Great video! I was a Radio Shack employee from 1988 through 1998 and I absolutely loved the Tandy 1000 line of computers. Radio Shack offered a training program for Computer Specialists, a program I took full advantage of and it launched my IT career. Today I hold a Masters Degree in Management Information Systems as a result of my great experience working at Radio Shack with Tandy computers! The first Tandy 1000 I ever sold was a 1000TX and I still recall the conversation I had with the buyer. I explained that the 20MB ISA hard card he was buying with his system would hold more data than he could produce in a lifetime (boy was I wrong). I remember how excited I was to help load up his new computer into the trunk of his car. It’s too bad that Tandy and Radio Shack aren’t still around today. Those were definitely “the days”!
I asked my Mom if she could buy me one of those Tandy1000’s back then; I was in my Senior year of high school, and was already decided that I would be studying Computer Science when I would move on to the University that I was accepted to. At $999.99, it was probably the best deal in IBM compatibles on the market. It truly did everything I needed it to, ran all the PC software I threw at it, and thanks to the dawn of computer mail order, was able to upgrade the memory to 640KB for much less than what Radio Shack was asking for those upgrades. It served me well until I built my first computer in 1992.
First, that depends on when you bought it and when you started school. Not only was it not that great, it went on far too long. By 1987, the 386 was already fairly common, though still very expensive. Compatibility wasn't great either, especially later on. It also became a confusing mess with all the different and incompatible models. As a distinct "home computer," it wasn't bad. But it was never looked at quite that way. It was always marketed and sold as a PC compatible computer with some gaming features. Of course, a true IBM computer had the same video mode the tandy used, but was only accessible through composite CGA. The same 160x200 graphics mode could be accessed by any compatible CGA card including the default option on a 5150 or a 5160
@@tarstarkuszFor clarity, it was the original Tandy 1000 that I got, and yes, I do recognize that the 2000 and 3000 series were a total mess in comparison. To the launch of the original 1000. Later revisions of the 1000 also tried to do a little more than they probably should have, and subsequent Letter offshoots of the original 1000 had their share of issues. That said though, I stand by my words; my 1000 did everything I asked of it as a college student. I suppose that for a business or “Power user” at the time, it might have been a little long in the tooth, but for me, it was great and served me for several years just fine.😊
@@jcchaconjr I was not including any other model families other than the 1000 family. There was many models of it. Some had 286 processors on an XT class motherboard. Some had additional graphics capabilities like 320x200 16 color where many of them had only a 8088 and 160x200 graphics. Anything requiring the former will not run on the latter. That's why I said the whole family was a mess. I don't know what you used it for in college. But simply writing papers and the like would be no problem. Certainly by the late 80s and early 90s, development in a school wouldn't be ideal or possibly even possible on an XT class computer. They likely used development kits (compilers and editors) with higher system requirements. I'm not bashing old systems. My first PC (before that I had a C64) was in 1993 and it was a Compaq luggable, the very first PC clone, though someone upgraded it to 640k with a HD before I bought it used for 99 dollars in spring 93. I used that through the rest of my uni classes. But before that I was using a C64, speedscript (a magazine type-in program word processor) and a cheap dot matrix printer with a C64 port.
@@tarstarkuszIn 1987 the 386 was far from common - in 94 big business was still using them while phasing in 486DX and Pentium. It was the age of DOS. Windows forced regular hardware updates.
My 1000hx punched way above it's weight, I finished kings quest V on it, and it wasn't terrible there were a couple slow points but most of the game played close enough to right I never noticed.
People remember the 1000 with rose color glasses. These things were terrible because they went on far too long. Most of the nostalgia for them is by the kids of parents who bought them, who used them mostly for games written with compatibility in mind.
@@BillAnt Not me. Radioshack was ridiculously overpriced. The electronics supply houses were way cheaper and with a way bigger selection of components.
I lived in rural Georgia as a teen in the mid-late 80s when my family got our first home computer, and Tandy 1000SX. Radio Shack was pretty much the only place within a couple-hour drive which sold computers, so tthat's what we went with. And by the time we had a 2nd floppy drive, a full 640K, a 40MB hardcard, a monitor, and a nice (for the time) printer, it cost more than the family car. So when I invariably screwed something up on it, you better believe I figured out how to fix it. Even though I was taking programming (and electronics and robotics) classes in high school, that Tandy 1000SX probably contributed more to my long career in IT than any of the classes I ever took.
We always had Radio Shack computers in our house. We had a TRS-80 model I, a CoCo2, and a Tandy 1000SX. When I was 15, I lived in Estes Park, CO, and I got a summer job at the Stanley Hotel (the hotel where Stephen King came up with the idea for the Shining) as a housekeeper. I saved every cent I made, and at the end of the summer I bought a brand spanking new Tandy 1000TL with a CM-5 monitor. I still own that machine today. It's been upgraded with a 20MB Hard Card, Sound Blaster card, 768K of memory, and a CM-11 (that was on the 1000SX before it went MIA). It still works perfectly, and I'm never getting rid of it (it cost me a lot!) I still play DOS games on it on occasion, as it's kind of nostalgic to play on 'real hardware' once in awhile.
I was a Software Engineer in Tandy Tower 2, R&D under Ron Waits; wrote the Mode (Settings) and Diskcomp utilities for the 1000 and 2000. The code I wrote was in Intel Assembly Language, using the Microsoft Assembler to convert from ASCII-Text to machine code.
A Tandy 1000 HX was the first computer I bought with my own money as a teenager. I have some fond memories of playing the Space Quest and King's Quest series, Prince of Persia, and (after a RAM upgrade to 640k) Battle Chess. I sure miss Radio Shack. Thanks for this cool look back at their history!
