LGR - Restoring & Exploring a 1985 Tandy 1000 PC 

To clarify the vacuum usage: I was not _vacuuming,_ I was only using a shop vac's compressor to blow air out of the nozzle and move loose dust chunks out of the way. Actually vacuuming computer parts using suction is a bad idea :)

You can change the colors in that version of DeskMate, by pressing Ctrl-F1 through Ctrl-F4. And if you let it sit for 10 minutes, it has a screen saver -- not something you'd expect from a piece of DOS software from 1985!

I love seeing these old Tandy Computers, I remember going to my grandparent's house and they had 2 set up! When they upgraded my parents got one, and then when we eventually got a newer computer, the Tandy got to go in our bedroom! It was the first computer my brother and I got to consider as "ours" and even though it was already out dated, we loved using it to teach ourselves how to install games, play games, upgrade hardware, etc... even after we had computers blazing through the internet at top speeds of 56k, we still enjoyed the nostalgia and elegant simplicity of our Tandy 1000. Thank you for making videos like this!

I think these restoration vids are some of my favorites on your channel and I don't know anything about retro computers

Oh my god, this is it! When I was a young kid my grandparents gave us our first computer and I remember my brother and I playing the shit out of it. I specifically remember King's Quest II and Ghostbusters. As I got older it eventually broke down and we got ride of it. A few years back I found myself thinking of it but couldn't for the life of me remember what it was. I even reached out to my aunt and she and I thought maybe it was a Commodore 64. Then now I watched this and the second I saw it I knew this was it. I remember the round red button, the single floppy drive, the spiralled keyboard cord. Man this is so nostalgic for me! Now I want to track one down myself, lol.

So... I fell asleep in my chair to this episode. Not because it was boring, not at all. But because of Clint's calm and soothing voice.

I used to go into Radio Shack and type: 10 Print "Duh"; 20 Goto 10 Run. I would come back the next day and the thing would still be printing "Duh" on the screen endlessly.

I grew up with a Tandy 1000. I wish I still had it, but this was an awesome trip down memory lane. I've got fond memories of dorking around in DeskMate and pretending I had an actual schedule, and even fonder memories of Kings Quest II. Thank you for sharing this!

I'm noticing the higher production/editing values on LGR's videos of late. Good job, LGR!

Tandy 1000 was my first computer given to me by my mother-in-law in 1985. It is the machine along with Kings Quest 1 that began my enjoying gaming for over 30 plus years! It has always had a special place in my heart for gaming. I was fortunate to have 640 k with dual 5.25" floppies. After a few years I did upgrade it with an Adlib card. It was heaven for me for many years.

My very first computer was a Tandy 1000, I received back in the 90s. My dad had a 386 prior to that, but sold it early on thinking he would get a 486 in the late 80s. He never did, and my family was computerless for my childhood ... all until a family friend donated his old Tandy 1000 and my dad gave it to me. Although the mid-90's at this point, I hadn't really seen much better and was excited to own my very first computer. My dad tried upgrading it with a hardcard, but it wouldn't fit - though he did have a dot matrix printer he did get working. Anyway, after getting bored of the few games it came with, I eventually stumbled upon that exact same Basic disk you showed in the video - plus a Basic manual. I had no idea what it was, but quickly gained interest as I started programming for the first time. I created a few simple programs, and even started a text based game. After years of fun, I eventually got a much more "modern" Packard Bell PC and mostly forgot about Basic. I got a Casio graphing calculator when I entered high school, only to discover a version of Basic-A - igniting my enthusiasm for programming once again, causing me to dust off that old Tandy and learn even more about Basic. I program Arduino's today, because of that Tandy.

Oh man memories. I got one of these as a hand me down from my cousins, my aunt was kind enough to let me have their Tandy once they upgraded to another machine. At this point I had already had a NES so action games on this Tandy weren't going to impress me but those adventure games sure did. I loved Zelda but that world couldn't compare to Hero's Quest or Gold Rush. I was blown away by the amount of random crap you could make your characters do, from typing in pee at a bathroom in Space Quest to instantly getting a game over for typing kill priest in King's Quest. Haha To a kid who was only used to video games having A and B buttons with limited interactions it was wild just going through those adventure games and typing up all sorts of mischief. I also vaguely remember some pinball game where you could build your own machine. Gold Rush ended up being my favorite and it was fun to be able to playthrough the game multiple times to see each path (never did beat the panama path)... ahh man. Gold Rush is one of those games I don't see people talk about much, if anyone wants an old adventure game to playthrough I would totally recommend it. Just don't forget: scurvy is a thing! I certainly had no idea until it was too late!

