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-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Tandy 1000-series FAQ
Version 1.19
June 15, 1997
How to use this FAQ:
First look at the table of contents to find the heading for what you're
looking for, then use your word processor to search for the number
followed by two spaces. For example, to find information about books on
the 1000-series, look through the table of contents to find "IV.D. What
are some good books about the 1000's?" Then search for the string
"IV.D. ". (You might have to hit the "search again" key a couple times.)
Updates are marked with an asterisk (*) and new questions are marked with a
plus sign (+).
Contents
--------
I. Introduction
- I.A. Sources and Credits
- I.B. What is comp.sys.tandy?
I.C. Where is comp.sys.tandy archived?
I.D. What is an FAQ?
- I.E. Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
- I.F. How can I contribute to the FAQ?
- I.G. Help me with my 1000! [no model given] ... And how to tell 1000's
apart.
II. Hardware Questions
II.A. Memory
II.A.1. How do I add additional DOS memory to my system?
- II.A.2. I added 128k of RAM to my 1000TL, but DOS only gave me 32k
more. What happened to the other 96k?
- II.A.3. When I boot, it tells me I have 640k of RAM, but Chkdsk says I
only have 576k. What gives?
- II.A.4. How do I add additional expanded memory to my system?
- II.A.5. How do I add additional extended memory to my system?
II.A.6. What are the current prices for various memory kits?
II.B. Video
- II.B.1. Can I install VGA on my system?
- II.B.2. I installed VGA, but most programs still think I have CGA.
How to I get VGA to work right?
II.B.3. Can I emulate EGA with Tandy video?
- II.B.4. What is the difference between a CM5 and a CM11 (or a CM2 or
...)?
II.B.5. What is this weird video Tandy has?
II.B.6. Can I emulate Tandy video with EGA or VGA?
II.C. Floppy Disks
II.C.1. Can I upgrade the BIOS to add high-density floppy drives?
II.C.2. Can I take a floppy drive out of <insert machine here> and use
it in my 1000?
II.C.3. Can I take a floppy drive out of my old 1000 and use it in my
new 100MHz Pentium?
+ II.C.4. There's a port on the back for an external floppy drive. Where
do I get those?
+ II.C.5. Where do I get a replacement floppy drive?
II.D. Hard Disks
- II.D.1. How can I install a hard drive?
II.D.2. I have a 1000TL/2 with Smart Drive connector on the
motherboard. How can I install a drive larger than 40 Meg?
II.D.3. Can I chain two Smart Drives together?
II.E. Keyboards
II.E.1. My keyboard died. Where can I get a new one?
- II.E.2. Can I replace my old 90-key Tandy keyboard with a 101-key
keyboard?
- II.E.3. I can get a standard XT keyboard real cheap. Can I buy/make
an adapter to attach it to my old 1000?
II.E.4. How can I make my old keyboard more compatible?
II.E.5. What are the scan codes for the old Tandy keyboard?
II.F. Processors, Coprocessors and Motherboards
- II.F.1. How can I increase the speed of the main processor?
- II.F.2. Can I install a math coprocessor?
- II.F.3. Can I replace the motherboard?
- II.F.4. I want to slow my computer down so an old game will run.
Where is the turbo switch?
II.G. Serial Ports, Modems, and Mice
- II.G.1. Can I use a fast modem with my 1000?
- II.G.2. Windows doesn't recognize the mouse on my RLX. What's wrong?
II.G.3. My system doesn't have a serial port. Can I add one?
II.G.4. Can I add another serial port?
+ II.G.5. What kind of mouse is this, and where do I get a driver for it?
II.H. Parallel Ports and Printers
II.H.1. My printer keeps double-spacing. How do I make it stop?
- II.H.2. What kinds of printers can I use with a 1000?
II.H.3. What is the pinout for the card-edge printer connector?
- II.H.4. Can I connect my old Tandy printer to my new computer?
- II.H.5. Can I use a parallel-port peripheral (other than a printer)
with my card-edge printer port?
II.I. Expansion Slots
- II.I.1. How can I get standard expansion slots on a 1000HX or EX?
- II.I.2. How can I add additional expansion slots?
- II.I.3. What kinds of cards will work in the slots on a 1000?
- II.I.4. What is the pinout for the PLUS expansion connector in the
1000HX and EX?
II.J. Game Ports, Joysticks, and Sound
- II.J.1. Can I use a standard joystick?
- II.J.2. Can I emulate SoundBlaster with the Tandy DAC?
II.J.3. Can I install a Tandy DAC in a normal PC?
+ II.J.4. What is the pinout for the Tandy joystick?
II.K. Miscellaneous
II.K.1. Radio Shack wants $4000 for a 20 Meg hard drive. Where can I
get it cheaper?
II.K.2. When I turn my computer on, it just beeps a lot and refuses to
boot. Why does it do that?
II.K.3. Where can I get diagnostic software for the 1000's?
- II.K.4. What is this connector marked "light pen"?
- II.K.5. I just got a 1000 at a yard sale, and it didn't come with
disks or manuals or anything. Where can I get some?
II.K.6. What are the jumper/switch settings for my 1000 or my Tandy
adapter card?
+ II.K.7. I just got a 1000 secondhand, and it has some expansion card
in it that I can't identify. How do I find out about it?
+ II.K.8. When I turn the system on, it just displays the memory size
and sits there. What's happening?
III. Software Questions
III.A. DOS
- III.A.1. My system has DOS in ROM. How do I upgrade the DOS version?
- III.A.2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of upgrading DOS?
III.A.3. How can I change CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT?
- III.A.4. I screwed up my CONFIG.SYS on my hard drive, and now I can't
boot the system to fix it - it ignores bootable diskettes!
III.B. DeskMate
III.B.1. My system has DeskMate in ROM. How do I upgrade?
- III.B.2. I recently upgraded from my old 1000, and I really miss
DeskMate! How can I get it back?
- III.B.3. I upgraded my DOS version, and now DeskMate is gone. How do
I get it back?
- III.B.4. DeskMate Sound and Music won't work when the printer is
connected but not turned on. What gives?
III.B.5. How can I write my own programs for DeskMate?
- III.B.6. I upgraded my video to VGA, and now DeskMate refuses to run.
What do I do?
- III.B.7. Is there a program for DeskMate that does (x)?
- III.B.8. Where can I get a DeskMate driver for printer (x)?
III.B.9. I just got a 1000. What is this @#&$ "DeskMate" thing it
boots into, and how do I get rid of it and run DOS?
+ III.B.10. I've been using DeskMate on my trusty 1000 for many years,
but now it's time to upgrade. How do I transfer the data to
Windows?
+ III.B.11. DeskMate is asking me for a password, and I don't know it.
How do I get in?
III.C. Windows
- III.C.1. Can I run Windows on my 1000?
+ III.C.2. Can I run DeskMate under Windows?
+ III.C.3. Where can I find a Windows driver for my Tandy printer?
III.D. Unix and Other Operating Systems
- III.D.1. Can I run Unix on my 1000?
- III.D.2. What other operating systems are available?
III.E. ROM BIOS
III.E.1. What is the key combination to bring up the CMOS setup on a
1000?
- III.E.2. How do I upgrade the ROM BIOS on a 1000?
III.F. System Setup Programs
III.F.1. I just got an old 1000 secondhand, with no disks or anything.
Where can I get the system setup program for it?
III.F.2. What are the options to the system setup command?
III.F.3 Why does my 1000 RLX say I have an invalid configuration?
III.G. Applications
III.G.1. Some compilers do not detect my hardware. Is there an
explanation for this?
- III.G.2. What C compilers will work on my Tandy 1000?
- III.G.3. Where can I find a program for the Tandy 1000 that does (x)?
- III.G.4. What games are there for the 1000's?
- III.G.5. How can I access the Internet with my 1000?
III.H. Basic
+ III.H.1. What are the Basic patches?
+ III.H.2. How do I get information on Basic programming?
+ III.H.3. What is the "Child of Basic" problem?
IV. Miscellaneous Information
- IV.A. How do I contact Tandy?
IV.B. Ftp sites, Web pages, BBS's, etc.
- IV.B.1. What ftp sites are there for the 1000's?
- IV.B.2. What WWW sites are there for the 1000's?
- IV.B.3. What BBS's are there for the 1000's?
+ IV.B.4. What online services have 1000-related areas?
- IV.C. What magazines and newsletters are there for the 1000's?
- IV.D. What are some good books about the 1000's?
- IV.E. What other newsgroups are of interest to 1000 owners?
- IV.F. Where can I get other FAQ's?
- IV.G. Where can I get upgrade/replacement parts for my 1000?
- IV.H. Why is this @#$%!! machine so incompatible?
+ IV.I. What happened to Tandy?
I. Introduction
The maintainer of this FAQ is Jeff Hayes <tvdog@agate.net>. My sources
include the Delphi Tandy forum, the CompuServe TRS-80 Professional forum,
the America Online DeskMate and Tandy forums, the comp.sys.tandy newsgroup
(and the many knowledgeable people there), some of the books listed in
section IV.D., and a few back issues of _PCM_ magazine. Anthony D. Gordon
was the maintainer for a while, but he's no longer involved with the FAQ.
He's got a paying job now, but every so often I hear from him. Other
contributors' names appear next to their contributions, but I'm afraid I
left some people out.
None of this information is guaranteed to be accurate or complete. If the
information in this FAQ causes you to reformat your hard drive, blow out
your power supply, replace all occurrences of "the" in your dissertation
with random expletives, or remember how you were abused as a child and must
therefore murder your parents, I am not responsible. Suing me is not a
wise proposition anyway since I am poor as a pauper.
If you see something wrong here, or have something that should be added,
please contribute (see section I.F.).
- I.B. What is comp.sys.tandy?
comp.sys.tandy is a Usenet newsgroup for discussion of any and all Tandy
computers, both hardware and software. To get access to the group, you
will generally need to have an account at an Internet site that carries the
group and some newsreading software. If your site does not carry the
group, ask your system administrator or news administrator about adding it.
If your site does not have Usenet newsgroups, you may be able to read the
newsgroup (but not post to it) by Gopher. There are several Gopher sites
that provide Usenet, generally late at night. At third remove, if you have
only email access to the Internet, it is possible to access newsgroups by
gophermail - find a copy of the "Internet by Email FAQ" for details (you can
post by email as well).
It is also possible to access Usenet via WWW. Go to this site:
http://www.dejanews.com/
It is appropriate to post any of the following to comp.sys.tandy: system-
specific questions about your 1000 or any other Tandy model; discussions of
solutions and workarounds you have found for your Tandy-specific problems;
announcements of Tandy-specific hardware or software you have privately for
sale, or requests to purchase the same; or basically anything else that is
Tandy-specific.
It is *not* appropriate to post any of the following to comp.sys.tandy:
general questions about DOS, Windows, or an application that are not Tandy-
specific; general questions about programming PC-compatible computers or
using your compiler; and general questions about IBM PC hardware. There are
other newsgroups for discussion of those things (and plenty of books on
them). If you have a problem and are not sure whether it is due to a
compatibility problem with your machine, you can ask in comp.sys.tandy; if
your problem is a general one, you will probably be referred elsewhere.
Bear in mind that some TRS-80 owners just barely tolerate us in "their"
newsgroup, and it gets their dander up if you ask a lot of questions about
how to format a floppy.
I.C. Where is comp.sys.tandy archived?
It isn't.
I.D. What is an FAQ?
An FAQ (short for "frequently asked questions") is a compilation of
information frequently asked for and given in a newsgroup. It also usually
states the newsgroup's purpose and the etiquette to be followed when
posting. Its purpose is to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the group
by reducing repetitive threads and eliminating flame wars caused by
breaches of etiquette. The FAQ is usually in question-and-answer format.
comp.sys.tandy does not currently have a bandwidth problem, but an FAQ for
the 1000's is still useful, since the people who know the answers may not
be following the group when a particular question is asked for the fifth
time, or they may be tired of answering it.
- I.E. Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
The latest plaintext version will be on my ftp site in directory:
ftp.agate.net:/users/01935/tandy1000/documents/
The latest HTML version will be accessible via my home page on the WWW:
http://www.agate.net/~tvdog/index.html
- I.F. How can I contribute to the FAQ?
I thought you'd never ask ;-). Send your corrections and additions to
<tvdog@agate.net>. Where possible, refer to the section number that
contains the mistake or omission. Questions not in the FAQ that should be
there are also wanted, even if you don't know the answer. I don't update
this thing very often, but I'll keep your email for when I get around to it
:-).
- I.G. Help me with my 1000! [no model given] ... And how to tell 1000's
apart.
You won't get much (useful) help if you post a question in comp.sys.tandy
saying, "Such-and-such won't work on my Tandy 1000, what do I do?" The
1000-series range from the original 1000, which came standard with a 4.77MHz
8088, PCjr-compatible graphics, and 128k RAM, to the 1000RSX, which came
standard with a 25MHz 80386SX, SVGA graphics, and can be upgraded to 9
megabytes of RAM (1 meg standard). You have to tell us which *model* 1000
it is. The choices are (in more-or-less chronological order): original 1000
(no letters), 1000HD, 1000A, 1000AX (rare, mostly the same as the SX),
1000SX, 1000EX, 1000HX, 1000TX, 1000SL, 1000PC (rare, mostly the same as the
SL), 1000TL, 1000SL/2, 1000TL/2, 1000TL/3, 1000RL, 1000RL-HD, 1000RLX,
1000RLX-HD, 1000RLX-B, 1000RLX-HD-B, 1000RSX, and 1000RSX-HD. In the
following, I often refer to "TX and earlier" and "SL and later." The later
ones are much more compatible with the IBM PC - the earlier ones are more
compatible with the IBM PCjr (see section IV.H.). I will also abbreviate the
names - "TL" means 1000TL; "TL/2" means 1000TL/2; and "TL's" means 1000TL,
1000TL/2, and/or 1000TL/3.
II. Hardware Questions
II.A. Memory
II.A.1. How do I add additional DOS memory to my system?
On the 1000 and 1000A, you need to add an expansion card. This card will
contain both additional RAM and a DMA chip, improving the speed and
compatibility as well as the memory size. Tandy used to sell such a card,
but it has been discontinued. You can still get one from third parties,
though (see section IV.G.).
The EX and HX will also need an expansion card, one made for their slots.
One or more additional PLUS-type slots may also come with the memory
expansion. Tandy used to sell a memory card for these systems too. Third
parties still have the cards.
The other systems will only need standard DRAMs. You can get these
anywhere. It is OK to use faster chips than required (i.e., 100ns instead
of 120ns).
The SX will take 8 256k x 1 150ns DRAM chips. The chips go behind the
other RAM chips near the front of the machine. You also need to remove the
jumper labelled E1-E2.
The TX uses 4 64k x 4 120ns DRAM chips. The chips go in the sockets
labelled U54-57. Remove the jumper labelled E9-E10.
The TL uses 4 64k x 4 120ns DRAMs. The chips go in the sockets labelled
U36-39. There is no jumper to move.
The TL/2 uses 4 64k x 4 120ns DRAMs. The chips go in the sockets next to
the other RAM chips, in front of the expansion slots. There is no jumper.
The TL/3 uses 4 64k x 4 100ns DRAMs. The chips go in the sockets labelled
U4-7. There is no jumper.
The SL uses 8 64k x 4 120ns DRAMs. They go in the sockets next to the
other chips. There is no jumper.
The SL/2 uses 4 64k x 4 120ns DRAMs. They go next to the other chips.
There is no jumper.
The RL and RL-HD use 2 256k x 4 100ns DRAMs. They go in the sockets
labelled U19 and U23. There is no jumper.
The RLX uses 4 256k x 4 100ns ZIP DRAMs. This not a common type of chip.
They go in the sockets labelled U23-26. There is no jumper.
The RLX-B uses 4 256k x 4 100ns ZIP DRAMs. They go in the sockets labelled
U2, U4, U5, and U9. There is no jumper.
The RLX-HD, RLX-HD-B and RSX's came from the factory fully populated with
conventional RAM.
See Section II.A.6. for pricing information.
- II.A.2. I added 128k of RAM to my 1000TL, but DOS only gave me 32k more.
What happened to the other 96k?
- II.A.3. When I boot, it tells me I have 640k of RAM, but Chkdsk says I
only have 576k. What gives?
All of the 1000-series except for the 1000RLX's and RSX's have special video
controller circuitry that allocates some of the video memory for DOS if
there is less than 640k of conventional RAM installed. The video controller
has 128k or 256k (depending on the model), which is more than it really
needs under most circumstances, since CGA programs only use 16k, and even
most programs that use the special Tandy video modes only use 32k (Hercules
mono graphics also requires 32k). About the most that is *ever* used is the
64k that the special 640x200x16 video mode on the 1000SL's, TL's, and RL's
requires. (All video RAM could conceivably be used by some programs for
animation.)
The original 1000 was a clone of the IBM PCjr (see section IV.H.). The PCjr
came with 128k RAM that was *both* video RAM and system RAM - whence the
128k attached to the video controller. Among other things, this enabled IBM
to leave out the DMA controller the IBM PC had, since the RAM was
continually being refreshed by the video controller. The original 1000,
1000A, 1000EX, and 1000HX have no DMA controllers on the motherboard either
(one is included with the memory expansion card). Tandy added a DMA
controller to later systems, but the video stayed the same, at least at the
BIOS and memory-mapping level, up till VGA was added with the RLX. On
Tandy's with PCjr-compatible video, that 128k or 256k is still both video
and system RAM - and since not all of it is normally needed for video, part
of it is normally "stolen" by DOS, up to a limit of 640k system RAM.
When the BIOS displays the system memory at bootup, it's telling a little
white lie, since it includes the video memory in the total. There is, after
all, no way to know who owns what memory, DOS or the video, so it is all
lumped together. You can change the amount that the video keeps for itself
with the /A option on your system setup program, if you have it (see section
III.F.2.). (There is also a shareware program called Adjmem that can change
the amount at runtime.)
When you install additional conventional memory in your system, whatever
video memory was being "stolen" by DOS goes back to the video, if DOS has
640k. The amount of DOS RAM you gain by the upgrade thus may not be equal
to the amount of RAM you install, since whatever was stolen before is lost.
There is no way to make the Tandy BIOS allocate more than 640k for DOS, and
no way to do it by programming either, at least on the SL and later systems
(ask me by email - it would be too long to explain here).
If you are still using the built-in video, the memory upgrade is definitely
worthwhile since every byte of conventional RAM counts these days. If you
upgrade the video, though, all of the motherboard video RAM will go to DOS
to make up whatever is missing from 640k. VGA (and EGA) cards have their
own memory, so they don't need what's on the motherboard. With VGA, in a
sense it is useless to expand your total system RAM beyond 640k on these
systems; as far as I know, there is no program available that will make any
use of the motherboard video RAM on a 1000TL with 768k and VGA (my program
Vswitch will allow you to use both VGA and the motherboard video).
One thing to note, however: some programs (such as Windows 2.11) and
expansion cards (such as Acculogic and Intel EMS cards) may not work
properly without the extra 128k memory upgrade, even if VGA is installed.
There are two causes for this: First, the RAM that is "stolen" by DOS from
the video is actually accessed through the video controller, making it
slower than the rest of system RAM; time-critical things like sound programs
are affected by that. Second, an LIM 4.0 EMS driver may "see" that there
is, say, 576k system RAM, and erroneously conclude that the memory between
576k and 640k is available to be mapped as EMS, when in fact part of it is
double-mapped video memory (the double-mapping is another PCjr fossil).
Hence, it is a good idea in any case to add as much motherboard memory as
your system will take - which on most 1000's is quite cheap to do these
days.
- II.A.4. How do I add additional expanded memory to my system?
On older 1000's (i.e., pre-SL) with standard slots, four EMS cards will
work: the Micro Mainframe 5150T, the Intel Matched Memory Classic, the Intel
Above Board ISA, and the InvisiSOFT Invisible EMS board. The latter three
are hardware LIM 4 and can be used for upper memory blocks with DOS 5 or 6
(possibly requiring Qram or equivalent); the 5150T does not supply upper
memory blocks. Upper memory blocks may not be available on systems with DOS
in ROM, even if DOS is upgraded, because the memory segment (E0000h) that
would be used as an upper memory block by the EMS card is already occupied
by the ROM drive (whether the ROM drive is accessed or not).
Problems have been reported with the Acculogic RAMPAT!-Plus card on pre-SL
systems (causes lockup). A few multifunction cards were made for the
original 1000, A, and HD that had expanded RAM as an option. The PBJ XRAM
card was another EMS card that would work in those systems.
The EX and HX will need a special EMS card because of their nonstandard
slots; see section IV.G. for sources. (With those systems, conventional
RAM and EMS may be added on the same card.)
Lloyd W. Kuhn <lwkuhn@mail1.power1.net> writes:
Some years ago I put an Intel expanded memory board in my TL, but I had a
heck of a hard time getting the Intel software to configure the board to
the computer. I called Intel and although they they tried, they couldn't
help me. Because the TL has an 80286 processor, the software tried to
make the computer out as an AT clone. But when the software sensed the 8
bit expansion slots, it was sure the computer was an XT clone. Therefore
I couldn't configure it as an AT nor as an XT. However out of
frustration, I tried configuring the TL as an IBM model 30. That worked
and the board has been working ever since.
The SL's, TL's, RL's, and RLX's can use any 8-bit expanded memory card that
is 10" or less in length. The RSX's do not need expanded memory; use
extended.
- II.A.5. How do I add additional extended memory to my system?
The RLX's can have 384k of extended RAM, installed at the same time as you
upgrade the conventional RAM (see section II.A.1.). The RLX-HD and RLX-HD-B
came fully populated with 1M system RAM, though.