Great video. I am 63yrs old and way back then, I actually owned a Tandy 1200. Bought it for Z-80 software development. I seem to recall the CGI card that came with the system was only 320/200 or something like that, and was hard on the eyes for software development so we bought a Hercules monochrome graphics card which was something like 720 by 348. The HD in the system was a ST-506 full height 10MB. About a year later I upgraded it to a Seagate 20MB half height. The system was plagued by a hardware design fault that periodically would just crash. After extensive complaints to Radio Shack, they replaced it with a system with a clearly modified motherboard that had jumper wires on it. Those were the days. Exciting as hell.
Aaah Radio Shack, how I miss thee. I remember as a kid after church on Sunday going to Old Country Buffet and sneaking away to Radio Shack to play games on their Tandy 1000, good memories.
My first PC was a Tandy 1000 EX, which I used for 3-4 years. It holds many fond memories for me. I've considered acquiring one to revisit those times, but it would likely need repairs that are beyond my skill set.
I spent most of my adult career in IT as a result of purchasing my first computer in 1987, a Tandy 1000 EX. Without that purchase my life would have been very different.
many years ago. i went to a church sale & they have a tandy 1000.with all the works. they were asking $5 for it all. what was sad i didn't have the money at the time. so i left crying
I had an Apple II+ and wanted to migrate in 1988 and went with a used IBM PS2. Ugh what a mistake, I wish I got a T1000 instead. The memory and expansion bay, yes bay to add the memory was like half what a new T1k would cost
In high school, I used a Tandy 1000 computer in my in my Database Programming class, which consisted primarily of creating spreadsheets and database operations for business processes. It was a solid computer and easy to work with. My previous training was in elementary school with the Apple IIe and BASIC. I was so lucky to get started early with computers and since then have worked in both hardware and software development throughout my career. This was a really cool interview. he had some great information. Thanks for the video 😎
Very interesting video! Tandy 1000 were not popular here in Spain, as they were no RadioShark shops here. But every single program with graphics, or game, had options for it when doing video and audio setup. I always wondered about this computer's history!
My very first computer was a 1000HX. Bakc around 2010/2011 i did on site consulting for the SMB/rural market and one client had a 1000RLX stull running as their primary database machine.
I think we should all give a shoutout to PC-Em's dev for including Tandy tech into the best early-mid x86 emulator we have, makes reliving my 12 year old self's HXperiences inexpensive, effortless and accurate. I know she is no longer coding it but her work was huge and still is huge.
People don't realize it but for a good portion of time, Tandy held down a massive corner of both the prosumer and consumer computer business. I think in 1993 or so I was still seeing games from EA etc., as listing "...Or Tandy 1000" as a system requirement on boxes in Babbages and Electronics Boutique. The first time I saw Wolfenstein 3d running was on a friend's Tandy 1000 he'd expanded and upgraded. And we both had Amiga computers at the time (he had a 16mhz 3000, I had a 14mhz expanded a500) - we were blown away by the game.
Nice video ... my first real PC was a Tandy 1000 SX and we were definitely a Sierra household. Wish I still had all those games and the PC as well. Anything else I've had since regardless of where it was from was just called by the specs, oh its a 386, a 486, its got an i5 in it. This is still the only PC I've ever had where it would be like "oh yeah I have a Tandy 1000 at home".
Realy nice first hand piece of history. And Mark is looking great. For something that happened 40 years ago now and him the man at the top of it all, I would have expected an older looking guy.
A 1000SX was my first computer in 1988. After several months I upgraded it with a second 5 1/4 drive, then a 3 1/2 and then a huge 30Mb hard drive. One RAW image from my digital camera now takes up most of that! But it was big at the time.
Great video. My first computer was a 1000A, my parents brought it home in October of 1985 when I was in 7th grade. By the time I retired it when I started college in the fall of 1991 and switched to a Mac, I had upgraded it from 128K to 640K and added a 20MB hard card. I still have its motherboard, it hung in my office as wall art for many years.
I was 6 at the time, so I don't recall a ton from that era, but Tandy was definitely one of the better options in the budget "mostly" PC compatible market in for a while there in Canada (and the US, obviously); I do recall my uncle and his family had one of the 1000 series PCs and it was a fun time.
Tandy 1000 SX was my second computer, loved that thing to pieces, we ended up getting the memory boosted to 640k to keep up with the Sierra games. We finally had to tap out at King's Quest 5 since there was no mouse port. I inherited a Packard Bell 286 from a friend for a time alongside it, that's where I finally learned the difference between 8088 (the Tandy) vs 8086 processors.
At home, we had a TRS-80 Model 3 (dual 5.25" floppies running TRS-DOS) and a "CoCo2" that connected to the TV with game cartridges and could load programs from cassette tapes (booted to Microsoft BASIC 1.0 green screen). In Elementary and Middle school we had Apple II computers and a few Macs, but in High School it was all Tandy (1000s, 2000s, then they upgraded to 286, 386, and even some 486 processors), after they stopped making new Tandy computers the school was still under contract with Radio Shack, so they sold us a few IBMs to try and later a Compaq and a couple other models that no one was happy with. Eventually they got a new contract with Dell and replaced all the computers with OptiPlex GS desktops.
I still have all our Tandys. When I was a kid my dad got a Model 1 then several Model 3s and 4s for his business. Then we got a bunch of different 1000s before switching to Dells in 1989. He bought me a CoCo 2 and later a CoCo 3. I had so much fun tinkering with them growing up. My dad didn’t even freak out too much when I took our 1000SX apart because I wanted to see how it worked. I must have been about 12 or 13.
