--- title: Tandy Radio Shack 1000 SX categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1986' cpus: - Intel 8088 params: name: 1000 SX image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000sx_1s.jpg company: /companies/tandy-radio-shack company_name: Tandy Radio Shack specs: - label: NAME value: 1000 SX - label: MANUFACTURER value: Tandy Radio Shack - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1986' - label: KEYBOARD value: Full stroke keyboard, 90 keys, 12 function keys, numeric keypad - label: CPU value: Intel 8088 - label: SPEED value: 4.77 MHz / 7.16 MHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: Intel 8087 math. coprocessor available as an option - label: RAM value: 384 KB (up to 640 KB) - label: TEXT MODES value: 80 x 25 / 40 x 25 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: CGA/TGA, 160 x 200, 320 x 200, 640 x 200 - label: COLORS value: 16 foreground colours + 8 background colours - label: SOUND value: 3 voices + 1 sound channel - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 354 x 290 x 97 mm / 31 lbs - label: I/O PORTS value: keyboard, 2 x joysticks, RGBI color monitor video output, composite video output, lightpen port, parallel port, serial port, 5 internal expansion slots, audio output (mono) - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: |- one or two 5.25'' floppy disk drives (360 KB)\ 3.5 - label: OS value: MS-DOS 3.22, DeskMate II and GW Microsoft Basic included with the system - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply - label: PERIPHERALS value: memory expansions, internal modems, 20 MB hard disk, etc. - label: PRICE value: $849 (USA, 1988) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links - docs photos: - title: 1000 SX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000sx_1.jpg - title: 1000 SX RUNNING DESKMATE subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000sx_3.jpg adverts: - title: TANDY 1988 CATALOG subtitle: '' text: Thanks to [SWITCHTECH'S Tandy 1000SX page](http://www.switchtech.us/Tandy1000.html) for this picture image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_1000sx_catalog.jpg hardware: - title: TANDY JOYSTICK subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_1000_joy_1.jpg - title: TANDY 300 BAUD MODEM subtitle: with box & doc text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/tandy_1000_300baudmodem.jpg emulators: - title: Tand-Em url: http://www.emu-france.com/?page=fichiers&idMachine=157 platform: MS DOS text: Only dedicated Tandy 1000/IBM PC Jr emulator (offical site seems dead) - title: DOSBox url: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dosbox platform: Windows text: Exellent PC emulator to play old DOS games, including Tandy 1000 ones - title: MESS url: http://www.mess.org platform: Multiplatform text: This famous emulator can emulate Tandy 1000 systems links: - title: Radio Shack systems documentation url: http://support.radioshack.com/productinfo/ProductResults.asp?Name=Tandy_Desktops&ID=001001001 text: Radio Shack still offers some old docs on their support site. Download while available!! - title: RadioShackCatalogs.com url: http://www.RadioShackCatalogs.com text: Here, you can actually/virtually flip-through the pages to view the content of every RadioShack catalog! - title: Tandy 100 Webring url: http://r.webring.com/hub?ring=tandy1000 text: dedicated webring listing Tandy 1000 websites - title: Tandy 1000 EX/HX, PCjr videogames url: http://www.brooksdeforest.com/tandy1000/ text: Games for download - title: Tandy 1000 roms url: http://retrograde.trustno1.org/tandyroms.htm text: BIOS roms to use with emulators - title: Tandy 1000-series FAQ url: http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/1kfaq.html text: Excellent FAQ. Very complete - title: Wikipedia - Tandy 1000 entry url: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tandy_1000 text: Nice article from Wikipedia - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: FTP Mirror Site for Tandy 1000 programs and documentation docs: - title: INTRODUCTION TO THE TANDY 1000 - A TUTORIAL TO DESKMATE url: ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/tandy_1000_introduction.jpg text: |- [**INTRODUCTION TO THE TANDY 1000 - A TUTORIAL TO DESKMATE**](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/)written by Tandy Corporation  type of document : PDF\  size : 7 MB\  source : [ftp.robertstinnett.com](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror) - title: TANDY 1000 - DOS MANUAL url: ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/tandu_1000_dos_manual.jpg text: |- [**TANDY 1000 - DOS MANUAL**](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/)written by Tandy Corporation  type of document : PDF\  size : 8 MB\  source : [ftp.robertstinnett.com](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror) - title: TANDY 1000 PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE url: ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/tandy_1000_programmers-reference.jpg text: |- [**TANDY 1000 PROGRAMMER'S REFERENCE**](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/)written by Tandy Corporation  type of document : PDF\  size : 6.5 MB\  source : [ftp.robertstinnett.com](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror) - title: TANDY 1000 SERVICE MANUAL url: ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/ cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/tandy_1000_service-manual.jpg text: |- [**TANDY 1000 SERVICE