Greetings and welcome to an LGR thing! And this is something I have been quite
excited to get my hands on for many years, this is a Tandy 1000 SX computer
system from 1986. As well as the accompanying CM-11 color monitor, mm
And yes they are both boxed. They're not new in the box, I did get them used, so I know
that they're probably gonna need to be cleaned up and stuff. And I hope that
they work, I haven't actually tested them yet, but that's what we're about to find
out so let's get to it! "Handle with care," yeah I guess I will
attempt to do that. But just look at this thing now
I love 80s computer packaging, seriously. I can't wait to be that person right
there with the perfect posture and this goofy-looking stand with a cool computer
on it. I didn't notice that until just now: check out that original Radio Shack
shipment label. "From Tandy Electronics, Fort Worth, Texas." Enough with the
foreplay it's time to get it open!
Hmm well the box has definitely seen some water damage, where the computer was
not supposed to have. Oh my.
Now first up is a delightful Tandy keyboard and yeah, as it appeared when I
saw this on eBay it is a bit dirty. But overall good shape doesn't appear to be
yellowed or anything. So this is a Tandy 1000, just, "personal computer keyboard." Got
these little cork feet on there too, that's nice. I've never actually used one
of these. I believe this is a proprietary Tandy connector, it also worked on the
TRS-80s. So here we have some cables, that's just standard RCA cables. Those
look newer than the computer so I don't think those are original. Nothing there.
The power cord here, that might be original to it, I don't I don't know. And
a delightful baggie full of delightful goodies including I see some Tandy
software on top. Yeah one floppy disk here the MS-DOS / BASIC. Tandy 1000 SX
quick reference guide, and yes this is the SX model which is one that I was
really wanting for, you know, a couple of reasons. It has that classic look of the
original 2-, er, sorry 1000 Tandy. But it also is upgradable with more
standard parts. It's a little more capable as far as other things that it
comes with as well as you can upgrade the RAM more easily. And wow that's just
a lot of just, a book of BASIC and DOS commands. Yes we have a quick reference
guide to Deskmate. So this was the Tandy sort of graphical environment. I'm not
sure how graphical it was at this point but I guess we'll find out. Hopefully it
actually comes with the software. Yeah here we have a guide to the Tandy 1000
mm, look at that quality spiral binding. And how many pages this is, not 57! Looks like
this has been put back together in the incorrect order perhaps. Yes, the very
collectible highly uncommon Tandy... piece of cardboard... This is a disk drive
protector that's supposed to be inside the floppy disk drive as it's being
transported so it doesn't knock around, but apparently it wasn't.
"Introduction to CompuServe." Introductory subscription to CompuServe
Executive Information Service. You can be like that guy. With CompuServe.
Never actually used CompuServe though I always wanted to, and I guess I never
will. Wow look at that kid. I've got some extra pages here, looked like they
would go in a like a three-ring binder if you had it. Gotta read me and change
of address form, yeah just registration warranty stuff. We have an addendum for
the Tandy 1000 GW-BASIC, so apparently some commands changed or something.
And it looks like this originally came with the CM-4 color monitor which makes sense
that was one of the lower end models available but you know
I have the CM-11 with this. Yeah check that out, the owners manual for the Tandy line
filter. Yeah I don't think it came with this but I mean it's pretty much just a
just a power strip? Oh hey what is this? A Sierra hint something or other here
"Want a hint? Send for your official Sierra hint book today!" Yeah this is
supposed to come from or come with something from Sierra. There's also this
little booklet here for, it's like a Microprose software catalog. Yes some
classics in here, I own all of those so far... oh I do not own AcroJet. Like I
didn't even know that that was really a thing. I don't own MiG Alley Ace either.
Heh, "the FUNdamentals" HMM-HMM-HMMM. Let's see here we have a tutorial. Oh it's in color well
that's nice. "It's a fun and exciting way to become familiar with your Tandy 1000"
dude oh that is and it's just fantastic artwork, I want kind of like, this right
here in high-res blown up as a poster or something. Wonder where that Sierra disk
is, it's in here somewhere... because yeah this disk here is just
MS-DOS, you know, which is very much needed but I hope that Sierra one's in
here somewhere. Oh okay that just lifts off like a
really awkwardly large pizza box, nice.
All right we've got some foam here. I like how they use like, actual foam and not
straight-up like styrofoam or something.
Wow this thing is smaller than I thought it would be like seriously, check it out
like this is an IBM Model M keyboard and it dwarfs it. It's not like teeny
tiny but it's a little bit bigger than a PCjr, much smaller than like an IBM
PC/XT.