My first computer was a Tandy 1000Ex! My dad rescued one that was being thrown out from his job, it just needed some capacitor replaced and he knew how to solder. I think he got the replacement from our local Radio Shack. Edit: EX
IBM really failed to have a proper video and sound specification to be phased every 3 or 4 years and to be followed by the PC makers during the 80s. Tandy had the courage to offer something. For IBM we should be using monochrome and beepers for the whole decade. Looking back, getting into the early nineties with mode13h graphics and a SoundBlaster seemed obvious, but there was so much mismatch between vendors until we got to that point. Software developers got lost, having to handle a mix of sound and gfx modes on their titles. So, its not new that while the PC offered cpu cycles, it failed miserably to other competitors - even 8 bit home computers - for games and multimedia apps. In the 1990s Microsoft took the lead with the MPC standard spec, killing the Amiga and the shoving all the 8-bit leftovers to the cemetery.
Where I lived we only had Radio Shack dealers, which were neat because the owners of the stores could carry other products and set the store up anyway they wanted. My parents got a Tandy 1000 in late 1984. The salesman knew our name and phone number by heart (which they always asked for when buying ANYTHING) because the computer was his first sale on his first day at the store. I enjoy looking back fondly on memories at that store and with that computer.
It was a great release, adding sound and more colors. Basically a sucessful PCJr. A friend of mine got one and when visiting he thought he would impress my with it's audio. Unfortunately, though, I had a Commodore 64, and it won't be until Adlib where the PC started to sound better.
BTW the Amiga and ST had some great audio, but at the time, Amiga's four 8-bit digital audio didn't impress me much, but with better software, a few years later, it started to sound great. The ST had a chip similar to the Commodore SID chip, with 4 voices instead of three, but lacked the filters.
I'd make the argument that at least in it's heyday of the mid 1980s, the Tandy 1000 made a much larger cultural impact then the Macintosh which would mainly just a rich man's toy that could do "some" sorts of productivity marginally better then a Tandy 1000. Far more Dandy 1000s were sold then Macintosh computers at the time and the Macintosh line of computers were not finally outsell the venerable Tandy 1000 till the early 1990s.
I bought a Tandy 1000. It had an Intel 8088 processor, I don't remember how much RAM, monochrome monitor and a 10 MB HDD. It ran MS-DOS 3.0 and GWBasic. I loved that thing. That was a huge upgrade from my previous computer, a TRS 80 Model III, with monochrome built in monitor and audio tape recorder data storage, which I used to save my BASIC programs and data. I wrote a word processor in BASIC and saved my files to tape. It was a Z-80 machine running CP/M (I think). That was an upgrade from my first computer, which was a Timex Sinclare 1000 with a Z-80 processor, running CP/M (I think). It booted to BASIC so I don't know what OS it was running.
Found a 1000RL from a local seller on eBay in Orlando. Great system, though I learned about a few compatibility quirks regarding RAM. For one, certain games like Demon Attack and Super Off-Road wouldn't run on a system upgraded all the way to 768K (640K base and 128K VRAM), and some very old games would not run at all if DMA was present. Still a fun system, and glad I can relive my brief experiences with a 1000 series computer!
Brings back memories. I was a kid when we got our Tandy 1000sx, with a 20meg HD on an ISA card, Genius mouse and we had almost all of the early releases of Sierra games. “pq1.exe” lol. Police Quest was by far my favorite. I miss the old days but I became fascinated by it and it launched my addiction to computers. Only problem now is I threw away the old Tandy in the early 2000s. It still worked back then and now I’m trying to find one but they’re going for unbelievable prices.
Nice to know the nitty-gritty details behind Tandy. Radio Shack was heaven for me growing up in the 80s and 90s. (BTW, the analogy of Tandy being on fire with the hair catching on fire of that most famous dude from the 80's was tacky. Knowing what we know now about the pain behind that incident, another equally dramatic analogy can be used.)
My Uncle bought one of these Tandy 1000 computers for my older Cousin. We upgraded the RAM to 640K and get this...a 20MB Hard Drive!! 16 Color Tandy Graphics! We also had a 1200 Baud Modem and could download a program from a BBS that was 600-700K and it only took about 10 minutes!! For 1984/85, that was fast!
Tandy 1000 was my first computer. I was like 8 or 9 years old. My older brother had a C64 and he didn't want me to touch it, being he was 10 years older than me.
In 1985 Commodore launched its Amiga 1000 computer. In terms of graphics and color, it completely blew away both Apple and IBM clones. It did up to 4000 colors and could even do color animations while Macintosh was still doing grayscale, primitive graphics and PC clones were VGA with 256 colors. It was about $1300.
When I had my first real software development job, my employer bought me a Tandy 1000SX with a 30MB hard drive. I upgraded the memory and replaced the CPU with the NEC version which could also run Z80 code and so I ran CP/M on that computer in addition to MS-DOS. Great memories.
I bought a Trs-80 Model 3 and 4p. They were "fine" I learned how to program assembly language on them so it was great - coz all that knowledge transferred trivially to IBM PC AT platforms later. I never bought a Radio Shack computer again, however, because of the lack of support thrown to the Model 4P AND lack of an upgrade path. So, the Model 4p lasted me five years til I got paid to have Everex, then NeXT machines on my desk! For a time tho', it did seem Radio Shack would run the world. They shore blew it!
I got the one that came with an instruction manual the size of a Service Merchandise Catalog, Dungeons of Daggorath, and I was pissed. I wanted a NES with a light gun. Years later I ended up with a 5150XT.
I had the original color computer (Coco), then I got a Coco 2. The Coco series was Tandy’s last computer that wasn’t a PC clone (except maybe for some weird ultra portables like the model 100).
