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Well, we finely sold off the last of our business and got rid of the building that it was in the other day, and among other stuff I got out of it was an old Burrows Work Station (not much use without the Mini computer it was designed to go with, but an interesting curiosity none the less) it has a keyboard, and a 10 key with it, boots and you can type on it, but as I said, without the mini it's not much use.

 

But I did end up with 4 Tandy computers, color monitors, and keyboards. I think I even have a box for at least one of them. They all boot, the disc drives work, and it's kinda interesting. I also got one Tandy compatible Printer and the cable that goes with it.

 

Now Tandy is just a Radio Shack version of IBM PC in the mid 80's, not the more popular for gameing Commodore, Atari, or whatever computers, so I have no Idea what these things might be worth. And i guess, that's really my question. What would these things be worth?

 

I don't remember much, but I did use to play a Basic Pac-man on the thing, and we had Wheel of Fortune for it, and I loved the hell out of Rogue (wish I could find that one again) I think I even played Lemmings (and remembered it was LOUD AS HELL, and you couldn't turn it down (so I ed And of course, it did...well...computery stuff too. Ran on Dos if I remember right.

 

I don't know, but the guy that had them said they had 20meg hard drives (not that they would work, if they did, but I don't think they did, as they ran on dos, so I don't know)

 

Anyhow, any Ideas? Is it worth something, is there some more cool games (and easy way sof thetting them?) or is it pretty much junk?

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What model numbers are they? Color computers, CoCo's, CoCo 2's, or whatnot? And any peripherals you can list, too, and things like hard drive upgrades/cards in there, etc. I might could help you find them homes, I know a lot of Tandy lovers.

 

Nathan

Edited by nathanallan
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It is probably the Tandy 1000. There are multiple versions of this, mostly aimed at the home market. They are basically PC clones with (depending on the model) enhanced graphics and sound hardware. There is a small handful of games that use the enhanced graphics modes (same hardware as the PC Jr.)

 

There are some collectors out there, but I doubt they are worth much.

 

There was also the Tandy 2000, released ca. 1984. This was an 80186-based MS DOS system. Note that it is not a PC clone; the hardware is significantly different. It was only marketed for a short time. It is kind of a dead-end "evolutionary branch".

 

I have no idea what this would be worth or how much interest there would be fom collectors; I suspect there would be very little.

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My first two computers were Tandys (which were already far out of date when I got them). I had a TRS-80 Coco, which was ancient by the time I got it and a Tandy 1000, which was so far out of date when I got it I was the only person on earth still using 5 1/4 disks. On the Coco I didn't even have a tape drive, but I learned to do some BASIC programming anyway, which was hard when you lost the program whenever you powered off. There were old books at my school where to get the full story in the novels, or to interact with them, you had to program stuff into your computer. That was pretty cool. With the 1000 I played a lot of Jeopardy, Alley Cat, and I think Classic Concentration or Wheel of Fortune.

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We had a Tandy 1000 in the guidance office at my High School. I remember it had the three voice sound card and EGA graphics when my PC at home had only the PC "bleep" sound and CGA graphics on a monchrome monitor.. My friend and I used to sneak in there to play the PC version of Castlevania at lunch, under the guise of "we're working on a project".

 

Loved my Tandy Co Co 3. Still have a stock computer and a couple games but my major setup is long gone. The ROM PAKs for that are damn near impossible to find.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Er...as far as model, I don't know, I thought 1000 was the model, actually. I'll have to look later

 

One of them does have a 3.5 inch disk drive in it though, at least the one I brought home instead os putting in storage. Maybe I'll get a pic, I don't know, maybe take it apart so I can see whats inside.

 

Sorry fro the long wait, I only get on the net at the library and got behind.

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Tandy Computers, now there's a subject that's near and dear to my heart.

My first three computers were Tandys!

A Coco2, Endless fun with Basic!

A Tandy 1000, The 16 colors only worked in select games, but man it had one SWEET sound processor.

A Tandy 2100, my first fully PC compatible desktop.

 

I had the most fun with the 1000, it was my first real gaming rig. a 3.5 drive and a 5 1/2

My friend next door had a VGA that had only a high capacity 5 1/2 drive, so any time we'd halfsies on a game, I'd take the 3.5 disks, and he'd take the 5 1/2s. His PC only had the PC speaker for sound, so when we'd play something like Prince of Persia, his would look prettier, but mine would sound worlds better!

Edited by zerodin
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I just garbage picked a Tandy 1000 TL today, complete with CM-5 monitor. It seems to work just find. The actual Tandy keyboard, sadly, wasn't present so I've got an IBM XT keyboard hooked up to it.

The system looks like it's got a couple decades worth of crud on it. The inside was fairly clean though. All I really needed to do was take a can of compressed air to it here and there.

 

To the original poster: did you ever figure out what model(s) the ones you have are?

Edited by darthkur
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  • 1 month later...

Yes. If they dry out a nice long time, I'd give them a week before I applied any kind of power. If you take them apart, then only about 2 days. Lots of little places for water to hide. You can take the covers off and put a fan blowing on them, that should do the trick to make for sure. I'd still give it at least 2 days.

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To make a long story really short: are "rained upon" Tandys (Model II, iirc) likely to work once they dry out?

 

><>RedBeard

 

 

/* I'm so sorry I let it happen, but... */

 

 

As long as nothing's corroded and you let it dry out long enough, yah. You have to specifically watch out for the gigantic power supply board and make sure no moisture is trapped in any of the components.