Yeah I mean the fact that I can just I can hold it up with one hand... it's
actually not as substantial as it looked in photos, this is my first time seeing a
1000 SX in person. So there's the other disk protector there's two of them in
there. So yeah check it out this is the Tandy
1000 SX and externally it pretty much just looks the same as the 1000. In fact,
it doesn't actually say SX on the front. And yes I do plan to give this
thing a full review eventually, probably pretty soon actually. Well daggone, there
is a reason that it doesn't say SX on front because this is not an SX! This
is just a normal 1000 which a little harder to find in my experience. So I'll
take it I guess, but just not what I was expecting at all. Yeah you have an edge
connector right here to plug in a printer, a light pin connection, a 9 pin
connector for the RGB CM-11 monitor we have, and two composite outputs, one for
video and one for audio. And it does have three expansion slots. Yeah a pretty dead
giveaway that it's not an SX -- as if the rest of it wasn't -- but this solidifies it.
An SX would have five expansions, this one only has three. Well yeah I've
definitely just got to go ahead and get in to see the inside of this thing
because... okay, well there's two screws on the front. And I forgot to -- whaa! I forgot to
mention these other things up here are where you plug in your keyboard and the
joysticks. Yes Tandy joysticks, they are Tandy
TRS-80 compatible. And a nice little reset button, and we got a power switch
over here. *clicks it on and off*
My goodness this is spartan inside. I dig it. So yeah check it out we have the
Intel 8088 CPU right here and some other things! We got some 8-bit ISA slots right
here, or really PC-compatible bus slots. And not a whole lot else, so this is a
pretty clean looking board. I'll dive into more of the technical details of
this whenever I do a full review. So yeah this whole thing is quite plasticky, a
lot cheaper in build quality than the IBM's were of the time. But you know that's
to be expected. Okay time to get to this delightful monitor. Yeah that's pretty
much what I thought, it's just basic monitor packaging nothing too special
here. In fact I don't even think it comes with documentation or anything, I didn't
notice it in the auction. Yeah, the fact that I had its original shipping and
packaging container and everything was one reason I wanted to get this one.
Because I don't like risking shipping these monitors with just like, a seller's
random packaging, I've had too many of them arrive busted up. Oh sweet.
That is a slick-looking monitor. How's that come off I just pull off... yep. Okay
so we got some controls under there, appropriately. Ya have the 9-pin adapter
right there, this is Tandy and CGA compatible. Definitely gonna need a bit
of cleaning up I gotta say, but that's okay cuz overall it's in pretty decent
shape. I've seen a lot of these with cracked bezels and just you know, this
sticker all coming apart. And this one is not so yeah there we go!
Got built-in cables so there's not a whole lot to see here. Yeah so just
one of those monitors that I really like the look of it. It reminds me of the
Magnavox computer monitors of the time. And for all I know maybe it is just a
rebadged one of those. In fact it probably is seeing that this was a
Radio Shack product. That was just a composite
connection only so yeah, you could hook this thing up to a TV but I'm gonna
be using this monitor assuming it works. The seller said it did but we'll see.
Pretty spiffy and quite PCjr-esque I gotta say.
Haha that keyboard is just so cute, I like how it's a little narrower or you know, not
as wide. Doesn't that look all lovely and appealing set up like that? It's too bad
the keyboard isn't mechanical but it's not too gummy actually, a heck of a lot
better than the PCjr keyboards. Mmm mmm! Let's hope it works!
Might want the power switch on first, oh my goodness
There's the monitor! That is very loud CRT noise.
Oh baby, okay we got the system disk which is the only disk it came with.
All right keyboard accepted that, this is farther than I've ever been with a Tandy
1000. Because my 1000 EX would never boot a disk and my RL/HD was another beast
entirely. Oh my goodness, so today is I don't know, probably the eighth? And it is
14:49. Augh!
Wooooow. That's awesome yay! This is gonna be so fun to dive into and review
Wonder what SHIPTRAK is...
Hmm it's not reading, whatever it is. Does anything read? I mean obviously it booted
it so something read... Okay so the disk drive might be iffy, that
is not unexpected to be honest. Got this one here from a friend of mine, Foone,
online, he made this program for Christmas. Haven't actually tried it out yet
and in fact I don't even know if it'll work on here but I mean, it should.
Dang it so it's like partially working. Very partially, which probably means it
just needs some cleaning and you know normal disk drive maintenance or
whatever. Which I'm not gonna do in this video. Let me try one more disk, see if it
was just a fluke that first boot or what. I like how instantaneously that turns on
to the memory check right there. And it's getting a boot failure. Yeah it
could have just been a fluke that it booted that first time. Non-system disk,
huh. Okay well this is gonna need some work.
That, you know, to be honest I expected it. I hoped that it wouldn't, but you know
that's how these things go. So hopefully I can get this thing working and show
more of it in the future here on LGR. Because this is such a cool machine.
Uughghghhh
We just got some work to do here so I'm sure that you'll be seeing more of
this in the future. And yes if you enjoyed this unboxing and setup and well,
not as *much* of a demonstration as I'd hoped for, then stay tuned for more
things! There are new videos every Monday and Friday here on LGR on all sorts of
topics including videos on machines that actually work, ooh!
And as always thank you very much for watching.