The Tandy 1000 - The best MS-DOS computer in 1984.

Who designed and manufactured Tandy's computers and what happened to them? Then what happened to AST?

I had one when I was a kid, actually had it up into the mid to late 90's

My family had a Tandy 1000 with a 10 mb hd years later I saw the price tag on the hard drive and it was $489

hm

The guy that designed the Tandy is in your comment section.
And you didn’t even deign to say hi to em. 😡

I worked for Radio Shack in the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia Canada in the late 80s and early 90s and sold a lot of the 1000 SX and TX models, I was able to afford a 3000NL , then I went to generic computers from there, building my own systems. I was the top salesman in 1990 for western Canada for Radio Shack, I was selling 3000NL /w hard drives to small businesses and using Lantastic to network them.

I wonder if the Tandy 1000 would have done as well had IBM made the PC Jr more compatible with a better keyboard? The 1000 would still beat IBM on price, but would that have been enough?

As a teenager I owned a Tandy 1000 SX. I looooved that computer so much. And coming after owning a Commodore VIC-20, it felt like a major step up to me.

Oh my goodness.. what for an long long way to today... wtf a pain in the ass, its has need my lifetime.. but now i am programmer of this shit lol

wow astrid

MMMM not sure We Called it The Trash 80 For a Reason

Best game was starflight

The great thing about these was the comprehensive engineering documentation that went way into the inner workings.

Did it have the 8086 or 8088 CPU?

The core issue with "MS-DOS" computers is that far too many programs flat out DID NOT WORK because they relied on the computer to be very very close to the actual IBM PC to work, relying on specific hardware and BIOS abilities that the MS-DOS "clones" DID NOT HAVE to work at all.
Sometimes, if you had a popular enough MS-DOS clone, a company would bring out a "your computer model" specific version - like Lotus 1-2-3 did for a FEW machines other than the PC - but most folks were flat out of luck.
In order to get decent performance out of those machines, you HAD to program "to the metal" - the more recent "do it in a higher level language" just didn't WORK worth beans.

There is a solid reason why the "MS-DOS Compatable" idea only lasted 2-3 years and died quickly.

The sound chip for the genesis was actually the YM2612. I think it also did have the chip from the master system.

IF I WOULD HAVE KNOWN THIS BACK THEN I WOULD HAVE BOUGHT ONE

Before owning my beloved Amiga 500, my father bought me a Tandy 1000 computer with a 3.5” disk drive. I loved that machine!

My first computer was a Tandy 1000. But I only had a Tandy monochrome monitor. Bad salesman, selling such a system with a cheap-o monochrome monitor like that. I think he was trying to sell my father the 1000 over a CoCo, and was trying to shave the price down.

“Sale price for under $999” is literally priced $998

I always felt kinda sorry for the people who trusted a computer salesperson.

Never heard of Tandy, anyway interesting story

20 minutes of Time travel.

Deskmate seems really neat!!!!

I never got our PC Jr computer to work. The PC Jr, total trash - eventually we just threw it out - never worked. Rubbish.

The tandy 1000 was a great machine for its day and helped make PC clones more viable in the home market but a major factor in Tandy falling behind in the late 80s was that they focused too much on proprietary connections/upgrades (which made them more expensive) and didn't take advantage of their early headstart by selling Tandy graphics / sound cards for other manufacturers to use. They also focused too much on the US market and missed the boat to become a major seller internationally. In 1984 1 out of 3 computer sales were IBMs or PC clones. In 1987 that share was now 2 out of 3 and by 1989 PC clones were dominating the market with 90% of new computer sales worldwide. This was largely driven by PC prices dropping dramatically from about 1986 onwards thanks to the cheap rebranded systems coming out of Japan, Korea and Taiwan. I've seen 1987 ads for barebone 8mhz turbo XT systems going for as little as $350. An 8-10mhz turbo XT with EGA, 640k and 2 disk drives was only $550-600 (without a monitor) and could be cheaply upgraded in the future thanks to falling PC component prices. A machine with those specs was very competitive for business, home, and gaming use against both the Tandy 1000 and the Amiga. VGA and Soundblaster becoming popular from 1990 removed the final barriers for PC gaming but really it was the cheap turbo XT clones in 86/87 that started it all off.

good background music! thx for the video

My grandpa still has his Tandy 1000sx he was a highschool teacher for over 40 years and starting in the mid 80s all through the 90s he used this to create tests and assignments and grade papers he still has all of his floppy disks for it sorted by whether they are ibm or apple and a bunch of games for it with the joysticks!