You add RAM to the RSX by putting either 2 70ns 1Mx9 SIMMs or 2 60ns 4Mx9
SIMMs in the empty sockets. You have to run Setuprsx after installing to
make the system recognize the new memory.
If HIMEM.SYS does not recognize your extended memory, use the /M:2 option.
None of the other 1000's can have extended RAM.
II.A.6. What are the current prices for various memory kits?
Ken Udut provided the following information:
128K Memory Kit
Tandy 1000 TX TL TL/2 SL SL/2 [not TL/3]
Radio Shack #: 25-1078
Price: $29.99
NOTE: The SL requires 2 kits.
256K Memory Kit
Tandy 1000 SX
Radio Shack #: 25-1079
Price: $39.99
256K Memory Kit
Tandy 1000 RL [also 4800 series and 25-1640/1641 MMPC desktops]
Radio Shack #: 25-1082
Price: $39.99
512K ZIP Memory Kit
Tandy 1000 RLX
Radio Shack #: 25-1083
Price: $59.99
Memory PLUS expansion adapter
Tandy 1000 EX HX
Radio Shack #: 25-2062
Price: $189.99
NOTE: On sale every few months.
Note: These prices are as of a couple years ago. Check with Tandy for
current prices. Also, most systems use common DRAMs, which need not be
purchased from Tandy (see section II.A.1.).
II.B. Video
- II.B.1. Can I install VGA on my system?
On the original 1000, 1000A, and 1000HD, no. On those systems, the BIOS
will not scan for a video ROM or disable the onboard video. Matthew
Electronics once manufactured a special EGA card for the original 1000, A,
and HD, but it is no longer available. That said, it is generally possible
to get a standard EGA card to work to some degree if you make a program for
AUTOEXEC.BAT to enable it; see file
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/documents/egat1k.txt
An MDA or Hercules card would probably work as well or better, though again
you would probably need to make a program to enable it. One other problem
you are likely to have is that an EGA or Hercules card will want to use IRQ
2 for vertical retrace, which conflicts with the hard drive; you need to
have a hard drive controller that does not use an IRQ (or do without a hard
drive). Upgrading the video on the original 1000, A, or HD is definitely a
"hacker upgrade."
The EX and HX can have VGA but will need a special card because of their
nonstandard expansion slots. The SX and TX need to have DIP switch 1 turned
off. The SL's, TL's and RL's won't require any hardware changes; just plug
in the card.
The RLX's and RSX's came standard with VGA. Both can accept upgrade video
cards as well.
All 1000's that don't come standard with VGA will require that a special
program be placed in AUTOEXEC.BAT to make sure the new video is recognized
(see section II.B.2.).
- II.B.2. I installed VGA, but most programs still think I have CGA.
How do I get VGA to work right?
The Tandy BIOS fails to set the Video Configuration Code byte at 0040:008A.
The default value of this byte is 3Fh. The correct values are: 0Bh, for a
single VGA color card; 0Ch, for a dual-monitor system with VGA color and
MDA mono; 0Dh, for a single VGA mono board; and 0Eh, for a dual-monitor
system with mono VGA and MDA. The solution is to put a short program in
your Autoexec.bat file that will set this byte to the correct value.
Without the fix, the VGA card will function, but some programs will
misidentify it as EGA or CGA. There are various programs around to do
this. Radio Shack included one with their version of the Paradise card,
and if you get your VGA card from a place that specializes in 1000's, they
will give you one.
There is also a bug in the BIOS of the Paradise VGA PLUS card sold by
Tandy. This card fails to return the correct video ID information for Int
10h AH=1Ah. This is also easily fixed by a small program in Autoexec.bat.
There are free programs available to fix these problems. Get vgafix.zip
from my site, for example. (See section IV.B.1.)
II.B.3. Can I emulate EGA with Tandy video?
No. Although the SL's, TL's and RL's have a 640x200x16 video mode that is
similar in resolution to EGA, the register programming and memory mapping
are different. The same applies vis-a-vis the 320x200x16 video mode that
all 1000's (except the RLX's and RSX's) have.
- II.B.4. What is the difference between a CM5 and a CM11 (or a CM2 or
...)?
The CM5 and CM11 are both CGA monitors. The difference is the resolution.
The CM11 is much clearer due to its smaller dot pitch (and was about twice
as expensive as the CM5). Some say the CM5 can't display 640x200 graphics.
That is a function of the controller, though, not the monitor. The CM5 will
work in all Tandy graphics modes. Whether it looks good is another story.
The CM2 and CM10 are older versions of the CM11. The CM4 is an older
version of the CM5.
The CM1 is another animal entirely. It was a color monitor made for use
with the Tandy 2000 and had a resolution of 640x400. Tandy made at least
three video cards that would permit the CM1 to be used with an IBM PC. With
the Dual Text Display Adapter, catalog number 25-3046, the CM1 displays only
text. With the Dual Graphics Display Adapter, catalog number 25-3047, the
CM1 can display CGA-compatible 640x200 graphics, or 640x400 graphics with
special software. With the Enhanced Graphics Adapter, catalog number
25-4037, the CM1 displays 640x350 EGA graphics. The VM1, a monochrome
monitor for the 2000, works with the same cards. No non-Tandy card will
work with the CM1 or VM1.
The CM8 is only for use with the Color Computer; there is no adapter card
for an IBM PC.
The VM2 and VM4 are monochrome composite monitors made to plug into the
composite CGA port on the original 1000, HD, A, HX, EX, SX, and TX.
The VM1, VM3, and VM5 are monochrome TTL (MDA/Hercules) monitors. They can
be used with the 1000SL's, TL's, and RL's.
The EGM1 is an EGA monitor. VGM* are VGA or SVGA monitors.
You do not have to use a Tandy monitor; any CGA monitor will work. If you
have problems with a non-Tandy CGA monitor, try "MODE 200" at the DOS prompt
(Tandy DOS only). One non-standard thing that Tandy did was to use 225
scanlines for text modes in CGA, giving somewhat clearer text. IBM standard
is 200 scanlines.
II.B.5. What is this weird video Tandy has?
The original 1000 was a clone of the IBM PCjr (see section IV.H.). The
PCjr video is BIOS- and memory-mapping compatible with CGA, though not
register-compatible. It also has 160x200x16, 320x200x16, and 640x200x4
video modes that CGA does not have. Most programs using CGA video modes
use the BIOS to interface with the video adapter (except for setting
pixels) and will work. Pre-SL systems have this type of video, also known
as Tandy Video I, TGA, TCGA, or ECGA. Digital or mono composite CGA
monitors can be used. Some of the books in section IV.D. contain
programming information on Tandy 1000/PCjr video.
The video on the SL's, TL's, and RL's is known as Tandy Video II or ETGA.
The video adapter takes either a digital CGA or Mono TTL monitor; pressing
<alt>-<control>-<shift>-V reboots the system and switches monitor types,
saving the type in EEPROM. When a Mono TTL monitor is used, the video is
compatible with the Hercules adapter. When a CGA monitor is used, the
video is register-compatible with CGA and BIOS- and memory-mapping
compatible with PCjr. Any program using CGA will work, and most (but not
all) programs using PCjr video will work. This adapter also has the
160x200x16, 320x200x16, and 640x200x4 modes of Tandy Video I, as well as a
640x200x16 mode (the BIOS does not support this mode - you need to program
controller registers to get it or use a TSR such as grafix.zip (see section
IV.B.1. for a site)). The technical reference manual for your system has
information on ETGA (see section IV.G.).
The RLX's have basic (256k) VGA built in; it is not upgradeable. The RSX's
256k VGA is upgradeable to 512k and can display 1024x768 with an
appropriate monitor. Both can display Hercules graphics on a VGA monitor.
Most systems can also take upgrade video cards (see section II.B.1.).
II.B.6. Can I emulate Tandy video with EGA or VGA?
In principle, this could be done using virtual 86 mode on 386 and later
processors, and someone once made noises about doing it, but as far as I
know nothing ever came of it. (If you're trying to make DeskMate work with
EGA or VGA, see section III.B.6.)
II.C. Floppy Disks
II.C.1. Can I upgrade the BIOS to add high-density floppy drives?
The TL/3, RLX's, and RSX's can take high-density drives, though the TL/3 did
not come with one. The RLX's will not take low-density drives.
Other models require that a secondary controller be installed in an
expansion slot to add high-density drives. There was a rumor that an AMI or
Phoenix BIOS upgrade for the IBM XT could be used in a Tandy 1000-series,
permitting high-density drives to be used with the built-in controller, and
providing BIOS support for hard drives. The rumor was false. In most
1000-series, the built-in controller cannot support high-density drives
because the data separator will only run at 250k bps. In the SL and TL, the
data separator is capable of running at 500k bps, but the data rate pin is
hard-wired to 250k and the drive speed pin on the floppy cable is not
connected. In addition, an IBM BIOS chip would not support Tandy-specific
features such as the weird video memory mapping and the digitized sound
functions on the SL/TL. Tandy says:
Tandy Corporation/Radio Shack does not support installing a high density
drive in your Tandy 1000TL computer as the on-board Floppy Drive
Controller (FDC) circuitry is not designed to work with this type of
drive. The FDC circuitry only has the capability of recognizing a low
density disk drive.
As well, since the FDC circuitry has no option for being disabled
through jumpers or dipswitches, this circuitry cannot be changed to
setup as the secondary address. The BIOS ROM does not support a
secondary FDC address, thus precluding the installation of a controller
card set to the secondary address.
THANK YOU,
RADIO SHACK COMPUTER SUPPORT SERVICE CC/dp
Of course, this is just another case of "we don't sell it, therefore it
can't be done." In reality, there are secondary cards available that
contain their own BIOS, providing either bootable or non-bootable high-
density drives (see section IV.G.). (My mother has an ancient Seagate hard
drive controller with this feature.)
II.C.2. Can I take a floppy drive out of <insert machine here> and use
it in my 1000?
If it's a 5-1/4" drive, generally yes. Note that the data connector is
upside-down on the SX. It needs to be the right-density drive for the
machine.
For 3-1/2" drives, maybe. The HX, TX, SL/2, TL's, RL's, RLX's, and RSX's
use a special floppy drive that draws power through the data cable.
Connecting a standard 3-1/2" drive not designed to do that can damage both
the drive and the computer. If your existing floppy drive does not have a
four-wire (red, red, black, yellow) power cable going to it, you *MUST NOT*
replace it with a standard drive (unless you modify the floppy cable, see
below). Tandy-style drives were made by Teac and Sony; the Sony MP-F11W-72
is one. Tandy continued using the drives long after the 1000-series ended
(my 4033LX has one in it - high density of course).
In the case of systems with drives that draw power through the data cable,
you can connect a standard drive if you modify the cable. You need to
punch holes in the data cable to cut the power; look at the 5-1/4" cable in
the same machine. Specifically, +5V is supplied on pins 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11,
and +12V is supplied on pins 29, 31, and 33. All of these are ground pins
on a standard floppy cable, so you need to cut them. Use a Tandy-style
(straight-through, not twisted) floppy cable, like the original that came
with the machine. NOTE: If you don't feel confident about modifying your
floppy cable in this way, don't. If you make a mistake, you can blow out
your power supply, your motherboard, your floppy drive, or all three.
To fix the cable, extract the wires you need to cut by cutting the cable
lengthwise between the wires with a utility knife, taking care not to cut
the wires themselves. Pin 1 is marked on the cable in red. On a standard
floppy drive, all the grounds are connected together, so you don't need to
worry about connecting an actual ground wire to the pins you cut. If you
want to continue to use a Tandy drive in the same machine, place the
standard drive at the end of the cable and the Tandy drive in the middle,
and make the cuts above the connector for the Tandy drive, so that the
power coming from the motherboard gets to the first (Tandy) drive but not
to the second (standard) drive. Of course, you need to connect a power
cable to the standard drive.
Another problem you might have with 3-1/2" drives is that the drive may not
physically fit in the machine due to the placement and length of the eject
button, since the drive bezel is built in to the case.
Finally, note that unlike most every other PC, the floppy cable in the
1000-series is *not* twisted, so you need to set the drive select jumper or
switch on the drive. Also, if you put a high-density 3-1/2" drive in a
machine that doesn't support one, it works, but only as a low-density
drive.
II.C.3. Can I take a floppy drive out of my old 1000 and use it in my
new 100MHz Pentium?
Some 1000's use special floppy drives that draw power through the data
cable, so it may take some hardware hacking to do this. The 3-1/2" drives
are the culprits. See section II.C.2. A dead giveaway for a Tandy drive
is that it has no power connector.
What you would need to do to put a 3-1/2" Tandy-style drive in a standard
machine is cut out the wires in the data cable that the Tandy drive wants
power on, disconnecting them from the motherboard, then solder the wires to
a power cable. The red wire on the power cable is +5V, the black is
ground, and the yellow is +12V.
+ II.C.4. There's a port on the back for an external floppy drive. Where
do I get those?
+ II.C.5. Where do I get a replacement floppy drive?
See section IV.G.
II.D. Hard Disks
- II.D.1. How can I install a hard drive?
The RSX's have a built-in AT IDE interface. You can get those drives
anywhere.
The TL/2, TL/3, RL's, and RLX's have a built-in XT IDE ("Smart Drive")
interface. These drives can be hard to find new and don't come larger than
40MB. AT IDE drives (what everybody means when they advertise IDE drives
for sale) do not work with the built-in interface. The Seagate ST351A/X is
a 40MB drive. It is a combination XT/AT IDE drive; you will need it
jumpered for the XT. Some other XT IDE drives are the Seagate ST325X,
ST325A/X, and ST351X, and the Western Digital WD93028, WD98028, WD93038-X,
WD93044-X, and WD98044-X. Tandy once sold a full line of XT IDE drives, so
your local Radio Shack may be able to locate one. DCS Industries also
carries XT IDE drives; see section IV.G.
There can be a problem with 40MB drives in the RL, in that it refuses to
recognize more than 20MB of the drive. The system setup program must be
used to force the BIOS to recognize the drive type by manually entering the
number of heads and cylinders. Call Tandy customer support for more
information (see section IV.A.).
Tandy provides the following information on adding an XT IDE "Smart Drive"
to a 1000RLX that did not come with one (the information should be relevant
for other models):
If you choose to add a SmartDrive to your floppy RLX computer later,
you'll find the installation a very easy task. The 20 (25-1047) and 40
(25-1048) Megabyte SmartDrives feature the HINSTALL initialization
program that runs under DeskMate. Four keystrokes and you're finished.
Even a labeled blank diskette is included! The MS-DOS/GW-BASIC diskette
installs to the SmartDrive under DeskMate as well. Just start DeskMate,
press <F7>, highlight INSTALL, put your MS-DOS/GW-BASIC diskette in Drive
A, and MS-DOS is installed in its own directory. It even creates or
modifies the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and sets the ROM.
Other systems do not have a built-in controller and will need one on an
expansion card, and even if you have a built-in IDE interface you can go
this route. It needs to be an 8-bit card, and if it's an IDE controller it
needs to have a special Tandy BIOS if (a) your computer is an old (pre-SL)
system, or (b) it has a built-in XT IDE interface. The Silicon Valley
ADP50T ("T" for Tandy BIOS, ADP50 is not the same) is a good 8-bit AT IDE
card that cooperates with your existing XT IDE drive and can chain two AT
IDE drives, and it does not use DMA or IRQ. Acculogic also makes 8-bit AT
IDE controllers that some in comp.sys.tandy swear by, but be careful as some
Acculogic controllers will not work with some Tandy's.
Your local Radio Shack sells an 8-bit AT IDE controller for the 1000's,
catalog number 25-1095, for $99. The card does not conflict with the
built-in controller in the TL/2, TL/3, RL's, and RLX's. Regarding the RL, a
poster in comp.sys.tandy wrote:
For the RL, you have to <argh> cut away a little of the bracket that
comes with it or it will hit the motherboard. It says that it is not
recommended for the RL, but that is only because of the size problem ...
about 5 minutes of cutting, and it will work just fine.
(Such cutting is probably best done with a grinding wheel.) The 25-1095
card is very wide and needs to be placed in the innermost expansion slot, or
it will take up two adjacent slots. It will not fit in a 16-bit slot.
There may also be a problem with the hard drive interrupt. Normally, the
hard drive in an XT-class system uses IRQ5, and the video uses IRQ2. The
original 1000, 1000A, HD, EX, and HX have these reversed; they will need
special hard drive controllers (some, but not all, controllers have a
jumper to set the IRQ, and some do not use an IRQ). The EX and HX have
weird slots and tiny cases and will need special controllers anyway. The
SX and TX are the same with regard to the interrupt, but in their case you
can turn DIP switch 2 off on the motherboard to swap the interrupts back
and use a standard controller. All other systems have the interrupts
right.
The original 1000 may need a BIOS upgrade before installing a hard drive.
See section III.E.2. for information on upgrading the BIOS. FYI, the
problem is that the BIOS programs the DMA controller for extended write
cycles rather than normal write cycles, causing timing problems. Two
changes to BIOS version 01.00.00 would correct the problem:
Address Current byte Correct byte
F000:C7B7 24 20
F000:C7FC 20 00
(All numbers are hex.) Alternately, two instructions added to the hard
drive controller BIOS would work around it:
XOR AL,AL
OUT 8,AL
Tandy once offered to take the Memory Plus expansion adapter back and
replace the PAL chip (U14) to correct the problem. It is probably better
just to upgrade the BIOS.
Quantum IDE drives may not work in a Tandy.
Some people think they can't install a drive and controller and need a
"hardcard" instead, because the owner's manual mentions the latter and not
the former. A hardcard is just a controller and drive combination mounted
on a card, though, and some companies sell brackets that enable a person to
make their own hardcard out of a controller and a 3-1/2" hard drive - a
useful option if you're out of drive bays. DCS Industries markets hardcards
for the 1000's and may be willing to sell you the bracket (see section
IV.G.). Beware that the 1000's have shorter slots than the IBM XT - if you
get a hardcard, it needs to be specially made for the 1000's.
If you are out of drive bays, it may be possible to install a hard drive by
attaching it to the bottom of an existing bay with Velcro. It really
doesn't matter how you shove it in there, as long as you don't block the
vents :-).
The original 1000, 1000A, HD, EX and HX will generally need to have the
memory expanded above the base configuration to add DMA before installing a
hard drive (see section II.A.1.), though there are a few controllers
designed to get around that problem. It is wise to upgrade the memory
anyway.
It is reported that some software will not work properly with Tandy hard
cards if you have Tandy DOS below 3.2.
If you get a hard drive, you should make it bootable even if you don't plan
to boot from it, in case you decide to upgrade your DOS version later (see
section III.A.1.).
Because of the complications involved, you probably should get your hard
drive and controller from a company that specializes in the 1000's, or at
least is familiar with them. See section IV.G.
II.D.2. I have a 1000TL/2 with Smart Drive connector on the
motherboard. How can I install a drive larger than 40 Meg?
Put an AT IDE, MFM, RLL, or SCSI controller in a slot and attach a drive to
it. See section II.D.1.
II.D.3. Can I chain two Smart Drives together?
No. XT IDE drives cannot be chained.
II.E. Keyboards
II.E.1. My keyboard died. Where can I get a new one?
On the EX and HX, the keyboard is built in and can't be replaced. For
other systems, see section IV.G.
- II.E.2. Can I replace my old 90-key Tandy keyboard with a 101-key
keyboard?
On the EX and HX, no. On other systems, yes, but it won't work exactly like
a standard 101-key keyboard since the Tandy keyboard BIOS is different. A
special 101-key keyboard made for the 1000's must be used. See section
IV.G. (SL and later systems came with a 101-key keyboard, and a compatible
BIOS.)
- II.E.3. I can get a standard XT keyboard real cheap. Can I buy/make
an adapter to attach it to my old 1000?
Don't know. Tandy used to sell such an adapter, but not any more. It would
not be a straightforward wiring job, since the signals are different.
II.E.4. How can I make my old keyboard more compatible?
There are a couple of TSR's that will remap your keyboard to make it more
compatible. Some Tandy DOS versions come with such a utility; also see
section IV.B.1.
II.E.5. What are the scan codes for the old Tandy keyboard?
Keyboard ASCII/Scan codes
The first table in this appendix lists the keys on the Tandy 1000 keyboard
in scan code order, along with the ASCII codes they generate. For each key,
the following entries are given:
SCAN CODE - A value in the range 01H-5AH which uniquely identifies the
physical key on the keyboard that is pressed.
KEYBOARD LEGEND - The physical marking(s) on the key. If there is more than
one marking, the upper one is listed first.
ASCII CODE - The ASCII codes associated with the key. The four modes are:
NORMAL - The normal ASCII value when only the indicated key is pressed
SHIFT - The shifted ASCII value
CTRL - The control ASCII value
ALT - the alternate ASCII value
REMARKS - Any remarks or special functions
The following special symbols appear in the table:
x - Values preceded by an "x" are extended ASCII codes, preceded by null
- - No ASCII code generated
* - No ASCII code is generated but the special function described in the
remarks column is performed.
The ALT key provides a way to generate the ASCII codes of decimal numbers in
the range 1 to 255. Hold down the ALT key while you type ON THE NUMERIC
KEYPAD any decimal number in the range of 1 to 255. When you release ALT,
the ASCII code of the number typed is generated and displayed.
NOTE: When the NUM LOCK light is off, the NORMAL and SHIFT columns for these
keys should be reversed (referring to the keypad).
All numeric values in the table are expressed in hexadecimal.
"!" means the scan code is different from the standard. Note that the ASCII
codes may still be different if not marked with "!".
