--- title: Tandy Radio Shack 1000 EX categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1986' cpus: - Intel 8088 params: name: 1000 EX image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_1s.jpg company: /companies/tandy-radio-shack company_name: Tandy Radio Shack specs: - label: NAME value: 1000 EX - label: MANUFACTURER value: Tandy Radio Shack - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: december 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: RAM value: 256 KB (up to 640 KB) - label: ROM value: 16 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 80x25, 40x25 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: CGA/TGA, 160 x 200, 320 x 200, 640 x 200 - label: COLORS value: 16 colours (8 colours at the same time max.) - label: SOUND value: 3 voices (8 octaves) + 1 sound channel - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 19 lbs - label: I/O PORTS value: 2 x joysticks, RGBI colour monitor video output, composite video output, mono audio output (with volum control knob), lightpen port, parallel port, serial port (optional), external floppy drive connector, 3 internal expansion slots - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: one 5.25'' floppy disk drives (360 KB) - label: OS value: MS-DOS 2.11, DeskMate 2.0 and GW Microsoft Basic included with the system - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in power supply - label: PRICE value: |- $1000 (USA, dec. 1986)\ $599 (USA, 1988) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links - docs photos: - title: TANDY 1000 EX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_1.jpg - title: FRONT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_front.jpg - title: RIGHT SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right: \- Volume control knob\ \- Audio (mono) output\ \- 2 x joystick connectors\ \- built-in 5.25" floppy disk drive (360 KB) image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_r-side.jpg - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: |- From left to right: \- Printer (parallel) connector\ \- External floppy drive connector\ \- Composite video output\ \- RGB video output\ \- 3 x internal expansion slots\ \- Power cord\ \- Internal fan image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_rear.jpg - title: OPENED LID subtitle: '' text: This is where extension boards are inserted image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_inside.jpg - title: KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_detail.jpg - title: BOX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_box_1.jpg - title: 'BOX #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1000ex_box_2.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_1000ex_1988-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: Yan (Brazil) date: Tuesday 20th December 2016 text: Really very good old times! I think your computer not recognizing the hard disk is most probably because the HD or interface is dead. It was very common at that time. I have lost some of mines with very few use. The first I had that died was a 30MB Seagate... - author: Mike Kaltenhauser (canada) date: Thursday 1st October 2015 text: I used mine all the way up to 1989, I used to surf the web, I mean BBS by dial up back then. Played dungeons and dragons, and Chess written in Turbo Pascal. - author: Fred Howe (New York State, USA) date: Tuesday 21st April 2015 text: I received a 1000EX from my wife for Christmas, 1986. She bought it on installments of $25.00 per month on our Mobil gas card. It came with 256k ram, DOS 3.2, Deskmate software, the CM-11 monitor and a DMP-130 printer, in several boxes. I loved playing with it, and soon had it tricked out with the memory expansion board with 640k of ram, a mouse, and second, external floppy drive. Although Tandy officially swore it was impossible, I searched and found a manufacturer who made me an interface board and sold me an external 40mb hard drive with its'' own power supply. I don''t think I could boot off the hard drive, but the computer recognozed it on bootup and I sure loved all the storage space. I could run dozens of programs straight off the hard drive. After a while, I moved on to bigger and faster computers, the first of many being an NEC 386 running DOS 6.0 and a 60 mb hard drive with 2mb of ram. Ahh, the good old days!. Flash forward 29 years to today, I still have the EX, and it still bootd up and both floppies still work. Unfortunately, something has gone awry with the DOS 5.0 boot floppy, so the computer doesn''t recognize the hard drive. Or, worse, something has gon wrong with the hard drive. it spins up, but it doesn''t talk to the computer. If anyone ahs any insight as to what parameters I should have in the autoexec.bat ans config.sys files, I''d love to tyr to get this beauty back in fighting shape. Ifg you think you might have something to offer, e-mail me at lawlessman1@hotmail.com. I cna send you the current contents of those files, if it would help. - author: jeaston444 date: Sunday 28th August 2011 text: I think the game you played was Space Quest - author: Ray (Canada) date: Monday 13rd December 2010 text: I remember this little computer, my dad bought me one when I was just a kid. I remember playing a Star Wars game of some sort on it, and being overjoyed when I learned how to print out text with BASIC. I was about 5 or 6 when I got it, and I don''t think a day has passed since, when I have not had a keyboard under my fingers. This Tandy began my intelligent life. related: - /museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000 - /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: 1213 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20191116011422/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1213 date: '2019-11-16' --- The Tandy 1000 EX is a member of the [Tandy 1000 series](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1000/) family. See this entry for more info. The Tandy 1000 EX was designed as an entry-level IBM compatible personal computer designed as a starter system and sold for $1000.00 US by December 1986. The EX was compact with the keyboard and 5.25" drive built into the computer casing; the 5.25" drive accessible from the right hand side of the computer. Officiel 1988 Tandy catalog reads:\ **- Our lowest-priced MS-DOS based personal computer**\ **- Fifty-percent faster clock speed than the IBM PC**\ **- Incredibly easy-to-use Personal Deskmate Sotfware**\ **- Choose from thousands of popular programs**\ **- Built-in 360 000 character 5.25" floppy disk drive**\ A 256K PC-compatible computer, ready to use the MS-DOS software you bring home from the office, as well as software designed for the home or classroom. The integral 90-key keyboard has the same layout as the Tandy 1000SX, ideal for business programs. You'll find an advanced three-voice sound circuit for sophisticated sound an music generation through the built-in speaker. There's also a headphone jack with volume control - perfect for the classroom. Graphics-oriented Personal Deskmate software features six programs and handy pull-down menus and pop-up boxes for selecting funvtions. --- Contributors: Derek McDonald (aka “Skel”)