15:00 I just wanted to mention the CGA colors didn't actually look all weird like that on a proper CGA monitor. It's only incorrect if you're viewing a CGA signal on a VGA monitor, for example.
These leople are the ones we owe everything we have today home PC to. they were brave enough to get their hands dirty and create something out of nothing in a tentative shaky business. my respect
in the 80's I worked for a DC tech company that serviced Capitol Hill and many hundreds of beltway businesses in the area. We had a big operation selling thousands of systems vis internal sales to government and private companies. I saw literally millions of dollars of PC sales flow by and many many hundreds of systems repairs within the service group. I can tell you we never saw a singly Tandy PC in Washington DC back in the mid/late 80's. Home users were buying them, but they may have well not even existed in the business world.
I really miss going in and looking at those computers. If I could get in a time traveling police box and go shopping back in the 80's that'd be one of my first stops.
My dad had the tandy 1000. I remember using it (as limited as it was since he was always on it lol.) but atleast he gave me the trs-80 he didn't use any more! Loved radio shack. Loved the computers too. So many memories.. Wish my dad actually taught me more but unfortunately he expected me to know how fun they were instead of showing me what could be done. Baseball was my thing then. Was only 10 at the time.
Great video! I was a PCjr owner, and used it from 1984-1991(!!). I was always curious about the Tandy 1000 and why it was so similar, and now I know. As the years went on and PCjr compatibility started to fade from new titles, the Tandy 1000 option stuck around a lot longer. However, running this mode on a PCjr cause the graphics to have black horizontal lines that made games unplayable. I don't suppose you know the reason for this?
I have a Tandy 1000SX in storage. I believe it still works, though I may need a graphics output adapter (something between the TGA output and monitor).
The comment about chasing business users whilst most of their customers were home users is pretty much what killed Sinclair Research. Instead of working on the fabled "Super Spectrum" sequel to their 5 million selling(a British record for a single model of computer that stood for over 30 years until the Raspberry Pi), Clive Sinclair insisted on putting everything on the QL, keep in mind, this was when IBM compatibles already had the business market almost completely and most home users were still using Spectrums, C64s and Amstrads. The QL had no IBM compatibility in a world that pretty much required it, was of questionable build quality and used unreliable tape storage that was something similar to a miniature 8-track cartridge whilst leaving their home customers high and dry on a next generation machine. Ended up having to sell his computer business to Amstrad. (Before anyone chimes in about the dumb car, yes, that happened, but it was a separate company that was its own thing)
I miss my Tandy 1000 computer. My dad saved up and got the computer for us and then the next year we got a 10 meg hard drive and nerds were in awe when my computer pooted right into DOS with no floppy. in the early 90s I bought a second one with two floppy drives. I really wish I had one again. Mine were stolen when I went to Basic Training for the military in 2001.
I want to relive having a Tandy 1000 about as much as I want to go back to vinyl albums and two track cassettes. Good video though. Did you know that Radio Shack opened a line of stores that just sold their computers?
![[NEW] Crystal Clear HDMI For The Commodore 64 In 60 Seconds](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SBgo8oGFung/mqdefault.jpg)
Great video! I was a Radio Shack employee from 1988 through 1998 and I absolutely loved the Tandy 1000 line of computers. Radio Shack offered a training program for Computer Specialists, a program I took full advantage of and it launched my IT career. Today I hold a Masters Degree in Management Information Systems as a result of my great experience working at Radio Shack with Tandy computers! The first Tandy 1000 I ever sold was a 1000TX and I still recall the conversation I had with the buyer. I explained that the 20MB ISA hard card he was buying with his system would hold more data than he could produce in a lifetime (boy was I wrong). I remember how excited I was to help load up his new computer into the trunk of his car. It’s too bad that Tandy and Radio Shack aren’t still around today. Those were definitely “the days”!
Radio Shack also sold personal hearing amplifiers, great for the hearing impaired, and at a fraction of the price of similar audio products.
I asked my Mom if she could buy me one of those Tandy1000’s back then; I was in my Senior year of high school, and was already decided that I would be studying Computer Science when I would move on to the University that I was accepted to. At $999.99, it was probably the best deal in IBM compatibles on the market. It truly did everything I needed it to, ran all the PC software I threw at it, and thanks to the dawn of computer mail order, was able to upgrade the memory to 640KB for much less than what Radio Shack was asking for those upgrades. It served me well until I built my first computer in 1992.
Great memories
First, that depends on when you bought it and when you started school. Not only was it not that great, it went on far too long. By 1987, the 386 was already fairly common, though still very expensive. Compatibility wasn't great either, especially later on. It also became a confusing mess with all the different and incompatible models.
As a distinct "home computer," it wasn't bad. But it was never looked at quite that way. It was always marketed and sold as a PC compatible computer with some gaming features.
Of course, a true IBM computer had the same video mode the tandy used, but was only accessible through composite CGA. The same 160x200 graphics mode could be accessed by any compatible CGA card including the default option on a 5150 or a 5160
@@tarstarkuszFor clarity, it was the original Tandy 1000 that I got, and yes, I do recognize that the 2000 and 3000 series were a total mess in comparison. To the launch of the original 1000. Later revisions of the 1000 also tried to do a little more than they probably should have, and subsequent Letter offshoots of the original 1000 had their share of issues.
That said though, I stand by my words; my 1000 did everything I asked of it as a college student. I suppose that for a business or “Power user” at the time, it might have been a little long in the tooth, but for me, it was great and served me for several years just fine.😊
@@jcchaconjr I was not including any other model families other than the 1000 family. There was many models of it. Some had 286 processors on an XT class motherboard. Some had additional graphics capabilities like 320x200 16 color where many of them had only a 8088 and 160x200 graphics. Anything requiring the former will not run on the latter. That's why I said the whole family was a mess.
