website/content/museum/tandy-radio-shack-1400-lt-fd-hd.md

---
title: Tandy Radio Shack 1400 LT/FD/HD
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Portable
origins:
- U.S.A.
years:
- '1987'
cpus:
- NEC V20
params:
  name: 1400 LT/FD/HD
  image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400lt_1s.jpg
  company: /companies/tandy-radio-shack
  company_name: Tandy Radio Shack
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: 1400 LT/FD/HD
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Tandy Radio Shack
  - label: TYPE
    value: Portable
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: U.S.A.
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1987'
  - label: END OF PRODUCTION
    value: Unknown
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: MS-DOS, GW-BASIC & DESKmate delivered on disks
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: full stroke keyboard, 76 keys
  - label: CPU
    value: NEC V20 (Intel 8088 equivalent)
  - label: SPEED
    value: 4.77MHz or 7.16MHz
  - label: CO-PROCESSOR
    value: Intel 8087-2 (8 MHz) math co-processor
  - label: RAM
    value: 640 KB + 128 KB available for RAM-based disk driver or print spooler
  - label: ROM
    value: 16 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 40 x 25, 80 x 25
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: 640 x 200 (monochrome 9'' LCD backlight display), conform to IBM CGA
  - label: COLORS
    value: 16 shades of blue with built-in LCD display. Colours with external monitor
  - label: SOUND
    value: Sound beeper
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: |-
      3.5 x 14.5 x 12.5 inches / 13.5 lbs\
      370 x 310 x 80 mm / 5Kg
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: AC adapter, Centronics/parallel (DB-25 F), RS232/serial port (DB-9 M), RGBI output for color monitor (DB-9 F), composite video output, enhanced keyboard (5 pin Din F), 2 internal slots (modem, I/O bus)
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: |-
      LT & FD : 2 x 3.5'' floppy disk drives (DS DD, 720 KB each)\
      HD : one 3.5'' floppy disk drive (720 KB) + 20MB hard disk
  - label: OS
    value: Tandy DOS 3
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: External PSU - 15v DC 700mA and internal battery (12 volt, 2200 mAh, 4 hours of continuous use)
  - label: PERIPHERALS
    value: 1200 baud modem, 128 KB expansion RAMdrive, external hard-disk
  - label: PRICE
    value: $1599 (USA, 1987)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - links
  - docs
  photos:
  - title: TANDY 1400LT
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400lt_1.jpg
  - title: TANDY 1400LT
    subtitle: ''
    text: another one found on Ebay...
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400lt_2.jpg
  - title: BOTTOM
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400lt_bottom.jpg
  - title: CLOSED SYSTEM
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400lt_closed.jpg
  - title: TANDY 1400FD
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400fd_1.jpg
  - title: 1400FD - TOP
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400fd_top.jpg
  - title: TANDY DOCS
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400fdhd_doc.jpg
  - title: CARRYING BAG
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/tandy_1400lt_bag.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: US ADVERT (1987)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_1400_pub_nobettervalue.jpg
  - title: US ADVERT (1987)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/pubs/tandy_1400_pub_2.jpg
  links:
  - title: Radio Shack support pages
    url: http://support.radioshack.com/productinfo/ProductResults.asp?Name=Tandy_Laptops_and_Portable_Computers&ID=001001002
    text: Some documents available for download
  docs:
  - title: TANDY 1400LT - SERVICE MANUAL
    url: http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/documents.html
    cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/doc_tandy_1400lt_service-manual.jpg
    text: |-
      [**TANDY 1400LT - SERVICE MANUAL**](http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/documents.html)written by Tandy Radio-Shack

       compiled/archived by Unknown\
       type of document : PDF\
       size : 10,7 MB\
       source : [www.oldskool.org](http://www.oldskool.org/)
  - title: TANDY 1400LT - QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE
    url: http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/documents.html
    cover: /media/museum/docs/couvs/doc_tandy_1400lt_quick-reference-guide.jpg
    text: |-
      [**TANDY 1400LT - QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE**](http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/documents.html)written by Tandy Radio-Shack

       compiled/archived by Unknown\
       type of document : PDF\
       size : 1,4 MB\
       source : [www.oldskool.org](http://www.oldskool.org/)
  comments:
  - author: Butz (USA)
    date: Tuesday 7th December 2021
    text: Just found one while moving… going to have to see what kind of power it needs.
  - author: Roussel Barriere (United States)
    date: Saturday 10th October 2020
    text: I just found one, in the box with all original documents!? 20201010
  - author: KN2000 (USA)
    date: Wednesday 3rd July 2019
    text: Hi, I have a Tandy 1400LT and had a question. First off as far as software for this PC. This PC is really intended for office duties (IMHO). Playing games on this computer, besides text based games is hard on the eye, due to the screen type. But, it''s still a great little PC from the past. I have a question, one of my drives only formatted a diskette to 360K. Shouldn''t both drives be 720K? Any ideas as to why that would be? Also, it doesn''t seem to like 720K disks. The drive lists the director bur doesn''t read files. Thoughts?
  - author: egg
    date: Tuesday 22nd May 2018
    text: Does anyone have one of these for sale? What are the capabilities as far as software? These are really interesting and quite unique.
  - author: Oddie_ (Valencia, Spain)
    date: Sunday 26th February 2017
    text: |-
      I have a Tandy 1400LT which is still working. AC power connector is damaged but I got plug a Toshiba 15v-3A power supply to the DC internal connector. It has not battery but it works.