QWERTY (USA) - Tandy 1000
Scan Kybd
Code Legend normal shift ctrl alt remarks
01 ESC 1b 1b 1b x8b
02 1 ! 31 21 xe1 x78
03 2 @ 32 40 x03 x79
04 3 # 33 23 xe3 x7a
05 4 $ 34 24 xe4 x7b
06 5 % 35 25 xe5 x7c
07 6 ^ 36 5e 1e x7d
08 7 & 37 26 xe7 x7e
09 8 * 38 2a xe8 x7f
0a 9 ( 39 28 xe9 x80
0b 0 ) 30 29 xe0 x81
0c - _ 2d 5f 1f x82
0d = + 3d 2b xf5 x83
0e BACK SPACE 08 08 7f x8c
0f TAB 09 x0f x8d x8e
10 q 71 51 11 x10
11 w 77 57 17 x11
12 e 65 45 05 x12
13 r 72 52 12 x13
14 t 74 54 14 x14
15 y 79 59 19 x15
16 u 75 55 15 x16
17 i 69 49 09 x17
18 o 6f 4f 0f x18
19 p 70 50 10 x19
1a [ { 5b 7b 1b xeb
1b ] } 5d 7d 1d -
1c ENTER 0d 0d 0a x8f MAIN KEYBOARD
1d CTRL * * * * CONTROL MODE
1e a 61 41 01 x1e
1f s 73 53 13 x1f
20 d 64 44 04 x20
21 f 66 46 06 x21
22 g 67 47 07 x22
23 h 68 48 08 x23
24 j 6a 4a 0a x24
25 k 6b 4b 0b x25
26 l 6c 4c 0c x26
27 ; : 3b 3a xf6 xf8
28 ' " 27 22 xf7 xf1
! 29 UP ARROW x48 x85 x90 x91
2a SHIFT * * * * LEFT SHIFT
! 2b LEFT ARROW x4b x87 x73 x92
2c z 7a 5a 1a x2c
2d x 78 58 18 x2d
2e c 63 43 03 x2e
2f v 76 56 16 x2f
30 b 62 42 02 x30
31 n 6e 4e 0e x31
32 m 6d 4d 0d x32
33 , < 2c 3c xf9 x89
34 . > 2e 3e xfa x8a
35 / ? 2f 3f xfb xf2
36 SHIFT * * * * RIGHT SHIFT
! 37 PRINT 10 * 72 x46 SCR PRINT TOGGLE
38 ALT * * * * ALTERNATE MODE
39 SPACE BAR 20 20 20 20
3a CAPS LOCK * * * * CAPS LOCK
3b F1 x3b x54 x5e x68
3c F2 x3c x55 x5f x69
3d F3 x3d x56 x60 x6a
3e F4 x3e x57 x61 x6b
3f F5 x3f x58 x62 x6c
40 F6 x40 x59 x63 x6d
41 F7 x41 x5a x64 x6e
42 F8 x42 x5b x65 x6f
43 F9 x43 x5c x66 x70
44 F10 x44 x5d x67 x71
45 NUM LOCK * * * * NUMBER LOCK
! 46 HOLD * * * * FREEZE DISPLAY
47 7 \ 37 5c x93 *
48 8 ~ 38 7e x94 *
49 9 PG UP 39 x49 x84 *
! 4a DOWN ARROW x50 x86 x96 x97
4b 4 | 34 7c x95 *
4c 5 35 xf3 xfc *
4d 6 36 xf4 xfd *
! 4e RIGHT ARROW x4d x88 x74 xea
4f 1 END 31 x4f x75 *
50 2 ` 32 60 x9a *
51 3 PG DN 33 x51 x76 *
52 0 30 x9b x9c *
! 53 - DELETE 2d x53 x9d x9e
! 54 BREAK x00 x00 * * CTRL BREAK is the ctrl brk
routine
ALT BREAK is the scroll lock
! 55 + INSERT 2b x52 x9f xa0
! 56 . 2e xa1 xa4 xa5 NUMERIC KEYPAD
! 57 ENTER 0d 0d 0a x8f NUMERIC KEYPAD
! 58 HOME x47 x4a x77 xa6
! 59 F11 x98 xa2 xac xb6
! 5a F12 x99 xa3 xad xb7
Keyboard layout (main keypad):
esc 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - = backsp
tab q w e r t y u i o p [ ]
control a s d f g h j k l ; ' enter
shift z x c v b n m , . / shift
capslock alt space
II.F. Processors, Coprocessors and Motherboards
- II.F.1. How can I increase the speed of the main processor?
You can replace an 8088 with an NEC V-20, or an 8086 with an NEC V-30, for
about a 30% speedup. Both chips are extremely cheap. The V-20 will work in
about 70% of original 1000's and 1000A's; in the other 30%, the machine will
either fail to boot or behave erratically with the V-20 installed. There is
no way of knowing in advance which machines the V-20 will work with. DCS
Industries and PC Enterprises sell V-20's and V-30's (see section IV.G.).
The 1000 and 1000A can take a daughterboard called the "PC Sprint" that
doubles the clock speed. The upgrade comes with both V-20 and 8088-2
processors, since as noted above it may be necessary on some systems to stay
with an Intel chip. The speedup from the PC Sprint is up to 100%, depending
on the application and whether the NEC chip can be used. DCS Industries
sells the PC Sprint.
There was a "286 Express" card made by PC Technologies for the 1000, 1000A,
and 1000SX and sold by Tandy. Those cards are no longer available new,
incompatible with some programs and expansion cards, and the SX tends to
lock up a lot with one. Other 286 or 386 in-circuit emulator cards will not
work.
Results with the 286 Express card are reportedly better when using the
card's TSR driver in AUTOEXEC.BAT rather than the CONFIG.SYS driver. It
may be necessary to disable 286 mode on the card to load some TSR's, such
as a mouse driver, and to run some programs.
For 286's, Evergreen made 386 and 486 daughterboards that you can replace
the 286 with. The daughterboards will fit in the TL, TL/2, and TX, but not
in the TL/3 or RLX's (due to space limitations inside the case). Improve
Technologies made similar daughterboards (theirs were called "Make it 386"
and "Make it 486"). PC Enterprises sells upgrade daughterboards for 286's.
There are programs to speed up the system by reducing the RAM refresh rate.
You can get 10-20% speedup with them, but be careful: setting the refresh
rate too low makes the memory unstable - and since the memory in the 1000-
series is not parity checked, the only sign that the rate is too low is
inexplicable system crashes.
The Cyrix 486SRx2 is a clip-on upgrade for 386SX's that should work in the
1000RSX's - if you can find it. (I've been looking for the 486DRx2, the
upgrade for 386DX's, for some time, and it is nowhere to be found.) You can
read about the upgrade on Cyrix's WWW site (http://www.cyrix.com/).
- II.F.2. Can I install a math coprocessor?
On the EX, HX, RL's, and RLX's, no (there's no socket). On the original
1000, you have to add a socket before you can add a chip (see below).
Otherwise, yes. DCS Industries and PC Enterprises sell math coprocessors
for the 1000's (see section IV.G.).
To install a math coprocessor in the original 1000, you had to remove the
8088 and plug a daughterboard in in its place. The 8088 and 8087 were
plugged into the daughterboard. The daughterboard was manufactured by
Trionix, 3563 Roosevelt #B, Carlsbad, CA 92008 and sold by Tandy. I don't
know whether it is available any more or not.
- II.F.3. Can I replace the motherboard?
Blasphemy! :-) Seriously, this is a definite "maybe." You need to make
sure (a) that the board is small enough to fit in the case, and (b) that the
slots in back line up with the openings in the case. You are likely to have
trouble with (b). DCS Industries sells 486 and Pentium replacement
motherboards for the SL's, TL's, RL's, RLX's, and RSX's; see section IV.G.
You are unlikely to be able to fit a replacement motherboard in the EX or
HX.
Replacement motherboards for the 1000's were reviewed in the December 1992
issue of _PCM_ (see section IV.C.).
- II.F.4. I want to slow my computer down so an old game will run.
Where is the turbo switch?
Some of the 1000-series have two speeds, usually normal speed and half-
speed, but there is no hardware turbo switch. Instead, additional para-
meters to the DOS Mode command are used: MODE SLOW (for half speed) and
MODE FAST (for normal speed). This is a special feature of Tandy DOS and
will disappear if you upgrade the DOS version (see section III.A.2.).
If you've already upgraded (so it's too late), you can try this program:
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/utilities/speed.zip
It was written for the 1000SX, but it works on the 1000TL and might work on
other 1000's as well.
On older 1000's, the speed may be toggled by pressing a key at boot time.
Ryan Davies <theputz@sympatico.ca> writes:
At least on the Tandy 1000 TX, you can slow down the system by pressing
F4 (I think that's the key) at startup to slow it down for the whole
session. This is necessary for DOS upgraders (I did to 6.2 -- big
mistake, I think). It changes mine from 8Mhz to 4Mhz.... [I]t says
right above the four function keys what they do at startup. Just remove
the writeable tab covering them.
There are also TSR's around to slow down a PC that you can use; check any
large ftp archive.
II.G. Serial Ports, Modems, and Mice
- II.G.1. Can I use a fast modem with my 1000?
If it's an internal modem, generally yes. A problem can arise with external
modems in that the serial port on (most?) of the 1000's has an 8250A UART,
which is not suitable for high-speed data transfers; you will need to
install another serial port with a 16550AN UART chip (see section II.G.4.).
On early models with 8088 or 8086 processors, you might not be able to use
a 28.8k modem at its full rate. Marc Williams <marcw@lightside.com> writes
the following:
One BBS I call I set PCPLUS up at 115K and the board works fine. Checked
with the W2 command and the connect is either 26.4K or 28.8K.
When I got this present batch of mail the connect was 28.8K but the modem
did what I expected. On only two boards in the past my modem had the
habit of its CD light blinking like crazy. Sometimes for only a few
seconds, sometimes so long the board will disconnect for inactivity. At
present when it does happen with the ISP (like today) I'll be
disconnected immediately.
Anyhind, back to the rate. Depending on the board I'm calling I usually
get 21.6K or 24K (IIRC) and with the internet stuff it's 26.4K with no
problems.
He has a 1000HX with a 16550AN UART and an external 28.8k modem.
14.4k modems should work fine in any system.
- II.G.2. Windows doesn't recognize the mouse on my RLX. What's wrong?
Windows expects the PS/2-type mouse on the RLX to use IRQ 12. The RLX
doesn't have IRQ's above 7. The solution is to buy a serial (Microsoft)
mouse.
To use the PS/2 mouse port on the RLX, you have to emable it with SETUPRLX.
There is a special (DOS) driver for it at Tandy's support WWW site (see
section IV.B.2.).
II.G.3. My system doesn't have a serial port. Can I add one?
II.G.4. Can I add another serial port?
The original 1000, 1000A, HD, EX, HX, and SX did not come with a serial
port. Of these, the original 1000, 1000A, HD, and SX can take a standard
serial port card that you can get anywhere. The EX and HX need a special
card because of their nonstandard slots; see section IV.G. for sources.
You can add a second serial port to any system, but the BIOS may not
recognize more than two. Again, the EX and HX need special cards. Having
the BIOS not recognize the port may not really be a problem, depending on
the software for the serial device involved (i.e., communication programs
usually program the port directly rather than through the BIOS). There are
also programs available to "manually" patch the BIOS serial port list in
low memory if need be, and you could easily make one with Debug. On my
1000TL, I found that a third serial port on COM4: would work, but COM3:
would not; the BIOS does not recognize the third port, but that's OK.
Be careful with multi-function cards that come with game ports and hard
drive or floppy drive controllers. If your system has built-in joystick
ports, you will have to use them instead of the ones on the card, since
they can't be disabled. Likewise, if the card comes with a hard drive
controller, you will have to disable it. None of the 1000's can use the
"el cheapo" AT IDE controllers that come on an I/O card. The floppy drive
controller on the card will also have to go. You can add a secondary
floppy controller, but you will need one with a built-in BIOS (see also
section II.C.1.).
+ II.G.5. What kind of mouse is this, and where do I get a driver for it?
Tandy sold at least 5 different types of mice for the 1000-series. First,
there was the standard Microsoft (serial) mouse. Second, the RSX's came
with a port for a standard PS/2 mouse. You can use the standard MOUSE.COM
or MOUSE.SYS for those two. Third, the RLX's have a connector for a PS/2
mouse, but it needs a special mouse driver because it uses a nonstandard
interrupt. The driver is on Tandy's support WWW site (see section IV.B.2.).
Fourth, the DigiMouse is a bus mouse using a special controller card, which
was available both as a standard 8-bit card (cat. no. 26-5144 or 25-1010)
and as a PLUS card (25-1015). Contact Tandy if you need a driver for it
(see section IV.A.). Fifth, the Color Mouse is a joystick made up to look
like a mouse (it plugs into a 6-pin joystick port). The driver for it is
called JOY.SYS; again, contact Tandy if you need it. The Color Mouse is so
called because it was the mouse used on the Color Computer (see section
IV.H.).
II.H. Parallel Ports and Printers
II.H.1. My printer keeps double-spacing. How do I make it stop?
According to Tony Gordon:
Well, on some Tandy printers, specifically the DMP models that I have
used (DMP 130, 130A) there are a bank of dip switches that control
various functions of the printer. One of them controls the LF/CR
signals. You can set it to LF=LF or LF=LF/CR (double spacing) LF=LF just
interprets the line feed. It will interpret the carriage return when it
is sent. LF=LF/CR means that when a LF is sent, the carriage is also
returned to home position, and since most lines come to the computer
with a CR/LF, you get double spacing.
Some people are hesitant about modifying dip switches and such, so you
can run LPINST and it will ask you a couple of questions about your
printer (whether it double spaces when you want single spacing or if it
prints on the same line without advancing the paper). It then
creates/updates an AUTOEXEC.BAT file with the correct DOS commands,
(i.e. LF and MODE) for your printer so that it will space properly.
- II.H.2. What kinds of printers can I use with a 1000?
Most types of printers can be used with a Tandy 1000 provided you use an
appropriate printer cable to connect to your computer. Be careful of laser
printers that expect a bidirectional parallel port, however (see section
II.H.5.). The printer port on the RSX's is bidirectional.
The TL/3, RL's, RLX's, and RSX's have a standard 25-pin connector.
However, a veteran programmer with Tandy writes:
"WARNING: Some newer printers can be blown out (or blow the computer
out) by connecting them to a TRS-80 model I, II, III, 4, 4P, 12, 16, or
100; or a Tandy 6000, 1000, 1200, or 2000. These systems used a
Centronics-standard printer interface and newer printers usually have a
IBM-PC printer interface. Trust IBM to not follow an existing industry-
standard and to use the same connector and 95% of the same signals.
Don't get burned."
Radio Shack sells a variety of different printer cables to solve such
problems, and your best bet is to check with them. The following
information was provided by:
William K. Walker
North Valley Digital
P.O. Box 1941
Kalispell MT 59903-1941
+1 (406) 257-2306
71066.24@compuserve.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------
PRINTER CABLE SELECTION GRID (PARTIAL)
--------------------------------------
COMPUTER TYPE "OLD": Any Tandy 1000 series except 1000RL's,
PRINTER "OLD" "NEW" RLX's, RSX, and TL/3. (These systems
------- ----- ----- have a card-edge printer port.)
CGP 115 A C "NEW": All other IBM compatibles, including
CGP 220 A C laptops. (These systems have a
DMP 100 A C normal 25-pin printer port.)
DMP 105 A C Tandy cable catalog numbers:
DMP 106 A C 6 foot 12 foot
DMP 107 A C A 26-0225 26-0222
DMP 110 A C B 26-0289 26-1259
DMP 120 A C C 26-0227 26-0223
DMP 130 A C D 26-0288 26-1258
DMP 130A A C E 26-1416
DMP 132 A C
DMP 133 A C
DMP 134 B D
DMP 135 B D
DMP 136 B D
DMP 137 B D
DMP 200 A C
DMP 202 B D
DMP 203 B D
DMP 204 B D
DMP 205 B D
DMP 206 B D
DMP 207 B D
DMP 2100 A C
DMP 2100P A C
DMP 2102 A C
DMP 2103 B D
DMP 2104 B D
DMP 2110 A C
DMP 2120 A C
DMP 2130 B D
DMP 2200 A C
DMP 240 B D
DMP 250 B D
DMP 300 A C
DMP 302 B D
DMP 310 B D
DMP 400 A C
DMP 420 A C
DMP 430 A C
DMP 440 A C
DMP 442 A C
DMP 500 A C
DWP I (Qume) A C
DWP II A C
DWP 210 A C
DWP 220 A C
DWP 230 A C
DWP 410 A C
DWP 510 A C
DWP 520 A C
FP 215 A C
JP 250 B D
Line Printer I A C
Line Printer II E
Line Printer III A C
Line Printer IV E
Line Printer V A C
Line Printer VI A C
Line Printer VII A C
Line Printer VIII A C
LMP 2150 A C
LP 400 B D
LP 410 B D
LP 800 B D
LP 950 B D
LP 990 B D
LP 1000 A C
Plotter Printer A C
Quick Printer II E
Screen Printer E
TRP 100 A C
IBM type printers B D
EPSON type B D
Panasonic type B D
----------------------------------------------------------------------
(I've added some to the above.) Printers that use cable types "B" or "D"
have a standard port. Printers that use cable types "A" or "C" have a port
that looks like a standard one but isn't. Printers that use cable type "E"
have a card edge connector.
Cable type "D" is the standard cable that you can get from your local
computer store. If you need one of the other cable types, you need to get
the special Tandy cable. If your Tandy printer is not listed, contact Tandy
customer support at 1-800-THE-SHACK (or email support@tandy.com) to find out
which cable you need. If your non-Tandy printer is not listed, use cable
"B" or "D", depending on what type of computer you have.
It is possible to make your own printer cable, but it is certainly not
worth it, considering the modest cost of the Tandy cables. If you want to
anyway, check out the article by David P. Miller, "Talking to Your
Printer," in _Computer News PC_, vol. 3, no. 12, pp. 12-14. (This is a
good article to read even if you're not making your own cable.) See also
sections II.H.3. and IV.G.
You can also install a standard parallel port in an expansion slot, if you
have a system with a card-edge printer port.
The serial ports on older Tandy printers are for connecting to the Color
Computer. They are not compatible with an IBM PC serial port.
(I'm printing postscript at 240x218 dpi on my DMP 132, using Linux
ghostcript and cable 26-0223. Don't throw it out if it ain't broke!)
II.H.3. What is the pinout for the card-edge printer connector?
You probably don't need to know this. See section II.H.2.
Tandy 1000 Card Edge Connector Printer Port Pinout
--------------------------------------------------
[Reprinted from Delphi forum message #20063, Dec. 19, 1991, by SANDLINJ.]
Ok, I looked up the pinout for the Tandy 1000 SX printer port -
hopefully it is the same as that on the HX. This is for a 34 pin CARD
EDGE connector cable (to centronix, but that is irrelevant).
The diagram I got this from did not show how the pins are numbered
physically.
pin Designation pin Designation
--- ----------- --- -----------
1 PPSTROB* 2 Ground
3 PPDATA0 4 Ground
5 PPDATA1 6 Ground
7 PPDATA2 8 Ground
9 PPDATA3 10 Ground
11 PPDATA4 12 Ground
13 PPDATA5 14 NC
15 PPDATA6 16 Ground
17 PPDATA7 18 Ground
19 PPACK* 20 Ground
21 PPBUSY 22 Ground
23 PPPAEM 24 Ground
25 PSEL* 26 NC
27 PPAUTOF* 28 PPFAULT
29 NC 30 PPINIT*
31 Ground 32 NC
33 Ground 34 +5V
That is how the data is listed in the Technical Reference for the Tandy
1000 SX.
I couldn't find a note to explain the (*) on some of the pins. I think
it might mean the signal is inverted (using a NOT gate), but I'm not
positive.
I'm also not sure but I think the numbering works like this: The odd
numbers are on the bottom, the even on the top of the card edge. They
should count from left to right going from lowest to highest. You
should be able to verify this with a voltmeter, since the 5V pin and the
Grounds are listed above.
- II.H.4. Can I connect my old Tandy printer to my new computer?
The short answer is "yes," as long as you use the right cable; see section
II.H.2. If you want the gruesome details, read the following.
Tandy confirmed (in a user newsletter) that permanent damage to the
computer can result when attaching old Tandy printers (DMP 133, 440 and
107, the LP 1000, and older models) to newer clones, particularly the
Packard Bell. The problem results from +5V being supplied by the printer
on pin 18, which is not standard for IBM.
There is a problem with double-spacing on old Tandy printers when connected
to newer machines. This problem is solved by covering pin 14 on the printer
cable at the computer end with Scotch tape (or by using a Tandy cable). The
problem can also be handled by a MODE LFOFF command at the DOS prompt, but
this will not work with all programs, particularly those with their own
printer drivers.
Old DMP's use Centronics pin 33 as the INIT line, while the IBM standard is
to tie that pin to ground. This places the DMP's in a permanent INIT
state, so they do not work.
Some old Tandy printers do not support the IBM/Epson control code set.
Reportedly, they can be upgraded to do so by replacing the printer's ROM
chip (the only such ROM upgrade that I know of is for the DMP 2110).
Wayne Day <76703.376@compuserve.com> writes:
A.D. You obviously saw the PC-to-Tandy cable comparison. Here it is,
again, so you can put it into the FAQ. Note, one of my members on
CompuServe did the work, and I don't know who it is, so please don't
credit me with this. [Sorry, Wayne ...]
