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Just Acquired Tandy 1000 TX and need some parts

F

fallemarg

Experienced Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2010
Messages
133
Location
Olathe, Kansas
Greetings:

As the title indicates, we are needing to find some parts for our newly acquired Tandy 1000 TX. We are speciifically seeking the real time clock option that was available for this machine. We are also looking to increase the RAM to the 768K maximum capacity and would like information on what chips those were. Additionally, we have the MFM ST-225 hard drive and controller in the machine, however the hard drive is showing it's age, we would like to find the "hard card" option which IIRC was Western Digital, we only require the card as we have hard drives. Please message me if you can help or post to this thread.

Thank-you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Kind Regards,

Nathan
 
For the real time clock, look for a Dallas DS1216E chip:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171331427872

The Notes & Jumpers manual should have info on the RAM upgrade:
http://www.oldskool.org/guides/tvdog/documents.html

Here's what the original Tandy IDE-XT hardcard controller would be, minus the bracket to hold the hard drive:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221844505098

You'd probably be better off with an XT-IDE card, which would let you use any modern IDE-AT (a.k.a. Parallel ATA) hard drive, or a Compact Flash card with an IDE adapter. Or an XT-CF, which has the Compact Flash card slot built-in. Here's one, but unfortunately it is a kit, so assembly is required:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/151764813513
 
That's all real good info from Vwestlife. Another option for your hard drive would be a SCSI HD and a 8-bit SCSI controller, which are somewhat reasonable priced and available from time to time. Don't hold your breath looking for an affordable vintage 8-bit IDE controller, as it's the reason for VCF's super XT-IDE project.
 
If you do only one thing, do the RAM upgrade. Having 768K in the system means the entire 640KB is available to DOS when using Tandy graphics modes, which solves a lot of problems.

A TX is a very versatile system for running DOS games from the 1986-1990 era; most will support Tandy graphics and sound, and the TX is fast enough for most 3D stuff to run at a fairly nice clip too. I have three in the collection, although I've only done the RAM upgrade on one of them.
 
To upgrade the 1000TX to 768 KB of RAM, install four 64K x 4 150ns (or faster) DRAM chips in the sockets labelled U54-57, and remove the jumper labelled E9-E10.
 
I may have the Tandy 20MB hard card for a TX, mine had a dead drive. I'd have to find it, I haven't seen it since I moved. Though I might need the controller for my CDP PC clone...

I bid on the Tandy AT hard drive adapter, but I wasn't going to spend too much since I have an XT-IDE with card slot CF adapter already installed in my TX.
 
vwestlife said:
To upgrade the 1000TX to 768 KB of RAM, install four 64K x 4 150ns (or faster) DRAM chips in the sockets labelled U54-57, and remove the jumper labelled E9-E10.
Click to expand...

The tough part is finding the RAM. I think the last time I upgraded a TX I had to spend $40 on ebay for the RAM because I couldn't find it anywhere else... If anyone has pointers for cheaper sources, I'm all ears... I still have two TXs to upgrade.
 
Thanks for the information everyone. I really appreciate the assistance. Technically this is my friend's machine. I am just helping him with getting various things. He really wants to keep everything period accurate, which I understand, but I would just get the XT-IDE/CF adapter so the drive would work. He really wants a Tandy card for the hard drive, be it SCSI or IDE. They are a little difficult to find though.
 
Krille said:
Any chance someone could provide a ROM dump from this type of card? It would be interesting to have a peek at the code...
Click to expand...

It is a Silicon Valley ADP50 with a custom ROM:

Tandy 1000-series FAQ said:
The Silicon Valley ADP50T ("T" for Tandy BIOS, ADP50 is not the same) is good 8-bit AT IDE card that cooperates with your existing XT IDE drive, if any, and can chain two AT IDE drives (if they are from the same manufacturer). It works in all models of the 1000-series, including the original 1000 with BIOS version 01.00.00. It does not work with Quantum drives, however. The Tandy version of the ADP50 card has BIOS version 2.18T on it. There are some instructions for the ADP50T and a list of drives compatible with it here:


ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/documents/adp50.zip

The original ADP50 will also work in the 1000's, but only with Conner and Fujitsu drives (refer to list above). It is jumpered differently than the Tandy version; see:


ftp://ftp.oldskool.org/pub/tvdog/tandy1000/documents/adp50l.zip
Click to expand...
 
vwestlife said:
It is a Silicon Valley ADP50 with a custom ROM:
Click to expand...

Oh, now I feel stupid. I should have looked closer on the images on that auction. BTW, I have that ROM already (disassembled so I could add support for that controller to XTIDE Universal BIOS).

Thanks!
 
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