LGR - Restoring & Exploring a 1985 Tandy 1000 PC
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Radio Shack's Tandy 1000 computer system is one of the great 1980s IBM PC(jr) compatibles, and this one needs some loving. Join me in getting this legendary machine back to better-than-new condition!
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● Music used in order of appearance:
Whisky on the Rocks 1, Not That Serious 3, Streetlight Conundrum 1
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To clarify the vacuum usage: I was not _vacuuming,_ I was only using a shop vac's compressor to blow air out of the nozzle and move loose dust chunks out of the way. Actually vacuuming computer parts using suction is a bad idea :)
Why is it a bad idea
Why is this? Is it because you can loosen/suck parts out? I used the hoover in the past!! Oh no!!!! I feel like I've commited a crime
Short answer: risk of static discharge and the potential damage to components
You suck. :p
Watching how smoothly that fan rotates when you were dusting it out...damn. Shows how well this thing was cared for in my opinion.
This is an awesome example of the Tandy 1000 from the looks of it!
You can change the colors in that version of DeskMate, by pressing Ctrl-F1 through Ctrl-F4. And if you let it sit for 10 minutes, it has a screen saver -- not something you'd expect from a piece of DOS software from 1985!
I think these restoration vids are some of my favorites on your channel and I don't know anything about retro computers
Glad to hear it :)
i know what you mean
i dont know anything about computers in general but i just love watching him clean and repair these old machines
same
me too its my favorite kind of videos
I'm just officially an old fart (!), I guess. All these vids are pure, honey-gold nostalgia to me. Everything LGR shows (outside of some of the cleaning techniques) is stuff I used to do routinely. Well, still do, I guess. I haven't bought a complete, new PC in a couple decades now - I think the last one was 1995 or so, and that was only my second one. My system just "evolves" over time. Of course, today nothing is the same as the original but the data...
I wish I had a Tandy 1000 story to share, but I don't - I was well into PC clones by then. However, I used your "favorite program" often, at the local Radio Shack stores. My friends and I would then watch and giggle as the store clerks went red with frustration because they had no idea how to stop their display computers from constantly scrolling "Radio Shack Sucks". :-)
I used to go into Radio Shack and type:
10 Print "Duh";
20 Goto 10
Run.
I would come back the next day and the thing would still be printing "Duh" on the screen endlessly.
Hahaha.
I do the modern day equivalent.
Make a batch file
@echo off
:1
echo *whatever you want*
goto 1
Half the time employees couldn't give two shits and don't bother to turn it off lol.
Duh
10 print "shit"
20 goto 10
Run
write:
10 print "an ibm employee was here";
20 beep
30 goto 10
40 run
RUN!!!
So... I fell asleep in my chair to this episode. Not because it was boring, not at all. But because of Clint's calm and soothing voice.
J-Man Wilson lol
He should narrate audio books.
I have a playlist of sleep videos that are mostly lgr videos and those iceburg videos
@@captainghoul666 same i watch lgr for my wind down stuff. he's so calm. hes like a fireplace.
I love seeing these old Tandy Computers, I remember going to my grandparent's house and they had 2 set up! When they upgraded my parents got one, and then when we eventually got a newer computer, the Tandy got to go in our bedroom! It was the first computer my brother and I got to consider as "ours" and even though it was already out dated, we loved using it to teach ourselves how to install games, play games, upgrade hardware, etc... even after we had computers blazing through the internet at top speeds of 56k, we still enjoyed the nostalgia and elegant simplicity of our Tandy 1000. Thank you for making videos like this!
The Tandy 1000 can also be shortened to T-1000
T2
Just so long as it doesn't turn into a pool of liquid
That would cause confusion with the Toshiba T1000 laptop.
Perhaps it's generational, When I hear "T-1000" I think of the Pontiac econobox that was basically a Chevette clone. The damned jingle is now in my head: "T-1000, The penny pinching Pontiac!".😉👍
Guess it's better than saying "Trash-80 COCO", though I do miss mine, and my 1000, 1000SX, 1000EX. Hey LGR, do you have any 286 Epxress Card expansion boards for the 1000 series? Those were fun to mess with!
I'm noticing the higher production/editing values on LGR's videos of late. Good job, LGR!
