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On a Tandy kick... 1000 TX, TL/2, HX, and Model 2000

E

EddieDX4

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2006
Messages
542
Location
Puget Sound region, WA, USA
I've been on a Tandy kick as of late...

I inherited alegro's 1000 TX, which I've been playing Zeliard, Lemmings, and Thexder on for the past few days in all of their Tandy graphics and sound glory... I have it paired up to a CM-11 black bezel model.

Also inheritted Chromedome45's Model 2000. Still poking around the 2000 version of MS-DOS, and learning about the 2000's in general.

Also just recieved a TL/2 I won off eBay with original documentation, along with original Enhanced Keyboard and Tandy mouse. I'll be installing an XT-IDE card in it. Will alternate between it and the TX (I love the TX and below models' keyboards...)

I'm bidding on the new HX that Katie R posted a few days ago... Hoping to get that one.

And, I picked up an HX "parts" machine for $15 that was missing the expansion cover. I bought it to use a few keys from its keyboard for the 2000's keyboard, and for its Plus card memory expansion board (which, luckily, the seller left and didn't part out). If I win the NIB HX, this card will be going in it.

I just really love these machines. :oops:
 
Welcome to the 12 step program. It's an addiction. Have a seat. Soon you'll have a basement full of "ye olde Tandy boxen". Next you need to get a 4 or 4p to play around with. It's a whole different world.
 
Fun stuff. There's a 1000RL at the recycle center that I may get if someone else doesn't want it, but I'll need to get a keyboard for it. I'm undecided as to whether to keep that and sell the TX I have now, or try to upgrade the TX. The main nicety would be that the RL has a built-in hard disk controller, but it looks like it's XT-IDE only, and those are freakin' expensive :/
 
EddieDX4 said:
And, I picked up an HX "parts" machine for $15 that was missing the expansion cover...
Click to expand...

if you ever happen to come across another parts machine, I am missing the expansion cover for mine and would love to have one.
Seems like that is the 1st thing to go though!
 
commodorejohn said:
Fun stuff. There's a 1000RL at the recycle center that I may get if someone else doesn't want it, but I'll need to get a keyboard for it. I'm undecided as to whether to keep that and sell the TX I have now, or try to upgrade the TX. The main nicety would be that the RL has a built-in hard disk controller, but it looks like it's XT-IDE only, and those are freakin' expensive :/
Click to expand...

I think the RL's IDE controller is both AT/XT. The TL's is XT only. I could be wrong (time to revisit the FAQ's)..
 
Hmm, looking at the specifications on the Tandy support archive, you might be right. I'll definitely give it a shot, if the other guy hasn't beaten me to it. It'd be cheaper than getting a controller/disk setup for the TX, that's for sure. Speaking of, my TX apparently is A. designed to fit a second 3.5" floppy drive, but not designed to power one, and B. designed to power a 5.25" floppy drive, but not designed to fit one. (Specifically, the power supply can't handle another 720KB floppy that draws 1A, and the drive cable is too short to reach to the back of a 5.25" floppy that draws less.) Go figure that out. Guess I'll have to root around the bin of floppy drives at the recycle center to find a less shockingly power-hungry 3.5" drive...
 
commodorejohn:

I'm fairly sure that the PS specs on your TX are as good, if not better than that of my SX. I wouldn't worry about drawing too much current, as you normally only access one drive at a time. I run a standard Tandy TEAC 5.25" 360 KB drive along with a Sony 3.5" 1.44 MB (configured as a 720 KB) drive, as well as a 3.5" HD and a 3.5" SCSI. Never had any PS problems (1986 to date). You can easily modify a standard "twisted" floppy cable for the TX, and pick up a power connector splitter from any computer supply store.
 
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EddieDX4 said:
I think the RL's IDE controller is both AT/XT. The TL's is XT only. I could be wrong (time to revisit the FAQ's)..
Click to expand...

I have an RL with a still-working XT-IDE hard drive, and I just assumed XT IDE was all it could do, which of course has always had me a bit concerned. I didn't want to use the only ISA slot for a hard disk controller...

ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/documents/1kfaq.txt

If that's the FAQ you're talking about, it does say "The TL/2, TL/3, RL's, and RLX's have a built-in XT IDE ("Smart Drive")
interface. These drives are hard to find nowadays 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."

... so it sounds like, no way...
 
southbird said:
I have an RL with a still-working XT-IDE hard drive, and I just assumed XT IDE was all it could do, which of course has always had me a bit concerned. I didn't want to use the only ISA slot for a hard disk controller...

ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/documents/1kfaq.txt

If that's the FAQ you're talking about, it does say "The TL/2, TL/3, RL's, and RLX's have a built-in XT IDE ("Smart Drive")
interface. These drives are hard to find nowadays 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."

... so it sounds like, no way...
Click to expand...

This is why a favor the TL/2 ~ TL/3's over the RL's... 5 expansion slots. :)
 
EddieDX4 said:
This is why a favor the TL/2 ~ TL/3's over the RL's... 5 expansion slots. :)
Click to expand...
Yep :) Now I just have to find a suitable HD controller for my TX...

Agent Orange said:
I'm fairly sure that the PS specs on your TX are as good, if not better than that of my SX. I wouldn't worry about drawing too much current, as your normally only access one drive at a time. I run a standard Tandy TEAC 5.25" 360 KB drive along with a Sony 3.5" 1.44 MB (configured as a 720 KB) drive, as well as a 3.5" HD and a 3.5" SCSI. Never had any PS problems (1986 to date). You can easily modify a standard "twisted" floppy cable for the TX, and pick up a power connector splitter from and computer supply store.
Click to expand...
You might be right. I replaced it with a 1.44MB drive I had on hand and it booted fine (from the stock drive, that is.) I didn't get a chance to test the second drive, but it didn't do the thing with drawing so much power that the stock drive doesn't function, so maybe the 720KB drive I was using was just bad.
 
commodorejohn said:
The main nicety would be that the RL has a built-in hard disk controller, but it looks like it's XT-IDE only, and those are freakin' expensive :/
Click to expand...

If yer needin' an HD for the RL, I have a few Seagate ST351A/Xs I might part with. 40MB AT/XT IDE switchable. These were the same drive Tandy sold and the largest available (that I've ever heard/seen/found) for the 8-bit IDE interface. I bought a 3-4 of them a few years ago for pretty cheap and could easily be convinced to part with them for use in another RL :d

IMO, the best use of the RL's one expansion slot is a REAL parallel adapter, thereby allowing you to use external HDs, floppies, ethernet (Xircom PE3 or similar), SCSI devices, the list goes on. Parallel was effectively the predecessor of USB, with plenty of devices adapted to run through it. The big difference of course was that each device needed a specific driver, much like early USB implementations.

Tandy's are a lot of fun and have a special place in my collection :)
__
Trevor
 
Lord Moz said:
IMO, the best use of the RL's one expansion slot is a REAL parallel adapter, thereby allowing you to use external HDs, floppies, ethernet (Xircom PE3 or similar), SCSI devices, the list goes on. Parallel was effectively the predecessor of USB, with plenty of devices adapted to run through it. The big difference of course was that each device needed a specific driver, much like early USB implementations.

Tandy's are a lot of fun and have a special place in my collection :)
__
Trevor
Click to expand...

I agree about adding a real (preferably bi-directional with EPP support) parallel adapter. This opens up a lot of extra capabilities.

I added one to my TX and use PalmZIP along with an Epson ZIP100 drive. Being limited to 720k/360k internal drives, the ZIP drives come in real handy when transffering games back and forth from my modern machines (with access to my file server).
 
I'm not on a Tandy kick, but recently I got a 1000 EX that was with a commodore system I picked up.. and I am soon to hopefully get a TX and TL and 2 monitors and other good stuff from a guy for $50!
I used to have a 2000 long ago but it didn't work.. so hopefully I'll be able to pick one up one of these days.

Maybe I'll have 8088 on up all represented again soon :)
 
Visionary said:
I'm not on a Tandy kick, but recently I got a 1000 EX that was with a commodore system I picked up.. and I am soon to hopefully get a TX and TL and 2 monitors and other good stuff from a guy for $50!
I used to have a 2000 long ago but it didn't work.. so hopefully I'll be able to pick one up one of these days.

Maybe I'll have 8088 on up all represented again soon :)
Click to expand...

That was a steal! I really love the TX and TL/2... They have a good amount of available expansion slots and don't occupy a lot of space, like most desktops of the era. They're also esthetically pleasing.
 
Visionary said:
I'm not on a Tandy kick, but recently I got ..
Click to expand...

Wow.. hell of a non Tandy kick you're on lol ;-) Good finds. Maybe I need to go not be on an Altair and 5100 kick.<g>

Do you have many systems? (yeah ok.. I'll check for an introduction thread)
 
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