      Now it is 30 years old. I feel so lucky for having this machine.
  - author: vern (usa michigan)
    date: Sunday 9th December 2012
    text: i have a tandy 1400lt computer complete.has carrying case,disks,books,has batt. in it.has mouse and power cord with it.works good.looking to trade it.
  - author: Herbert Guenterberg (Grabstede/Germany)
    date: Monday 3rd December 2012
    text: |-
      I used a TANDY LT1400 back in 1988/89 when I went to the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey/CA. STill have it. Unfortunately the Battery is broke und the power supply is missing. I founf the information, that it needs 15V/700mA. But does it really need AC as an input or will it take DC as well. And if so, what is the polarity of the plug?

      Maybe somebody can help to get baby up and running again!
  - author: Bob (Minneola, Florida)
    date: Tuesday 21st August 2012
    text: I have an HD 1110 Tandy laptop. Is it worth any thing? It Comes on but has a Hard disc read failure.
  - author: Brian (USA)
    date: Monday 2nd July 2012
    text: |-
      Hey Jack.

      I just bought at pristine 1400 LT for $35 $ Shipping. Looks and works brand new. I had one back in the late 80''s and got rid of it. I''ve been looking for one to keep as a memory.
  - author: JACK (USA)
    date: Monday 2nd July 2012
    text: A Tandy 1400 HD with no power cord would be worth how much today
  - author: Joe (USA)
    date: Wednesday 4th January 2012
    text: I bought one of these to take to Italy (circa 1988). No hard disk, but I remember thinking it was so great to have two floppies, and not the big ones, but the new 1.4Mb little ones. I was in marketing and sales and I managed my contacts and wrote reports. With a bag and a portable printer, my portable office was about 22lbs.
  - author: Mike (CA,USA)
    date: Wednesday 24th March 2010
    text: I still have mine....you can rebuilt the battery using ni-cad "C" cells. Still works with original tandy dos $ MS dos 6.22.
  - author: Benjamin Rau
    date: Saturday 16th August 2008
    text: This was truly an elegant display. I used this at the same time I was using a Toshiba without the backlighing, and the display on this machine was far better than the Toshiba. Once you found how to deal with the 128 MB additional ram, it was a godsend. I loaded my DOS into the ramdrive, and had two drives for data instead of one.
  - author: Chris Wolski (USA)
    date: Thursday 12th April 2007
    text: In 1988 my family bought me one of these as a gift before I moved overseas for the Navy. It was a pretty sturdy laptop. I managed to break the keyboard's circuit board, but was easily able to repair it with some jumper wires. The unique thing about this laptop was that the screen was a blue/white monochrome and was able to produce 16 shades of blue.
  oc_id: 1197
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230603010407/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1197
    date: '2023-06-03'
---

This nice little laptop is one of the first real IBM PC compatible laptops featuring large LCD display (80x25 here) and true compatibility.

This machine has two 720KB Floppy drives (and no hard drive). It boots from one floppy drive (DOS) while the 2nd floppy is used for data and programs you may wish to run. It has a NEC V20 8-bit processor which is switchable between 7.16 MHz and 4.77 MHz. It also has a CGA backlit LCD screen (monochrome), optional built in modem (1200 baud), math coprocessor and standard serial and parallel ports. It also has a DB-9 CGA port and RCA composite port for use with an external display.

There are LED indicators for Caps Lock, Num Lock, Low Battery, Scroll Lock and Standby Mode. Special features (for the time) includes battery-powered clock & calendar, standby mode and internal speakers.

The first member of the 1400 serie is called the **LT**. The **FD** and **HD** models were released later (1988?). The FD having two 3.5'' disk drives and the HD one 3.5'' disk drive + one built-in hard disk (20 MB).

The only differences between LT and FD model are : FD has an external floppy drive connector, no composite video output and only one internal slot (for modem). The case is almost identical though the FD is lighther. The HD is an FD model with a 20 MB hard drive built-in instead of the 2nd floppy drive.

The LT was delivered with Tandy DOS 3.2003 or 3.2004, and the FD & HD with Tandy DOS 3.3004.

---

Thanks to Alex Rushing...

<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>