Thanks, an attempt has been made!
640K Ought to be enough for anyone.... Uh Huh...
McInTEC well yeah obviously! Though its fun to get crazy sometimes. Like I recently built a machine to run Windows 98, and I went overboard with a whopping 768 MB of ram. Yeah! Crazy!
Mathew Dempsey my windows 98 machine sadly has a 128mb memory limit so a 256mb stick is still only worth 128mb
nice quote from Bill Gates
I run Windows 11 on 640K, but that's because of the nuclear war. I'm from the future, don't vote for Tim Allen.
Snopes looked into it: He didn't actually say it. It was just a common idea at that time.
Oh my god, this is it! When I was a young kid my grandparents gave us our first computer and I remember my brother and I playing the shit out of it. I specifically remember King's Quest II and Ghostbusters. As I got older it eventually broke down and we got ride of it. A few years back I found myself thinking of it but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. I even reached out to my aunt and she and I thought maybe it was a Commodore 64. Then now I watched this and the second I saw it I knew this was it. I remember the round red button, the single floppy drive, the spiralled keyboard cord. Man this is so nostalgic for me! Now I want to track one down myself, lol.
that is a wonderful story. im happy for you. did you ever get hold of a tandy 1000?
Farts program is the best program
I think that program STINKS ! LOL.
Years ago I found an ibm pc at in a library near me so I asked at the city hall and now I got a free 5170, I can't believe it
Hey boss, I'm going to take a 18 minute, 44 second break. I'll be back to work after that.
literally me rn
Same 😂😂😂😂
JHDK That's a long wank or shit....
TIL some places don't give lunch breaks.
Totally sweet. That was a decent price for that machine. The damn power button is just incredibly satisfying. Our school had a couple XT’s which were equally neat, but something about Tandy that made it seem easier to obtain for home users. I never knew that CPM came on the Model 4. I own a Model 4 and it came with TRS-DOS. I’m not exactly sure what it was based on. Not gonna lie, something about that PC speaker on the Tandy 1000 sounded great. It’s smooth. Like they turned down the high pass filter or something. Less harsh than most. Thanks for sharing as always!
The power switch on the original 1000 even lights up when you turn it on!
The PS/2 will forever live in my memory as the most satisfying computer power switch ever. And the sound of the fans and hard disk spinning up in sequence, made it feel like powering up a spacecraft cockpit (to me as a kid, anyway).
Just a note for the Tandy's PC speaker as you were referring to is actually NOT the PC speaker! There was a DAC on the motherboard for the Tandy sound which was an addon similar to installing a Sound Blaster, only the Sound Blaster when it came out much later was worlds better (which goes without saying :P). It had a PC speaker as usual and then another chip which was called the Tandy DAC and then later Tandy models had the Tandy 3-DAC which supported more "voices" than the original Tandy DAC in those builds. It was an actual sound chip included only in Tandy computers (obviously) and while it was still limited in its sound capabilities, compared to PC speaker it was incredible!
This original 1000 model does not have a DAC. That's only in the later RL/SL/TL models. The older 1000s have 3-voice audio.
If the TRS80 Model 3 could run CP/M (Mine did), Then for sure the 4 could. CP/M could even run on the Coleco ADAM (No, I'm not making that up, it was, Like our long lost TRS-80s, a Zilog Z80 based machine!). I'm willing to bet SOMEONE got it to run on a ZX-81 (Timex 1000), LOL!
There's something oddly soothing about Clints voice...
Why oddly
Probably helps that he uses a good mic
I sleep to it when I'm depressed.
i sleep with this its great
Oddly erotic.
Ed Judg, Probably Had A Moustache LOL
$1200 in 1985 was a lot of money. I was a teenager then and I don’t remember anyone having a home computer
Ooooh! It's beautiful!😍
Are you gonna upgrade to a 10Mhz 8088 and install the 8087 too? D:
not much point, It'd need to have a matching oscilator/clock or it'll still run at 4mhz and who knows what else that's used to clock?
There's not much you'd wanna run on a Tandy 1000 that will benefit from 10mhz OR an FPU except benchmarks.
Will the bus handle it?