IBM Cable Tandy Cable
25pin 36 pin 25pin 36 pin
1 --------- 1 1 --------- 1
2 --------- 2 2 --------- 2
3 --------- 3 3 --------- 3
4 --------- 4 4 --------- 4
5 --------- 5 5 --------- 5
6 --------- 6 6 --------- 6
7 --------- 7 7 --------- 7
8 --------- 8 8 --------- 8
9 --------- 9 9 --------- 9
10 -------- 10 10 -------- 10
11 -------- 11 11 -------- 11
12 -------- 12 12 -------- 12
13 -------- 13 13 -------- 18
14 -------- 14 14 --
15 -------- 32 15 -------- 32
16 -------- 31 16 -------- 33
17 -------- 36 17 --
18 ----*--- 16 18 -------- 23
19 ----|--- 19 19 -------- 24
20 ----|--- 20 20 -------- 25
21 ----|--- 21 21 -------- 26
22 ----|--- 22 22 -------- 27
23 ----|--- 23 23 -------- 28
24 ----|--- 24 24 -------- 29
25 ----|--- 25 25 -------- 30
|--- 26 -- 13
|--- 27 -- 14
|--- 28 -- 15
|--- 29 -- 16
|--- 30 -- 17
*--- 33 -- 19
-- 15 -- 20
-- 17 -- 21
-- 18 -- 22
-- 34 -- 31
-- 35 -- 34
-- 35
-- 36
Look at pins 13, 14, and 16, from the 25 pin side, and you'll find the
culprits. These three signals go to different places in the 36 pin
connector. All of the signals that are tied together in the IBM cable are
grounds, and the grounds in the Tandy cable are separate, so that grounding
takes place after the cable is hooked up. But pin 33 in the Tandy printers
is the initialize printer signal, and with the IBM cable, it's hooked to
ground, and knocks the printer off line.
Chances are that swapping pins 31 and 33 (at the printer end of the cable),
plus disconnecting pin 14 will probably do the job. If necessary,
also swap pins 13 & 18. It's probably less bother just to buy a Tandy
cable (see section II.H.2.).
- II.H.5. Can I use a parallel-port peripheral (other than a printer)
with my card-edge printer port?
You will need an adapter to convert the card-edge parallel port to a
standard one; PC Enterprises sells them (see section IV.G.). John D.
Patrick <jdpatric@students.uiuc.edu> reports that an external IOmega ZIP
drive can be used that way.
Beware, though. Ryan Davies <theputz@sympatico.ca> writes:
Please make mention to users wanting to attach other peripherals
(especially laser printers) to the existing card-edge printer port on all
Tandys with that kind of port that it is 4-bit (not bi-directional) and
any bi-directional attempt on this port can possibly even damage the
motherboard and fry the peripheral's system board. (not like I'm speaking
from experience or anything....)
He adds that "my Tandy's parallel port is dead." He has a 1000TX.
You should preferably get a bidirectional parallel port on an expansion card
and use that, unless you know from a reliable source that the peripheral you
plan to use will work on a unidirectional port.
II.I. Expansion Slots
- II.I.1. How can I get standard expansion slots on a 1000HX or EX?
DCS Industries sells a slot box you can use to add standard slots, but it's
expensive - see section IV.G. The slot box comes with four additional drive
bays and a 200-watt power supply.
Otherwise, you can make an adapter. As with any project where you're
modifying your computer's electronics, do this at your own risk.
The "PLUS"-style expansion slots in the 1000EX and 1000HX are not quite
electrically the same as an 8-bit IBM-standard expansion slot (see section
II.I.4.). One major difference is the lack of DMA in the EX and HX as they
came from the factory. A DMA chip is included on the expansion cards that
increase memory above 256k, available from Tandy and from the suppliers
listed in section IV.G.
Unfortunately, expansion cards that use the "PLUS" connector tend to be a
lot more expensive than the same cards that use the standard card-edge
connector - and there are a lot fewer of them available. (See section IV.G.
for some companies that sell such cards.)
I got this third hand; a gentleman named Jay Wigginton originally posted
this on some online service, perhaps America Online, in 1989. You need the
following parts:
(1) Radio Shack Plus Adapter Board, catalog number 25-1016. It was $14.95
in 1989; you might still get it from 1-800-THE-SHACK. This was a standard
8-bit card to which one of the special "PLUS" cards made for the 1000EX and
HX could be attached - essentially the reverse of the adapter you're
making.
(2) Female "PLUS" header connector, part number 8519257. This is a part
off of the 1000EX/HX "PLUS" memory expansion card referred to above. Get
it from Tandy National Parts (see section IV.G.). (You still need to have
the memory card itself if you want to get DMA, as noted above.)
(3) 31/62 pin edge connector, part number 8519236. This is a part off of
the 1000SX. It comes from Tandy National Parts also. It is the female
(motherboard) side of a standard 8-bit slot connector.
According to Mr. Wigginton, you first remove the male PLUS connector (by
desoldering) from (1), "being careful not to damage the board." Next, cut
the top off of (1) down to just above where the "PLUS" connector was. Cut
the "edge finger" (male edge connector) off of the bottom of (1), "leaving
about 1/8 inch of the gold fingers exposed below the solder mask (the green
covering on the board)" (Wigginton notes that that cut is optional - the
cutting is probably best done with a grinding wheel).
Now solder the female edge connector (3) to the holes left when you removed
the "PLUS" connector from (1). "It will be necessary to bend the pins so
that they fit," Wigginton notes. The connector should be attached on the
side of (1) with printing.
Finally, solder (2) to the edge fingers on (1). "Check all pins for shorts
to other pins. Use a continuity checker. This is very important; it will
not function if any pins are shorted together."
- II.I.2. How can I add additional expansion slots?
You can get a slot box, but it's expensive and may be cheaper to get a whole
new (secondhand) system. DCS Industries sells the slot boxes - see section
IV.G. If you're handy, you may be able to modify an old XT to work as a
slot box.
- II.I.3. What kinds of cards will work in the slots on a 1000?
The EX and HX will require special cards made for them. Other systems can
use most standard 8-bit cards. The cards will need to be 10" in length or
shorter to fit in the case; the types of cards to watch out for here are
hard cards and EMS cards - it's mostly old cards that are too long (the
original 8-bit IBM VGA card is also too long). The slots on the original
1000 and 1000A are physically the same as a standard 8-bit slot, but
electrically just *slightly* different; verify before purchasing that the
card will work, or take your chances (the odds are in your favor, though).
Only the RSX's can take 16-bit cards - though some 16-bit cards will work in
an 8-bit slot (some ISA VGA controllers, for example). Again, ask before
purchasing.
- II.I.4. What is the pinout for the PLUS expansion connector in the
1000HX and EX?
A1 NMI B1 Ground
A2 D7 B2 BRESET
A3 D6 B3 +5 Volts
A4 D5 B4 IRQ2
A5 D4 B5 N/C
A6 D3 B6 FDCMRQ
A7 D2 B7 -12 Volts
A8 D1 B8 N/C
A9 D0 B9 +12 Volts
A10 RDYIN B10 Ground
A11 AEN B11 MEMW*
A12 A19 B12 MEMR*
A13 A18 B13 IOW*
A14 A17 B14 IOR*
A15 A16 B15 N/C
A16 A15 B16 N/C
A17 A14 B17 N/C
A18 A13 B18 N/C
A19 A12 B19 REFRESH*
A20 A11 B20 CLK
A21 A10 B21 RFSH*
A22 A09 B22 BREQ*
A23 A08 B23 N/C
A24 A07 B24 IRQ4
A25 A06 B25 IRQ3
A26 A05 B26 FDCDACK*
A27 A04 B27 DMATC
A28 A03 B28 ALE
A29 A02 B29 Ground
A30 A01 B30 OSC
A31 A00 B31 Ground
Note that it is identical to a standard XT slot on the "A" side, but there
are several differences on the "B" side.
Some expansion cards used in the 1000-series have the same connector.
II.J. Game Ports, Joysticks, and Sound
- II.J.1. Can I use a standard joystick?
On the RSX and RSX-HD, yes. You need to get an expansion card with game
ports on it.
Otherwise, no, since you have built-in game ports that cannot be disabled.
The following systems have two 6-pin DIN (round) joystick ports: original
1000, 1000A, HD, EX, HX, SX, TX, SL's, TL's, and RL's. To install a
joystick on those systems, you need to use a Tandy-style joystick; you can
get a used one for about $10 and a new one for about $30 (see section
IV.G.). The RLX's have two 8-pin mini-DIN joystick ports. There is an
adapter available from Tandy for connecting a 6-pin joystick to the RLX's
ports. The 6-pin Tandy joystick is the same as used on the Color Computer.
The Tandy 1000 game ports are not 100% compatible with standard ports, but
they work most of the time, with most software.
If you have built-in game ports and try to use a standard joystick with an
expansion card, the new joystick will only work with some software, or only
when a joystick is connected to the built-in port, or only when it isn't -
or only when the moon is full on a Friday. (It seems to work on my 1000TL,
for now, though - not that I've given it much tryout.)
It may be possible to make an adapter to attach a standard joystick to the
6-pin port (see section II.J.4.).
- II.J.2. Can I emulate SoundBlaster with the Tandy DAC?
No. There are some programs for the Tandy DAC at my ftp site (see section
IV.B.1.).
If you want SoundBlaster compatibility, you can install a SoundBlaster or
SoundBlaster Pro in an expansion slot. If you do so, you will have to stop
using the Tandy DAC, since the SoundBlaster drivers will be confused by the
DAC BIOS routines.
It is possible to emulate the Covox Speech Thing (dumb DAC) with the Tandy
DAC, if your program supports that. Get file:
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/sound/tspak181.zip
II.J.3. Can I install a Tandy DAC in a normal PC?
Probably not. Tandy once made a PSSJ expansion card ("PSSJ" is the name of
the sound chip), but they are very rare. If you find the card, you will
need to jumper it for IRQ 7, DMA 1, as software for the Tandy DAC expects
those settings. The "SayIt" card from Roar Technology of Canada may be the
same (see section III.B.7.).
+ II.J.4. What is the pinout for the Tandy joystick?
The pinout for the 6-pin joystick connector is:
5 X 1
6
4 2
3
Where:
1 is Y-axis
2 is X-axis
3 is Ground (0V)
4 is Button 1
5 is +5V
6 is Button 2
The pinout for a standard joystick is:
--------------------------
\ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 /
\ 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 /
----------------------
pin assignment
1 +5V
2 stick 1 button 1
3 stick 1 X-axis
4 ground (0V)
5 ground (0V)
6 stick 1 Y-axis
7 stick 1 button 2
8 +5V
9 +5V
10 stick 2 button 1
11 stick 2 X-axis
12 ground (0V)
13 stick 2 Y-axis
14 stick 2 button 2
15 +5V
II.K. Miscellaneous
II.K.1. Radio Shack wants $4000 for a 20 Meg hard drive. Where can I
get it cheaper?
See section IV.G.
II.K.2. When I turn my computer on, it just beeps a lot and refuses to
boot. Why does it do that?
BEEP ERROR CODES
It is normal for a XT or AT clone to beep once or twice during the POST
test. More that this indicates a severe error. Beep codes are issued as a
sequence of three sets of beeps. For example, BEEP {pause} BEEP BEEP
{pause} BEEP BEEP is the code represented as 1--2--2. The Phoenix ROM name
is listed by each beep code.
1--1--3 CMOS WRITE/READ FAILURE
1--1--4 ROM BIOS CHECKSUM ERROR
1--2--1 PROGRAMMABLE INTERVAL TIMER FAILURE
1--2--2 DMA INITIALIZATION FAILURE
1--2--3 DMA PAGE REGISTER WRITE/READ FAILURE
1--3--1 RAM REFRESH VERIFICATION FAILURE
1--3--3 FIRST 64K RAM CHIP OR DATA LINE FAILURE, MULTI-BIT
1--3--4 FIRST 64K ODD/EVEN LOGIC FAILURE
1--4--1 ADDRESS LINE FAILURE 64K OF RAM
1--4--2 PARITY FAILURE FIRST 64K OF RAM
2--1--1 BIT 0 FIRST 64K RAM FAILURE
2--1--2 BIT 1
2--1--3 BIT 2
2--1--4 BIT 3
2--2--1 BIT 4
2--2--2 BIT 5
2--2--3 BIT 6
2--2--4 BIT 7
2--3--1 BIT 8
2--3--2 BIT 9
2--3--3 BIT 10
2--3--4 BIT 11
2--4--1 BIT 12
2--4--2 BIT 13
2--4--3 BIT 14
2--4--4 BIT 15 FIRST 64K RAM FAILURE
3--1--1 SLAVE DMA REGISTER FAILURE
3--1--2 MASTER DMA REGISTER FAILURE
3--1--3 MASTER INTERRUPT MASK REGISTER FAILURE
3--1--4 SLAVE INTERRUPT MASK REGISTER FAILURE
3--2--4 KEYBOARD CONTROLLER TEST FAILURE
3--3--4 SCREEN INITIALIZATION FAILURE
3--4--1 SCREEN RETRACE TEST FAILURE
4--2--1 TIMER TICK FAILURE
4--2--2 SHUTDOWN TEST FAILURE
4--2--3 GATE A20 FAILURE
4--2--4 UNEXPECTED INTERRUPT IN PROTECTED MODE
4--3--1 RAM TEST ADDRESS FAILURE
4--3--3 INTERVAL TIMER CHANNEL 2 FAILURE
4--3--4 TIME OF DAY CLOCK FAILURE
4--4--3 MATH COPROCESSOR FAILURE
II.K.3. Where can I get diagnostic software for the 1000's?
Call Tandy National Parts (see section IV.G.).
- II.K.4. What is this connector marked "light pen"?
The original 1000, 1000A, HD, and SX had a connector for a light pen. This
is not a serial port. It is pretty useless since there are very few light
pens around to plug into it. Remember the cassette port on the original
IBM PC? Another useless port.
There were two light pens sold for the 1000. The CPT/S color/monochrome
light pen (Radio Shack cat. no. 90-2085) sold for $179.95. It could not be
used to emulate a mouse. The CPT/S was made by The Light Pen Company, 12500
Beatrice Street, Los Angeles, CA 90066. The WS-250 light pen (cat. no.
90-2069) sold for $199.99. There was a Penmouse program available for it
that might enable it to emulate a mouse. Penmouse was originally sold
separately for $49.99, though later it was included with the pen. The
WS-250 was made by Warp Speed Computer Products, 555 S. Inglewood Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90230.
If you have a light pen, it is software-compatible with the PCjr light pen,
according to Frank Durda. There are not very many programs around that
support a light pen, but there are some. I don't have a list. Consult a
book on the PCjr for programming information (the light pen is programmed
through the video controller).
- II.K.5. I just got a 1000 at a yard sale, and it didn't come with
disks or manuals or anything. Where can I get some?
Your local Radio Shack can get replacement disks for you at around $7.99
per diskette. They can also get replacement manuals, photocopied if need
be. They may even have a CDROM on premises with the stuff you want, from
which they can make copies. Some Radio Shacks, unfortunately, pretend they
can't do it, however. (Your luck may be better at busy Radio Shacks in the
bigger cities - they tend to have more knowledgeable staff.)
If all else fails, call Tandy customer support (see section IV.A.) or Tandy
National Parts (see section IV.G.). If Tandy National Parts no longer
carries the manuals you need, call Tandy Publications at (817) 390-3861 to
arrange for a photocopy.
II.K.6. What are the jumper/switch settings for my 1000 or my Tandy
adapter card?
Some of them may be given in your owner's manual. Use Tandy Technical
Faxback to find out about the others (see section IV.A.).
_1000's Tech Notes and Jumper Manual, Volumes 1 and 2_ contains
jumper/switch settings for all 1000's and Tandy adapter cards (see section
IV.D.).
+ II.K.7. I just got a 1000 secondhand, and it has some expansion card
in it that I can't identify. How do I find out about it?
If it's a Tandy card, check Tandy's support WWW site for information (see
section IV.B.2.).
Note that the 1000's can use most any expansion card that works in an IBM
XT, so the possibilities are nearly endless.
For the original 1000, 1000A, and 1000HD, which were less compatible than
later models, several companies marketed custom cards, and most of those
companies are long gone now. Since those systems only had 3 expansion
slots, multifunction boards were popular. The boards commonly included a
DMA chip, memory upgrade to 640k, a serial port, a clock chip, a PLUS
connector for an additional PLUS-type expansion card, and/or EMS memory.
Some of these were:
PBJ MFB-1000, sold by PBJ, 5725 Kennedy Boulevard, North Bergen, NJ 07047
TanPak, sold by Hard Drive Specialist, 16208 Hickory Knoll, Houston, TX
77059
Micro Mainframe 4N1, sold by Micro Mainframe, 120 Blue Ravine Road #2,
Folsom, CA 95630
Zuckerboard Multifunction Board, sold by Advanced Transducer Devices,
1287 Lawrence Station Road, Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Matthew Electronics Master/Card, sold by Automation Facilities Corp.,
6383 Rose Lane, Carpinteria, CA 93013
PCA Multiboard, sold by PCA Technology, 2512 Pegasus Drive, Bakersfield,
CA 93308
Z Multifunction Board, sold by Howard Medical Computers, 1690 Elston,
Chicago, IL 60622
PIC DMA Half Megaboard, sold by PIC (no address known - phone was (714)
261-0503)
Several of the above companies also sold other cards for the original 1000
and 1000A, as well as PLUS cards for the EX and HX.
The FCC has a BBS you can call to get the name and address of the
manufacturer of any item with an FCC ID number on it. Call (301) 725-1072
with 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity.
+ II.K.8. When I turn the system on, it just displays the memory size
and sits there. What's happening?
If you're not getting a beep code indicating a hardware problem (see section
II.K.2.), then the EEPROM is seriously messed up. If you have a hard drive,
try unplugging the data cable and see if it boots then; also try removing
- all* the expansion cards. If it still doesn't work, you will have to take
the machine in to Radio Shack for an EEPROM replacement. The current price
for service at Radio Shack is $95 flat rate for labor, plus parts. DCS
Industries sells used motherboards that may be cheaper, depending on the
system (see section IV.G.).
FYI, it is possible to wipe the EEPROM by removing it from the machine and
placing it pins down on a flat metal surface for a day or so - BUT removing
the EEPROM chip requires a special extraction tool, and you are likely to
damage the motherboard if you try to remove it yourself.
Some 1000's have a lithium coin battery in them, but that battery is not
connected to the EEPROM - it operates the (nonstandard) clock chip. Hence,
it is useless on these systems to remove the battery and wait for the EEPROM
to discharge, which will never happen.
III. Software Questions
III.A. DOS
- III.A.1. My system has DOS in ROM. How do I upgrade the DOS version?
If you're using a hard drive, run FDISK to make sure the first partition is
marked "active" (bootable), then install the DOS upgrade on the drive.
Run the system setup program. Set PRIMARY START-UP DEVICE to DISK (not
ROM), and set INITIAL START-UP PROGRAM to MS-DOS (not DESKMATE).
You also have to specify where to look for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT.
There are two options. If you tell SETUPxx to look for the files on C:,
then the machine will always use the files on C:, regardless of whether
there is a floppy in the drive at startup. If CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
on C: get messed up, the machine becomes unbootable (see section III.A.4.).
It is probably safer to tell SETUPxx to look for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT
on A:. That way, it will check the floppy drive for the files, and if there
is no diskette in the drive it will use the files on C:. This will allow
you to override CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on your hard drive if they get
messed up.
If you don't have a hard drive and you set PRIMARY START-UP DEVICE to DISK,
you will have to use a bootable floppy. It is, of course, invalid to
specify that CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT are on C: in that case. Even if
you have a hard drive, you should make a bootable diskette with the new
version of DOS and the system setup program on it for emergencies (see
section III.A.4.).
Note that your ROM drive disappears when you upgrade DOS (see section
III.A.2.).
- III.A.2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of upgrading DOS?
The advantages are pretty much common knowledge. Upgrading DOS can give
you upper memory blocks (saving conventional memory), online help, task
switching, Interlink (for transferring files between computers), and hard
drive compression. Many people have upgraded successfully.
Here are the disadvantages, according to Tandy:
The early 1000's up to and including the 1000TX computer have problems
formatting and reading floppy drives to their fullest capacity with any
DOS higher than DOS 3.2. These formatting and reading problems show
themselves as a 720K drive behaving as a 360K drive. The 1000's have
also shown problems with hard drive FAT tables being scrambled or
corrupted by DOS version higher than 3.2, thereby rendering the hard
drive inoperable!
The 1000's ROM DOS-Based systems will lose the use of Deskmate if any
other version of DOS is loaded other than the one it was shipped with.
The Tandy 1000 ROM DOS based computers are either 8088, 8086, or
286XT's, because of this they can't load DOS into high memory.
Therefore all of DOS must reside in base memory, (640K) leaving less of
it free for programs to run in. The original DOS 3.2 or 3.3 leaves
between 557K to 575K of free memory for programs to run in.
Installation of DOS 5.0 or 6.0 may scramble the EEPROM chip beyond
recoverability on the Tandy 1000 ROM-DOS based computers. This will
[cause] the computer to lock with the 640K memory size displayed on the
screen and fail to boot any further. To correct this problem the
computer will have to have it's EEPROM chip replaced at a repair depot.
The Kernel of DOS 6.0 is the same size as that of DOS 5.0 but 17K
larger than that of DOS 3.3. After the DOS kernel and a mouse driver
have been loaded into memory you are left with approximately 538K to
545K of free memory. If you use DoubleSpace to increase the hard drive
size, DOS 6.0 will automatically load a 42K driver to support the
compressed drive. This will leave approximately 496K to 503K of free
memory for software to run in. As most programs for these machines
require between 540K to 580K of free memory, this will leave
insufficient base memory for these programs to run in.
If you have any questions about DOS upgrades on any systems call
COMPUTER SUPPORT at (705) 728-7474 /Ext. 4327 before installing.
