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Info for t1000hx


====== Tandy 1000HX (1987) ======




===== Features =====

* CPU: Intel 8088 4.77 MHz / 7.16 MHz
* RAM: 256 KB (up to 640 KB)
* ROM: 16 KB
* Text Modes: Unknown
* Graphic Modes: CGA/TGA, 160 x 200, 320 x 200, 640 x 200
* Colors: 16 colours
* Sound: 3 voices + 1 sound channel
* I/O Ports: 2 x joysticks, monitor video output, composite video output, mono audio output, lightpen, parallel port, serial port (optional), external floppy drive, 3 internal expansion slots
* Keyboard: Full stroke keyboard, 92 keys, 12 function keys
* Built In Media: one 3.5" floppy disk drives (720 KB)
* OS: MS-DOS 2.11 built-in ROM, DeskMate 2.0 and GW Microsoft Basic included with the system



===== Usage =====

Get the setup utility for msdos at Tandy's web side to change setup

== Keyboard ==

The Tandy 1000 series computers have 12 function keys (analogous to modern PC keyboards) whose functions depend on the program you are running. Some function keys have special functions during boot up, if you press them right after the startup "beep", while MS-DOS loads

* F1 = Switches the computer into monochrome video mode.

* F2 = Switches the computer into composite/TV video mode (40 Column/200 scanline mode). This can also be achieved by issuing a MODE command from DOS.

* F3 = Reverses the drive references so B: becomes the primary drive, and A: becomes the secondary drive, this lets you start the computer from the B Drive.

* F4 = Starts the computer in slow (4 MHz) mode. This is useful if a program runs too fast or not at all in normal (8 MHz) mode.



===== Known Issues =====

The driver is currently under heavy rewrite. TGA is finally emulated. On the other hand, there are still known bugs (e.g. in the hard disk emulation)



===== History and Trivia =====

IBM PC Junior compatible

The Tandy 1000 was a line of IBM PC compatible computers made during the 1980s by the American Tandy Corporation for sale in their chain of Radio Shack electronics stores in Canada and the USA. The Tandy 1000 would be the successor to their influential TRS-80 line of computers, the Tandy 1000 would eventually replace the COCO line of 8 bit computers as well when Tandy decided to prematurely end that project in favor of the Tandy PC line of computers.

Targeted toward the home user with a modest budget, it copyied the IBM PCjr's 16-color graphics (PCjr's graphics were an extension of CGA video) and enhanced 3-voice sound, but didn't use the PCjr cartridge ports, instead the Tandy version had built-in game ports compatible with those on the TRS-80 Color Computer (COCO), as well as a port for a "light wand/pen". Most Tandy 1000 models also featured "line-level" sound and composite video RCA outputs built onto the motherboard so that a standard television could be used as a monitor, albeit with much poorer video quality. Unlike most PC clones, early Tandy 1000 computers had MS-DOS built into ROM allowing the OS to boot in a few seconds. Tandy also bundled onto floppy diskette "DeskMate", a suite of consumer-oriented applications, with several models. Besides a composite output to TV, as mentioned earlier, Tandy 1000's also housed a built in CGA video adaptor equal to PC standards built onto the motherboard and since the Tandy 1000 outlasted the PCjr by many y
ears 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. One odd feature of the Tandy-1000, however, was a non standard edge card printer connector built onto the motherboard and protruding through the rear; an adaptor would be needed to work a standard IBM style printer.

The original line was equipped with the Intel-8088 CPU at 4.77MHz, which was later extended to faster clock speeds up to 7.16MHz, as well as the upgrade to 8086 and 80286 processors at 10MHz (in the TL & TX configurations). Common models of the machine included the Tandy 1000, EX, HX, SX, TX, SL, SL/2, RL, and TL, TL/2, TL/3.

The "T-1000" was a workhorse in the IBM PC world, large numbers of units are still in active service today as it's construction was quite robust. The T-1000 was Tandy's last attempt in the home computer market. In the early 1990's 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".

The Tandy 1000 HX, released in 1987, was designed as another entry level IBM compatible personal computer and 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 KB of memory, and had one 720 KB 3.5" disk drive on the right side of the machine behind the keyboard. HX computers came with MS-DOS 2.11 built into the ROM and "Deskmate 2" on diskette.

The computer's memory could be expanded to 640 KB by the use of a memory expansion card; by default these cards, sold by Tandy, came with 128 KB, but one could add another 384 KB in memory chips to this board. These cards were named "Plus Cards" and used a pin configuration instead of the slot system used by IBM or the T-1000. The cards themselves followed all the IBM standards and eventually
Radio Shack started selling the adaptors in their stores to allow the cards to be inserted into a standard IBM 8-bit ISA slot. There were three such spots available in the computer case.

There was also a spare 3.5" drive bay in the computer case. On the back of the machine there was a port which allowed a user to connect an external 5.25" (360 KB) or 3.5" (720 KB) disk drive. There was also a connector for 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. A HDD could be purchased from third party vendors, however.

It was also here that the DOS in ROM was getting a little old and for the first time the settings on the computer could be changed so that instead of looking in ROM for DOS at bootup, it would go direct to the floppy drive instead. Most versions of MS-DOS worked with the 1000 HX, including 3.x, DOS 5.x & 6.x. DOS 4.0 did not work due to a bug in its environment that prevented it from working.

//(info from old-computers.com)//



===== Links =====

* Tandy 1000HX at old-computers.com -- http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1211



===== Other Emulators =====

* Tand-Em -- http://www.oldskool.org/pc/tand-em/




Generated on Sun Jul 19 10:17:28 2009