I don't know what you used it for in college. But simply writing papers and the like would be no problem. Certainly by the late 80s and early 90s, development in a school wouldn't be ideal or possibly even possible on an XT class computer. They likely used development kits (compilers and editors) with higher system requirements.
I'm not bashing old systems. My first PC (before that I had a C64) was in 1993 and it was a Compaq luggable, the very first PC clone, though someone upgraded it to 640k with a HD before I bought it used for 99 dollars in spring 93. I used that through the rest of my uni classes. But before that I was using a C64, speedscript (a magazine type-in program word processor) and a cheap dot matrix printer with a C64 port.
@@tarstarkuszIn 1987 the 386 was far from common - in 94 big business was still using them while phasing in 486DX and Pentium. It was the age of DOS. Windows forced regular hardware updates.
People forget that back in the day Tandy really did make some cool stuff.
My 1000hx punched way above it's weight, I finished kings quest V on it, and it wasn't terrible there were a couple slow points but most of the game played close enough to right I never noticed.
People remember the 1000 with rose color glasses. These things were terrible because they went on far too long. Most of the nostalgia for them is by the kids of parents who bought them, who used them mostly for games written with compatibility in mind.
Tandy ~ Realistic ~ man those were the days. Radio Shack was my temple of electronics. hehe
@@BillAnt Not me. Radioshack was ridiculously overpriced. The electronics supply houses were way cheaper and with a way bigger selection of components.
Their slogan was, "The biggest name in little computers"
I lived in rural Georgia as a teen in the mid-late 80s when my family got our first home computer, and Tandy 1000SX. Radio Shack was pretty much the only place within a couple-hour drive which sold computers, so tthat's what we went with. And by the time we had a 2nd floppy drive, a full 640K, a 40MB hardcard, a monitor, and a nice (for the time) printer, it cost more than the family car. So when I invariably screwed something up on it, you better believe I figured out how to fix it. Even though I was taking programming (and electronics and robotics) classes in high school, that Tandy 1000SX probably contributed more to my long career in IT than any of the classes I ever took.
We always had Radio Shack computers in our house. We had a TRS-80 model I, a CoCo2, and a Tandy 1000SX. When I was 15, I lived in Estes Park, CO, and I got a summer job at the Stanley Hotel (the hotel where Stephen King came up with the idea for the Shining) as a housekeeper. I saved every cent I made, and at the end of the summer I bought a brand spanking new Tandy 1000TL with a CM-5 monitor. I still own that machine today. It's been upgraded with a 20MB Hard Card, Sound Blaster card, 768K of memory, and a CM-11 (that was on the 1000SX before it went MIA). It still works perfectly, and I'm never getting rid of it (it cost me a lot!) I still play DOS games on it on occasion, as it's kind of nostalgic to play on 'real hardware' once in awhile.
Awesome
I was a Software Engineer in Tandy Tower 2, R&D under Ron Waits; wrote the Mode (Settings) and Diskcomp utilities for the 1000 and 2000. The code I wrote was in Intel Assembly Language, using the Microsoft Assembler to convert from ASCII-Text to machine code.
Nice!
A Tandy 1000 HX was the first computer I bought with my own money as a teenager. I have some fond memories of playing the Space Quest and King's Quest series, Prince of Persia, and (after a RAM upgrade to 640k) Battle Chess. I sure miss Radio Shack. Thanks for this cool look back at their history!
As a CB, scanner, and ham radio enthusiasts I loved RadioShack.
Mate, this was a professional quality production. you should be proud.
Great to capture and share this primary source interview and accompanying info. Excellent video!
Thanks
Bought one new in the 80's. It was a good, reliable system. Ran a two line BBS on it as well. Now I have several different 1000 series models.
Brilliant interview with Mark, really interesting insights. Tandy really managed to deliver the PCjr's potential.
Great video. I am 63yrs old and way back then, I actually owned a Tandy 1200. Bought it for Z-80 software development. I seem to recall the CGI card that came with the system was only 320/200 or something like that, and was hard on the eyes for software development so we bought a Hercules monochrome graphics card which was something like 720 by 348. The HD in the system was a ST-506 full height 10MB. About a year later I upgraded it to a Seagate 20MB half height. The system was plagued by a hardware design fault that periodically would just crash. After extensive complaints to Radio Shack, they replaced it with a system with a clearly modified motherboard that had jumper wires on it. Those were the days. Exciting as hell.
Nice to hear from someone that had one.
Aaah Radio Shack, how I miss thee. I remember as a kid after church on Sunday going to Old Country Buffet and sneaking away to Radio Shack to play games on their Tandy 1000, good memories.
My first PC was a Tandy 1000 EX, which I used for 3-4 years. It holds many fond memories for me. I've considered acquiring one to revisit those times, but it would likely need repairs that are beyond my skill set.
Love the interview with Mark! He has so many great stories. I’m looking forward to the 1000 TX restoration video(s).
I spent most of my adult career in IT as a result of purchasing my first computer in 1987, a Tandy 1000 EX. Without that purchase my life would have been very different.
many years ago. i went to a church sale & they have a tandy 1000.with all the works. they were asking $5 for it all. what was sad i didn't have the money at the time. so i left crying
Aww
I had an Apple II+ and wanted to migrate in 1988 and went with a used IBM PS2. Ugh what a mistake, I wish I got a T1000 instead. The memory and expansion bay, yes bay to add the memory was like half what a new T1k would cost
Excellent video. Thank you so much!
