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Tandy Introduces 80286-based 8-bit machine
by R. Wayne Day
TandyNET Forums manager
Dallas, TX -- August 3, 1987 -- Tandy gave a preview at the machine that
will probably wind up being one of the new standards in personal MS-DOS
computing, today, when they announced the Tandy 1000-TX 80286-based
computer at their 10th anniversary press conference.
The TX occupies the same footprint area as a 1000-SX and will have the
same 5 8-bit expansion slots as before. Parallel printer port, CGA,
joystick, composite monitor and line level audio outputs are all still
standard.
New features in the base-priced machine include out-of-the box 768K
memory (640K directly addressable by MS-DOS with the additional 128K
being used by either a print spooler, RAM disk, or combination of both),
serial port and a volume control for the speaker volume.
The 80286 processor winds up reporting a 7.1 on the Norton SI index as
compared to the IBM-PC's 1.0 and IBM Personal System/2 Model 30's 1.8.
Optionally, you can add a 80287 math co-processor.
The base unit comes with one 720K 3.5" thin-line mini floppy drive (80
track double sided). Optional memory devices include another 3.5" drive,
5 1/4" drive, 20 meg hard card, or 20 or 42 megabyte hard disk units.
The 1000-TX comes bundled with MS-DOS 3.2 and GW-BASIC 3.2, as well as
Personal Deskmate 2, an enhanced all-in-one applications program.
The base price is $1199.
Initial impressions:
This is going to be the new machine for the individual or business that
has decided that immediate needs are being taken care of by the software
that is here, today. Since this machine will not run OS/2 (though it has
the 80286, it doesn't have a 16-bit buss, which is required for OS/2
useage) it's best positioned to compare with with the IBM Model 30 - and
there the performance features are impressive.
At a thousand dollars less than the Model 30's minimum system price
(comparing the machine, DOS, and a color monitor -- $2410 versus $1498)
you're getting three times the speed with more built-ins and greater
expandability.
So, if you've decided that you need or want a '286 machine, this is
probably going to be one of the better values that you find.
For those who asked, no, this machine is not going to be running Xenix