I was wondering why he did not have an 8087 lying around to give a home to. Also I was wondering if a program had to be made to take advantage of the math co processor for it to be of any use.
Exactly - just because it has an FPU, doesn't mean that the programs are going to make calls to it.
If he's adding more RAM etc he may as well add the FPU, even if only a few programs use it.
That is some crazy lagging on Lemmings. Even the clock is having trouble with it. If the sound is turned off, does that fix anything?
It helps but not enough to make it super playable. It's just a really slow machine not made for games that new.
Can the CPU be over clocked at all? By a couple of MHz?
maybe dropping in the math co-processor would be a fun experiment too.
The simplest solution would be to drop down to CGA graphics, which should quarter the amount of work the poor cpu has to do drawing the screen at a stroke.
I love magic erasers. I tell all my friends about them. They don't believe in my hype. Fools.
must be Tandy week. both you and VWestlife put out Tandy 1000 videos.
I love the sound of these machines, makes me somewhat emotional.
These particular videos are always so satisfying to watch.
Uploaded just in time to enjoy the video during my lunch break 😊
LGR
Thanks for bringing us these amazing restorations of legacy PCs. Like some others have said these are some of my very favorite videos you do.
I was employed by Tandy Australia for 15years working in their computer support division supporting everything from Model 1's to the entire range of Tandy 1000's and the range of Color Computers.
Is the Tandy colour computer a trs80?
An older man i know used to say he learned to program on a tandy colour computer. I have no idea which model that is.. Haha
@@Colt45hatchback They were called TRS80 Color Computers by Tandy, (or CoCos by users,) yes, but in fact they had no compatibility with the TRS80. For one thing, they didn't use a Zilog Z80 CPU like a real TRS80. They were more meant to be a home computer, whereas the TRS80 was a business machine. The Dragon 32 computer in the UK was a copy of the CoCo.
Oh right, that must have been frustrating with them both having trs80 in the name, getting software for the wrong model.
I know very little about the dragon32, I only know it exists due to youtube, will have to have a more in depth look, thankyou for your reply :-)
You know I picked you with a pin for about 0.1 seconds many years ago at Tandy Australia. You said "ow" and forgot about it. I'm sorry if it hurt.
7:17 - Nice bodge cap on the logic IC there. :-)
7:05 And the resistor bodged to the side of the chip "is a bit how you doin'" at the bottom. :D
lightpixel He wasn't in like Flynn with those screws tho.
I grew up with a Tandy 1000. I wish I still had it, but this was an awesome trip down memory lane.
I've got fond memories of dorking around in DeskMate and pretending I had an actual schedule, and even fonder memories of Kings Quest II.
Thank you for sharing this!
Man that sweet startup sound.
1:20 Don’t buy IBM, you wouldn’t like me when you buy IBM.
My very first computer was a Tandy 1000, I received back in the 90s. My dad had a 386 prior to that, but sold it early on thinking he would get a 486 in the late 80s. He never did, and my family was computerless for my childhood ... all until a family friend donated his old Tandy 1000 and my dad gave it to me. Although the mid-90's at this point, I hadn't really seen much better and was excited to own my very first computer. My dad tried upgrading it with a hardcard, but it wouldn't fit - though he did have a dot matrix printer he did get working. Anyway, after getting bored of the few games it came with, I eventually stumbled upon that exact same Basic disk you showed in the video - plus a Basic manual. I had no idea what it was, but quickly gained interest as I started programming for the first time. I created a few simple programs, and even started a text based game. After years of fun, I eventually got a much more "modern" Packard Bell PC and mostly forgot about Basic. I got a Casio graphing calculator when I entered high school, only to discover a version of Basic-A - igniting my enthusiasm for programming once again, causing me to dust off that old Tandy and learn even more about Basic. I program Arduino's today, because of that Tandy.
You needed a "short" hard card for the Tandy 1000, on some there were two ways to mount the drive on the card so it would fit Tandy 1000 short slots and the longer PC slots.
Do you know MVI A,05H and MOV A,B ?🙄
What a great video! I had the Tandy 1000 SX. I souped it up with an 8087-2 coprocessor and a NEC V20 CPU. If you can find the 5MHz version of the V20, you can upgrade.