MANUAL**](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror/Tandy1000/documents/)written by Tandy Corporation  type of document : PDF\  size : 13.5 MB\  source : [ftp.robertstinnett.com](ftp://ftp.robertstinnett.com/mirror) comments: - author: Dodge SE (United States) date: Tuesday 25th May 2021 text: I bought mine with 384Kb of RAM and at the end of use, around 1990. I had an Everex 1200 Baud modem and 128Kb of RAM from a donor AST computer. I have in storage and will probably fire it up to play Starflight or Gunship, one more time. - author: Dodge SE (United States) date: Tuesday 25th May 2021 text: I bought mine with 384Kb of RAM and at the end of use, around 1990. I had an Everex 1200 Baud modem and 128Kb of RAM from a donor AST computer. I have in storage and will probably fire it up to play Starflight or Gunship, one more time. - author: Stephen Britt (United States) date: Thursday 18th March 2021 text: I have a Tandy 1000 complete, with monitor still in the original packing for sale! - author: Don. date: Monday 23rd November 2020 text: I still have mine. It came with two floppy drives. - author: Bob Dog (Canada) date: Tuesday 17th September 2019 text: |- The 1000SX was the first DOS computer I owned...in 1992, when I bought it used. It was underpowered compared to new machines on the market, but it still worked (though 16kb of the 640kb didn''t, down to 624). With an external 20MB HDD, a 3.5" drive raided from a 1000HX (and an adapter) and a 14.4K modem, I was able to do my comp sci work and other from home. It was good enough for logging in to the college''s VAX via Kermit, later for using Lynx on the local Freenet. I wouldn''t be able to live with it today, but I''m glad I had it at the time. - author: Brent Goeller (United States) date: Thursday 27th July 2017 text: Why do you guys talk in past tense? Mine is still played by my kids. Mine is seriously upgraded and maxed out. I debate all the time on restoring the yellow case, but I''m afraid if I completely tear it down, it won''t turn back on when I put it back together. There are some awesome mods available to use SD cards out there so you don''t need the floppies anymore. I learned to program on this computer in 1990. - author: Roberto (Panama) date: Monday 24th August 2015 text: I stand corrected, the 8088 was the correct model of cpu, a variant of 8086 with "turbo" mode... (I got it in my head the other way around, but a few searches made me remember 8086,286,386...), I loved that computer btw, King''s Quest II was a delight for that time and my age...(never played the I :( ) - author: Robert (Panama) date: Monday 24th August 2015 text: I''m pretty sure the processor was an 8086, slight different than the 8088... can you confirm? - author: scott (Ohio/USA) date: Monday 11th August 2014 text: |- I have this model.. Still works too.As does the printer that came with it.\ My dad used it to do alot of his writing before I updated him to a Linux pc Back in the day I added Ram to it so the 1000sx could get max of 640k It needed that in order to run software like\ Spinnakers eight-in-one\ still love to find a HD for it. - author: dan date: Thursday 2nd June 2011 text: My first computer was a 1000sx and as I got to play Tandy 16-color games like Black Couldron and King''s Quest, tetris, it was a treat. The DMP-130 though didn''t work well - author: Carl (usa) date: Friday 27th August 2010 text: This was my first computer and it was amazing for the time. A friend bought me Starflight and I played it around the clock for 2 days. Games were hard to find back then but I met a teacher who ran the computer dept. for the Caddo Parish school system and I didn''t have that problem anymore. I wish the games today were as much fun as back then. - author: Jim (USA) date: Thursday 19th February 2009 text: This was my first "real" computer! My buddy worked at Tandy in Ft. Worth and scored an employee deal ($500?). I was Hot Stuff amongst the clan when we got the 20 meg HD . . . Explaining you could put about SIXTY current day floppies on it! - author: Jim (USA) date: Thursday 19th February 2009 text: It was a real work-horse for the price and era. We had one in a college apartment that was used and abused and never missed a beat. I was still using it with a daisly wheel printer in ''93 to start a business. - author: Matt (Michigan) date: Tuesday 2nd October 2007 text: I recently recieved one of these, but mine has 1 5" floppy drive, and 1 3" drive. related: - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000 - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-ex - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-hx - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-sl-sl-2 - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-tx oc_id: 1215 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230603005019/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1215 date: '2023-06-03' --- The Tandy 1000 SX was similar to the [Tandy 1000](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000/) (see this entry for more info about the Tandy 1000 series). The difference with the original model 1000, is that the CPU (Intel 8088) can be set to two different speeds: 4.77 MHz and 7.16 MHz thus offering more speed than the original [IBM PC](/museum/ibm-pc-model-5150/) on the same software. The SX also comes with more memory (384 KB) than the [Tandy 1000](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000/) (128 KB). --- Contributors: Derek McDonald (aka “Skel”)
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