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Tandy 1000 FS @ Weirdstuff

V

veco

Experienced Member
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May 12, 2013
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Seen this morning (I didn't buy it, not interested in PC stuff). Weirdstuff, Sunnyvale.
I missed a model 2 there, 2-3 years ago (in perfect shape, at $200... still regret it)

-Fred

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The TL/2 is a 286, not an 8088. My TL/2 hard drive didn't work when I got mine, but in alot of these you can fix it simply by turning the motor over a couple of times to free it up (because the tended to stick if they sat for too long). These units also had onboard XT IDE HD controllers in them (not directly compatible with compact flash cards, but still nice to have), and also DOS 3.3 bootable in rom.

The nice things about these units was at this point in the Tandy line, you got cr2032 cmos batteries, and not the lithium ones. It is also expandable to 768k ram.

The old Tandy's were built to last!
 
Lived in the southeast US all my life. However I managed to discover Wierdstuff on a CA trip in 1986 when they were still over by Fry's #6 in Sunnyvale. It's been my #1 stop on each trip back to the bay area ever since. (InO Burger #2 :) Love that place.
 
As mojorific indicated the stickers are in error in many ways. CPU is a 286 @ 8MHz, Memory is at least 640KB and expandable to 768KB, and there is an operating system included, even if there is no hard drive inside. Someone may be disappointed to find out the floppy only supports 720KB disks and not the common 1.44MB disks. $150 for an untested system is too much in my opinion, I wouldn't pay more than $50.

The XTA 8-bit IDE controller is only useful if you have a drive that supports that interface. Only about half a dozen drives do, they are only 20 or 40MB in size and are loud and noisy beasts.
 
I've seen Apple IIe and other of those types of machines at weird stuff. You never know what you'll find there. To be honest I don't go there as much since 99.9 percent of there stuff is only 5-10 years old. However if you need ESD safe work mats, the blue rubber kind for your workbench that you could leave a soldering iron on and not melt though... They are the place. Though I had to buy the snap and hookup at Anchor in Santa Clara so I could actually ground the mat to my plumbing.

Cheers,
Corey
 
Great Hierophant said:
Someone may be disappointed to find out the floppy only supports 720KB disks and not the common 1.44MB disks.
Click to expand...

The TL/2's onboard controller does support 1.44 MB drives, although it only came with a 720 kB drive (with power carried through the data cable).

Edit: This is incorrect. See below.

The XTA 8-bit IDE controller is only useful if you have a drive that supports that interface. Only about half a dozen drives do, they are only 20 or 40MB in size and are loud and noisy beasts.
Click to expand...

The ST-351A/X is actually rather quiet -- it's no more noisy than any typical 1990s 3.5" IDE drive. I believe it was the last stepper-motor hard drive ever made, too.

 
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vwestlife said:
The TL/2's onboard controller does support 1.44 MB drives, although it only came with a 720 kB drive (with power carried through the data cable).
Click to expand...

Just to confirm what you are saying, I tested it out on my TL/2. I happened to have a later model that had a 1.44MB drive so I swapped it to see what would happen.

The Tandy TL/2 does not support 1.44MB drives. Reading a high density floppy on a high density drive only produces an error reading the drive.

I agree though - the XT 8-bit IDE drive is rather quiet. The only noise I can hear is the slight stepper motor whine when it is seeking. The power supply fan though sounds like a wind tunnel - I never understood why they needed to run their fans full blast like that.
 
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I'm sorry, I was mistaken. It's the 1000TL/3 that supports 1.44 MB drives, not the TL/2. As per the Tandy 1000 FAQ:

"The TL/3, RLX's, and RSX's can take high-density drives, though the TL/3 did not come with one."

I rewired my 1000SL's fan to run on 5 volts instead of 12 volts. As a result, it is much quieter, but still moves enough air to keep the system cool. I suspect the stock "wind tunnel" fan speed was designed to keep the system cool even when used in an un-air-conditioned school room in the summer (unlike the fanless and overheating-prone Apple II line, which was Tandy's main competitor in the educational market in the '80s).
 
vwestlife said:
I rewired my 1000SL's fan to run on 5 volts instead of 12 volts. As a result, it is much quieter, but still moves enough air to keep the system cool. I suspect the stock "wind tunnel" fan speed was designed to keep the system cool even when used in an un-air-conditioned school room in the summer (unlike the fanless and overheating-prone Apple II line, which was Tandy's main competitor in the educational market in the '80s).
Click to expand...

I would be really interested to see how you wired up your fan. That would be a great mod for my SL/2 and TL/2.

Was the TL/3 one of the last Tandy's to support 16 color (before VGA became standard)?
 
mojorific said:
I would be really interested to see how you wired up your fan. That would be a great mod for my SL/2 and TL/2.
Click to expand...

I opened up the power supply, disconnected the fan from its connector on the circuit board, and tapped it into one of the red 5-volt lines going to the disk drives.
 
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