Radio Shack Tandy 1000 EX Fix and Tour

[@MarkWarbington]

The Tandy 1000 EX was my first PC-compatible computer. I remember buying something called the "PC Music Maker" that was a MIDI interface that plugged into a PC printer port. Unfortunately, it didn't work at all with the 1000 EX. When I reached out to the PC Music Maker company, they very kindly provided me with an adapter that apparently moved some pins around to make their interface work. They didn't even charge me. That was very cool of them. I have fond memories of that computer. My friend went out and bought a 1000 HX that had the boot ROM and didn't require a floppy to be inserted to boot up. I was jealous. 😊

[@The8BitGuy]

great video! I just got one of these too, along with the 1000HX too. Both of mine work.

[@matthewtully1745]

Hey 8-Bit Guy, I just picked up a 1000hx with a scsi card and an internal hdd! Have you ever seen one?

[@lorumipsum1129]

The 8-Bit Guy I’ve had my dads old one for years. Just gave it a cleaning and power up tests. Still works great. Also has the ram expansion and dma controller card

[@mikesilva3868]

😊

[@Zankuho]

A warm feeling when vintage hardware comes back to life... Nice work!

[@ZoruaZorroark]

i agree

[@danielwilliams9149]

We had this identical setup when I was a kid. Used to write my papers on WordPerfect. So many great memories of playing Wasteland, Thexder, Gunship, and Chuck Yeager's AFT. Played on this machine until I went to college in the 90s.

[@d-rocker26]

I got this PC brand new for i believe my b-day when i was about 10, so that would have been in 1995, its was so cool. Makes me wish i appreciated it more and kept it nice, as i got older i took it apart to see what it was like on the inside and then somehow lost track of it. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

[@Derfboy]

Same here except it was my family's computer. I wrote my first program on one of these.

[@robertsutton3337]

I sold the Tandy 1000 EX/HX for Radio Shack during the Christmas season of 1986. What a fun time!

[@bigdrew565]

Yep. That's when we got ours. The salesman was trying to sell us a CoCo pretty hard.

[@webstermr]

This is a real trip down memory lane. I had a Tandy 1000EX. It was my first IBM Compatible PC.

[@gregmerner3632]

This was my Grandfathers computer when I was growing up. I would sit in his room for hours, playing Rogue, Quest for Glory, Space Quest, Hero's Quest, Zaxxon, First Publisher, and more. When he moved on to the Tandy 3000 he gave this computer to me. I wrote all my high school papers on it, used it for rudimentary graphic design and more. Thanks for the trip down memory lane! I'm going to fire up DOSBox on my MacBook Pro and have a round of Rogue for old time's sake :)

[@crouchinghamster6407]

That moment at 5:45. I was just as excited as you, Adrian. I am new to this vintage computer hobby and having a blast with it and your videos. The hobby has rekindled the joy I got from computers (I started with an Apple IIe) that I somehow lost along the way. I started to take computers for granted, but really they have the same magic as ever: inside each one are endless worlds and opportunities for creativity and exploration. Thank you for making these videos and sharing them.

[@stephengordon8594]

The machine I took to college back in the fall of '87. I was one of the few students with a computer in the dorm.

[@jonwilmoth135]

That was the computer that got me through high school. I also had the TRS-80 Model 100. Awesome save.

[@ForViewingOnly]

Great video Adrian! That was a gamble buying such an expensive clock chip with the high price of the shipping too, not knowing if the Tandy had other faults with rare/expensive custom chips. I felt your elation when you switched it on and it worked! Your channel has come a long way since this video, but your old stuff is still great too.

[@sammilton]

Trip down memory lane for me as well, this was our family's first computer, and for me a great headstart into something that would be super important in my career. I can still hear the thunk from closing the floppy disk gate in my head....

[@WWhitegoat]

I still got my old Tandy 1000 and Tandy 1000 HX in my storage shed. Back in the day (80"s), I brought my work home, and use the Tandy PC to type up my reports.