I love the sound of these machines, makes me somewhat emotional.

There's something oddly soothing about Clints voice...

Totally sweet. That was a decent price for that machine. The damn power button is just incredibly satisfying. Our school had a couple XT’s which were equally neat, but something about Tandy that made it seem easier to obtain for home users. I never knew that CPM came on the Model 4. I own a Model 4 and it came with TRS-DOS. I’m not exactly sure what it was based on. Not gonna lie, something about that PC speaker on the Tandy 1000 sounded great. It’s smooth. Like they turned down the high pass filter or something. Less harsh than most. Thanks for sharing as always!

Great video. Reminded me of my Tandy 1000sl. First PC I upgraded myself by adding a memory chip to bring it to 640 k. It was my leap to the PC world from a complete C-128 system, what memories!!

These particular videos are always so satisfying to watch.

The Tandy speaker output makes me think of the old Sega Master System's sound processor. So nice!

This was my first computer back when I was a kid. Thank you so much for covering this computer!!!

Man, this video really takes me back, the Tandy 1000 was my first computer. I used it from '85 until the fall of '91, when I started college and got a Mac. I wrote many a school paper in DeskMate's word processor, and learned how to program in BASIC and later Turbo Pascal. I still have the case nameplate, the motherboard and the innards of the keyboard-- I combined them together to make a memento I could hang on my wall. Still got the old DMP-130 dot matrix printer buried in a closet somewhere, too. It had an IBM compatibility mode you could enable with DIP switches on the back, I bet if I dug it out and got a USB to parallel cable it'd still work.

LGR Thanks for bringing us these amazing restorations of legacy PCs. Like some others have said these are some of my very favorite videos you do.

A very good-looking machine. I love the esthetics of the late 1970's and early-to-mid 1980's computers.

I was employed by Tandy Australia for 15years working in their computer support division supporting everything from Model 1's to the entire range of Tandy 1000's and the range of Color Computers.

Thank you for taking the time to clean these relics. So many people show crusty old hardware on RU-vid and it's just kind of sad.

The Tandy 1000 can also be shortened to T-1000

I had a Tandy HD-1000 when I was 12 years old. I never had any games for it, but I learned basic. Mine had a monochrome monitor; never knew they came with color monitors. Seeing this really brought me back!

Years ago I found an ibm pc at in a library near me so I asked at the city hall and now I got a free 5170, I can't believe it

Proud owner of a Tandy 1000 EX here. Loved the heck out of it. The 16 color graphics and 3 channel sound made it a great gaming machine.

Ooooh! It's beautiful!😍

This was the machine I was first exposed to PC's on! Great memories.....I was enchanted immediately

I just inherited a large horde of Tandy TRS 80's of different kinds including a mint condition 1000 SX great machines, great review LGR keep the videos coming.

I gave my Tandy 1000 which preceded the 1000A. I manually rigged up an external 5.25" external drive and I installed a 3.5" internal floppy and an HDD, I don't recall the capacity. I really miss one particular game, Rocky's Boots. My children enjoyed using it as much as I did. Great show!

Man that sweet startup sound.

That was such a throwback for me. My very first PC when I was 10 or 11 was a Tandy 1000TX. Dad got it with 640k of memory and the optional 3.5" floppy drive. My PC looked exactly like yours right down to the keyboard. I remember he bought a Panasonic 9pin dot matrix printer to go with it. I remember booting up on DOS 3.1 and playing so many of the Sierra games such and Kings Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest and Manhunter. I even remember getting a PC magazine that had code for writing a snake game. Thanks for posting that video and bringing back so many fond memories. FYI, I still love DOS.

Sweet, a LGR vid on my birthday!

