We're so RETRO it hurts the eyes
The Tandy 1000SX/TX PC's
The MOST compatible PC Jr's
In the never ending effore to stay competitive in a fast changing market, in 1986 Tandy released the Tandy 1000SX. While the original Tandy 1000 was a success, it wasn't perfect. Tandy attempted to remedy many of the 1000's flaws in the SX model, and improve the platform overall. Upgrading and expanding the PC's capabilities were now much easier, and adding a faster 'Turbo' mode, and DMA controller. These changes/improvements have led many to consider the Tandy 1000SX one of the best IBM compatibles of the 80's.
The Tandy 1000 TX is basically a Tandy 1000 SX with an Intel 80286 processor, 640 KB RAM, a 3 and a half inch 720 KB floppy disk. All of the machines in this series, although 8-bit, have a 16-bit memory bus and are technically expandable up to 768 KB but the extra 128 KB is for video. It runs MS-DOS 3.2 with Deskmate II.
| Tandy 1000TX | |
| Manufacturer: | Tandy Corporation |
|---|---|
| Form Factor: | Compatible PC |
| Clock Speed: | 8 MHz |
| Memory Size: | 640 KB expandable up to 768 KB |
| Graphics: | Tandy Graphics |
| CPU: | Intel 80286 |
| Operating System: | MS-DOS 3.2, Deskmate II |
| Tandy 1000 SX | |
| Manufacturer: | Tandy Corporation |
|---|---|
| Form Factor: | Compatible PCs |
| Clock Speed: | 7.16 MHz |
| Memory Size: | 384 KB standard, expanded to 640 KB |
| Graphics: | Tandy Graphics |
| CPU: | Intel 8088 |
| Operating System: | MS-DOS 3.2, Deskmate II |
Upon it's release in 1986, the Tandy 1000SX was a hit with reviewers and PC afficinados. Gone were the issues of the original Tandy 1000 (difficulty with upgrades, and compatibility), not to mention the venerable PC Jr. The SX had 5 ISA expansion slots, and could be upgraded to 640k on the motherboard, without special cards, would accept EGA or VGA graphics, hard disk controller and a math co-processor - added by inserting the chip, and removing a jumper. The 'as built' RAM configuration of 384k was immediately upgradeable to 640k with standard RAM chips and had DMA integrated. Tandy included MS-DOS 3.22 and DeskMate; with MS-DOS, the 1000 SX also supported 720k floppy drives, and the capability to boot from either floppy drive. At boot, the CPU speed was selectable between 4.77 & 7.16MHz for software compatibilty purposes.
It should be noted that the Tandy 1000 SX and 1000 EX were functionaly identical - the main differences being in form factor and upgrade methods. Like the EX, the SX also supported video resolutions of: 160x200x16, 320x200x16, and 640x200x4. For games that ran too slow on the 8088-2 CPU, there was an accelerator card, the 286Xpress, that gave the SX a bit more horsepower.
The Tandy 1000TX was the last of the PC Jr. compatible Tandy 1000 line. Powered by an Intel 80286 CPU clocked at 8MHz, it was also quite powerful for the time. Functionally, it's a Tandy 1000SX with an 80286 CPU, and 640k RAM standard. While being upgradeable to 768k, that extra 128K of RAM is solely reserved for video. The TX came with an installed 3.5" 720K floppy disk, with the option for another or a 5.25" drive. While the 80286 CPU was a 16 bit processor, in the TX series PC's was still an XT class computer, not an AT class, since it was operating on the same 8 bit data bus as previous Tandy 1000 models. Therefore, it could not operate in the 80286 protected modes or perform the 16 bit memory and I/O data transfers in a single CPU cycle. Like others in the series, the TX came with MS-DOS and DeskMate. Like the Tandy 1000SX, the TX also had integrated floppy controller, DMA, enhanced CGA supporting all CGA/Tandy modes, and three voice sound.