Awesome Episode Brotha!
The Interview was Great
I love the photography on this video and the pristine magazine pages. 👌🏾
In high school, I used a Tandy 1000 computer in my in my Database Programming class, which consisted primarily of creating spreadsheets and database operations for business processes. It was a solid computer and easy to work with. My previous training was in elementary school with the Apple IIe and BASIC. I was so lucky to get started early with computers and since then have worked in both hardware and software development throughout my career. This was a really cool interview. he had some great information. Thanks for the video 😎
fantastic video.
Very interesting video! Tandy 1000 were not popular here in Spain, as they were no RadioShark shops here. But every single program with graphics, or game, had options for it when doing video and audio setup. I always wondered about this computer's history!
This video is my introduction to this channel. If it features more interviews with pioneers of the industry, I’m all in. This was a great watch
Thanks!
Check out my Atari 2600 history videos. They have a similar style.
I had the 1000 HX. Loved that machine. The boot DOS from ROM was awesome. My high school had the EX version in the computer lab. Many fond memories.
My very first computer was a 1000HX.
Bakc around 2010/2011 i did on site consulting for the SMB/rural market and one client had a 1000RLX stull running as their primary database machine.
Wow
I think we should all give a shoutout to PC-Em's dev for including Tandy tech into the best early-mid x86 emulator we have, makes reliving my 12 year old self's HXperiences inexpensive, effortless and accurate. I know she is no longer coding it but her work was huge and still is huge.
Live in Canada, cared about PCs... never heard of the Tandy 1000. Am sad that people abandoned electronics and that Radio Shack disappeared.
I still have my original Tandy 1000 from 1984. What a great machine!
@@fourthhorseman4531 Nice! That OG 1000 was the best! That machine got me through a lot.
People don't realize it but for a good portion of time, Tandy held down a massive corner of both the prosumer and consumer computer business. I think in 1993 or so I was still seeing games from EA etc., as listing "...Or Tandy 1000" as a system requirement on boxes in Babbages and Electronics Boutique. The first time I saw Wolfenstein 3d running was on a friend's Tandy 1000 he'd expanded and upgraded. And we both had Amiga computers at the time (he had a 16mhz 3000, I had a 14mhz expanded a500) - we were blown away by the game.
My friend had one. I had an IBM compatible made by Epson with a 4 color CGA monitor. His 16 color monitor blew my mind.
Yeah the 4 color Epson. Had one of those. Prince of Persia looked so much better when I switched it to monochrome mode.
Nice video ... my first real PC was a Tandy 1000 SX and we were definitely a Sierra household. Wish I still had all those games and the PC as well. Anything else I've had since regardless of where it was from was just called by the specs, oh its a 386, a 486, its got an i5 in it. This is still the only PC I've ever had where it would be like "oh yeah I have a Tandy 1000 at home".
Tandy 1000 computers were so common in many homes - didn't have one but half my friends who had a computer had one of them in the mid to late 80s.
Yeah. Seems like they were very common.
Realy nice first hand piece of history. And Mark is looking great. For something that happened 40 years ago now and him the man at the top of it all, I would have expected an older looking guy.
That's the kind of story I like to listen to, so thank you 😉
Ahhhh, those were the days!!!!! So much stuff coming out one didnt know what direction to go!!!!!
And all those wondering computer magazines way before the internet, though I used BBS.. I can still smell the fresh ink today. :)
@BillAnt They are still fun to look at.
8:00 Just imagine Bill Bixby saying, "Mr. PC, don't make me angry..."
Or Mr. Tandy
@@RetroHackShack I picked PC because it rhymes with McGee ,-)
A 1000SX was my first computer in 1988. After several months I upgraded it with a second 5 1/4 drive, then a 3 1/2 and then a huge 30Mb hard drive. One RAW image from my digital camera now takes up most of that! But it was big at the time.
Nice
Dude, you are a person after my own heart. I owned one of these machines and played the heck out of it.
Very good video!
Thanks
I had a Tandy 1000 TL/2. Have lots of fond memories with that computer. I wish I still had it.
Great video. My first computer was a 1000A, my parents brought it home in October of 1985 when I was in 7th grade. By the time I retired it when I started college in the fall of 1991 and switched to a Mac, I had upgraded it from 128K to 640K and added a 20MB hard card. I still have its motherboard, it hung in my office as wall art for many years.
"Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic" was AWESOME on my Tandy 1000 TX!
Great video. The interview makes it very relatable and interesting. Subbed!
I have an EX with the Memory Plus expansion to 640k and a Mouse card + mouse, along with a CM-5
Nice!
I was 3 years old in 1984, but the impact of that year still endures.
I was 6 at the time, so I don't recall a ton from that era, but Tandy was definitely one of the better options in the budget "mostly" PC compatible market in for a while there in Canada (and the US, obviously); I do recall my uncle and his family had one of the 1000 series PCs and it was a fun time.
you got to make sure you get that tandy and not make david banner angry
Tandy 1000 SX was my second computer, loved that thing to pieces, we ended up getting the memory boosted to 640k to keep up with the Sierra games. We finally had to tap out at King's Quest 5 since there was no mouse port. I inherited a Packard Bell 286 from a friend for a time alongside it, that's where I finally learned the difference between 8088 (the Tandy) vs 8086 processors.
very interesting .. thank you 👍👍
At home, we had a TRS-80 Model 3 (dual 5.25" floppies running TRS-DOS) and a "CoCo2" that connected to the TV with game cartridges and could load programs from cassette tapes (booted to Microsoft BASIC 1.0 green screen). In Elementary and Middle school we had Apple II computers and a few Macs, but in High School it was all Tandy (1000s, 2000s, then they upgraded to 286, 386, and even some 486 processors), after they stopped making new Tandy computers the school was still under contract with Radio Shack, so they sold us a few IBMs to try and later a Compaq and a couple other models that no one was happy with. Eventually they got a new contract with Dell and replaced all the computers with OptiPlex GS desktops.