[@AppleRepairLady]

Tandy 1000hx was the first computer my husband and I purchased when we first got married. And it was my sons first computer when he was 2 years old. I think you are super close to me in Portland. Would love to pick your brain Adrian about some Vintage Macintosh refurbs. I remember my husband expanding the memory size with expansion boards on the Tandy to the point that Taps plastics had to make a new cover because old one didn’t fit. Our Tandy ran GeoWorks.

[@karim2k]

Oh man I did use that Tandy for years in our community center it was unique, fast and reliable and it did have the memory expansion board, thanks for sharing those moments of joy 👍

[@cfbmoo1]

I wish I kept some of my old computers. I had a 1000EX as well after my CoCo2. On the up side I did get a CoCo3 recently refurbished and have been collecting all kinds of items for it including a TP-10 printer, cassette drive, joysticks, multipack, and a nifty CoCoSDC which lets me use SD cards loaded with disk images. Oh the memories.

[@eldontyrellcorp]

I love your dedication and your passion to being these machines back to life. Eagerly waiting for new videos.

[@ceebee23]

an early Adrian video...and lovely to hear and see the Tandy come back to life....and to hear an early Adrian WOW!!!!!!!

[@joshpayne4015]

Man, I lusted after this computer in the mid 80's. So great to live vicariously through you!

[@anthonyblore1651]

Never heard of these. What a great video. My heart jumped when I saw the UK postage stamps (I'm in the UK). You, Techmoan and 8-Bit Guy really do make soothing videos.

[@ridiculous_gaming]

The keyboards are actually very decent. In fact, these were well made machines.

[@fattomandeibu]

KZbin rec'ing me old videos, but that ending spiel really resonates. I couldn't imagine dealing with loading a game or program off tape or floppy disk these days other than when I sometimes do it for a nostalgia kick. I get impatient waiting for an old hard disk equipped system to boot these days, spoiled by NVMe and a 6-core CPU.

[@bigdrew565]

My Xbox takes 3 minutes to start up and I'm ready for murder. Yet, 5 years old, Christmas 1986, we unboxed this machine and used it for 15 years.

[@greenie00]

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had this exact setup, printer and all.

[@lordspam2721]

I had that model as a kid. Took me back man. Great video and repair!

[@michaelwallen738]

Really enjoying the videos... I dug out the Tandy 1000hx from top of garage today... Fired up and it worked! Registered 640k ram.. Few floppies still worked also shockingly....

[@earthlydescent]

My first PC. I miss that thing. Maniac Mansion and Kings Quest were my favs on this thing.

[@dwaynewallen3775]

Well done! This brings back memories of my first computer (also a 1000EX).

[@adammcburney5071]

Great video! So glad you had success with this project! The Tandy 1000 EX was my first computer, and I have many fond memories of playing Sierra games, as well as coding in BASIC. I just bought one of these (working) on eBay and am very excited to find out that there are options if I ever need to repair or replace components. Thanks again for a great video!

[@mikequenzer9100]

my first computer was a Tandy TL/2.... miss it.....enjoying your videos!

[@saint-samuel7462]

Awesome ! Great work. My first computer (back in '87...) !

[@BlackEpyon]

It should be noted, for anybody who has a Tandy 1000 HX (not EX as shown here), that the 720KB drives are incompatible with standard PC drives, but for a different reason. The 3.5" drives Tandy used in the HX were powered via the ribbon cable, so you'd fry a normal PC floppy if you tried. On the EX, as shown here, the DS-0/DS-1 jumper on the floppy is because older floppies (this one is 320KB), were made before "cable select" was built into floppy cables (the twist in the ribbon before the end of the cable where the first drive is connected). That jumper selects which drive letter (order) the drive will be. I've also read that on such drives, it may be necessary to remove the termination resistor pack if it's not at the end of the chain (not drive a:), just as one would do on a SCSI disk.

