-Em Project, a Tandy 1000 emulator project
- Tvdog's Archive, Tandy 1000 programs and documentation
- Tvdog's Mirror Archive, FTP Mirror Site for Tandy 1000 programs and documentation
- Oldskool Shrine to the PCjr and Tandy 1000
- Tandy 1000 Webring