I remember playing a lot of Mechwarrior (battletech?), Arctic Fox and F15 strike eagle on my friend's Tandy. When we played mechwarrior one of us would 'drive' and the other would aim and shoot :P

I was playing Centurion on this computer in 1992. (We were poor)

Tandy sounds like the Sega Master System.

I thought the Genesis had an early OPL sound chip.

My first PC was a 286 12MHz AT clone I got in 1990. My grandmother got it for my high school graduation. It started my career as a PC technician (I since am a full network/systems Engineer)

My frist computer was the Comador 65 but my first PC was the Tandy 4000 dx upgraded with the math coprocesse ans i think 8 megs of ram and this had the 80gig scsi hdd and tape back up. Would love to see a review of the 4000. Still have my origional in the garage. Did add a VGA wonder videocard with the ps2 mouse conection.

If I had bought into dos I probably would have gone with a Tandy 1000 instead of Amiga 1000.

why do people always use those old CRTs with shrunk down picture? why isnt it streched to fill whole screen?

You forgot the MSX again...

I had a Tandy 1000 as my first MS-DOS system. Through the years I added a Soundblaster, Modem, Printer and a 20MB Hard Disk.

Um no 8 Bit Guy: Correction the first computer with an integrated chipset is the C64's rival the Atari 400/800 computers, they're considered the grandfather of all modern home computers, the Tandy while integrated is at the end of the day still just a better clone, the 400/800 had integration in 1979, 1984 is copycat... That's my 2 cents and I had a modded 400 in 1980 that had an aftermarket and better keyboard and 48K ram installed, stock 400 keyboards are hard, ugh. Oh and I've owned some ST's and a few Amiga's, I like the Amiga over the ST game and midi machine. I still like your videos, so keep up the good work. Oh and in 1992 I started building my own PC's, my current driver has a hex cpu and 3 1660Ti cards in a cranky EVGA X79 Dark K2 version, that thinks it has a bluetooth device which explains the 9 mysterious devices in Win 7 Pro x64...

I thought the world changed the day my dad n mom bought me one for my masonry business. I used it for playing games at lunch time and after work. I used it to document everything in my little mason business, and private life. Bills, names, numbers, grocery list, diet/healthy plans, payroll checks, jod addresses etc...

I still have my Tandy 1000. It never gave me any trouble. I didn't do games ever.

My first PC compatible was a Tandy 1000 SL/2. It was a hand me down from my mom's aunt who upgraded to a newer machine. Had 640k RAM, 8086 cpu at 8Mhz, DOS 3.3 in ROM and a 20mb hard card. First game I ever bought for it was Leisure Suit Larry 3 at EB games. I was in heaven.

AST 있었을 때는 풍성하셨군요. ㅎㄷㄷ

My dad has one of these... an original 1000 but with a WD 20mb hard card and (if memory serves) a TX motherboard upgrade. Other than a sketchy hard card, it ran OK the last time I tried to run it, maybe 8 years ago. Been collecting dust in a cabinet :(

PC Joysticks between 1984 and 1992 were almost always analogue, and were brilliantly sensitive. Most of the time just two potentiometers per axle, like the Quickshot PC Analog. Even very expensive Gamepads and Joysticks don't come close these days (giant deadzones, which much to much stick input when crossing the threshold, jitter, nonlinearities...).

My first computer - as a college sophomore in 1984. I remember those big floppies. Except for one other kid with an Apple IIe, the only computer on my floor.