 

I have a Model II with the gigantic external drive bay. The Model II itself that I have is interesting, its a Tandy badged rather than a TRS-80 badged (usually done for custom orders). Do you have any disks/software for yours?

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Sorry to get back to this so late...

 

They've been drying out for months, but I'm just so afraid what'll happen when I finally try to turn them on.

 

><>RedBeard

 

 

/* We do have some old floppies, etc., but this is a project for a future date. I just can't get to it right now. You know, first you need to find a place to work and get a surge protector and dust 'em off and ... This project will just have to wait a while longer. */

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I have three Cocos the first, second and third. My dad used to own one of them plus a Tandy 1000. For the Coco 2&3, Interbank Incident a Graphic Adventure ( at least if I'm remembering right it also works on the Coco 2 ). King's Quest 3 on the Coco 3, Super Pitfall, and Mind-Roll. Didn't use the Tandy 1000 much for gaming but Battle Chess was a neat one.

 

By the way if the term "ROM PAK" means what I think it does I have a good sized collection of them :cool: .

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Well, we finely sold off the last of our business and got rid of the building that it was in the other day, and among other stuff I got out of it was an old Burrows Work Station (not much use without the Mini computer it was designed to go with, but an interesting curiosity none the less) it has a keyboard, and a 10 key with it, boots and you can type on it, but as I said, without the mini it's not much use.

 

But I did end up with 4 Tandy computers, color monitors, and keyboards. I think I even have a box for at least one of them. They all boot, the disc drives work, and it's kinda interesting. I also got one Tandy compatible Printer and the cable that goes with it.

 

Now Tandy is just a Radio Shack version of IBM PC in the mid 80's, not the more popular for gameing Commodore, Atari, or whatever computers, so I have no Idea what these things might be worth. And i guess, that's really my question. What would these things be worth?

 

I don't remember much, but I did use to play a Basic Pac-man on the thing, and we had Wheel of Fortune for it, and I loved the hell out of Rogue (wish I could find that one again) I think I even played Lemmings (and remembered it was LOUD AS HELL, and you couldn't turn it down (so I ed And of course, it did...well...computery stuff too. Ran on Dos if I remember right.

 

I don't know, but the guy that had them said they had 20meg hard drives (not that they would work, if they did, but I don't think they did, as they ran on dos, so I don't know)

 

Anyhow, any Ideas? Is it worth something, is there some more cool games (and easy way sof thetting them?) or is it pretty much junk?

 

I have a tandy computer with only the keyboard :( oh well. It was only $10 anyway...

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Well, we finely sold off the last of our business and got rid of the building that it was in the other day, and among other stuff I got out of it was an old Burrows Work Station (not much use without the Mini computer it was designed to go with, but an interesting curiosity none the less) it has a keyboard, and a 10 key with it, boots and you can type on it, but as I said, without the mini it's not much use.

 

But I did end up with 4 Tandy computers, color monitors, and keyboards. I think I even have a box for at least one of them. They all boot, the disc drives work, and it's kinda interesting. I also got one Tandy compatible Printer and the cable that goes with it.

 

Now Tandy is just a Radio Shack version of IBM PC in the mid 80's, not the more popular for gameing Commodore, Atari, or whatever computers, so I have no Idea what these things might be worth. And i guess, that's really my question. What would these things be worth?

 

I don't remember much, but I did use to play a Basic Pac-man on the thing, and we had Wheel of Fortune for it, and I loved the hell out of Rogue (wish I could find that one again) I think I even played Lemmings (and remembered it was LOUD AS HELL, and you couldn't turn it down (so I ed And of course, it did...well...computery stuff too. Ran on Dos if I remember right.

 

I don't know, but the guy that had them said they had 20meg hard drives (not that they would work, if they did, but I don't think they did, as they ran on dos, so I don't know)

 

Anyhow, any Ideas? Is it worth something, is there some more cool games (and easy way sof thetting them?) or is it pretty much junk?

 

I have a tandy computer with only the keyboard :( oh well. It was only $10 anyway...

 

 

If you can get a hold of a floppy drive and get a store to special connect it into your modern computer. You could download roms meant for emulation, give the files to the floppies & play them on your Tandy. Just a guess, not sure that would work but getting a store to connect an old floppy drive to a modern machine that will fly ..at least under XP.

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I have a tandy computer with only the keyboard :( oh well. It was only $10 anyway...

 

Do you mean the ones that had the keyboard and computer as one unit? Are you sure there's no motherboard in there? Or is it for sure and you've already taken it apart and there are no guts? I forget which models, but there were a few that had the all-in-one scheme, nowadays called zero footprint, like the old Apple ][s. If it has been gutted, throw a mobo from a dirty atari 8-bit in and rig yourelf a customcase for an 800XL :)

 

Nathan

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I have a tandy computer with only the keyboard :( oh well. It was only $10 anyway...

 

Do you mean the ones that had the keyboard and computer as one unit? Are you sure there's no motherboard in there? Or is it for sure and you've already taken it apart and there are no guts? I forget which models, but there were a few that had the all-in-one scheme, nowadays called zero footprint, like the old Apple ][s. If it has been gutted, throw a mobo from a dirty atari 8-bit in and rig yourelf a customcase for an 800XL :)

 

Nathan

I have a working motherboard for one of those. Can't remember the model number but it's the version with the 5.25" drive.

Actually, I should say it worked when I pulled it several years ago.

If someone wants it... let me know.

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