🙂
I still have all our Tandys. When I was a kid my dad got a Model 1 then several Model 3s and 4s for his business. Then we got a bunch of different 1000s before switching to Dells in 1989. He bought me a CoCo 2 and later a CoCo 3. I had so much fun tinkering with them growing up. My dad didn’t even freak out too much when I took our 1000SX apart because I wanted to see how it worked. I must have been about 12 or 13.
Wow. True Tandy fans!
Got an OG Tandy 1000 in '85 It got me through most of grad school.
Back in the day: "It costs IBM $50 to mail an empty box."
I loved my Tandy 1000! Sure, it only had 256K but it was awesome!
My first computer was a Tandy 1000Ex! My dad rescued one that was being thrown out from his job, it just needed some capacitor replaced and he knew how to solder. I think he got the replacement from our local Radio Shack.
Edit: EX
IBM really failed to have a proper video and sound specification to be phased every 3 or 4 years and to be followed by the PC makers during the 80s.
Tandy had the courage to offer something. For IBM we should be using monochrome and beepers for the whole decade.
Looking back, getting into the early nineties with mode13h graphics and a SoundBlaster seemed obvious, but there was so much mismatch between vendors until we got to that point. Software developers got lost, having to handle a mix of sound and gfx modes on their titles.
So, its not new that while the PC offered cpu cycles, it failed miserably to other competitors - even 8 bit home computers - for games and multimedia apps.
In the 1990s Microsoft took the lead with the MPC standard spec, killing the Amiga and the shoving all the 8-bit leftovers to the cemetery.
My very first PC was a Tandy 1000, I loved that thing.
Clearly superior.
0:55 Wow, that book is gold.
Where I lived we only had Radio Shack dealers, which were neat because the owners of the stores could carry other products and set the store up anyway they wanted. My parents got a Tandy 1000 in late 1984. The salesman knew our name and phone number by heart (which they always asked for when buying ANYTHING) because the computer was his first sale on his first day at the store. I enjoy looking back fondly on memories at that store and with that computer.
I had 2 of these at one point, the 1000A, and later a 1000SX. They both creamed the XT and AT on just about every level.
It was a great release, adding sound and more colors. Basically a sucessful PCJr. A friend of mine got one and when visiting he thought he would impress my with it's audio. Unfortunately, though, I had a Commodore 64, and it won't be until Adlib where the PC started to sound better.
BTW the Amiga and ST had some great audio, but at the time, Amiga's four 8-bit digital audio didn't impress me much, but with better software, a few years later, it started to sound great. The ST had a chip similar to the Commodore SID chip, with 4 voices instead of three, but lacked the filters.
I'd make the argument that at least in it's heyday of the mid 1980s, the Tandy 1000 made a much larger cultural impact then the Macintosh which would mainly just a rich man's toy that could do "some" sorts of productivity marginally better then a Tandy 1000. Far more Dandy 1000s were sold then Macintosh computers at the time and the Macintosh line of computers were not finally outsell the venerable Tandy 1000 till the early 1990s.
I bought a Tandy 1000. It had an Intel 8088 processor, I don't remember how much RAM, monochrome monitor and a 10 MB HDD. It ran MS-DOS 3.0 and GWBasic. I loved that thing.
That was a huge upgrade from my previous computer, a TRS 80 Model III, with monochrome built in monitor and audio tape recorder data storage, which I used to save my BASIC programs and data. I wrote a word processor in BASIC and saved my files to tape. It was a Z-80 machine running CP/M (I think).
That was an upgrade from my first computer, which was a Timex Sinclare 1000 with a Z-80 processor, running CP/M (I think). It booted to BASIC so I don't know what OS it was running.
I had a TRS-80 Model I, then a Model IV. In the early/mid 80's I saw the world switching to IBM so I sold my old models and purchased a Tandy 1000.
Wow. RadioShack all the way.
Found a 1000RL from a local seller on eBay in Orlando. Great system, though I learned about a few compatibility quirks regarding RAM. For one, certain games like Demon Attack and Super Off-Road wouldn't run on a system upgraded all the way to 768K (640K base and 128K VRAM), and some very old games would not run at all if DMA was present. Still a fun system, and glad I can relive my brief experiences with a 1000 series computer!
Brings back memories. I was a kid when we got our Tandy 1000sx, with a 20meg HD on an ISA card, Genius mouse and we had almost all of the early releases of Sierra games. “pq1.exe” lol. Police Quest was by far my favorite. I miss the old days but I became fascinated by it and it launched my addiction to computers. Only problem now is I threw away the old Tandy in the early 2000s. It still worked back then and now I’m trying to find one but they’re going for unbelievable prices.
I think most of us got rid of our early computers and now regret it.
Nice to know the nitty-gritty details behind Tandy. Radio Shack was heaven for me growing up in the 80s and 90s. (BTW, the analogy of Tandy being on fire with the hair catching on fire of that most famous dude from the 80's was tacky. Knowing what we know now about the pain behind that incident, another equally dramatic analogy can be used.)
My Uncle bought one of these Tandy 1000 computers for my older Cousin. We upgraded the RAM to 640K and get this...a 20MB Hard Drive!! 16 Color Tandy Graphics! We also had a 1200 Baud Modem and could download a program from a BBS that was 600-700K and it only took about 10 minutes!! For 1984/85, that was fast!
