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EASY-TO-USE TANDY 1000 TL PERSONAL COMPUTER BOASTS HIGH PERFORMANCE, HIGH FIDELITY SOUND July 27, 1988 FORT WORTH, TEXAS -- Tandy Corporation, the leading manufacturer of PC- compatible personal computers, today introduced the new Tandy 1000 TL personal computer, an easy-to-use PC/XT-compatible with 80286 processor speed and performance. The affordable 1000 TL has the power, performance and expansion to meet the growing demands of small to medium business, home office professionals and educational users. At a suggested retail price of $1,299, no other name-brand 80286-compatible on the market can match the value-added features and performance of the 1000 TL. Tandy's 1000 TL is three times faster than the IBM PS/2 Model 30 computer and more than six times faster than a standard PC/XT. This processing power is comparable to that of an "AT" class machine. Without sacrificing speed or performance, the 1000 TL features Tandy's innovative "Power and Run" design. The 1000 TL stores its MS-DOS 3.3 operating system and the graphics-oriented interface of DeskMate in read only memory (ROM), eliminating confusing start-up procedures for the user, and the need for an ever-present operating system diskette. The 1000 TL user will never confront cryptic prompts but, instead, will be taken directly into the industry-accepted, friendly interface of DeskMate. This interface can be easily accessed by a mouse or by the 1000 TL's new tactile-feel, IBM-compatible 101-key keyboard. Another useful feature stored in ROM is an 80,000-word spelling dictionary for use with any application written under the DeskMate interface. Tandy's innovative reputation continues with the 1000 TL, as the company also introduces high fidelity audio "input and output" technology to the PC industry. Through the use use of internal digital to analog and analog to digital converter circuitry, the 1000 TL is the first MS-DOS personal computer to record, store and playback speech or sound. With this innovation, Tandy has given software publishers one of the most exciting new tools yet with which to create quality products not available to the industry today. In addition to audio, the 1000 TL features three new on-board modes. Monochrome text (MDA), Hercules monochrome graphics and a high-resolution 640 x 200 color graphics mode with the ability to display a full 16 colors. Optional EGA or VGA adapters are also available. The standard configuration of the 1000 TL includes 640 kilobytes (Kb) of memory, expandable to 768Kb on the main board, five PC-compatible 10-inch expansion slots, a real-time clock with battery backup, support for an optional 80287 math coprocessor and one 3.5-inch 720Kb floppy disk drive. Two additional internal floppy disk drive slots, for a total of three, provide the user with extremely flexible expansion capabilities. Tandy has devised a new drive mounting device which makes the installation of any floppy disk drive a simple task . A second 3.5-inch 720Kb and 5.25-inch 360Kb internal floppy disk drive may be added to the 1000 TL. This hardware versatility is important to users with an existing library of 5.25-inch software. Other storage options include 20 megabyte (Mb) and 40Mb hard disk cards. With these features, the 1000 TL serves as an excellent network workstation and is perfect for the work-at-home professional or business user doing tasks such as low-end desktop publishing, database management, spreadsheet analysis, word processing, personal finance, portfolio management and administrative tasks. Standard interfaces included with the 1000 TL are a parallel printer port, RS- 232 serial port for mouse support or communication, microphone/audio input jack, headphone jack with volume control, RGBI monitor port and two joystick ports. These interfaces are additional cost options on most other computers. Without sacrificing expansion or value-added features, the 1000 TL has a new space-saving design which measures only 5.1 x 15.5 x 13.1 (HxWxD) inches. The Tandy 1000 TL personal computer (Cat. No. 25-1601) will be available in September. Prices are good at Radio Shack Computer Centers, Plus Computer Centers and participating stores and dealers nationwide. Tandy is a registered trademark of Tandy Corporation. Radio Shack and Radio Shack Computer Center are registered service marks of Tandy Corporation. DeskMate is a trademark of Tandy Corporation. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.