O, geeky nostalgia!!! in 1987, my dad upgraded to a Tandy 1000SX from a TRS-80 model 4 in his office--right in line with what you mentioned about Tandy's upgrade path for their existing customers. It had a green MGA screen, ST-251 hard drive, 1.2 MB FDD, and I want to say 1024K RAM. Later, he installed a Logitech mouse with its own special ISA card to help run his publishing program, PFS: First Publisher. We loved playing MS Flight Simulator on that 1000, but we didn't have a lot of games in those days, so we missed out on the Tandy sound completely - this was a big surprise to find out so many years later! My dad bought a 386 motherboard and we tried to upgrade it, but the board just didn't fit the case and PSU, so we had to give up on that and get a new case. The Tandy 1000 was truly my first PC experience after the TRS-80 world. I loved the sound of that keyboard and seeing and hearing one again made my day. Glad to see you've added a Tandy 1000 to the gang.

640K Ought to be enough for anyone.... Uh Huh...

Nothing beats the startup sounds of the computer systems of the 80's! Very much agreed about the power switch! The old AT power supplies with the massive red switches are amazing! Great job at restoring! =)

Thanks for doing 4K

All of your videos are the equivalent of a 1988 newspaper sales flier; AMAZING!

Uploaded just in time to enjoy the video during my lunch break 😊

I still have my original Tandy 1000. Still runs great. I boot it up every couple of years and revel in the nostalgia. And marvel at how well built it was!

Hey boss, I'm going to take a 18 minute, 44 second break. I'll be back to work after that.

Growing up with a Tandy1000, I have so much love for this computer! Based on your video, I'm going to look at cleaning up the model my parents originally bought in the 80s!

7:17 - Nice bodge cap on the logic IC there. :-)

Clint - I adore how in focus it is! Like..I can almost feel that plastic. Great work - been watching you for ages now and you're just the ducks nuts.

Ed Judg, Probably Had A Moustache LOL

Aww man I had this was my first computer ever. I am so glad I found this video. It brings me back to the good old days. I unfortunately destroyed it when trying to take it apart when I was younger. Stupid younger me. I would like to find one and relive that part of my childhood. There was a lot of games and other programs I didn't play with when I was growing up, but. I did play pacman, wheel of fortune and jeopardy. I love this channel so much. I've coming here more often to remember to good times. I recently lost my father on May 16th 2020, and I've been very nostalgic lately. Again that you, it's just bringing me back.

must be Tandy week. both you and VWestlife put out Tandy 1000 videos.

My Aunt and Uncle had a Tandy 1000 and I remember playing Wheel of Fortune on it with my cousins in 1995-1996. Brings back amazing memories.

Computer: thanks for brushing my keys 😅 LGR: What the

I had my Tandy 1000 from ~late 85 until I got a 386 in 1994. It was a great machine! It was a tough beast.

Farts program is the best program

What a great video! I had the Tandy 1000 SX. I souped it up with an 8087-2 coprocessor and a NEC V20 CPU. If you can find the 5MHz version of the V20, you can upgrade.

I have found my new ASMR obsession..toothbrushing cleaning

Our first home computer was a 1000 HX, with the lower res CM5 monitor. We had the joysticks for it, and a TRS80 style mouse. Panasonic KXP-1123 printer. My folks still have it, but it's boxed up in the attic. We got it in 1987 and used it until 1997 when we bought a Win95 HP. Lots of memories.

The Tandy 1000a was a huge part of my childhood, such nostalgia from watching this. I had a lot of frustration as a kid learning to program on this not-quite-pc-conpatible, wondering why audio and graphics code I found in books didn't always work correctly. Our Tandy ended up pretty much decked out in the end, though it never had a hard disk. We got the memory expander card and had 384k for a while, then later populated the empty dip sockets for the full 640k. We added a Game Blaster (simultaneously amazing, and disappointing). The upgrade I still ponder over was the 286 processor upgrade board. An 8-bit ISA board, upgrading the computer to a 286. It wasn't as fast as the 286-12mhz computer I had later, but it was vastly faster than the stock Tandy 1000a, and made it possible to play games that simply wouldn't run at all on the 8088. One difference that I found surprising while watching this video -- I lamented for years that our Tandy 1000a was not equipped with a serial port, and having all three ISA slots full, we had no means to add one. The computer only had the parallel, video and lightpen ports on the back, and the keyboard and joystick ports on the front. I didn't know until seeing this video that these 1000a machines were available with serial ports at all.

