• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Tandy 1000 found

C

Computer Collector

Experienced Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2005
Messages
283
for some reason, the thrift shops around here screen all the stuff coming in and throw away half of it, so I often do some dumpster diving to see what I can find. (this is how I obtained my TRS-80 model 4 a while back)

Well, today I looked in the dumpster and found a complete Tandy 1000.
First I saw the keyboard, then I saw the computer and monitor , so I got in and took all the stuff out. I took it home, cleaned it off, and tryed it out. Everything works just fine from what I can see (except that one of the joystick ports is a little funky).

So I got a complete Tandy 1000 for free. Today was my first time using one, so I learned how to use it today. It doesnt have a hard drive, but rather 2 5-1/4" disk drives, built in. To load any software, I first need to put in some boot disk. Overall, its an interesting computer, however, Its a little too "new" for me. im the kind of guy who gets more excited over an old 1980 machine than the newer stuff, so If any of you wants it, Ill sell it to you. But you probably dont want to but it, because its too heavy to ship!

Anyway, I have a question. This computer has the 2 buit in drives as I stated. Are they compatable with my model 4 if I wanted to try to hook them up externally (even though they are meant to be internal) They are smaller in size than the model 4 drives, as you know.
 
The 5.25" double-sided drives will work just fine with a III/4 computer. To hook them up externally will require a specially prepared cable. My Model 4 is a 4 drive unit using double-sided one-half sized drives in a single enclosure with power supply.

RLE
 
IS THERE SOME PLACE YOU CAN SHOW ME A PICTURE OF THE SPECIAL CABLE? I COULD PROBABLY BUILD THE CABLE MYSELF, BUT NEED TO SEE WHERE ANY TWISTS WOULD BE. (IN A PICTURE)

I DONT THINK WE CAN UPLOAD PICTURES IN THIS FORUM, THOUGH. PERHAPS ANOTHER FORUM WITH A LINK?
 
The cable is just a standard floppy drive cable, with certain pins removed from each of the connectors for device select (up to 4 devices). If you plan on using drives out of another system, you'll also have to do something with the device select jumpers on the drives, IIRC, setting all of the selects, or sum'n like dat. I think that if you search around on www.trs-80.com the cabling info must be there somewhere.

--T
 
First of all the Tandy 1000 was a MS-DOS machine and I doubt if you could connect it without considerable effort. I have a Tandy FD 502 which I am trying to turn into a Dual disk for a CoCo, and most of the H-W connections are there for a second drive. I'm using the innards of a Tandy 360k external 5 1/4 m.25-1060 which wouldn't work on a 1000sx but was apparently used by another Tandy model. perhaps a m. 4. Can't remember. I would imagine most of the hardware guys on classiccmp including Allison would say forget it and she was one of the early TRS designers. If you can raise her give her a query.
If yes you could use a FDD from any MSDOS clone.

Lawrence
 
The Tandy 1000 used a weird kinda device select for it's second drive too. They had a special ribbon cable with holes punched in it at certain places. There is also power on the cable, and if you try to use the wrong cable, you can fry the drive. (The first drive gets it's power from the ribbon cable, but if a second drive is added, it uses a regular power lead). That's the purpose of punching holes in the ribbon, to cut out the wires with power on them.
Adding a second drive to a FD502 enclosure should be no problem. I even went so far as adding a pair of 96-tpi drives to my CoCo 3 (for use with OS-9 L2). The upgrade kit that Tandy sold contains a small case fan, but I've never had a problem running them without a fan.
Getting back to the M4 though, I seem to recall another method of device select that involved cutting some of the traces on the full-height drive's circuit board, but I just don't recall the exact details.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
The Tandy 1000 used a weird kinda device select for it's second drive too. They had a special ribbon cable with holes punched in it at certain places. There is also power on the cable, and if you try to use the wrong cable, you can fry the drive. (The first drive gets it's power from the ribbon cable, but if a second drive is added, it uses a regular power lead). That's the purpose of punching holes in the ribbon, to cut out the wires with power on them.
Click to expand...

Depends on the model of 1000. The 1000, 1000HD, 1000A, 1000SX, 1000TX all used standard 5.25 and 3.5 drives with seperate power connectors but unlike the rest of the clone world, they used the DS0,1,2,3 drive jumpers to control drive select. For some of the systems, you had to load a driver to use a 3.5 inch drive at it's full 720k capacity. I'm not sure about the SL, TL, SL/2, TL/2. I can drag out my SL and look inside.

The arrangement you describe is from the EX-HX line of compact 1000's. Since he is describing a 1000 with two 5.25 internal drives, I think it's of the 1000/1000A/1000SX lineage. As a note, I once had several M100's and a DVI box for them. It came with a 180k single sided drive. I put a black face 360k double sided drive that I had pulled from a 1000SX to make room for a 720k in the DVI. After setting the jumpers, it worked flawlessly.
 
Actually, the EX doesn't have any provision for adding a second drive internally, and the HX uses a normal cable with no holes for it's second drive option, using device select jumpers instead of a twist in the cable. Both had external drive connectors on the back for additional drives.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
Actually, the EX doesn't have any provision for adding a second drive internally, and the HX uses a normal cable with no holes for it's second drive option, using device select jumpers instead of a twist in the cable. Both had external drive connectors on the back for additional drives.

--T
Click to expand...

I never had a EX or HX....they seemed a little too toy like for me but I had several of the bigger box 1000's...in fact I still have four of them. I ran an electrical contracting office with six of them and a serial based network from Box1 for a while. Later I adapted everything to use Arcnet. I also wrote a service ticket tracking system that used the M100 and it's barcode reader wand. You uploaded to the 1000's with a serial cable at the end of the day and all of the inventory useage and service call charges were imported into the accounting side of the program to be billed. All written in Microsoft Quick Basic (compiled) and the M100 side was mostly written using the built in ROM basic with some assembly routines. I thought about marketing it, but by the time I was satisified with it, Windows was on the horizion.
 
I have a Tandy 1000HX and those use the same drive cable for both internal 3.5" DD drives (you have to select A/B from a switch on the side of the drives).

I also have the external 5.25" drive and you can select it or the first 3.5" inside as the boot drive via the bios.

They are nice machines, but expensive to add a HD to.
 
I thought about marketing it, but by the time I was satisified with it, Windows was on the horizion
Click to expand...

Should have marketed it. Like Windows 3, 3.x, et all did anything to improve reliability.
I still stumble across DOS boxes running PeachTree.
Latest argument I've heard in favour of a basic DOS-box 'They can't get on the damn internet'

patscc
 
Rick wrote:
Beg to differ but 8/16 bit DOS PC's CAN access the internet including the web
Click to expand...

Of course you can, that's not what I meant to say. I'm sure we all remember the Trumpet ip stack. You can even get 8-bit microcontrollers with ethernet bult in.

A customer gave me the lack of connectivity for his unwillingness to ditch his old DOS system. Basically, his attitude is it's easier for him to setup DOS to not be on the web than to setup WIn 2000 or XP to not be on the web.
Guess he doesn't want his employees goofing of.

Out of the box, DOS doesn't have network connectivity, nor a browser, so I kinda see his point.


patscc
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top