Here's more:
MS-DOS 4.01
This operating system is exclusively for use on true (i.e. AT
Compatible) 80286, 80386 and 80486 computer systems. It is not to be
used on any Tandy 1000 computer available as of this date. It will not
work properly on any Tandy 8088 or Tandy 8086 based computer system. We
will not support this configuration and will recommend the immediate
return to and re-installation of MS-DOS 3.2 or 3.3 depending on the
particular Tandy 1000 involved. In addition to this, MS-DOS 4.01 is
significantly larger and consumes more conventional memory than any
other version.
MS-DOS 5.0
Tandy 1000, 1000A, 1000SX, 1000TX, 1000HD, 1000SL, 1000SL/2, 1000HX,
1000EX, 1000TL, 1000TL/2, 1000TL/3 and 1000RL only have 640K of RAM
available maximum for MS-DOS and therefore will result in less available
memory for software if MS-DOS 5.0 is installed. This is a major
limitation and in most cases more than offsets the benefits listed
above.... If one complains of software not loading we will recommend a
return to the original MS-DOS version. This will likely mean the
potential loss of data on the hard drive since it is extremely difficult
to move large data files to an earlier version of DOS.
One final consideration concerns the 'ROM based computers' that we
recently and currently sell with MS-DOS Version 3.3. If these computers
are 'upgraded' to MS-DOS 5.0, then DeskMate becomes unavailable. Since
MS-DOS 5.0 does not recognize a DOS 3.3 ROM, one will be forced to
purchase a generic version of DeskMate (25-1351) and may not be able to
transfer the related files to the new version.... In addition some
systems, even with the generic version of DeskMate, may require further
hardware upgrades to allow even this version to load with MS-DOS 5.0.
There is a problem reported with frequent lockups on the 1000SX, corrected
by upgrading the DOS version from Tandy DOS 3.20.00 to 3.20.22. Tandy does
not support any higher version than this on the SX; they are said to be
unstable. In addition, the task swapper in DOS 5 Dosshell will lock up a
1000SX.
DR DOS 6.0 is reported not to recognize a second floppy drive on a 1000TL.
DRIVPARM, DRIVER.SYS, and SETUPTL/A were all tried without success (there
is a workaround). There has also been a problem with reformatting the hard
drive to make it a single partition. It is also reported that 720k disk
access is very slow with DR DOS; this was corrected (4/92) by an update
disk from Novell. Intermittent problems occur in reading diskettes
formatted with the "quick" format option in DR DOS on Tandy machines. The
standalone version of DeskMate is incompatible with the SuperStor disk
compression bundled with DR DOS; DeskMate must use an uncompressed disk
partition.
Older-model 1000's have problems when the DOS is upgraded, in that 720k
drives are seen as 360k drives. That problem can be fixed by using DRIVPARM
or DRIVER.SYS in CONFIG.SYS; see your DOS manual. There is also a program
called Setbpb35 that can fix the problem. You can get it from:
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/utilities/setbpb.zip
Kevin Kramer <cigar@saturn.superlink.net> reported the same problem (720k
formatted as 360k) with MS-DOS 2.0 on the 1000HX, so the problem apparently
exists with *any* version of DOS other than one designed for the machine.
Kevin is using a shareware program called "make720" to solve it.
IBM PC-DOS 7 is recommended over MS-DOS for older computers. PC-DOS comes
with REXX, the powerful batch-programming language used on IBM mainframes,
and PC-DOS works well on even the oldest PC-compatible. As far as Microsoft
goes, MS-DOS 3.3 is probably the best version for XT-class systems (the
entire 1000-series, excluding the RLX's and RSX's.)
Ryan Davies <theputz@sympatico.ca> reports that DOS 6.2 will not run at 8MHz
on the 1000TX (see section II.F.4.).
It is often necessary on the 1000-series to use the /I option with the DOS 6
Setup program to disable hardware detection.
The internationalization features of MS-DOS 3.3 were sold separately for
Tandy DOS 3.3. The catalog number for the internationalization disk was
700-4109. Tandy DOS 3.3 was 25-4109. On the 1000TL with the original DOS
and video, it is possible to change the code page (character set) to
European characters with SETUPTL /A.
Given the disadvantages, you may choose to add third-party utilities to get
the new DOS features you want, rather then upgrading the DOS version. For
example, there is a shareware task switcher called Back and Forth that
works very well with Tandy DOS 3.3. 4DOS is a replacement shell (it runs
instead of COMMAND.COM) that provides many of the features of newer DOSes
with your existing DOS. Norton Commander is also said to be a good shell.
If you do upgrade your DOS, you should save the disks for the original DOS,
since it contains some customized features for your machine. The MODE
command can often be used to change the CPU speed or the screen colors, for
example. If you have a Color Mouse, you will need to retain JOY.SYS, the
device driver for it. The customized GW-Basic is another thing you need to
keep, since it includes support for Tandy graphics and sound that the Basic
in the DOS upgrade will not. You need to keep the HINSTALL program as well
on systems that support an XT IDE drive.
III.A.3. How can I change CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT?
On systems with DOS in ROM, these files (if they exist) are, by default, on
the ROM drive and so cannot be modified. To get a modifiable CONFIG.SYS or
AUTOEXEC.BAT, you need to run your system setup program and tell it to look
for CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT on the hard drive or on the first floppy
drive.
- III.A.4. I screwed up my CONFIG.SYS on my hard drive, and now I can't
boot the system to fix it - it ignores bootable diskettes!
On a system with DOS in ROM, there are at least three ways of making the
machine unbootable. First, if you have a hard drive and you're set up to
boot from DISK, the first partition on the hard drive needs to be a valid
bootable partition. If it does not contain valid copies of the MS-DOS
system files, the machine will not boot. Second, if you have a hard drive
and you set up the machine to look for CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT on C:,
those files, if they exist, need to be valid. If they are not, there is no
way of overriding them, so if the commands in those files mess up the
machine so it won't run, you're locked out. Third, it is possible to mess
up the EEPROM to such a degree that the BIOS can make no sense of it at all.
The symptom of that is that the system freezes at the memory size display
and refuses to boot further. The only way to fix that is to take the
machine in for an EEPROM replacement (see section II.K.8.).
For the first two problems, you need to open up the machine and physically
disconnect the hard drive, for example by disconnecting the data cable at
the controller - with the power off, of course. Close the machine back up
and turn it on.
Depending on your setup, one of two things may happen. If you have the
machine set up to look for CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT on C:, the BIOS
will complain that the setup is invalid and boot from ROM into DeskMate (the
factory default). Hit <esc> to exit DeskMate and get to a DOS prompt.
Otherwise, the machine will ask you to insert a bootable floppy. Do so.
How you proceed from here depends on what kind of problem you're trying to
fix. If the problem is that CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT on the hard
drive is messed up, run SETUPxx from a floppy and tell it to look for
CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on A:. Save the changes. Unplug the machine
and reconnect the hard drive data cable. Close the machine up again, put a
floppy with valid CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files on it in the drive, and
turn on the machine. Fix CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT on the hard drive.
If your hard drive is not bootable (so you are booting from ROM), run
SETUPxx again and tell it to look for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on C:.
Otherwise (if you are booting from DISK), you can just leave it as looking
for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on A: to avoid this problem in the future.
If you boot from DISK and have it set to look for the files on A:, it will
use the files on C: if there is no floppy in the drive at boot time.
If you are running the original version of DOS, and the problem is that you
are set up to boot from DISK but the hard drive is not valid for booting for
some reason other than a messed up CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT, run
SETUPxx from a floppy and tell it to boot from ROM. Save the changes.
Unplug the machine and reconnect the hard drive data cable. Close up the
machine again. If you have it set up to look for CONFIG.SYS and
AUTOEXEC.BAT on A:, put a floppy with valid files in the drive. Turn on the
machine and fix the hard drive, then run SETUPxx again and set it up the way
you want.
If you have upgraded your DOS version, and the problem is that the hard
drive is not valid for booting for some reason other than a messed up
CONFIG.SYS and/or AUTOEXEC.BAT, run SETUPxx from a floppy. Tell it to boot
from ROM and not to use CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT (i.e., set "CHECK FOR
CONFIG.SYS ON DRIVE" and "CHECK FOR AUTOEXEC.BAT ON DRIVE" to NO). Save the
changes. Unplug the machine and reconnect the hard drive data cable. Close
up the machine again. Turn it on; it will boot from ROM into the original
DOS. Put a bootable floppy with your current version of DOS, whatever
device drivers you need, and valid CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files in the
floppy drive. Locate the ROM drive, which may be C:, D:, or E:. Run
RESTART.COM from the ROM drive. Press F1 to restart from the floppy,
booting your current DOS. Fix the hard drive. Run SETUPxx again and tell
it to boot from DISK and look for CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT on A:. If you
boot from DISK and have it set to look for the files on A:, it will use the
files on C: if there is no floppy in the drive at boot time.
I don't know whether every 1000 with ROM DOS comes with RESTART.COM. If
you've upgraded your DOS, but you don't have RESTART.COM, you might have to
repartition and reformat your hard drive. I'm sure I haven't covered all
the possibilities, but you get the general idea.
III.B. DeskMate
III.B.1. My system has DeskMate in ROM. How do I upgrade?
You can upgrade your DeskMate to version 3.05 (the last) in one of two
ways, either (a) buy the retail (PC-compatible) version of DeskMate 3.05
(see section III.B.2.); or purchase a BIOS upgrade (see section III.E.2.).
If you want to upgrade your DOS version as well, it is preferable to get
the disk-based DeskMate, since upgrading DOS requires that you disable the
ROM DeskMate (see section III.A.2.).
- III.B.2. I recently upgraded from my old 1000, and I really miss
DeskMate! How can I get it back?
You can buy the generic PC-compatible version of DeskMate 3.05, catalog
number 25-1351, through your local Radio Shack. This version runs from
disk and does not require a ROM.
This may only be me and my peculiar system, but I was unable to run DM 3.05
on my Tandy 4033LX (386DX/33), owing to an apparent incompatibility between
3.05 and DOS 6.22 EMM386. DeskMate 3.05 ran fine with DOS 5.0 on my 386.
Anyway, since upgrading to DOS 6.22 I am now using the PC-compatible version
of DeskMate 3.03, catalog number 25-1350. This older version of DeskMate is
prone to trouble with hard drive partitions larger than 32 megabytes, but in
my case that has not been a problem, since while my drive is larger than
that it is not large enough to trigger the arithmetic miscalculation in the
DeskMate get_free_space() function that causes the trouble. I surmise that
the problem is due to the fact that DeskMate 3.05 will attempt to use
expanded or shadow RAM if available, and that that access is somehow in
conflict with DOS 6.22 EMM386 (but not DOS 5.0 EMM386). DeskMate 3.03 does
not use either expanded or shadow RAM, and like DM 3.05, you can still order
it from Tandy.
- III.B.3. I upgraded my DOS version, and now DeskMate is gone. How do
I get it back?
I've written a device driver to reenable access to the ROM drive where
DeskMate resides after the drive has been rendered invisible by a DOS
upgrade. The driver is on my ftp site:
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/utilities/romdrive.zip
Romdrive is known to work on the 1000TL and TL/2. If you try it on another
system, let me know whether it works. There may be an older version of
Romdrive floating around out there. That version does *not* work. Get the
one from my site above. The correct version is dated May 1997 or later.
DeskMate earlier than 3.05 has trouble with hard drive partitions larger
than 32 megabytes, so if you reformatted your drive when you upgraded DOS
you may have trouble with the original DeskMate.
If Romdrive does not work, or you don't want to use it, you can buy the
generic PC-compatible version of DeskMate 3.05; see section III.B.2.
Otherwise, as a somewhat inconvenient workaround, you can run your system
setup program, set the boot device back to ROM, and reboot with the original
DOS and DeskMate. To go back to the new DOS version, run SETUPxx again, go
back to booting from disk, and reboot once more. This may not work if you
reformatted your hard drive when you upgraded DOS, since the old DOS may not
be able to access the drive.
- III.B.4. DeskMate Sound and Music won't work when the printer is
connected but not turned on. What gives?
Ken Udut provided the following information:
Re: Deskmate sound/music doesn't work with printer turned [off].
I will find the offical Tandy explanation. But it has to do with the
fact that the digitial chip is also used with the printer (as well as
the joysticks). I don't know how/why they did it, and the official
explanation says more.
Solutions:
1) Make certain that your printer is on *before* you boot the computer
up. This usually works.
2) Unplug the printer cable from the back of the computer, or the back
of the printer. This *always* works.
NOTE: If you boot up the computer without the printer on, and Deskmate
Sound/Music or other programs using the Tandy DAC don't work right
(plays only a portion then stops, doesn't play at all, or makes an awful
bleep-bleep-bleep-bleep while playing the music), turn the printer on
-now-, and see if that helps it.
Here is the official Tandy explanation:
Does your sound sometimes fail to work when you have a printer connected
to your 2500 XL? There's a simple answer. There is a single chip that
controls printer, sound and joystick. If you have a printer connected to
your 2500 XL, it should be powered on before you boot the computer. If
it's connected and not powered up, the chip will get confused. Turn the
printer on, and reboot. Everything should work fine. If the printer is
disconnected, of course, it will also work fine.
(The 2500XL has the same PSSJ chip as the 1000SL's, TL's, RL's, RLX's, and
RSX's.)
III.B.5. How can I write my own programs for DeskMate?
You need to get a copy of the DeskMate Software Developer's Kit for
DeskMate 3.0x (there is no SDK for DeskMate 1, 2 or Personal DeskMate).
The SDK was originally sold by Tandy for $299. You might find used copies
around; check with companies that used to develop for DeskMate and see if
they're willing to part with their copy. (It may also be said that many
copies of the SDK around are pirate copies - ask for them in
comp.sys.tandy.) Tandy doesn't have any legit copies around to sell
anymore, though sometimes they can get replacement disks if one of yours is
damaged. BTW, AST now holds the rights to DeskMate, and they have the
source code in their archives, but they're not set up to answer questions
about it. (AST Works was originally built on the DeskMate code base.)
The SDK includes libraries, a dialog box editor and other utilities (with
varying degrees of bugginess), and 2 8.5x11" manuals. It supports
Microsoft C, Microsoft Macro Assembler, Turbo Assembler, Turbo C, and
Borland C (or any compiler that supports Microsoft libraries - which is
most). The compiler needs to be ANSI-compliant, unless you want to edit
all the header files to delete the formal parameters in the function
prototypes. Each version of the SDK comes with that version of DeskMate
and supports that version's features (any version can make programs that
run under any version of DeskMate 3). The DeskMate runtime (used if you
want your programs to be able to run under bare DOS) is available free of
charge to licensed owners of the SDK, but is not distributed with it.
The best compiler for DeskMate is probably Microsoft C 6.0 Professional
Edition; that compiler contains "altmath" libraries which are compatible
with DeskMate's task-switching scheme. (Otherwise, you use floating-point
math in a DeskMate program at your own risk - DeskMate will not swap the
coprocessor emulation vectors on a task switch.) The DeskMate libraries
only support the small and medium memory models, though one could make
other models work with appropriate use of the "near" keyword.
According to Steven Lindell <slindell@haverford.edu>:
I called Star software (800) 443-5737, the last developer to market a
DeskMate product (Outliner and Graph companions: they are multiwin-
dowed!). The person there said that they did not recommend the devel-
oper's kit, but that they might be willing to sell their copy for $200.
It is C-based, has poor documentation, some bugs, and does not offer
good support in that Star claimed they had to write most things them-
selves anyway. However, the decision to get and use this should be up
to the individual. If anyone does get and use it, the rest of us in
TandyLand would like to know your impressions."
If you get a copy of the SDK, two people with some experience with it are
Robert Stinnett <c592073@showme.missouri.edu> and me <tvdog@agate.net>.
- III.B.6. I upgraded my video to VGA, and now DeskMate refuses to run.
What do I do?
You need to get the DeskMate VGA driver. The driver is either DMVDVGA.RES
(for DeskMate 3.00 to 3.02) or DMVSVGA.RES (for DeskMate 3.03 or later). For
DeskMate 3.05, you also need DMVEVGA.RES for font support. You can get a
copy through your local Radio Shack, or from a Tandy ftp or WWW site (see
section IV.B.1.). Note: DMVSVGA does not mean it's for SVGA; all the video
drivers for DM 3.03 or later are DMVS*.RES. There is no SVGA driver for
DeskMate (the VGA driver will of course work).
You might actually have the video driver you need under another name, if
you have any third-party applications for DeskMate. Most (if not all)
third-party DeskMate applications came with a DOS runtime version that
includes all the video drivers, but runtime versions 3.02 and earlier use
different names for resources - resource.RRS instead of resource.RES. The
runtime video resources are the same as the DeskMate resources and will
work under DeskMate 3.02 or earlier if you change their names.
In the meantime note the following. By default, DeskMate will detect the
video present in the system and use the appropriate video driver,
DMVD*.RES. There is a program to alter this behavior, however: DMVID.EXE.
DMVID can cause DeskMate to use a particular video driver without going
through the autodetect routine. Note that without running DMVID, DeskMate
will not run unless it finds the driver it thinks it needs. Thus, if you
have an EGA driver but not VGA, you could go DMVID EGA at the DOS prompt to
get you by till you get the right driver. (You will need to run DMVID AUTO
when you have the driver.)
- III.B.7. Is there a program for DeskMate that does (x)?
Kenneth Udut furnished the following list:
Here is a list of previous Deskmates and their approximate dates. I
would like information on the CoCo and Model IV Deskmates, as I don't
know much about them.
Deskmate 1 - Versions bundled with Tandy 1000/A/HD/EX/SX
[The SX actually came with DeskMate 2, but it was not
Personal DeskMate or Professional DeskMate. The EX came
with Personal DeskMate.]
Deskmate 2 - Included Personal Deskmate and Professional Deskmate.
Bundled with Tandy 1000 HX, TX. Look and feel are VERY
similar to Deskmate 3, and the programs will almost ALL
work with Deskmate 3. Some third party applications
were written for Deskmate 2, but I don't know what they
were. Anyone know?
Deskmate 3 - Versions bundled with Tandy 1000 RL/SL/TL/RLX, 2500SX, and
available for the 1000 RSX, the most mysterious and last
Tandy 1000. Was also available standalone to work with
*any* computer (version 3.05). Each version bundled
with the Tandy computers was different.
3.00 - on ROM chip in SL/TL
3.01 - Mysterious "SWITCH.EXE" is really Deskmate 3.01.
3.02 - on ROM chip in SL/2 TL/2
3.03 - on ROM chip in TL/2
3.04 - on ROM chip in RL
3.05 - on ROM chip in 2500SX, 1000RSX(?). Available
for $99.95 at Radio Shacks for standard IBM
compatibles. Discounted at $19.95 and is worth
picking up. Spanish version still for sale
as of late 1994.
3.05.22 - on ROM chip with RLX(?). Includes some VERY
customized programs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DESKMATE PROGRAMS THAT RUN WITHOUT REQUIRING THE DESKMATE 3 PROGRAM.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- DESKMATE 3 Main program. Includes many programs. Friendly!
Made by Tandy Corp.
[DeskMate 3.05, catalog number 25-1351, is still
available from Tandy - see section IV.A.]
- QUICKEN 2 Checkbook balancer, personal accounting program.
Made by INTUIT.
- MEMORYMATE Freeform database program. Allows you to store an
unlimited amount of text and other things and search
through it all at will. I (Ken) have been using this
program since 1988, and I have to say that I will be
using it forever. All of my little scraps of notepaper
go into MemoryMate, and I use it. I could not live
without it. Oh, and you can make HyperText documents
with it very very easily. All of my important E-mail
is kept in MemoryMate, and linked together with buttons.
Made by Broderbund.
- VENTURE Business Plan writer. Includes its OWN text editor,
as well as schedulers, and others for the small businessman.
Made by Star Software.
- HOME LAWYER Home Legal Advisor. It allows you to create professional
legal documents without a lawyer. Bill of sale, letters
to creditors, and other things adults unfortunately need
to do once in a while.
Made by ?
- Q&A WRITE Word processor. Uses printer fonts. Includes
ability to mailmerge in more flexible ways than TEXT.
You can edit much larger files.
Made by Symantec.
- HOMEWORD II Word processor. WYSIWYG.
Made by Sierra.
- GRAMMAR CHECKER I may have the wrong name of this. Corrects grammar
mistakes.
Made by ?
[This is probably a reference to RightWriter, see
below.]
- PC-LINK How could I forget this? Online nationwide service.
Requires modem. I was a member for about 2/3 years before
running low on money and leaving. Still active. It runs
right along with America Online - it is the same service,
but two different pricing schemes, and one uses Deskmate,
the other uses Geoworks.
Messages appear in pretty, scrollable screens and it is
a whole other universe. Online games such as Neverwinter
Nights, take full advantage of your Tandy 1000's enhanced
graphics and sound capabilities (no digital sounds though).
Made by Quantum Computer Services
Now known as America Online Inc
[PC-Link has now been folded into America Online, see
below.]
- ONLINE! Terminal Program for Deskmate. Hard to find, but I've
heard it is excellent! Does not include Zmodem protocol,
but includes all of the others.
Made by Sierra.
- FIRST PUBLISHER Desktop Publishing program that set certain standards and
formats in the IBM world. Prints at 75dpi, but allows you
to use laser printer downloadable fonts!
- EXPRESS PUBLISHER Desktop publishing program. Has stricter requirements
than any other Deskmate program I've seen. Requires
580K to be FREE, which is easy enough using MS-DOS 3.30,
but if you've moved up to MSDOS 5/6 you may
not have enough free memory on your 1000. It prints at
the highest resolution of the printer. Uses Deskmate 3.05
fonts (Atech fonts), and includes lots of clip art.