[@lorumipsum1129]

BlackEpyon are thier any floppy drives you can get for it that will be powered from the data cable?’ Also , do you still need a jumper for ds0 and 1?

[@BlackEpyon]

@@lorumipsum1129 "Modern" 3.5" floppy drives (I'm dating myself, aren't I?) are hard set at ds1. The twist in the cable sets it to DS0 for A: drive. It may be possible to use a normal 3.25" floppy on the HX, but you'd have to cobble together your own cable that cuts out the power pins at the floppy drive so you can use a splice from the power supply, or integrate a power connector from the cable itself. I'd have to look up the pin-outs, but that should be possible.

[@MnemonicCarrier]

I would love to see something like that running an SSH client (and hooked up to the Internet somehow). Thanks so much for the walk down memory lane, really enjoyed the video.

[@tonanornottonull7132]

Love the video. Just seeing how excited you got when you got it working after swapping out the chip makes me want to hunt for some old 8-bit computers and bring them back to life haha

[@mattashe8394]

My first IBM compatible. I loved this machine.

[@Fir3Chi3f]

Little note that this is your 'actual' reaction isn't needed! Can usually tell when you're being genuine I think. Love the videos! Thank you for doing this

[@Phscydin]

Wow!! Time warp! This was my first ever PC. Thank you for uploading this great video, brought back a lot of memories!

[@brentgoeller8257]

I had an SX which I believe came out before this one. It did have an internal clock. You can completely remove all power for years and not set the time when you reboot. Mine was in a closet for 10 years, still had the correct time when I set it back up. Actually, my battery only when bad about 6 months ago. It doesn't look like a battery, and I can't tell you were to find it on this model, but it should be there. I haven't replaced mine yet. I did remove the old one because I didn't want it to leak.

[@ncmattj]

Wow. This sure brings back some memories. Thanks for doing this video!

[@HaveYouTriedGuillotines]

I grew up with a couple of second hand Tandy computers in the 90s, this being one of them. Kinda wanna get another, I'm a little nostalgic.

[@alganbordm.5915]

That bring back so much good memory, that was my second computer, my first PC compatible one, good video!

[@anoopsahal1202]

I enjoy the very brief but very interesting “BLACK reflections” such as being more patient in the old days waiting for DOS to load etc. . I would like more Black reflections about the kind of person that bought a machine , what they used it for, what was the street cred if you owned a particular machine , what other machine choices were available and so on

[@pbee73]

This was my first computer, I learned how to write in BASIC and used to write some word games (trying to mimic farmers daughter". I remember making the disks bootable at startup by creating the file "copy con autoexec.bat" then "echo off" etc. I loved my Tandy

[@jimb032]

I had almost that same computer, but mine was an HX I believe! I had a hard drive, and the hard drive controller was ISA with this adapter you mention. I had a RTC and I thought 2x 3.5" floppys in the front with 1x 5.25" external. I never seen one with the 5.25" in the side before, i guess that was just in the EX. The printer cable is special, but the end was terminated to a standard Centronics parallel. Loved your video. P.S. Leisure Suit Larry worked well on mine!

[@alexkindl861]

Those Labtec speakers really rounds out the whole setup

[@franklynblender8549]

This was the first computer I ever had. Awesome video man. Thanks!

[@wisteela]

Greetings from the UK. I've got one of these with no monitor. It's got the serial card, the memory card which I need documentation for so I can try to get it to work, DOS disk, and DOS manual. I didn't know these existed until I got given one.

[@leereyno]

Your memory expansion card, since it is 128k, appears to use 64k by 4 bit memory chips. Based on the number of empty sockets, you may be able to install 384k into this board, which combined with the 256k on the motherboard, would bring this system up to a full 640k. You'll need chips like these: www.ebay.com/itm/NEC-D41464C-10-D41464-64K-x-4-DRAM-DIP-18-x-1pc-/151057118990 You'll want to make sure you get chips that are at least as fast as the ones you are already using though. These are 100ns

[@JimRodgers]

Really cool video. My first computer was a Tandy 1000 EX. I had a stealth fighter game for it and a few other programs.