2:20 lol great edited :D

This might be my favorite old school computer I've seen! Such an aesthetic simple rounded design. Capable of those 16 color graphics, compared to those cyan/purple ones before. Seems like such a perfect home computer for the time. Seems like it was a screaming deal too.

Thanks for the info on the 1 meg card. I've seen that for sale, but the seller never explained its use.

My first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81, my second was a Tandy 1000 EXACTLY like this, except I had a later version of DeskMate (which really was a good program). Great job Clint, as usual!

10 print "farts" 20 goto 10 What a fun stuff

That looks gorgeous. It looks brand new. I need to find one of these someday... I had the Tandy 1000 SX when it first came out.

I love magic erasers. I tell all my friends about them. They don't believe in my hype. Fools.

I had a Tandy 1000SX as my first IBM PC Complatible computer. I loved it. We upgraded it to the max including an accellerator board where I physically removed the 8088 Chip and replaced it with an 80286 chip. It performed remarkably well every game I played with that 286 detected it. I also installed a 40MB Seagate Hard Card. It was a hard drive installed into an expansion slot. It was the old MFM/RLL drives so you had to low level format it using debug or spinrite. I maxed out the memory to 640K and installed a memory card expansion which got me up to 2MB. Those were fun times!

the good ol days when Radio Shack wasn't a mobile phone store

My first ever PC was a Tandy 1000HX. My mother bought it used around 1992 or so so we'd have a computer in the house. It featured the upgraded RAM card, and a 1200BPS modem, and was actually the first ever computer I ever accessed the Internet on, without even realizing it. At the time, I was an avid BBS user, and my mother gave me the number of a "new BBS" to try that was being run in part by a friend of ours. This was the then fledgling Chebucto Community Net in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The number I dialed in to would access a free Internet service via any communications program, such as Telex. There were no graphics whatsoever, rather you were dumped into a version of Lynx, a text based DOS browser that ran from their end, onto their homepage. At the time, being all of 12 years old, and having never heard of the Internet before, had no idea what to do, or where to go, or how to accomplish much of anything in this strange environment that lacked even the most basic ANSI graphics, and I thought, "This is the worst BBS ever!" and promptly disconnected, going back to my games of L.O.R.D. and T.O.S. A year or two later, when the aging monitor bit the dust, we bought our first 486, from a scam artist. That computer was a whole new realm of tales, but that was the computer that allowed me to finally access the Internet in the somewhat more modern form that we're familiar with today, and I finally understood what I'd connected to back on that old Tandy, and it's always made me laugh.

7/32 what a nice fraction to make a socket in....*cough* metric system for the win *cough*

The Tandy 1000 TL/2 was my first IBM compatible PC. This machine has a special place in my heart. This may sound funny, but I was like 7 or 8 years old and addicted to this Stock Trading Sim called "Wall Street Raider" that I played on the Tandy 1000. My brother and I loved to play Jeopardy! against each other. I also played Sim City for the first time on this machine. Oh, and don't forget Lemmings and Prince of Persia. So many memories.............

I see someone bought that mouse at a military exchange :)

I absolutely love the old guy vs. kid dichotomy for the ads, but can definitely appreciate how beneficial having these capabilities at a much lower cost was easily preferable at the time. Keep up the great work, LGR

That is some crazy lagging on Lemmings. Even the clock is having trouble with it. If the sound is turned off, does that fix anything?

Grew up on a near-identical Tandy 1000. Programming in BASIC with dad and grandpa, playing Space Quest 1-3, King's Quest 3, Police Quest, Double Dragon, various shareware titles... NES in the other corner... this is my childhood and the reason I'm still slapping keys to this day. Thank you.

What camera are you using? The quality is amazing.

I never played with a 1000, but, My Dad had a 4(I think) 000 that I played with. 386 I forget the speed. but, speaking as an old mainframe user from the 70s, Yes, the 70s, That machine taught me DOS. and with DOS....I got a job and it saved my family. that was around 1990. I have a found spot in my heart for Tandy. And I LOVE YOUR WORK! keep it up sir. You do good..