This was my first computer back when I was a kid. Thank you so much for covering this computer!!!
TRS-80 Model 1-4/12/16/6000 (floppy drive units) were sold with TRS-DOS not CPM.. although there were versions of CPM that would run on them...Models 1,3,4 had 5.25 drives ...Models 2,12,16,6000 had 8 inch drives...Tandy 2000 ran both TRS-DOS and MSDOS..odd machine indeed could be upgraded to 768K and a HD and had a 80186 processor...one of the few computers to use that processor ...
TRIVIA:
with the warranty sticker on the Tandy computers if it has white writing on a black sticker that means that a Tandy Service Center has never worked on it..if the sticker is black writing on a white label a Tandy Service Center has worked on it...sometimes on the white sticker you will see 4 digit number written in ink that indicates the service center number that last worked on it.
I was a Service Manager in Santa Rosa CA Tandy Computer Service Center in the 1980's...
Computer: thanks for brushing my keys 😅
LGR: What the
f***?
Sweet, a LGR vid on my birthday!
Oh man memories. I got one of these as a hand me down from my cousins, my aunt was kind enough to let me have their Tandy once they upgraded to another machine. At this point I had already had a NES so action games on this Tandy weren't going to impress me but those adventure games sure did. I loved Zelda but that world couldn't compare to Hero's Quest or Gold Rush. I was blown away by the amount of random crap you could make your characters do, from typing in pee at a bathroom in Space Quest to instantly getting a game over for typing kill priest in King's Quest. Haha To a kid who was only used to video games having A and B buttons with limited interactions it was wild just going through those adventure games and typing up all sorts of mischief. I also vaguely remember some pinball game where you could build your own machine.
Gold Rush ended up being my favorite and it was fun to be able to playthrough the game multiple times to see each path (never did beat the panama path)... ahh man. Gold Rush is one of those games I don't see people talk about much, if anyone wants an old adventure game to playthrough I would totally recommend it. Just don't forget: scurvy is a thing! I certainly had no idea until it was too late!
I have found my new ASMR obsession..toothbrushing cleaning
Hey LGR! Thanks for buying the cards from us on eBay! We have a license to sell many of the Lo-Tech cards from the creator, and are selling them on our store as well: TexElec.com - Our prices are a little lower on our store due to eBay fees, so please check us out. We are ordering parts for more Lo-Tech CF adaptors, and will have more at the end of next week. The 1MB card is in stock, as well as our new 4-Channel ISA OPL3 card! Thanks for your support LGR!
Ah yes the classic:
10 print "farts"
20 goto 10
RUN
farts
farts
farts
farts
farts
farts
farts
Tandy 1000 was my first computer given to me by my mother-in-law in 1985. It is the machine along with Kings Quest 1 that began my enjoying gaming for over 30 plus years! It has always had a special place in my heart for gaming. I was fortunate to have 640 k with dual 5.25" floppies. After a few years I did upgrade it with an Adlib card. It was heaven for me for many years.
What camera are you using? The quality is amazing.
Thanks! I'm using a Lumix GH5 these days.
Nice. :-) I have a GH3. The M4/3 format really hits the sweet spot for DSLR quality w/o the crazy large and expensive lenses.
My mother recalls that back in the 1980s she couldn't understand the appeal of computers...until she played King's Quest.
I just inherited a large horde of Tandy TRS 80's of different kinds including a mint condition 1000 SX great machines, great review LGR keep the videos coming.
Brad McCartney Wow nice score!
Brilliant video, yet again, and in 4k ! I did not know that AMD used to make Intels cpus for them - nor did i know that there was a 'backyard' hardware (lo-tech) company in the uk making such gubbins for the older pcs !
Thanks for doing 4K
Man its amazing how fast technology has advanced. From 128k of Ram to 16GB in just a couple decades
That machine looks like it was barely used. No UV discoloration of the plastic, area under the key you removed clean, virtually no dust inside, etc. Did someone donate it or did you buy it on eBay, Craigslist, or ?
Bought it on Ebay, it was stored (boxed) for a couple decades and it was in great shape when it went in there. My unboxing video that I did a while back is the first time it had seen the light of day in ages!