[@michaelblair5566]

My first PC was an 80286 AT clone I got in 1990 instead of an Amiga. I am still a professional PC Technician/Network Engineer, so it was the righ decision even though it felt bad at the time!

[@smallmoneysalvia]

That tantalum cap on the original clock may have failed short and caused the lack of a clock

[@8bits59]

Those both appear to be ceramic disc caps

[@tarstarkusz]

Proportionately, early computers were far faster than today. People went from driving to the library, to a 4.77MHZ computer with a 300 or 1200 baud modem. People went from hand spreadsheets to electronic ones and from typewriters to word processors. Yes, they were slow, but compared to WHAT? It might take a while to boot a pc, launch a terminal, type ATDT XXX-XXXX and login, but it was still a lot faster than getting in your car (or bike or bus) and going to a physical place, waiting in line and pulling out reference guides. Compared to then, we have stagnated for well over a decade relying mostly on adding cores and fairly minor efficiency gains as far as processing speed goes. A computer from 2008 is still perfectly usable today, whereas a 1981 PC being used in 1991 was just unusable.

[@ion-shivs]

Good points.

[@pelgervampireduck]

what a beautiful computer!. I never had one of those but somehow it made nostalgic of my XT days, my first machine was a 640k XT with CGA, I had a green monochrome monitor, and two 360k floppy drives. then upgraded to 20mb hard disk and color cga monitor. (it was horrible, I prefer monochrome instead of the horrible cga pallete!)

[@jan80trs]

Comment from 12:30: Tandy tried to maintain compatibility with older computer and accessoires. The parallel printer cable was compatible with the one for TRS-80 model I, III and 4/4P. The joysticks were compatible with the standard ports on the Color Computer/ Co.Co.2/3. As for the serial port: AFAIK Tandy followed the IEEE-configuration for DTE and DSE, and the IBM standard did not. Didn't you forget the anti-theft disposition on the EX (and the HX too) enabling the computer to be bolted to the desk in computer classes ? That was the main public for the EX/HX models: schools.

[@floobertuber]

jan80trs: About that parallel port: I believe you're correct regarding compatibility with the models I, III, and 4/4P. I owned a Model III, and it had a card-edge connector that was very similar to that (probably identical). The other (printer) end was a standard D-shaped parallel connector. FWIW... and assuming my ever-aging memory still has a decent grip on this... my printer was a 7-pin dot-matrix model LPT-VII, which only printed at something like 30 characters per second. Slow and loud as hell, but unlike a lot of other printers of its day, it could print graphics, not just text! And got a speed boost because it could print BI-DIRECTIONALLY! Ahhhh those were the days. We were all a lot easier to impress back in ~1982.

[@8ByteBrian]

Ahh Tandy...I used have a Tandy 1000HX, & while not my first computer, it was definitely my favorite.

[@competetodefeat4610]

Had one of these when I was younger. Wish I'd held onto it for nostalgia's sake. It was my first "real" computer after having used the early Atari And Commodore machines.

[@competetodefeat4610]

As an aside later as a teenager it was the perfect place to hide my stash and smokes, parents had no idea that top cover slid off. :D

[@luisreyes1963]

Nice to see antique electronics come to life. ⌨️

[@marlls1989]

CTRL IS ON THE RIGHT SPOT!!! NO NEED TO ctrl:nocaps!!!!! Wish keyboards like this were still available and easier to find!

[@dhpbear2]

10:17 - the speed of the floppy will determine the speed in this case!

[@andyoreo333]

Going from commodore pet with a tape drive to Tandy circa 88 was an amazing jump for ten year old.