It's not nearly as speedy as First Publisher, but it
does the trick. Requires hard drive, unlike most
Deskmate programs.
Made by ?
- FORM FINISHER If you fill out forms repetatively, like UPS forms,
federal documents, etc., Form Finisher helps you create
a reproduction of forms in Form Finisher, and then you
treat it like the paper form, only it's on the computer now!
Say goodbye to the thrice copied-by-the-time-you-got-it
EPA forms! Put it in Form Finisher, and you have something
nice to send back, with less work. Prints on all printers.
Made by Power Up! Software Corporation.
- MUSIC STUDIO 3 Sophisticated music creating/editing/printing program.
Allows multiple staffs, and plays over Tandy 3-voice
sound (and digitized, if the *L series). Compatible with
Roland MPU and some other MIDI systems! Not compatible
with SoundBlaster, unless someone has an emulator for the
Roland/other systems listed. Includes its OWN sound
editor, and the sounds are compatible with Deskmate's
SOUND.PDM.
Many many songs are available for this on PC-Link/AOL.
Made by Activision.
- FILEPRO Surpurb Database program! Import/Export Deliminated
ASCII, Lotus 1-2-3, and Dbase III/IV formats! The
Query screen is the same as the Form (which is RARE,
and something I wish Paradox for Windows here at work
had!). It is very fast, and includes a very sophisticated
Screen Painting program, which allows you to made your
data entry/data viewing screens look just like you want
them to. And, as always, you can copy to the clipboard
from DRAW, and paste it in filePro!
A friend of mine on Delphi uses filePro to keep track
of milk on her dairy farm.
Made by The Small Computer Company, Inc.
- LOTUS 1-2-3 Home version of Lotus 1-2-3. Completely compatible with
regular Lotus 1-2-3 except for Macros and Add-ons.
Spreadsheet, graphing, database functions.
Made by Lotus.
- MAVIS BEACON Surpurb typing tutor! I've watched my speed go from
55 wpm up to 85 wpm in a matter of months! Accurately!
The original disks are copy protected.
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is its official name.
Made by The Software Toolworks.
- TYPING TUTOR IV Another excellent typing tutor! I bought and installed
it in the local Cerebral Palsy center where I once
volunteered. I started some of the older kids on the
tutor, and watched them go from being only able to
play games on the computer, to being able to type
accurately! Includes Letter Invaders, a game that
is rather like Missle Command. Letter Invaders also
comes with the Tandy 1000 RLX Deskmate.
Made by ?
- DESKMATE SDK The Deskmate Software Development Kit! Includes
everything you need to write programs in Deskmate.
Requires Microsoft C compiler (version 4.0 is fine)
Includes sections on programming with the Tandy
sound chips and special graphics modes. Tandy was
the first company to put out a development kit for
their integrated environment (Deskmate).
Available from Tandy Corp @ $299. You may be lucky
enough to find a used copy, but not too likely!
Made by Tandy Corp.
- ESPER Directory/File management program. Allows you to run
most common MS-DOS commands from within Deskmate!
Look in PCM Magazine or 1000 Magazine for advertisements.
Made by Bob Jack Software. Independently sold.
[_PCM_ and _1000_ are both defunct now; see section
IV.C.]
There are also tons of education software made under Deskmate's
Interface. Can anybody help me with the names/what they do?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DESKMATE COMPANIONS: Programs that require Deskmate 3 to be installed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
THESARUS I'm at work and without Deskmate & spell checker,
so I probably spelled it wrong. Look up alternative
words in Deskmate TEXT - one of the handiest things
I've used!
Made by Tandy Corp.
HOME ORGANIZER 15 extra programs, originally bundled with RL,
offered separately due to HUGE customer request.
It carries the Goodhousekeeping Seal of Approval!
Made by Tandy Corp.
[Home Organizer was bundled with the RL's, RLX's, and
RSX's. It is still available from Tandy - see section
IV.A.]
MACROS For making boilerplates, running everyday tasks, you
can automate them with Macros. When installed, it's
found either under F10 or under F10 | SETUP | F2
Very simple to use!
Made by Tandy Corp.
GRAPHS Make colorful graphs using data generated by anything,
as it imports Deliminated ASCII, as well as other
formats. Includes special color printer driver that
only works with GRAPHS for the Citizen/Tandy color
dot matrix printers/emulators!
Made by Star Software.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANT Make complex calculations easily! Even Amortization!
Made by Star Software.
SCHOOLMATE Networks school computers together, provides
special Deskmate programs for teachers and students.
Includes a DeskMate BBS (internal) and E-Mail.
Made by Tandy Corp.
WORKGROUP COMP. Workgroup Companion. Connect two computer together
with serial cable, or many computer with LAN cards.
Run Deskmate software from another computer! A
Tandy 1000 HX, for example, hooked with a TandyLink
card, can run the Deskmate programs off of a Tandy
1000 TL/3, even if the HX only has floppy drives!!
Includes Deskmate BBS (internal), chat modes, and
E-Mail. Also a special shared calender and address book,
so that many people can access their stuff, but not yours!
Made by Tandy Corp.
[The Workgroup Companion supported TandyLink and
Artisoft network cards as well as serial connections. It
is incompatible with DeskMate v3.05.]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
AVAILABLE ONLINE SOMEWHERE:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Recipe Importer - allows you to import recipes into the
recipe database in Home Organizer.
DMCLIP - Convert DRAW files into .CLP art!
Both made by Tandy Research and Development. Available
on PC-Link/AOL, as well as ftp site musie.phlab.missouri.edu
under pub/trs/Tandy1000.
*Test Drive of LOTUS 1-2-3 Available on PC-Link/AOL
*Test Drive of Q&A WRITE Available on PC-Link/AOL
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mysteries - Deskmate programs that might have existed, but I just don't know.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- DACEASY ACCTING I haven't tracked it down, but I've spoken to people who
have used it in the past. DacEasy made a version of their
fabulous personal/business accounting software for
Deskmate. If anyone tracks it down, please let me know.
- PAINT POWER I may have the name wrong, and it may not have ever truly
existed. In the 1990 catalog, there exists a painting
program for Deskmate. You can create .GIF and .PCX with
this program, save them, print them, contort them, etc.
Tandy has no record of anything ever having existed with
its catalog number, and software replacement (which has
EVERYTHING!) from Tandy hasn't heard of it.
- FILEPRO PROFESSIONAL Everything regular filePro does, but with absolutely
NO limits. filePro allows unlimited records, but
limits you to 99 fields (as if that's a limitation!).
But filePro Professional allows an unlimited
amount of fields, which is a rarity indeed!
Includes many many extra features.
Unfortunately, it never made it to the stores.
A listing on the back of filePro's box is all
that I know of it.
NOTE: A * before name means it can run standalone - without Deskmate.
A ? somewhere means I'm not sure, or I don't know. It also
means, if you know - please tell me :-)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
There are a couple programs for DeskMate 3 at my ftp site (see section
IV.B.1.). PC-Link was a separate service of America Online and is now
defunct (AOL has DOS software available on request that will run on the
1000's; it will not work with CGA, though - it works with Hercules, EGA, or
VGA). I don't know of any third-party applications for DeskMate 1 or 2, and
I doubt they existed. Tandy did not publicly release a software development
kit for DeskMate 1 or 2, so if there are any third-party apps they are bound
to be few and far between. There were some DeskMate-*related* applications
that ran under DOS for DM 1 or 2, though.
Here are a few more programs for DeskMate 3 known to have existed:
RightWriter from RightSoft, Inc. This program uses artificial
intelligence to correct your grammar, style, punctuation, and usage.
Utilities! from POP Computer Products. A sort of Norton Utilities for
DeskMate. (The real Norton Utilities will of course run.)
Alge-Blaster Plus from Davidson. Interactive program teaches algebra to
schoolchildren.
DeskMate Outline Companion from Tandy. "Organizes reports, essays,
speeches, with up to ten user-defined levels of detail."
Print Magic from Epyx. A desktop publishing program. "Create cards,
flyers, certificates, stationery and banners."
Your Personal Trainer for the SAT from Davidson. Drills students to
prepare them for the Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Instant Pages from Electronic Arts. Over 100 ready-to-use forms and
newsletters.
KidsTime PC from Great Wave Software. Three games for the kiddies:
connect-the-dots, a musical game, and a reading game.
Backup Pro from The Software Toolworks. A hard drive backup utility.
CheckFree 2.0 from CheckFree. This is a service that pays your bills
automatically for a monthly fee. The DeskMate program was to access the
service. CheckFree's current software requires a 386 with Windows 3.1,
VGA, and 2 meg RAM. Don't know whether the old DeskMate software will
still work.
Solitaire/Poker from Star Software. If you wanted Windows for the
solitaire program, here you go :-).
John Ball <ad008@freenet.unbc.edu> mentioned these two:
Quick Start from Roar Technology. A DeskMate companion voice
recognition program - adds voice command capability to DeskMate.
Requires Tandy DAC.
TalkMate from Roar Technology. A DeskMate companion program that allows
networked Tandy's with the DAC to exchange voicemail messages.
Brian Evans <evans.consulting@sympatico.ca> states that Cliffs StudyWare was
still available in computer stores as of January 1997. These are electronic
Cliff's Notes (test review aids); the programs are:
DOS ACT
DOS BIOLOGY
DOS CALCULUS
DOS CBEST
DOS CHEMISTRY
DOS ECONOMICS
DOS GEOMETRY
DOS GMAT
DOS LSAT
DOS PHYSICS
DOS STATISTICS
DOS TRIGONOMETRY
They sell for $19.95 each and include the printed version of Cliff's Notes.
Go to:
http://www.cliffs.com/main.html
I guess since I'm the maintainer I can plug my own DeskMate programs :-).
They're on my ftp/WWW site:
Dmgif is a .gif/.jpg viewer. It supports rescaling, dithering, panning,
zooming, and color adjustment on all supported video cards. It can also
print or copy small parts of the picture to the clipboard. Includes
online help.
Dmsound is a sound file player. You need either a 286 or above, or a
soundcard with DMA (SoundBlaster-family or Tandy DAC). Plays several
formats, including some compressed formats. Can also convert files to
.wav or Tandy .snd.
As you can see from the list, Tandy was giving Apple a run for its money in
the educational market, back in the days. Don't ask me where you can get
these programs now. In some cases, the companies that produced them still
have copies around, so check with them - or ask in comp.sys.tandy if
anybody has a used copy for sale.
DeskMate's origins go back at least as far as the TRS-80 Model II, which had
a version available for $299, according to <dairylady@delphi.com>.
There were three versions of DeskMate 2. Basic DM 2 came with the 1000SX.
Enhancements over DM 1 included task switching between a DM and DOS
application and networking support. Personal DeskMate came with the 1000EX.
Enhancements over basic DM 2 included the Paint drawing program and several
accessories; internal support for common DOS functions such as disk copying,
directory listing, and running DOS programs; and an improved user interface
very similar to DM 3. Professional DeskMate was available as an option for
some 3000-series models. I don't know much about it; supposedly it was even
more like DM 3 than Personal DeskMate, perhaps to the point that DM 3
programs would run under it.
There were also generic PC-compatible versions of DeskMate 3.02 (cat. no.
25-1250) and 3.03 (25-1350), but the 3.05 version is preferable in that it
deals correctly with drive partitions larger than 32MB (however, see section
III.B.2.). DeskMate 3.03 and 3.05 are still for sale.
- III.B.8. Where can I get a DeskMate driver for printer (x)?
Most, if not all, of the available DeskMate printer drivers are at the ftp
and WWW sites listed in sections IV.B.1. and IV.B.2. DeskMate supports the
IBM Graphics Printer (and compatibles like the IBM Proprinter); Epson 9- and
24-pin dot matrix printers (and compatibles); the HP LaserJet (and
compatibles); and various Tandy printers.
Color printing is only supported on certain Tandy printers. The ftp sites
may not have the drivers for those. If you have a Tandy printer not
supported by the DeskMate version you have, check with Tandy (see section
IV.A.).
There was a DeskMate Printer Developer's Kit to be used with the DeskMate
3.03 SDK (see section III.B.5.), but it is nowhere to be found. If you
find it, or find DeskMate printer drivers not on the ftp sites, please
upload them or write to the maintainer.
III.B.9. I just got a 1000. What is this @#&$ "DeskMate" thing it
boots into, and how do I get rid of it and run DOS?
Some Tandy 1000-series have an enhanced ROM that contains the DOS kernel
and the DeskMate kernel. They were set up at the factory to boot into
DeskMate, a proprietary GUI (graphical user interface) from Tandy. A
number of programs were written for this GUI (see section III.B.7.), but it
isn't an operating system, it runs under DOS, and you can run DOS programs
from inside DeskMate (use the Run... option in the File menu - you can also
make icons for DOS programs you frequently use via the F7 menu). Think of
DeskMate as a sort of "Windows lite." If you're missing the DeskMate disks
(which have the apps on them), you can get replacements through your local
Radio Shack.
To get out of DeskMate to the DOS prompt, just hit <esc> or select "Exit"
from the File menu. You may or may not be asked for confirmation. You can
reenter DeskMate (if it's in ROM) by pressing the F12 key at the DOS
prompt.
To change the setup so that you boot into DOS rather than DeskMate, you
need to get a copy of the system setup program (see sections III.E.1. and
IV.B.1.). If you have the original disks, the program is called SETUPxx,
where xx is your model, ex., HX, SL, SL2, TL. The program runs from the
DOS prompt. Just tell it you want to boot into DOS rather than DeskMate,
and save. You will still be booting from ROM, which is fast and virus-
proof. If you want to boot from disk (perhaps because you want to upgrade
the DOS version), tell it so, then tell it which disk to boot from (you
might have a choice between C: - the hard drive - and A:).
On some systems, it is also possible to reboot the system from a floppy,
even if you normally boot from ROM. Systems with DOS and DeskMate in ROM
have a ROM drive with a couple programs on it - C: if you don't have a hard
drive, D: if you do. (If you upgrade the DOS version, the ROM drive
disappears entirely.) Check the ROM drive for a program called
RESTART.COM. If you have it, it reboots your system, but looks for DOS on
the floppy drive. Among other things, this is a way of running some old
games that came on bootable disks on a system that usually boots from ROM.
DeskMate has some nice Windows-like features that you might like once you
get used to them, and it runs very well on a 4.77MHz 8088 with CGA,
especially if DeskMate is in ROM, but if you're bound and determined, well,
there you go :-).
+ III.B.10. I've been using DeskMate on my trusty 1000 for many years,
but now it's time to upgrade. How do I transfer the data to
Windows?
Unfortunately, this is more easily said than done. If you were using
DeskMate 3.0x, the easiest thing to do is just get a copy of DeskMate 3.05
and run it under Windows (see section III.C.2.).
According to Tandy, Lotus Spreadsheet for DeskMate can import Worksheet
spreadsheets, Q&A Write for DeskMate can import Text documents, and filePro
for DeskMate can import DeskMate Filer databases (several DeskMate
applications besides Filer use the Filer format, such as Calendar, Address
Book, and Home Organizer). All three of those programs came in DOS as well
as DeskMate versions, so theoretically it may be possible to migrate the
files to a more common format if you have both versions.
Some versions of DeskMate Worksheet can create an ASCII file of the
spreadsheet values, which could be imported by another spreadsheet program.
With other versions of Worksheet, or with Filer, it may be possible to
export the file in comma-delimited ASCII format by a careful definition of
the report format. Try designing a "report" where each Filer record appears
on a single line with quotes around each field and commas separating the
fields. Select the ASCII printer in DeskMate Setup, then print the report
to a file. It is likely that you will still have to fiddle with the
resulting file some before it can be imported by another database.
If you have DeskMate 1 or 2, there are a couple programs on my ftp site (see
section IV.B.1.) that you can use. The programs are in the
tandy1000/deskmate directory. filer.zip converts a DM 1 or 2 Filer database
to an importable ASCII format. undesk.zip converts DM 1 or 2 Text documents
to ASCII. There were also commercial programs written for converting DM 1
or 2 data files to more common formats; I don't know where you'd get them
now (try _Computer News PC_ - see section IV.G.).
Michael A. Banks (author of _Getting the Most out of DeskMate 3_, see
section IV.D.) offers the following tips on converting a DM 3 Text file to
ASCII:
Formatting Text Files for Export to ASCII
When you are going to print a document to a disk file, you
should first use the To ASCII command to eliminate formatting
codes, then set these parameters in the Page Setup dialog box:
* "portrait" (up and down) printing
* a left margin of 0 and a right margin of 80 or less (65 is
ideal
* number of lines per page and number of lines printed per
page at the maximum of 84 (this prevents page breaks being
inserted in the file)
* single spacing and no pause between pages (these are
defaults, so all you have to remember is to not check
either of the check boxes at the bottom of the page)
For Draw graphics, QuickLink II is a shareware fax/communications program
that might help. Set up QuickLink II for DOS on your old 1000. Set the
printer type to HP Laserjet in DeskMate, load your graphics into Draw, and
print. When QL2 is resident, the printer output will not be printed but
saved instead as a fax document in QL2's proprietary format. Get the file
from the directory where QL2 for DOS saved it, and move it over to your
Windows machine. Start up QuickLink II for Windows. That program can
convert the fax document to .gif or another common graphics format.
+ III.B.11. DeskMate is asking me for a password, and I don't know it.
How do I get in?
Some older versions of DeskMate (as on the original 1000 and 1000SX) had a
password option that, if activated, would require the user to enter a
password before proceeding. The password was set by hitting F6 at the main
DeskMate menu.
I don't know how you bypass it. Maybe someone can help me out here?
III.C. Windows
- III.C.1. Can I run Windows on my 1000?
All 1000-series models can run Windows up to 3.0 in real mode if they have
640k RAM and a hard drive (40MB or more is required). For adequate
performance with Windows 3.0, a 286 processor and at least 2M of expanded
RAM is recommended. EGA or better graphics is also a plus. Minimum,
though, is only 8088, 640k, CGA, no EMS. The TX and earlier will need to
use a keyboard TSR that comes with Windows (see the Windows documentation
files).
There are two things to consider in running real-mode Windows 3.0: video
and applications. Generally, any application written for Windows *2.x* will
run under real-mode Windows 3.0, while most applications written for Windows
3 will not run. You will be hunting for used copies of older versions. As
far as video, if you have an XT-class Tandy with Tandy/PCjr Video (TGA) or
Tandy Video II (ETGA) (both versions of enhanced CGA), you will have to use
the Windows CGA driver, which gives a pretty crappy display. If you have
Tandy Video II (the SL's, TL's, and RL's have it), you can plug in a mono
TTL monitor ($10 used) and run Windows in Hercules mode for a much better
screen.
There was once a Tandy video driver for Windows 2.11, and if someone finds
it it could be used with Windows 3.0 in real mode only. Tandy says they
didn't write it and don't have it. Microsoft says they might have had it
once, but Microsoft has deleted over half the video drivers they used to
have and don't have the Tandy/PCjr video driver any more. If anybody finds
the driver, I would very much like to get it. Upload it to my ftp site at
ftp.agate.net:/users/01935/incoming, or email me at tvdog@agate.net.
One other thing. Real-mode Windows 3.0 will use EMS RAM if you have it (no
later version of Windows will). It needs to be LIM 4.x EMS, preferably
hardware, but software 4.x EMS will do. If you have the old Micro Mainframe
EMS card that was formerly sold by Tandy (it is hardware 3.2), there is a
freeware 4.1 driver for it at my ftp site (see section IV.B.1.).
James S. Blackmon <jsb@muw.edu> installed Windows 3.0 on his 1000TX and
said: "I just got Windows 3.0 on my computer and it works fine. The only
thing is that it is in black and white."
The RLX's can run Windows 3.1 in standard mode only, if they have the RAM
upgraded to 1M. The RLX just barely meets the minimum hardware require-
ments for Windows 3.1, however, and performance will be poor. Windows will
not recognize the built-in mouse (see section II.G.2.). One user says of
Windows 3.1 on the 1000RLX:
Windows' performance is tolerable on a 486DX2/66. I like it on the RLX
because I can start a program, go to the bathroom, and when I come back
only have to wait a few minutes before I can actually use the #@$% thing.
The RSX's can run Windows 3.1 (or 3.11) in 386 enhanced mode if the memory
has been upgraded to 2M or more. There is a Windows sound driver for the
RSX's built-in sound at my ftp/WWW site and at Tandy's support WWW site (see
sections IV.B.1. and IV.B.2.).
Tandy does not officially support the use of Windows on any model of the
1000-series. The RSX's could theoretically run Windows 95, but Microsoft
does not recommend Win95 for 386's.
+ III.C.2. Can I run DeskMate under Windows?
To run DeskMate under Windows, create a .PIF file for DESK.EXE. Try these
settings in your DESK.PIF:
Video Memory: High graphics
Memory Requirements: KB Required 512 KB Desired 640
EMS Memory: KB Required 0 KB Desired 1024
XMS Memory: KB Required 0 KB Desired 0
Display Usage: Full screen
Execution: Exclusive
Advanced:
Reserve Shortcut Keys: Check if any are used by your DeskMate
applications - probably not.
The PC-compatible version of DeskMate 3.05 uses approximately 90k of LIM 4.0
EMS to load the core, if available. Other programs written for DM 3.05 may
also use EMS. My programs Dmgif and Dmsound will use XMS as well if there
is insufficient EMS available, but that is not standard for a DeskMate
program.
+ III.C.3. Where can I find a Windows driver for my Tandy printer?
There are no special drivers for Tandy printers. Instead, you select the
driver for the IBM, Epson, or Hewlett Packard printer with which the Tandy
printer is compatible. You will generally have to set DIP switches on the
printer to enable the desired emulation mode; refer to the printer's manual
(Tandy's WWW site also has the DIP switch settings - see section IV.B.2.).