The Tandy speaker output makes me think of the old Sega Master System's sound processor. So nice!
Strongbad's computer
I had my Tandy 1000 from ~late 85 until I got a 386 in 1994. It was a great machine! It was a tough beast.
I see someone bought that mouse at a military exchange :)
Oh yeah, LOL. I recognize the AAFES price tag from way back when.
My first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81, my second was a Tandy 1000 EXACTLY like this, except I had a later version of DeskMate (which really was a good program). Great job Clint, as usual!
7/32 what a nice fraction to make a socket in....*cough* metric system for the win *cough*
Those sorts of things drive me nuts too. For reference, it's right about 5.56mm, so if you have a slightly oversized 5.5mm socket, it might work.
Or just use some pliers.
Nah ya'll are being weak
6mm drill bit, self tapping wood screw.
That's a pretty sweet system. The music in a couple of those games made me think Sega Master system for a bit. I wonder if they had similar sound chips.
Paku Paku looks like another game I've seen before but I can't quite place it......
Mario Bros
Yep! That's the one!
In the movie?
01:27 - HAHA those kids probably like: _"yay, taxes... spreadsheets...calculations"_
;D ;D ;D
What a beauty!!!... The computer, Clint! Not you ;)
Amazing video, as usual... When will you make a cr@ppy video, man?...
It's a Pixel THING what, you think Clint isn't beautiful? Shame on your cow
clint is a beautiful man.
I was the kid who would walk up to the mall display and enter the DOS command to format the hard drive then walk away.
(Hee)
10 print "farts"
20 goto 10
What a fun stuff
1:20 Wait, it's the guy who play dr Banner in the 70' TV show "Hulk", right ?
2:20 lol great edited :D
Some of the music in Zeliard gives me such a Sega Game Gear vibe. Even lemmings to an extent. Wonder if it used a similar sound chip
Bill Bixby.
Yep, had to pause the video to double check. Had no idea he did print ads for Radio Shack lol
Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.
You might want to look into replacing the electrolytic capacitors in there with new low-ESR, 105 degree ones
the good ol days when Radio Shack wasn't a mobile phone store
Shelby sadly, it had to turn into one since 90% of its stock could be replaced with a smartphone.
There's none left around me. It really sucks because now I have to buy all my obscure electronic parts on eBay... It was nice being able to walk in and walk out with what you needed.
Clint - I adore how in focus it is! Like..I can almost feel that plastic. Great work - been watching you for ages now and you're just the ducks nuts.
SPACE QUEST!!
SQ2 - my first Sierra game... I was in love.
Yes my first space quest game I played was Space Quest 3 on the Tandy 1000. It was the first time I heard voice in a game blew my mind. Lol
Also Hero Quest was amazing.
Indeed. My first Sierra games were on a 1000 TX. Space Quest (1) and King's Quest II. I got King's Quest III, but my tiny kid brain decided that playing outside was better than dealing with a) that timer, b) the stairs and path, and c) those spells. It's cool though, I eventually came around.
The first voice I heard in a game was "Prepare to qualify..."
Thank you for taking the time to clean these relics. So many people show crusty old hardware on TH-cam and it's just kind of sad.
Thanks for the info on the 1 meg card. I've seen that for sale, but the seller never explained its use.
Great video. Reminded me of my Tandy 1000sl. First PC I upgraded myself by adding a memory chip to bring it to 640 k. It was my leap to the PC world from a complete C-128 system, what memories!!
This was the machine I was first exposed to PC's on! Great memories.....I was enchanted immediately
LGR
The biggest mystery to me is how Radio Shack literally had almost the entire PC consumer market to themselves and still blew it!!! Can you imagine if RS had done things right?
It's actually crazy when you think about it. An alternate future where Radio Shack owns the majority of market with their PC standard is plausible! Weird...
FInalBaton
Thanks for the reply! I've always thought that Radio Shack didn't fail and struggle because it was a "bad company" it did so because they ALWAYS had bad management since the early 80s. The company was actually doing fairly well into the late 70s, even with crummy management. Such a shame. Like so many organizations many of the failures are NOT due to a poor concept or company itself. I'm always sorry for the rank and file that usually try to do their best and lose out because of inept, incompetent, and/or unenthusiastic executives! Hmmm Mandela Effect candidate ? LOL
The sound on this machine reminds me of my old Sega Master System, although I think that the Master System has a far better graphics solution.