[@DavidScheiber]

perhaps one of those caps failed dead short and is pulling the clock low (or even high)?

[@stonent]

As a kid when I'd stay up late playing on my HX, I would pull the fan cable so my mom would have less of a chance of hearing me up late. I had both the memory board eventually upgraded to 640K and also had the serial board as well.

[@johneygd]

That's nice that you make it work again.

[@wireworks616]

This was my first computer back in the 80s

[@Inject0r]

The ds0 and ds1 settings on the FDD are being used for untwisted Floppy cable configurations. You could set the FDD to master (ds0) or slave (ds1). I've got one of those 8088 Vendex HeadStart computers (IBM clone) which uses that configuration.

[@dmamazon]

Great video...brings back lots of memories! I had a Tandy Color Computer 2 and then the 1000 EX. Spent so many hours on the limited gaming of the EX lol! I'm trying to locate the exact Christmas Demo that the Radio Shack I bought it from included with the computer because I liked the Demo! I'll never forget playing "Chuck Yeager Advanced Flight Simulator" LOL

[@dLLund]

thank you for posting. i believe you said the expansion bus is really just an isa bus. perhaps an XTide card & cf/sd hard disk could be accommodated ? maybe a dallas rtc chip too ? take care & stay safe.

[@superviewer]

Interesting. I was an Amiga 500 user back then. A Tandy 1000 EX appears to be the PC -counterpart- equivalent to the Amiga 500 and the Atari ST with its form factor and build-in color and sound.

[@tunderbird123]

I like the big hammer...final solution?

[@duhsbo]

I'm learning a lot with your videos, thanks!!!

[@jackiepyzocha7380]

With all software and accessories?

[@vwestlife]

Unfortunately it appears that Autogard is no longer in business. Their web site is now occupied by a domain squatter and attempts to e-mail them bounce back with an error.

[@p166mx]

I don't think these really took of in the UK but I may be wrong. I think Amstrad pretty much had the budget IBM PC clone market to itself around this time. They did make something similar to this and sold it under the Sinclair brand (PC200 I think) but think it had pure CGA graphics and just the PC beeper. The Tandy sound chip was great and I have no idea why more clones didn't make use of it. As a kid I always wondered why nobody made an IBM PC inside an Amiga style case without realising they did exist they were just not common in the UK.

[@paulstaf]

Were one of those soldered on caps bad on that chip? Shorted maybe?

[@fwoppydwisk]

2:17 oeprate

[@Lachlant1984]

I thought the floppy drive cable in these computers also provided power to the floppy drive as well as the data line. Does the external floppy drive gets its power from the computer or must it be plugged into a power socket?

[@Floopy6504]

I love your videos they are very informative.

[@NightSprinter]

Do you know where one can get a replacement drive cage and expansion cover for a 1000HX?

[@KayakTN]

My first home computer (we had Apple II's at school).

[@MaxieRetro]

Does F1-F4 work the same way on a Tandy 1000?

[@enlightendbel]

+Adrian Black since that system does have an exposed ISA and DMA controller, why not add an ISA IDE/CF drive?

[@enlightendbel]

Get an ISA IDE/CF kit to solder yourself, then add a grid connector instead of the edge on and boom :p Perfect to make another video to upload.

[@jan80trs]

An IDE on a 8-bit bus? (XT-style) Highly unlikely. Don't forget, there was something like an IDE for XTs - AFAIK, it was called Smartdrive - but it wasn't completely compatible with 16-bit ATA IDE. Furthermore, does the BIOS support it ?

[@absurdengineering]

jan80trs No problem whatsoever with IDE on 8-bit bus. You just need some discrete logic and latches to keep the low byte of a word transfer around until the high byte comes around. LoTech sells a nice board that does that for you.

[@richardrudek01]

My guess is that the Date codes at ~5:00, are the top-left 3 digits, instead of the usual 4-digit codes. That is 709 = week 9 1987, and 649 is week 49, 1986.

