Any Tandy1000 lovers out there?

[BlueMax]

I still have such fond memories of my Tandy1000SX...  I'm toying with the idea of a pet project:

Find a Tandy1000TL-series (the best of the bunch, really) and max it out!  AMD made a 286 processor 20-25MHz which would make that class of machine FLY!

Finding the bits to upgrade it to its maximum  potential is going to be pretty tough. 


ahhh...  I still remember the looks of shock when my friends saw my 16 colours and 3-voice music compared to their bips, boops and monochrome or ugly CGA.   

Any fellow Tandy lovers in this crowd?

[jharris01]

I used to have a Tandy TL way back then. I played many of the early Sierra games in Tandy 16 color and 3-voice. Eventually I upgraded almost every aspect of it: More ram, a Sound Blaster Pro, a VGA monitor (with an ATI ISA video card), a 2,400 bps modem, and a 2X CDROM. Funny thing I distinctly remember my model ran at 33MHz yet every Internet page I've searched on this model mentions lower speeds.

I still remember the sound of Larry 3's main theme and Roger Wilco's "Where am I?" coming through my Tandy's 3-voice sound chip. It was pretty cool for its time.

[the_doctor]

my first pc was a tandy 1000SX.  I loved that machine, used it for years.  upgraded (if you can really call it that) to a 1000RLX. 

[MusicallyInspired]

We had a Tandy 1000 as well. Not sure what model. But it had RCA audio and video out and the keyboard was built right into the computer with slots for two 3.55" disk drives. I think we only had one, though. Love the sound system on the Tandys.

[BlueMax]

We had a Tandy 1000 as well. Not sure what model. But it had RCA audio and video out and the keyboard was built right into the computer with slots for two 3.55" disk drives. I think we only had one, though. Love the sound system on the Tandys.

You had the 1000HX.     They had terrible expansion though... the EX/HX used weird "PLUS" expansion cards for upgrading past 256k and few cards existed...  there was ONE SoundBlaster though! 

Nifty machine nonetheless!

[the_doctor]

a friend of mine had a 1000HX.  pre-soundcards, I was jealous because it took less space and was "portable".  once soundblaster came out, ooooh man, was i glad I had my SX instead.

[Tom]

My first PC was a Tandy 1000A, followed by a 1000SL.  Dianne had a HX and TL.  DeskMate rules!    That was back when AOL was known as "PC Link", which is how Dianne and I met.  We've been 'online' since 1987 and haven't been disconnected since.

[jharris01]

Wow I forgot about PC Link! I also used Quicklink to transfer files to my friends locally. I didn't use Deskmate as much except for the music app that was included for use with the 3-voice chip. I remember it had a visual staff where you input notes and that you could print them afterwards.

[Cloudschatze]

I acquired a 1000SX a few years back that I've mentioned here before. I've since gathered a few more (too many) Tandy systems. I don't have any particular nostalgia to draw from, since I didn't grow up with them or anything - I simply think they're neat PCs, and I like 'em.

Here is a post where I've souped-up a TX and TL/2. I've since added a VGA card to the TL/2, and dropped 286-to-486 accelerators into both systems.

...upgraded (if you can really call it that) to a 1000RLX. 

I'm pretty fond of the 1000RLX-HD. Of all the Tandys I've messed around with, it's the one I'd recommend most for experiencing the 3-voice music in Sierra and LucasArts games. Not that the sound itself is any better with this system, rather, it's the easiest-to-use, and most feature-laden Tandy of the bunch (excluding the RSX, which has compatibility issues...).

[MusicallyInspired]

Wow. Nice. It'd be quite nice to have a 486-level PC with Tandy 3-Voice support as well!

[Great Hierophant]

I'm pretty fond of the 1000RLX-HD. Of all the Tandys I've messed around with, it's the one I'd recommend most for experiencing the 3-voice music in Sierra and LucasArts games. Not that the sound itself is any better with this system, rather, it's the easiest-to-use, and most feature-laden Tandy of the bunch (excluding the RSX, which has compatibility issues...).

This solution also is limited because it does not support Tandy graphics modes (and features just one ISA expansion slot.)  Early (AGI) Sierra games may work, but the earliest LucasArts (Scumm v.1-2) ones will not.  Other companies, who knows?

[Cloudschatze]

This solution also is limited because it does not support Tandy graphics modes...

I haven't encountered an instance where this is a problem. Most everything that supports Tandy graphics also supports EGA, and the ability to use a VGA monitor is a huge plus.