A very good-looking machine. I love the esthetics of the late 1970's and early-to-mid 1980's computers.
All of your videos are the equivalent of a 1988 newspaper sales flier; AMAZING!
Still have my Tandy 1000 TL and I installed a VGA card into it!
My very first computer was the Tandy 1000 SL (probably about 1987/88). I had a friend who had a HP at the time which his dad paid more money for and I thought the Tandy graphics and sound for games were pretty slick with lots of support for games. Also some of the pack in software was not bad. I added a hard drive and a 3.5 in drive, it was a great experience.
aaaaaawww... restoring and exploring...
I read destroying and exploding
>.
When I hear the click clack of those sweet sweet LGR keys in the intro I know I'm in for a sweet ride. Great video, as always.
Am I the only one who noticed that at 11:15 that the pink ghost is named Kinky?
You're so adorable. I love how passionate you are about to all of the awesome computer stuff.
This might be my favorite old school computer I've seen! Such an aesthetic simple rounded design. Capable of those 16 color graphics, compared to those cyan/purple ones before. Seems like such a perfect home computer for the time. Seems like it was a screaming deal too.
Something sublimely relaxing about watching a fellow clean an old PC with a woodgrain toothbrush.
That looks gorgeous. It looks brand new. I need to find one of these someday... I had the Tandy 1000 SX when it first came out.
Pretty awesome synthesizer. I appreciate the tip again about the CompactFlash card hard drive and all the upgrades lots.
Nothing beats the startup sounds of the computer systems of the 80's! Very much agreed about the power switch! The old AT power supplies with the massive red switches are amazing! Great job at restoring! =)
So many games of Carmen Sandiego on the one my family had.
Just an FYI to anyone watching DO NOT use a vacuum cleaner on a computer, it can easily toast it from the static electricity it creates. LGR seems to know what he's doing since he didn't actually touch anything but it's always a better idea to still use a can of compressed air or else you'll destroy hundreds of dollars worth of equipment in a few short seconds.
Also worth noting that I'm not _vacuuming_ either, I'm just using the compressor to blow air out of the nozzle.
Growing up with a Tandy1000, I have so much love for this computer! Based on your video, I'm going to look at cleaning up the model my parents originally bought in the 80s!
The pink ghost is named "KINKY"...
...nice XD
Watching this made me want a Tandy PC. And I happened to find one for $70 on ebay! We'll see how it all works out.
LGR, can you review the "Exile" game for Sega genesis?
It’s a good day when there’s a new LGR
I give this computer the sexy computer Award
I never played with a 1000, but, My Dad had a 4(I think) 000 that I played with. 386 I forget the speed. but, speaking as an old mainframe user from the 70s, Yes, the 70s, That machine taught me DOS. and with DOS....I got a job and it saved my family. that was around 1990. I have a found spot in my heart for Tandy. And I LOVE YOUR WORK! keep it up sir. You do good..
I had a 1000 TL which was the same computer as the Panasonic Small Business System. This was a 286 machine with standard 640K RAM and DOS 3.3 in ROM. Mine had a 20MB Western Digital Caviar drive in one of the expansion slots and MS-DOS 5.0. I also had to clean up an AntiEXE infection it had.
Hey everyone in the comments! I'm on a mission. I used to have a computer that had an orange/black display. I could very well be looking for something that doesn't exist because maybe we set the computer up wrong in the first place to give such an odd color scheme. Been trying to track down the computer/monitor model for 20 years and my folks don't remember :P. Any help would be greatly appreciated ^_^. On another note, great video as always Clint!
I have a TRS80 Model 1 from 1978 (shown at 1:56, I have the same configuration with this monitor and the memory expansion box) and it still works. Build quality was much better back then, It shows the same Memory Size message as this one when you boot it.
7:48 - The Trimpot next to the large grey capacitor {(the one next to the internal speaker connector) is what you use to adjust the volume on the Tandy 1000A. The 1000A was the first version to have adjustable volume, althrough it's not particularly convenient.