[@stonent]

This is interesting. I have a PCJr that was given to me as non functional. It plays a low tone out of the speaker and has a similar grey screen. One of the quad NAND gates was getting really hot. I removed it but never had problems with the soldering getting everything back. I had apparently a later revision PCJr with almost no socketed chips unfortunately. But I will look into the clock generator.

[@boris2342]

That was the first computer my big bro had ! AWESOME

[@ThePalmermark]

I thought that you are one of the best at explaining the Tandy line I have a sx1000 do you have any insight on those machines

[@matthewtully1745]

I just picked up a 1000hx with a scsi card and an internal hdd! I didn't know they existed.

[@johnathin0061892]

I had a 1000HX too. There were no hard drives available from Tandy, you needed a third party kit to put a hard drive inside. They were also pretty expensive at the time.

[@publicmail2]

No hard drive possible, had CompuServe with 14.4k modem and we liked it!

[@biodek]

Thanks again Adrian for the informative video, I'm a bit (cough) late in viewing this one, but was looking for someone who has cleaned the keyboard on an HX or EX where you had to remove the two flexible keyboard cables, was there a trick to getting them out and then again to putting them back in? Is it just pressure or do the size tabs actually release or tighten something to help remove and reinstall it?

[@omarhammoud7223]

Great Video Steve, i still have the 1000HX machine that my dad bought me in 1987 and i still use, the issue is the internal 3.5" 720k floppy no longer works, you cant find then anywhere as they are powered from the ribbon cable, I found some instructions on how to modify the ribbon cable and use a later model drive (modifying the ribbon cable cuts out the power lines to the new drive which is powered externally), issue now is, the new drive spins but the head does not move, do you have any experience or advice on how to fix this ? Thank you

[@tarstarkusz]

Mode CO40 will also put it in 40 column mode. You really should reinstall the RF shielding, particularly if you are going to have gaming sessions with this machine. It would also be nice to keep it original.

[@Raul_Gajadhar]

Very useful information on on floppy drive, thanks.

[@jackiepyzocha7380]

How about a 1000 RLX on eBay? How much? Hard drive and floppy drive? Fully working.

[@jurgenreissing8209]

My first thought was that with older computers, caps tend to go bad. Did you try removing the 2 caps from the original chip and see if it works without the caps?

[@branpurn]

Your camera shots are great, how long do your vids take to make?? love experiencing this stuff vicariously while I'm taking a lunch break haha

[@larrygall5831]

Memory lane! I had one of these when I was 9 or 10.

[@rager1969]

Hmm, I wish you had posted a link to that service manual, as I couldn't find a good one to fix my Tandy 1000 EX. The error code I get doesn't yield an exact match, but the match I got correlated the error code to the chip part number, and my error code, while different, does correlate to a chip part number. Could it be that easy?

[@rager1969]

Err I/O of 8253, and there is an Intel 8253. The thing is, the post of the guy that had Err I/O of 8259 says that replacing the Intel 8259 didn't fix the problem, so it may be something else. Unfortunately, the service manual I found doesn't mention what Err codes mean.

[@ChrisDuckles]

I actually had the precursor to this the TANDT 1000. 4mhz 8080 cpu if i remember correctly. standard keyboard and the electronics in a unit like a tower but laid flat.

[@pbee73]

This was my first computer back in '85 I think. When you listed the DIR @ 9:56 there is a program called "SHIPTRAK.COM" I remember loading it at the A: prompt and the screen would echo off, beep and bright white flashing letters will appear at the top saying _"REMOVE POWER FROM THE SYSTEM NOW!!"_ I always wondered what the hell is that program for?

[@jjwkk2183]

I found on lying ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD for God knows how long, I took it home and it turned on like it's been used everyday. I've been needing to clean it because theres a lot of dirt buildup and a bit of rust.

[@memelordmarcus]

Strong bad's computer?