The following information was provided by Bill Walker <wkwalker@netrix.net>:
Windows/Tandy Printer Compatibility List
[This] is a Windows 3.1 printer driver compatibility list for Tandy
printers. It cross-references the various Tandy printers and printer
modes with the printer driver support available under Windows 3.1. Note
that support under Windows for printers set to Tandy mode is limited to
plain text-only output via the "Generic/Text-Only" driver. As far as I
know, no one has written a driver that supports Tandy mode.
The driver information is based on a MOM ["Radio Shack Computer
Merchandising Memo of the Month"] published in May(?) 1992. It has also
been updated somewhat.
Please notify me of any corrections or additions.
William K. Walker
North Valley Digital
P.O. Box 1941
Kalispell MT 59903-1941
+1 (406) 257-2306
71066.24@compuserve.com
======================================================================
The following is list of Tandy printers with their appropriate Windows
drivers. In many cases, the Windows driver you will use depends on the
printer mode. For example, if you are using a DMP 440 in Tandy mode, you'd
use the "Generic/Text Only" Windows 3.1 driver; if it's set up for IBM
mode, use the "IBM Graphic Printer" driver.
PRINTER TANDY MODE IBM MODE EPSON MODE OTHER
------- ---------- -------- ---------- -----
DMP 100 Generic/Text
DMP 105 Generic/Text
DMP 106 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 107 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 110 Generic/Text
DMP 120 Generic/Text
DMP 130 Generic/Text
DMP 130A Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 132 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 133 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 134 Proprinter
DMP 135 Proprinter II FX-850
DMP 136 Proprinter II FX-850/FX-80
DMP 200 Generic/Text
DMP 202 Proprinter X24
DMP 2100 Generic/Text
DMP 2100P Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 2102 Generic/Text Proprinter XL24
DMP 2103 Proprinter X24/XL24 LQ-1050/LQ-850
DMP 2104 Proprinter XL24E LQ-1050
DMP 2110 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 2120 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 2130 Proprinter XL
DMP 2200 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 240 Proprinter X24 LQ-850/LQ-2550
DMP 300 Generic/Text Proprinter X24
DMP 302 Proprinter X24 LQ-850
DMP 310 Proprinter X24
DMP 400 Generic/Text
DMP 420 Generic/Text
DMP 430 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 440 Generic/Text IBM Graphic
DMP 442 Generic/Text Proprinter XL
DMP 500 Generic/Text
DWP II Generic/Text
DWP 210 Generic/Text
DWP 220 Generic/Text
DWP 230 Generic/Text
DWP 410 Generic/Text
DWP 510 Generic/Text
DWP 520 Generic/Text
LP 950 Graphic/Proprinter FX-80 HPLJII (1)
LP 990 Graphic/Proprinter FX-80 HPLJII (1)
LP 1000 Generic/Text Proprinter HPLJ+ (2,3)
Note 1: HP Laser Jet II driver
Note 2: HP Laser Jet plus driver
Note 3: The current HP Laser Jet II driver (HPLJII) supports the LP 1000.
It can be downloaded from the HP Peripherals Forum (HPPER).
--
Bill Walker
North Valley Digital
71066.24@compuserve.com
The DMP 133 reportedly works better with the Proprinter driver than with IBM
Graphic. Tandy says that the DMP 134 works best with the Proprinter II
driver. For the DMP 430, try the Epson FX-850 driver. For the DMP 130 and
130A, try the IBM Graphic, Epson FX-185, or Epson FX-85 driver. For the DMP
136, try the driver for the Epson JX-80 or IBM Proprinter III; the Epson
FX-86e driver might also work. The DMP 137 emulates an IBM Proprinter III
or Epson FX-850 or EX-800. The LP 950 can use the driver for the Diablo 630
or 630 ECS in addition to the above. The DMP 2130 can also use the driver
for the Epson FX-286e.
Windows drivers can be downloaded from Microsoft's ftp site:
ftp.microsoft.com:/Softlib/
Also check Epson's WWW site:
http://www.epson.com/
And Hewlett-Packard's WWW site:
http://www.hp.com/
III.D. Unix and Other Operating Systems
- III.D.1. Can I run Unix on my 1000?
Probably yes. The following is from Kenneth Udut:
> I have an old TL2 w/40MB HD and 640RAM sitting upstairs gathering
> dust...
> [...] What about the possibility of loading
> LINUX? Any help would be appreciated!
Linux won't work on the TL2 unless you get a Make-It-386/Make-It-486 CPU
for the TL2.
But you can run Minix, which includes a C compiler, and other C
compilers are available for it.
The latest version of Minix is free, and runs on the TL2. Subscribe to
comp.os.minix and ask questions (they're a friendly group like
comp.sys.tandy is).
You can find it at: ftp.cs.vu.nl under /pub/minix/1.7.2/i86/*
There are plenty of README files on that site, so read up and it will
show you how to install it onto 720K diskettes, then the hard drive.
FYI: Linux is a product of Minix source code. The only reason Linux was
able to use the Minix source code is that Linux is completely free.
The current version of Minix is 2.0 (C compiler is now ANSI, yay!). Here
are the sites:
http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/minix.html
ftp://ftp.cs.vu.nl/pub/minix/
You might have to modify Minix for your machine, especially if you have a
pre-SL system. Get file
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/documents/minixfix.txt
... and check with the experts on comp.os.minix.
I have Linux on my Tandy 4033LX, and it requires at least 2MB RAM to run
(EMS doesn't count), preferably 4, and if you want to run X Windows, 8.
Hence, the only 1000 that can run Linux is the RSX, and you will want it
maxed out to its full 9 meg if you want to see Linux in all its glory. You
should also have at least 200MB of hard drive space for Linux, though you
can get by with less (maybe a lot less if you're an expert).
There is a subset version of Linux for the 8086 called ELKS ("Embeddable
Linux Kernel Subset") currently under development. Read about it at:
http://www.uk.linux.org/Linux8086.html
And download it from:
ftp://linux.mit.edu/pub/ELKS/
If your system boots from ROM, you will need to set it to boot from disk.
See section III.A.1.
- III.D.2. What other operating systems are available?
Some people have had success with Geos (sometimes called Geoworks). It is a
GUI like Windows and DeskMate that runs under DOS. For most 1000's, you
will have to use Geos v1.2.x or earlier; the RSX's and possibly the RLX's
can run Geos v2.x. Marc Williams <marcw@lightside.com> says that most
shareware for Geos requires 2.x.
James S. Blackmon <jsb4@muw.edu> writes:
Though I have only recently gotten Pc/Geos and have yet to test it's full
potential I am sure I can point out some advantages. One of my favorites
is the construction and viewing of batch files. The combination of
Play3voi.exe (a program by Jeffrey Hayes), a bunch of wave files, and a
custom made batch file, kept A handfull of College students thoroughly
entertained for hours. (Strangely enough some had their own Pentium 133
and were still in there.) A lovely thing about PC/geos is that I have
not had any software conflicts. (Although I generally keep all of the
large complex programs in separate directories to keep this from
happening.) Its speed on my Tandy 1000 TX, which has not been suped up
yet (same 640K ram as when it was built), is comparable to that of
Windows 3.1 on a 386 or 486. Safe to say it is much more stable than
running from DOS 3.2.
It has its own communication software which is VT-100 compatible.
Personally I prefer to use Procomm. It has Tetris, and Solitaire on it
like the ones that you will find on Windows 3.1.
You can get more information on Geos from these sites:
http://www.geoworks.com/
http://www.newdealinc.com/
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/jbearden/geoindex.htm
Geos is discussed in the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.geos.misc.
OS/2 v2.x or Warp will run on the RSX's, if the memory is upgraded to 4M or
more (6M+ recommended). IBM says:
OS/2 Warp is explicitly supported on non-IBM PC compatibles. IBM is
offering a money back compatibility guarantee in the U.S. Should OS/2
Warp fail to work on your compatible within the first 90 days of use, and
should IBM be unable to fix the problem, your purchase price will be
refunded. To date over 2000 non-IBM models have been tested in IBM's own
labs.
Check out the OS/2 FAQ at:
http://www.mit.edu:8001/activities/os2/faq/os2faq0000.html
The RLX might or might not be able to run OS/2 v1.1 if its memory is
upgraded to 1M. Other 1000's will not run OS/2.
III.E. ROM BIOS
III.E.1. What is the key combination to bring up the CMOS setup on a
1000?
There isn't any. The system setup information is stored in an EEPROM, not
CMOS. To change the EEPROM, you run the system setup program from the DOS
command line (or sometimes from a bootable floppy). Each model and submodel
in the 1000 line has its own specific setup program. The original 1000,
1000A, HD, EX, SX, and TX have neither EEPROM nor CMOS (treat them like old
XT's, which don't have CMOS either, and use jumpers and switches on the
motherboard for setup).
- III.E.2. How do I upgrade the ROM BIOS on a 1000?
You generally do not need to upgrade the BIOS and should only do so if
there is some problem the upgrade can fix. Because of the proprietary
features of the 1000-series, only Tandy BIOSes made for the particular
model can be used. Here are the latest BIOS versions; get the upgrade
through your local Radio Shack, or from Tandy National Parts (see section
IV.G.).
Model Latest Version Problems Corrected
----- -------------- ------------------
1000 01.01.00 Upgrade required for most hard-drive
controllers.****
1000A 01.01.00 none (original version)
1000HD 01.01.00 none (original version)
1000EX 01.02.00 none (original version)
1000HX 02.00.00 none (original version)
1000SX 01.02.00 none (original version)
1000TX 01.03.00 none (original version)
1000SL 02.00.01 Upgrade to DeskMate v3.05.* **
1000SL/2 02.00.01 Upgrade to DeskMate v3.05.* ***
1000TL 02.00.01 Upgrade to DeskMate v3.05.*
1000TL/2 02.00.01 Upgrade to DeskMate v3.05. Also corrects
possible loss of sound with VGA installed.*
1000TL/3 02.00.01 Upgrade to DeskMate v3.05.*
1000RL 02.00.01 Lockups in DeskMate due to mouse driver bug.
1000RL-HD 02.00.01 Lockups in DeskMate due to mouse driver bug.
1000RLX 02.00.00 none (original version)
1000RLX-HD 02.00.00 none (original version)
1000RLX-B 02.00.00 none (original version)
1000RLX-HD-B 02.00.00 none (original version)
1000RSX 01.10.00 none (original version)
- The BIOS upgrade to DeskMate 3.05 sold for $99.95 in 1991; no information
about the current price (Kenneth Udut told me it was still available, as of
1995). DeskMate 3.05 provides scalable fonts, unlike older versions.
Manual and diskettes are included with the upgrade.
- * There are two different versions of the BIOS upgrade for the SL. To
determine which you need, look at the three-letter CPU configuration code
on the bottom of the computer:
SYSTEM CPU CONFIG CODE(S) PART
1000 SL UAA, UAF, UAG, UBF, UBG, UBI 70B-1360
UAB, UBB, UBH, UBJ 70D-1360
- ** There are two different versions of the BIOS upgrade for the SL/2. To
determine which you need, look at the three-letter CPU configuration code
on the bottom of the computer:
SYSTEM CPU CONFIG CODE(S) PART
1000 SL/2 UAA 70B-1360
UBA 70C-1360
- *** If you have the two-chip version of the original 1000 BIOS (version
01.00.00), you also need to upgrade the PAL chip when you upgrade the BIOS.
The PAL chip goes in the socket labelled U9. The new one is part number
MXP-0081. I seem to recall something in comp.sys.tandy about Tandy being
out of the PAL chips, but you can ask.
The BIOS upgrade for the original 1000 is not completely straightforward and
should be performed by a technician.
III.F. System Setup Programs
III.F.1. I just got an old 1000 secondhand, with no disks or anything.
Where can I get the system setup program for it?
The original 1000, 1000A, HD, EX, SX, and TX do not have a setup program
(they tend to use jumpers on the motherboard instead). For other models,
see section IV.B. for sites.
III.F.2. What are the options to the system setup command?
It depends on the system; all of them are undocumented. On the 1000TL,
there are three. Entering, say SETUPTL without options will give you
access to only one screen of setup options - only "safe" things. SETUPTL
/A will give access to several additional screenfuls of setup. /A is
mainly useful for controlling the amount of video RAM (see section
II.A.2.). SETUPTL /B will display the actual binary EEPROM contents and
allow you to change individual bits. It is not much use since nobody has
mapped the EEPROM. Beware of /A and /B: it is possible to mess up the
EEPROM so as to make the system unbootable - in which case you will have to
take the computer in to Radio Shack for an EEPROM replacement. Finally,
SETUPTL /F will reset the EEPROM to the factory defaults; this option is
sometimes useful if you've messed up the setup so that there isn't any
screen output. It is also useful if your DeskMate DeskTop is messed up and
you can't fix it from inside DeskMate (you should also delete DESKTOP.CFG,
and you will have to rebuild your DeskTop). [Maintainer's note: Tell me
about your options.]
III.F.3. Why does my 1000 RLX say I have an invalid configuration?
Anexsia <anexsia@aol.com> posted in comp.sys.tandy:
"I have a tandy 1000 rlx that upon start up tells me that I have an
invalid configuration, and tells me to run the start up utility,
which I have. The message will not go away. The computer seems
to run otherwise fine."
When a Tandy with EEPROM setup boots up, the BIOS does a sanity check on
the EEPROM contents, and if the check fails, it uses some built-in defaults
instead of the information in the EEPROM. The message is the BIOS telling
you the EEPROM makes no sense and warning you that it's using the defaults.
The solution to the problem is to run Setuprlx, as the BIOS tells you to
do. When you do that, Setuprlx will examine the hardware installed in the
system. If you then exit the program and "Save changes," the EEPROM will
be updated to match the actual hardware. On the other hand, if you exit
Setuprlx without saving, the EEPROM will not be changed and your problem
will recur. Since the RLX is bootable, you can use SETUPRLX /F to set it
back to the factory defaults, if you need to.
If you did "Save changes," and you still have the same problem, try mouse
on COM1: and modem on COM2:. The BIOS may be upset that you're not using
the COM: ports in order [note: this user had mouse on COM1: and modem on
COM4:].
If it still doesn't work, then you may actually have to take the computer
in for service, since, unlike CMOS, you can't easily erase an EEPROM and
start over.
Frank Durda IV <uhclem@nemesis.lonestar.org> writes:
You didn't mention if you did this, but I'll say it. If the CMOS has a
checksum error, it will also say there is an invalid configuration and
that you should run setup.
However, on some systems, running setup is not enough! You must change
something, anything to get setup to write the good values back to the
CMOS. For example, change the type listed for drive B, then change it
back, then hit F2, or whichever key is correct to store the settings.
Running setup and saying "yep, its all correct" will not update the CMOS
even if you press F2, unless you change something, at least on a lot of
the older systems. I think the RLX was in this category.
Later Tandy SETUPs would consider fields to be "changed" if you simply
moved the cursor to them (they changed color), so all you have to do
there is move the cursor around and hit F2 to write new CMOS values.
The CMOS settings on ISA systems don't care about IRQ or DMA settings
(it does matter on EISA, PCI and Plug And Play systems), so changing
those settings on boards isn't going to make the CMOS happy. Memory-
mapped devices can also cause problems if there isn't a gap between real
memory and the addresses used by the memory-mapped adapter.
CMOS on ISA systems is concerned with memory size, video type (Mono, CGA
or EGA/VGA) floppy type and number of hard drives. Most systems CMOS
checks can't tell if you got the hard disk drive type settings wrong,
but they will know if the count is wrong or the floppy count or type
settings are wrong.
Verify these things, make a pointless change and then put things back
correctly, and then save the settings and see if it shuts up.
III.G. Applications
III.G.1. Some compilers do not detect my hardware. Is there an
explanation for this?
Borland languages may not be able to detect an 8087 coprocessor on a Tandy
1000-series. WATFOR-77 has a similar problem on the 1000TL; it indicates
that the 287 is not generating interrupts (the coprocessor error interrupt,
Int 16h, is rerouted to Int 2 on the TL). Other than the above, all (older
versions of) Borland and Microsoft languages will run in the 1000-series,
although lockups have been reported with Microsoft Quick C. Programs
compiled with QC (version 1.x) may not run on the 1000-series due to a bug
in the graphics library.
- III.G.2. What C compilers will work on my Tandy 1000?
The following C compilers will run on an XT: Turbo C v1.0, 1.5 and 2.0,
Turbo C++ v1.0, QuickC up to 2.5, Microsoft C up to v6.0 (works but is
slow), Zortech C/C++, and Mix Power C. With the exception of Mix Power C,
these products are no longer available new.
Mix Power C has been highly recommended in the Delphi Tandy forum, but it
won't create Microsoft-compatible .obj files. Generally, one should look
for used compilers for older machines rather than buying a new compiler
(which probably won't run).
If you're desperate, there's a shareware (free?) C compiler called Personal
C available on ftp sites such as oak.oakland.edu. It compiles small model
only, is K&R C, not ANSI, and does not support some features such as
bitfields. I used it to make a version of Playsnd that supported EMS RAM,
back before Playsnd had that feature, and it was *not* pretty. You're
better off lurking on misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.software and
getting a used copy of QuickC.
- III.G.3. Where can I find a program for the Tandy 1000 that does (x)?
Generally, you don't need a Tandy-specific program. The vast majority of
DOS programs for the IBM PC or XT will work fine. You only really need or
want a Tandy-specific program when you're trying to take advantage of
special features the 1000's have, like the 640x200x4, 320x200x16, or (on
some models) the 640x200x16 video modes. Programs to play sounds on the
SN76496 3-voice tone and noise generator or the Tandy DAC (PSSJ) are another
exception. You can find a couple nice GIF/JPG viewers and a couple nice
sound file players at my ftp site (see section IV.B.1.). Tandy video is
largely compatible with CGA, and programs that play sound on the PC speaker
will work on the 1000's too.
There are several good MS-DOS ftp sites with programs to meet practically
every need. Try oak.oakland.edu, ftp.coast.net, ftp.simtel.net, or
wuarchive.wustl.edu, for example. The pc-blue archive on wuarchive at
ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/msdos/pc-blue/
... in particular has a lot of very old programs that will run in very limited
memory.
PC Enterprises and Computer News PC carry old commercial DOS programs that
will run on the 1000's (see section IV.G.).
- III.G.4. What games are there for the 1000's?
Most any game for the original IBM PC or XT will work (see section
III.G.3.). The only thing different about the Tandy joystick is the plug;
it is programmed exactly the same. In action games, it is of course best
if you can find a game that supports your video and sound, but games that
only require CGA and the speaker will work.
Sierra (Sierra Online, Coarsegold, CA 93614) made several games that took
advantage of the 1000's video and sound. Some of these have remained
popular and continue to be put out in new versions (King's Quest is one that
comes to mind). Other Sierra games were The Black Cauldron and Space Quest
(Sierra also produced the Homeword word processor for DeskMate). Some of
Sierra's old games are still available; visit their Web site at:
http://www.sierra.com/
Other companies that made games for the 1000's were Spinnaker (Fraction
Fever and Kindercomp), Infocom (Infocom Sampler), Microsoft (Flight
Simulator), Broderbund (Lode Runner and Carmen Sandiego), Electronic Arts
(Star Flight, One-on-One, and Pinball Construction Set), Epyx (Rogue),
Columbia Pictures (Ghostbusters), and Microprose (F15 Strike Eagle and
Silent Service).
Those games were commercial, and they turn up for sale in comp.sys.tandy
every so often. Most of them are "abandonware" - commercial software that
is more than 5 years old and no longer for sale by any company. There is a
certain merit in the view that such software should be freely distributed,
and some people have made older games available on the Internet from time to
time.
Jim Leonard <trixter@depaul.edu> has a site that may or may not be up and
which lists old abandoned games that you might find on the 'net somewhere:
http://boxotrix.it-ias.depaul.edu/abandonware/
There are a few games that take advantage of 1000-series video and sound at
my ftp site (see section IV.B.1.). One of them, Stormovik, is now
commercial, and the (shareware) Tandy version is quite impressive.
- III.G.5. How can I access the Internet with my 1000?
According to Will Baldwin <76200.275@compuserve.com>:
There are 3 main ways to access the net using DOS text-based programs:
1) Thru a shell account to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). You can
usually do this using any standard DOS terminal program.
2) Thru a SLIP connection directly to the Internet backbone.
3) Thru a PPP connection directly to the Internet backbone.
There are some freeware and shareware software available to take care of
2 and 3 above. To use them, you have to be able to access a SLIP or PPP
gateway on your ISP. On your computer, you have to use a packet driver
or packet driver emulator. If you are a standalone computer wishing to
communicate through a modem, you need a packet driver. If your computer
is part of a LAN, chances are your server already has a packet driver,
in which case you need to have a packet driver *emulator* on *your*
machine. I have found the most widely used freeware/shareware packet
drivers are UMSLIP (for SLIP), and Etherppp (for PPP).
Once you have a SLIP or PPP driver, you then need a client program. I
have found YARN, PINE, Minuet, DOSLynx, and SLippper. Despite its name,
I believe Slippper can be used with either SLIP or PPP. I prefer Minuet
and Etherppp on a Tandy 1000 through the Compuserve PPP gateway. Minuet
offers Ftp, Gopher, Telnet, WWW, etc., all in one program.
Program: Available at ftp://
PINE cac.washington.edu
DOSLynx ftp2.cc.ukans.edu/pub/DosLynx/
YARN Simtel mirrors, under /msdos/offline
Minuet Minuet.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/internet/minuet/latest
UMSLIP boombox.micro.umn.edu/pub/pc/slip/latest/sliparc.exe
Slippper Slip-olr.zip in the wuarchive site listed below, or
email circular@delphi.com.