Early (AGI) Sierra games may work...

They do work, just fine...

...but the earliest LucasArts (Scumm v.1-2) ones will not.

...and, so do these.

[jharris01]

I'm pretty fond of the 1000RLX-HD. Of all the Tandys I've messed around with, it's the one I'd recommend most for experiencing the 3-voice music in Sierra and LucasArts games. Not that the sound itself is any better with this system, rather, it's the easiest-to-use, and most feature-laden Tandy of the bunch (excluding the RSX, which has compatibility issues...).

I don't remember experiencing difficulties getting games to run with 3-voice sound on my Tandy. I would select the option from the game's setup menu and off I went. The music app that came with Deskmate was awesome. I loved that you could write simple scores for playback with the 3-voice and that you could print them as well. One of the reasons I would log on to PC-Link was to download files from other Deskmate music users. It was pretty cool.

[Cloudschatze]

I don't remember experiencing difficulties getting games to run with 3-voice sound on my Tandy.

There aren't any difficulties getting software to work, per se, it's more a question of the entire experience. The base RLX will run any Sierra or LucasArts game that supports 3-voice sound, as-is. (Let's not be delusional though - some of these games are barely "playable" on any 286...) Any other 286-based Tandy requires at least the addition of a VGA card to do the same thing, and will still lack the additional speed and memory of the RLX.

One of my favorite features of both the RL and RLX (and even the RSX, if you unplug it) is that they're fanless. When using an appropriate CompactFlash setup, rather than the internal hard-drives, these systems are absolutely dead-silent. If all you want to hear is the music, and the clickity-clack of the mouse and keyboard, you can't do much better than that. 

Anyway, just my two cents. Now that I've done my part to create demand, I'll grudgingly sell mine for the reasonable sum of one. million. dollars.

[the_doctor]

now you're making me wish i didn't toss my RLX in the trash years ago when i moved.

[Great Hierophant]

I don't remember experiencing difficulties getting games to run with 3-voice sound on my Tandy.

There aren't any difficulties getting software to work, per se, it's more a question of the entire experience. The base RLX will run any Sierra or LucasArts game that supports 3-voice sound, as-is. (Let's not be delusional though - some of these games are barely "playable" on any 286...) Any other 286-based Tandy requires at least the addition of a VGA card to do the same thing, and will still lack the additional speed and memory of the RLX.

I have talked with Cloud, and both Sierra AGI and SCUMM v1-2 games seem to work on this setup.  That is great!

[Cloudschatze]

There aren't any difficulties getting software to work, per se, it's more a question of the entire experience. The base RLX will run any Sierra or LucasArts game that supports 3-voice sound, as-is. (Let's not be delusional though - some of these games are barely "playable" on any 286...) Any other 286-based Tandy requires at least the addition of a VGA card to do the same thing, and will still lack the additional speed and memory of the RLX.

I have talked with Cloud, and both Sierra AGI and SCUMM v1-2 games seem to work on this setup.  That is great!

Here are some astoundingly crummy videos...

Tandy 1000RLX - Sierra On-Line, AGI Intro Medley

Tandy 1000RLX - Maniac Mansion Introduction

Tandy 1000RLX - Maniac Mansion Enhanced Introduction

Tandy 1000RLX - Zak McKraken Introduction (Partial)

[MusicallyInspired]

How did you launch each AGI game so quickly?

Nice videos!

[C_Guy]

My first PC was a Tandy 1000A, followed by a 1000SL.  Dianne had a HX and TL.  DeskMate rules!   

No way!  Our first household computer was a Tandy 1000SL as well.  My parents went all out and got it with both 5.25" and 3.5" disk drives, a joystick, 640k RAM (an upgrade), 20 MB hard drive (optional at the time), and a dot-matrix printer.  It was a wise $3,000 investment.  I used DeskMate for years to do homework in elementary school.  When we got the computer, the sales guy talked my Dad into Space Quest I - the start of my obsession with Sierra that has continued to grow even to this day.

I'd like to go back home one day and see if the thing will still fire up!  Can't imagine it's been on for many years.

[Cloudschatze]

How did you launch each AGI game so quickly?

Just a little batch file. Upon exiting a game, the next is kicked-off.

It made sense to do this for the video, rather than waste time in-between games (the little camera I used has a ridiculous, 3-minute recording limit). I'm not sure if there is a switch to disable the joystick auto-detection, else I'd have used that as well...