Nice!
Tandy 1000 was my first computer. I was like 8 or 9 years old. My older brother had a C64 and he didn't want me to touch it, being he was 10 years older than me.
In 1985 Commodore launched its Amiga 1000 computer. In terms of graphics and color, it completely blew away both Apple and IBM clones. It did up to 4000 colors and could even do color animations while Macintosh was still doing grayscale, primitive graphics and PC clones were VGA with 256 colors. It was about $1300.
Owned a 1000sx. Expanded memory, 30 Meg card drive, both floppy drives, cga monitor, and a loud dot matrix printer.
When I had my first real software development job, my employer bought me a Tandy 1000SX with a 30MB hard drive. I upgraded the memory and replaced the CPU with the NEC version which could also run Z80 code and so I ran CP/M on that computer in addition to MS-DOS. Great memories.
I bought a Trs-80 Model 3 and 4p. They were "fine" I learned how to program assembly language on them so it was great - coz all that knowledge transferred trivially to IBM PC AT platforms later.
I never bought a Radio Shack computer again, however, because of the lack of support thrown to the Model 4P AND lack of an upgrade path.
So, the Model 4p lasted me five years til I got paid to have Everex, then NeXT machines on my desk!
For a time tho', it did seem Radio Shack would run the world. They shore blew it!
Had a PCjr...loved it but was always jealous of the Tandy's capabilities
I used to own the Color computer 2 and 3
I got the one that came with an instruction manual the size of a Service Merchandise Catalog, Dungeons of Daggorath, and I was pissed. I wanted a NES with a light gun.
Years later I ended up with a 5150XT.
I had the original color computer (Coco), then I got a Coco 2. The Coco series was Tandy’s last computer that wasn’t a PC clone (except maybe for some weird ultra portables like the model 100).
My first computer was a PCjr. I loved it. Everyone else had either the Apple IIe and Comodore 64 so I had to learn to code.
15:00 I just wanted to mention the CGA colors didn't actually look all weird like that on a proper CGA monitor. It's only incorrect if you're viewing a CGA signal on a VGA monitor, for example.
I still have my Tandy 1000 and I still love it.
I had a Tandy 286! Completely forgot it was a Tandy.
It was my first pc 😁
Nice
These leople are the ones we owe everything we have today home PC to. they were brave enough to get their hands dirty and create something out of nothing in a tentative shaky business. my respect
Brilliant letting Mark do what he wanted.
in the 80's I worked for a DC tech company that serviced Capitol Hill and many hundreds of beltway businesses in the area. We had a big operation selling thousands of systems vis internal sales to government and private companies. I saw literally millions of dollars of PC sales flow by and many many hundreds of systems repairs within the service group. I can tell you we never saw a singly Tandy PC in Washington DC back in the mid/late 80's. Home users were buying them, but they may have well not even existed in the business world.
I really miss going in and looking at those computers. If I could get in a time traveling police box and go shopping back in the 80's that'd be one of my first stops.
My dad had the tandy 1000. I remember using it (as limited as it was since he was always on it lol.) but atleast he gave me the trs-80 he didn't use any more! Loved radio shack. Loved the computers too. So many memories.. Wish my dad actually taught me more but unfortunately he expected me to know how fun they were instead of showing me what could be done. Baseball was my thing then. Was only 10 at the time.
0:31 To think, 40 years ago, Apple made an advertisement declaring the opposite of what it would become.
Great video! I was a PCjr owner, and used it from 1984-1991(!!). I was always curious about the Tandy 1000 and why it was so similar, and now I know. As the years went on and PCjr compatibility started to fade from new titles, the Tandy 1000 option stuck around a lot longer. However, running this mode on a PCjr cause the graphics to have black horizontal lines that made games unplayable. I don't suppose you know the reason for this?
I have a Tandy 1000SX in storage. I believe it still works, though I may need a graphics output adapter (something between the TGA output and monitor).
0:02 Wow, George Castanza pitching the McDLT !
We had a tandy. Double floppy disk. Dot matrix printer and a ton of games.
The comment about chasing business users whilst most of their customers were home users is pretty much what killed Sinclair Research. Instead of working on the fabled "Super Spectrum" sequel to their 5 million selling(a British record for a single model of computer that stood for over 30 years until the Raspberry Pi), Clive Sinclair insisted on putting everything on the QL, keep in mind, this was when IBM compatibles already had the business market almost completely and most home users were still using Spectrums, C64s and Amstrads.
The QL had no IBM compatibility in a world that pretty much required it, was of questionable build quality and used unreliable tape storage that was something similar to a miniature 8-track cartridge whilst leaving their home customers high and dry on a next generation machine. Ended up having to sell his computer business to Amstrad.
(Before anyone chimes in about the dumb car, yes, that happened, but it was a separate company that was its own thing)
I miss my Tandy 1000 computer. My dad saved up and got the computer for us and then the next year we got a 10 meg hard drive and nerds were in awe when my computer pooted right into DOS with no floppy. in the early 90s I bought a second one with two floppy drives.
I really wish I had one again. Mine were stolen when I went to Basic Training for the military in 2001.
I want to relive having a Tandy 1000 about as much as I want to go back to vinyl albums and two track cassettes. Good video though. Did you know that Radio Shack opened a line of stores that just sold their computers?
Tandy PCs were sold by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) with DEC branding. This was around 1989.
16 colors? Three vioce sound? That is a commodore 64.
Those glossy ad filled magazines man....
Thanks for reminding me that mankind peaked in 1984.
Ha ha
I still have my Tandy 1000SX I bought as a US Army officer back in 1986 or 1987.