What a beauty!!!... The computer, Clint! Not you ;) Amazing video, as usual... When will you make a cr@ppy video, man?...

The Tandy 1000 was our first family computer. I remember the package my parents brought home came with Kings Quest II. We later purchased Karateka, Space Quest, and Hero's Quest. The best of the best was the D&D Gold box series; we started a bit late with the Krynn series - Champions of Krynn. That PC brings back great memories.

Are you gonna upgrade to a 10Mhz 8088 and install the 8087 too? D:

Pretty awesome synthesizer. I appreciate the tip again about the CompactFlash card hard drive and all the upgrades lots.

That machine looks like it was barely used. No UV discoloration of the plastic, area under the key you removed clean, virtually no dust inside, etc. Did someone donate it or did you buy it on eBay, Craigslist, or ?

Agree with other commenters that your restoration videos are your best content. Very satisfying to watch. Also, from this video I am now obsessed with the Zeliard music and can't stop listening to it. Damn you.

1:20 Don’t buy IBM, you wouldn’t like me when you buy IBM.

When I managed the Radio Shack in Pacific Beach, California. I was close to all the 1000's on a daily basis. So much so later in life I ended up collecting every Tandy 1000 my store sold. Each one has a warm place in my heart. Great Video! On some great memorizes!

Paku Paku looks like another game I've seen before but I can't quite place it......

wow, this definitely takes me back to my childhood. We had the Tandy 1000 TX model with the 5 and 1/4" drive and a 3.5" drive. We used to have all the documentation and software, and we also had the large tandy printer as well.

SPACE QUEST!!

That is one beautiful looking machine. I never owned a Tandy myself, but I can easily remember starting up games and wondering what that Tandy thing might be that you could often choose from the menus. I was mostly a Commodore dude myself, but I often visited friends who's dads had more businessy machines where the Tandy name often came up while I was busy breaking them by snooping around system files, games and bioses... Because I knew exactly what I was doing of course. Sometimes. Great video! I love these system reviews / xen cleaning ones.

Strongbad's computer

I just ADORE your youtubes, almost no matter what they contain. You do it thoroughly! Keep it up pal :)

Bill Bixby.

When I hear the click clack of those sweet sweet LGR keys in the intro I know I'm in for a sweet ride. Great video, as always.

I had a Tandy 1000TL from 1989. Came with a 286 processor and 2 5.25 floppy drives. Great machine for its time.

You are so lucky to have the insight and brains you have to have allowed you to have the ability to get to do stuff like this. Man I wish I had a job like your's. This was another awesome awesome video.

Beautiful to see more of this lovely old thing, and gosh seeing Zeliard always makes me super nostalgic.

I had the original Tandy 1000 as my first PC compatible. It was an upgrade from my Tandy Color Computer II. The 1000 was and still is my favorite PC I've used. Thanks for the video and the memories.

Tandy 1000 SX was the first computer my family owned. It had two floppy drives and a hard drive! It took us over a year to beat Starflight, the ship moved so slow but we didn't know any better.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. I had a Tandy 1000 SX in college, and it was an amazing machine. Now I wish I hadn't gotten rid of it so many years ago. Thanks for all your top notch content.

My grandmother has a Tandy 1000EX. I remember as a child in the early 90s thinking how awesome it was with its color monitor and graphical games. All I had ever experienced was Apple IIs at school. She has a printer and tape recorder for it. The obligatory Printshop software, Family Feud, Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, and Classic Concentration for it. I might have to look for some other games for it now!

I was a Radio Shack Computer Sales Specialist in a retail store about this time, I have a 1000 with a 5 slot motherboard and a 'hardcard" which was a 20 Mb HDD on a card that plugged into a slot. 640 RAM and a clock card (luxury!). My son tried to wear it out playing the full set of King's Quest games on it.

Oh man! Zeliard! What a flashback. Thank you for this, I'm always so curious about the tandy/pcJr series of computers. I always saw them as video/ audio graphics options for them but had no reference. So interesting!