--- title: Tandy Radio Shack 1000 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1984' cpus: - Intel 8088 params: name: '1000' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_1s.jpg company: /companies/tandy-radio-shack company_name: Tandy Radio Shack specs: - label: NAME value: '1000' - label: MANUFACTURER value: Tandy Radio Shack - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: '1984' - label: KEYBOARD value: Full stroke keyboard, 92 keys, 12 function keys - label: CPU value: Intel 8088 - label: SPEED value: 4.77 MHz - label: RAM value: 128 KB (up to 640 KB) - label: VRAM value: Unknown - label: ROM value: Unknown - label: TEXT MODES value: 80 x 25, 40 x 25 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: MONO/CGA/TGA, 160 x 200 (16 colors), 320 x 200 (16 or 4 colours) , 640 x 200 (2 or 4 colours) - 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 / 17 lbs - label: I/O PORTS value: keyboard, 2 x joysticks (DIN6), RGBI monitor video output (DB9-F), composite video output, mono audio output, lightpen (DB9-M), parallel port, serial port (optional), three 8-bit XT internal expansion slots, audio mono output (RCA) - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: one or two 5.25'' floppy disk drives (360 KB, DS 40 Trk) - label: OS value: MS-DOS 2.11, DeskMate 1.0 and GW Microsoft Basic included with the system - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply (120VAC,50/60 Hz,54 Watts) - label: PRICE value: |- $1199 (USA, 1984)\ 22 600 FF (France, june 85) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links - docs forum_thread: 1178 photos: - title: TANDY 1000 subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_1.jpg - title: PICTURE FROM FRENCH PRESS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_2.jpg - title: MAIN UNIT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_main-unit.jpg - title: DETAIL subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right: \- Reset button\ \- Keyboard connector\ \- 2 x joystick connectors (labeled left & right) image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_detail_1.jpg - title: UC & KEYBOARD subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_3.jpg - title: INSIDE subtitle: '' text: Motherboard and two expansion cards. image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_inside.jpg - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right: \- Power in\ \- Printer edge connector\ \- Light pen (DB9 male)\ \- RGB monitor video output\ \- Video composite output\ \- Audio mono output\ \- Expansion card connector (unknown) image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_rear.jpg - title: DRAWING subtitle: '' text: '... from the official Service Manual' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000_drawing.jpg adverts: - title: US ADVERT (1984) subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_1000_pub_2.jpg - title: NEW-ZEALAND ADVERT (OCT. 1985) subtitle: '' text: from Bits & Bytes magazine image: null 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) related: - /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-sx - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-tx oc_id: 1210 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230530110459/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1210 date: '2023-05-30' --- The Tandy 1000 was a line of [IBM PC](/museum/ibm-pc-model-5150/) compatible computers made during the 1980’s 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](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-trs-80-model-i/) line of computers, the Tandy 1000 would eventually replace the [COCO](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-color-computer/) 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](/museum/ibm-pc-junior/)'s 16-color graphics (PCjr's graphics were an extension of CGA video) and anhanced 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 years 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. In 1984, when the “T-1000” was in its prime, you may have paid up to $2499.00 (Canadian) for a full featured system with matching monitor. 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](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-ex/), [HX](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-hx/), [SX](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-sx/), [TX](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-tx/), [SL](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-sl-sl-2/), [SL/2](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000-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 original Tandy 1000 was similar in size to the IBM PC except it had a plastic case to reduce weight. The original Tandy 1000 featured a proprietary serial keyboard port along with 2 similar joystick ports on the FRONT of the case (a feature that would become standard in later models). The rear featured a PC standard monitor connector (compatible with CGA/EGA), a composite (TV) video-out connector, a single RCA-style monophonic line-level audio connector, a port for a light pen, and the unusual edge-card connector used to attach a parallel printer. The original Tandy 1000 came standard with one 5.25 disk drive, with an additional bay usable for the installation of a second 5.25 disk drive (available as a kit from Radio Shack). 128k of memory was standard, with the computer accepting up to 640k of total memory with the addition of expansion cards. MS-DOS 2.11 and DeskMate 1.0 were included with the system. The Tandy 1000 offered 256 characters: 96 standard ASCII characters, 48 block graphics characters, 64 foreign language/Greek characters, 16 special graphics characters, 32 word processing/scientific-notation characters. --- Contributors: Derek McDonald (aka “Skel”)\ Sources: Switchtec's Virtual PC Museum, Emperor Multimedia Electronic Archives, Wikipedia, 8-Bit Micro, Tandy 1000 PC Museum