Most of the above can also be found at ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu in the
pub/MSDOS_UPLOADS/incoming, DOSLynx, or internet tools directories.
Also available there is a utility program I wrote, MYIP.zip, which makes
it easier to use Etherppp w/Minuet (and other internet software) with
PPP hosts that assign new IP addresses at each logon, by automatically
passing the IP address to the client software, making it unnecessary for
the user to type it in each time. It also helps software take full
advantage of unattended mode features.
Last I heard, the latest version of Etherppp (1.9.49 beta) can't be
gotten by ftp, but only thru gopher, at gopher.merit.edu, under Merit
Software, MS-DOS archive, communications, ncsa. The earlier Etherppp
versions can be gotten by ftp, but I would stay away from them; people
say they're rather buggy.
For hints and tips about using the above, there are mailing lists for
Minuet and DOSLynx, and usenet newsgroups for PINE (comp.mail.pine), and
PPP (comp.protocols.ppp). Instructions to subscribe to the DOSLynx
mailing list are in the documentation. Instructions to subscribe to the
Minuet mailing list are available from the Minuet.FAQ file accessible at
the URL shown in the opening screen.
Good luck. I'm no expert, but feel free to netmail me on Fido, or send
email to my internet box at: Will.Baldwin@nemspa.org.
Marc Williams <marcw@lightside.com> has the following notes on DOS Internet
programs:
Packet Drivers:
Quakeppp works fine.
Uses Klos Technologies PPP drivers/software. Dialer/terminal
program can connect via scripts or manually.
Etherppp works fine too but it's a memory hog. Causes some programs
to error out like PC-Pine and Minuet.
Slipper/Cslipper work flawlessly. Need dialer program or terminal
software to connect first.
Clients:
Minuet. Integrated tools. Telnet, mail, gopher, ping, finger, news,
web, ftp. Web does not support forms. Can't use News as it doesn't
work on Stacker drive. Minuet is my main program for mail,
gopher and ftp.
Requires dial-up program. Companion UMSlip/phone package works
fine. I use phone to load cslipper.
Net-Tamer. Integrated tools. Telnet, mail, ping, web, news, ftp.
Built-in PPP using scripts or dumb terminal mode.
I'm using XT/286 version which does not support graphics/sound.
Web leaves a lot to be desired. Reader module allows for offline
newsgroup reading. My main program for usenet. You can download
only subject headers so you can then pick which full messages to
download for reading. Pretty cool.
Three versions available: 386 (graphics, sound, fonts),
XT/286, and Palmtop (no graphics/sound on last two).
Latest versions at http://people.delphi.com/davidcolston/
NCSA Telnet w/FTP. Very good package. Also includes whois, finger,
rsh/rexec, etc.
CUTCP Telnet w/FTP. Based on NCSA work. Includes printing utilities
like lpr/lpq/etc. TN3270 also.
Trumpet. Cool nntp news reader. Not offline but windowing/menuing.
DOSLynx. World Wide Web browser. Not a port of Unix Lynx. Too bad.
Uses Borland Turbovision interface (like Minuet/Trumpet). Slow,
buggy, crash prone. In alpha and doesn't seem to be supported.
New note: DosLynx is being worked on by a private party and is now
at 0.13a (UKansas' last version was 0.8a). It fixes some bugs.
It can be had from http://www.fdisk.com/doslynx/
POPMail. Pre-Minuet. No longer supported. Incorporated into Minuet.
Includes Webster module (not in Minuet). Includes telnet, finger,
ping.
PC-Gopher III. Pre-Minuet. No longer supported. Incorporated into
Minuet. The version I use(d) is pretty fast with windows opening
all over the place with no memory problems. Later version
(1.1.x?) had major memory problems.
NuPOP. POP mail. Based on Minnesota code (POPMail/PC-Gopher/Minuet).
Telnet, ping, finger, and quite a few more. Will call external
programs like Trumpet, html viewers, graphics viewers, etc.
Those are some of the cool programs that work (except DOSLynx).
Minuet, NuPOP, POPMail, PC-Gopher III, Trumpet, and DOSLynx use the
Borland Turbovision interface so they're full windowing/mouseable
programs.
Tried PC-Pine but couldn't get it to work. Probably since Annex
doesn't use the unix box/pine to receive mail anymore.
Experimenting with Yarn (usenet SOUP) offline reader but haven't got
it to work yet. Need the correct programs to import the packets.
Most of the above (and a few more) can be found at my site:
http://www.agate.net/~tvdog/internet.html
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/internet/
The programs on that site have been tested on the 1000HX and 1000TL.
Obviously, if the 1000RSX is running Windows, OS/2 Warp, or Linux, there are
Internet access programs for those environments.
III.H. Basic
+ III.H.1. What are the Basic patches?
There is a bug in GW-Basic 3.20.20, which came with the SL, TL and TL/2.
After a syntax error, the <up arrow>/8 key on the numeric keypad stops
working until Basic is exited. The executable can be patched to fix the
problem; the fix appeared in the December 1990 issue of _PCM_, page 138.
Enter the following at the DOS prompt:
PATCH BASIC.EXE,96A2,A483C702,FCA44747
GW-Basic v01.01.00, included with the original 1000, has a bug that causes
the sense of the BEEP ON and BEEP OFF commands to be reversed. The fix is
to patch the program with Debug as follows, as described in the October 1986
issue of _PCM_. First rename BASIC.EXE to BASIC.TMP. Go DEBUG BASIC.TMP,
then type:
E 6AA9 74
W
Q
Rename BASIC.TMP back to BASIC.EXE. Tandy GW-Basic v01.01.01 or later does
not have the bug.
+ III.H.2. How do I get information on Basic programming?
With newer models, there may be a Basic command reference in the manuals
that came with the system. On older models, the Basic documentation may
have been sold separately. In either case, ask Tandy (see section IV.A.).
See also section IV.D.
_PCM_ magazine used to publish a lot of Basic programs for the 1000's - see
section IV.C.
+ III.H.3. What is the "Child of Basic" problem?
The "Child of Basic" problem was caused by a bug in the Microsoft QuickBasic
v1.0 compiler. Programs compiled with QB 1.0 would display the message,
"Cannot execute as a child of BASIC" and refuse to run on the Tandy 1000.
The solution was to run a program beforehand that would set a byte in the
BIOS data area to the value that QB expected. There is a program on my ftp
to do this:
ftp://ftp.agate.net/users/01935/tandy1000/utilities/t1qbfix.zip
It is also possible to make a program to fix the problem with the following
Debug session:
a0100
push ds
push dx
mov ds,0050
mov ds,dx
mov dl,00
mov [000f],dl
pop dx
pop ds
int 20
f0111 0180 00
nqbfix.com
rcx
80
w
q
Note the blank line after "int 20". The program QBFIX.COM is produced.
The "Child of Basic" problem was Microsoft's fault, not Tandy's, and it had
nothing to do with Tandy's GW-Basic interpreter. QuickBasic v2.0 or later
does not have the bug.
IV. Miscellaneous Information
- IV.A. How do I contact Tandy?
Tandy can be reached by mail, by phone, by fax, or through the Internet.
Tandy can be reached by mail at:
Tandy Computer Support Services
400 Atrium One Tandy Center
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Tandy Customer Relations can be reached by fax at (817) 338-2303. Support
questions can be faxed to (817) 878-6804.
The various phone numbers at Tandy have all been consolidated into
1-800-THE-SHACK (1-800-843-7422). Call this number to order Tandy products
or obtain support. Outside North America, call Tandy International at
1-817-390-3475.
Call the Radio Shack telephone order center to ask about the availability of
old Tandy products: (800) 433-2024.
Tandy publications can be obtained by using the toll-free fax-back service.
To use it, call (800) 323-6586 with a touch-tone phone and enter a request
for a catalog of catalogs in a particular subject (such as computers).
This will get you a list of catalogs for particular computers. You then
call to order the particular catalog (say, for the 1000TL). This catalog
then lists publications that you can get, also by fax. The service is
free. If you have a question about jumpers, switches, and that sort of
thing, this is the way to get it answered. The documents on the fax-back
service can also be obtained via WWW from Tandy's support site (see section
IV.B.2.) or support BBS (see section IV.B.3.).
Tandy can be reached by email at support@tandy.com. Replies can be slow by
that route. Phone if you need an immediate answer.
IV.B. Ftp sites, Web pages, BBS's, etc.
- IV.B.1. What ftp sites are there for the 1000's?
The following site has setup programs, documentation files, and
free/shareware programs for the 1000's, as well as Internet access software
for old PC's. The latest version of this FAQ is also to be found there:
ftp.agate.net:/users/01935
The former ftp site at musie.phlab.missouri.edu is dead, and the site at
ftp.kjsl.com no longer has 1000-series files. All files in the tandy1000
directory were saved, however, and are at the site above.
Tandy also has an official ftp site:
ftp.tandy.com:/pub/support
Unfortunately, the directories are not readable via ftp. The files on
Tandy's site are best accessed through their support WWW site (see section
IV.B.2.).
The vast majority of DOS programs will run on the 1000's, though they may
not take advantage of the video and sound capabilities. See section
III.G.3. for some sites.
- IV.B.2. What WWW sites are there for the 1000's?
The official Tandy WWW site is:
http://www.tandy.com/
Tandy's site has a lot of support documents as well as most of the setup
programs and utilities for Tandy computers. Get to the support page via:
http://support.tandy.com/
My WWW site has links to the above as well as this FAQ and access to files
in my ftp archive:
http://www.agate.net/~tvdog/index.html
For generic DOS software, check these sites:
http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/msdos.html
http://www.coast.net/Simtel/
- IV.B.3. What BBS's are there for the 1000's?
Here is the official one:
Tandy Retail Services Support Library BBS
Fort Worth, TX, USA
1-817-878-6737 or 1-817-878-6885 or 1-800-476-2698
Sysop: Product Support Center
Running Maximus/NT v3.01 at 300-14400 baud
Free.
Supports 1000-series, 2500-series, 3000-series, 4000-series, PC-compatible
laptops/portables. Tandy printer drivers, setup programs, DeskMate drivers,
faxback documents. This BBS contains essentially the same stuff as the
support WWW site (see section IV.B.2.).
This BBS has some of the files on my ftp/WWW site (if you don't have
Internet access). It is generally a gay-oriented BBS, and you have to be 18
to enter; the Tandy stuff is a sideline:
Paul's Waka Waka BBS
Seattle, WA, USA
1-206-783-7979
Sysop: Paul Casey
Running Searchlight v4.5 at 300-33600 baud
$25 contribution and signed registration required for downloading.
+ IV.B.4. What online services have 1000-related areas?
CompuServe, America Online, Delphi, and BIX (is BIX still around?) have
Tandy areas. CompuServe's is the biggest - GO TRS80PRO.
- IV.C. What magazines and newsletters are there for the 1000's?
There is a bimonthly newsletter called _Computer News PC_. The publisher
also sells shareware disks with old programs that will run on the 1000's,
certain parts for the 1000's, ribbons for Tandy printers, and other stuff:
Computer News PC
P.O. Box 50127
Casper, WY 82605
ph. (307) 265-6483
This company also publishes _Computer News 80_, a newsletter for TRS-80's.
The major magazine for Tandy 1000 owners was _PCM_. It is now out of
print, but at last report the publisher still had back issues for sale:
Falsoft, Inc.
The Falsoft Building
P.O. Box 385
Prospect, KY 40059
ph. (502) 228-4492
fax (502) 228-5121
The best years for _PCM_ were 1988-1991 if you can find back issues. When I
was on Delphi, they had back issues of _PCM_ available for download for an
extra charge ("PCM on Disk"); perhaps they still do (see section IV.B.4.).
_PCM_ used to publish an index to the previous year's articles in each July
issue.
There was another, smaller magazine for the Tandy 1000-series. Reportedly
it is out of print as well:
1000 Magazine
Symbiotics, Inc.
P.O. Box 1688
St. Louis, MO 63043-0688
- IV.D. What are some good books about the 1000's?
_Upgrading Your Tandy_, from DCS Industries (see section IV.G.).
_1000's Tech Notes and Jumper Manual, Volumes 1 and 2_, from _Computer News
PC_ (see section IV.G.). Volume 1 covers the 1000's themselves; volume 2
covers various adapters and accessories sold by Tandy for the 1000's.
These books are a highly recommended.
The technical reference manual for your system is your best source of
hardcore technical data; see section IV.G. on how to get a copy. The
technical reference may assume you are already familiar with commonly-used
(or emulated) Intel chips. If not, the _Intel Microprocessor and
Peripheral Handbook_ contains the data sheets for the 8088, 8086, 80286,
8259A, 8254, etc.
The _IBM PCjr Technical Reference Manual_ can be helpful. It contains BIOS
listings for that system and documentation on the Tandy 1000/PCjr video
system and 3-voice chip that is a bit more complete than what is in Tandy's
manuals.
Many of the 1000's are intermediate between the IBM PC and the PCjr (see
section IV.H.). From that point of view, a good book to get is _Compute's
Mapping the IBM PC and PCjr_, which covers both systems. It covers
programming the machines in Basic and assembler, including Tandy 1000/PCjr
video and the 3-voice chip.
A service manual, _Computerfacts Technical Service Data_, may be available
for some 1000-series models from:
Computerfacts Technical Service Data
Howard W. Sams & Company
4300 W 62nd St.
Box 7092
Indianapolis, IN 46206
ph. (800) 428-SAMS
These are called "Sams" manuals.
There was a manual sold with the Tandy 3000HL, catalog number 25-4109, _MS-
DOS/GW Basic_, covering Tandy DOS 3.3. Radio Shack also sold a book by
David A. Lien, _Learning Basic for the Tandy 1000/2000_. There was a book,
_Tandy MS-DOS Reference Manual_, catalog number 25-1501, that came with the
SX (DOS version 3.2). Lien also wrote DOS books for Tandy: _MS-DOS Volume
1: The Basics_ (cat. no. 25-1506) and _MS-DOS Volume 2: Advanced
Applications_ (cat. no. 25-1507). The two DOS books and the Basic book by
Lien were sold as a unit, cat. no. 25-1508.
A useful book to get, if you can find it: _Getting the Most Out of
DeskMate 3_ by Michael A. Banks, published by Brady. Contains whatever is
left out of the DeskMate manual.
All of those books are out of print and out of stock at Radio Shack,
but you may be able to find secondhand copies.
Radio Shack once sold a software package called "Fundamentals of the TL"
containing introductory information on the 1000TL. They bring you into a
town, called "Tandyland". You have a set of software packages with you.
You go to each store, and each merchant has a problem they want to solve.
You have to give them the right software. It also teaches you how to use
MS-DOS, as well as how to use DeskMate, ver 3.01. There were also
"Fundamentals" programs for other systems, including the original 1000, SX,
and EX.
Ken Udut provided the following information:
DeskMate book that may still be available:
From Ramon Zamora & Laran Stardrake in One_Thousand_Magazine, October
1991
"Your DeskMate Backpack - the ShareBook
We are writing a sharebook called _Your DeskMate Backpack_ in
8.5" by 11" loose-leaf format. This sharebook may be freely copied
and distributed. The first 10 pages are free. To get them, send a
SELF-ADDRESSED, STAMPED (29 CENTS) ENVELOPE, to:
Your DeskMate Backpack
PO Box 1635
Sebastopol, CA 95473-1635
If you do, please tell us about your computer and what you would like to
learn about DeskMate."
I do not know if they are still providing this service. They also wrote
a DeskMate book, which I used to have but gave away to a friend who
received a used Tandy 1000 TX and wanted to learn more about DeskMate.
I will find out the name of it. (I think my local library has a copy).
Tandy sold not only the FUNdamentals for the TL, they also had a version
for the 1000, 1000SX and 1000 SL, that I know of.
I have a copy of the TL version, as well as the version for the original
1000. (The one for the original 1000 is splendid! I didn't know that
the original 1000 could do all of the neat things it was showing!)
Radio Shack once sold a book called _Graphics and Sound for the Tandy 1000
and PC Compatibles_ by William Barden, Jr. (catalog number 25-1512) for
$7.95 (as of 1990). It was primarily oriented toward Basic but contained
useful appendices. The information in the technical reference manuals for
the various models is more complete.
The *first* edition of the _Programmer's Guide to PC Video Systems_ by
Richard Wilton contains a great deal of information on how to program the
PCjr video (the second edition is of little or no use, since information on
the PCjr video was deleted along with other "less-known" video cards).
There are many general books about the IBM PC and MS-DOS available at any
bookstore or library. For programmers, the _Microsoft MS-DOS Encylopedia_
is an excellent reference. The 1988 edition covers DOS up to 3.3 and
contains information that was left out of later editions.
- IV.E. What other newsgroups are of interest to 1000 owners?
There is a DeskMate group:
alt.os.deskmate
comp.sys.tandy is much more widely read, so it is probably better just to
post your DeskMate-related messages there.
For general IBM PC-related information, check out these hierarchies:
comp.os.msdos.*
comp.sys.ibm.pc.*
comp.os.ms-windows.*
To get used parts and software cheap, look in:
misc.forsale.computers.pc-specific.*
- IV.F. Where can I get other FAQ's?
FAQ's for most newsgroups are periodically posted to news.answers. Also
check comp.answers for comp.* newsgroups and alt.answers for alt.*
newsgroups.
FAQ's are also available by ftp from:
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet
A list of available FAQ's is to be found at:
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/periodic-postings
Via WWW, check this site:
http://www.faqs.org/
- IV.G. Where can I get upgrade/replacement parts for my 1000?
Generally, you can get parts and service through your local Radio Shack,
but the price may not be attractive.
Parts for Tandy's can also be ordered from:
Tandy National Parts
900 E. Northside Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76102
ph. (817) 870-5600 or (800) 442-2425
From an old Delphi forum message:
"I called them for some white plastic keyboard parts and didn't have a
part number or nothing. The local RS didn't know what I was talking about.
If you call them and give them your Model number and serial number, I'm
sure they will help. Ask also, if they have an instruction sheet to
accompany the parts."
Tandy National Parts mainly caters to knowledgeable professionals. If
you call them not knowing exactly what you want, they will generally
transfer you to customer support - so call the support number first if you
don't know (see section IV.A.). At the least, you need to know the model
number. It is printed on the back or bottom of the machine and is of the
form 25-xxxx or 26-xxxx.
The technical reference manual for your model is ordered from there.
Tandy has (had) a policy of stocking parts for its computers for 7
years after they are discontinued.
Here are some third-party sources for replacement/upgrade parts for the
1000-series:
DCS Industries
5265 Hebbardsville Road
Athens, OH 45701
ph. (800) 537-3539
fax (614) 592-1527
email: dcs@eurekanet.com
WWW: http://www.dcsindustries.com/
Computer News PC
P.O. Box 50127
Casper, WY 82605
ph. (307) 265-6483
PC Enterprises
2400 Belmar Blvd Bldg B-16
Belmar, NJ 07719
ph. (800) 922-7257 (sales)
ph. (908) 280-0025 (tech support)
fax (908) 280-0010
WWW: http://www.pcenterprises.com/
This company is a good source for hard drives, controllers, and hardcards:
Mega Haus
2201 Pine Drive
Dickinson, TX 77539
ph. (800) 786-1185 (sales)
ph. (713) 534-2630 (tech support)
fax (713) 534-6580
WWW: http://www.megahaus.com/
Computer Mechanix, (800) 448-1436, also sells upgrade parts for the 1000-
series. They are mainly a wholesale operation, though.
If you live in the Fort Worth area, there is a Tandy Outlet Center there
that sells old, discontinued items for cents on the dollar.
Generally, whatever works in an IBM XT can be made to work in a Tandy 1000.
There are quite a few exceptions, though. If you are in doubt (and this
FAQ didn't tell you), ask in comp.sys.tandy or, better yet, get one of the
books listed in section IV.D.
- IV.H. Why is this @#$%!! machine so incompatible?
The original Tandy 1000 was introduced to compete with the IBM PCjr, and it
is compatible with it in most respects. Shortly before the 1000 came out,
the PCjr was discontinued, and it is largely forgotten now. The
1000-series, by contrast, were quite popular, and Tandy continued to produce
new models for a decade, adding enhancements and gradually improving
compatibility with the IBM PC.
The keyboard on the original 1000 through the 1000TX is an improvement on
the original 83-key IBM PC keyboard, and most of the scan codes are
compatible with that, though not with the later 101-key keyboard. The
PCjr's poor keyboard was a principal reason for its demise.
The joystick ports on the original 1000 were made compatible with the Color
Computer, to enable owners of those machines to use their old joysticks and
Color Mice with the new machines.
Reducing manufacturing cost was another reason for some of the
incompatibilities.
+ IV.I. What happened to Tandy?
Tandy Corporation is still around and still supports their computers, even
the oldest TRS-80 model I. See section IV.A. for ways to contact them.
In May 1993, Tandy sold its computer manufacturing facilities and the rest
of its computer business to AST Research, which quickly closed the plants
down. For a while, the desktop computers sold in Radio Shacks were made by
AST, using Tandy's old engineering staff, who had been transferred to the
new company.
Tandy's laptops were mostly made in Japan, most by Panasonic, some by
Seikosha, often with custom ROM's. Tandy printers were generally made in
Japan as well, generally with custom ROM's.
In May 1996, AST terminated its in-house software development efforts, and
the remaining Tandy programmers scattered to the four winds (some were still
left from the DeskMate days at that time). AST still holds the rights to
DeskMate and Tandy WinMate, but no one at AST seems to know whether they
still have the source code or not. (You can still get DeskMate 3.05 and
DeskMate Home Organizer from Tandy.)
Currently, Radio Shack is selling IBM and Packard Bell models.