Tandy 1000 Fun!

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TonyM
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Joined: Fri 15 Jul, 2016 8:11 pm

Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by TonyM »

A big kudos to the programmers of PCem! I recently discovered this little gem when looking for a Tandy 1000 TX emulator (my first PC compatible computer) and I was not disappointed! I've owned the HX, SX, TX and TL/3 models and the Tandy 1000 HX and SL/2 emulation on PCem are the closest I've seen to the real thing.

I'm curious if it would be complicated to emulate the TL/3. It had the same video, sound and 8-bit quirks of the other 1000 models but cane with an 80286 processor, a built-in XT-IDE controller and a floppy controller that supported 1.44MB drives without additional hardware. Also the entire TL and SL line allowed you to switch to Monochrome mode in the BIIOS which added Hercules graphics capability. I noticed the SL/2 emulation was limited to the Tandy CGA graphics.

Thank you for giving us a chance to relive those good old days!
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omarsis81
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Re: Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by omarsis81 »

Welcome to the forum!
And while still not perfect, I also believe this is the best emulator out there.

Since we have some 1000 models already emulated, I think it shouldn't be difficult in emulatin additional models.
Do you know that chipset drives the 286 in the TL/3?
TonyM
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Joined: Fri 15 Jul, 2016 8:11 pm

Re: Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by TonyM »

I don't know the chipset. I do have a TL/3 so would this be something I can get by looking at the board?

This may be of help:

http://support.radioshack.com/support_c ... /30541.htm
http://support.radioshack.com/support_computer/1240.htm
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ppgrainbow
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Re: Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by ppgrainbow »

As far as I know, it is possible to hack and add a EGA or VGA card on the TL/2 and TL/3 though it's not supported by Radio Shack.

Despite the Tandy 1000TX, TL, TL/2 and TL/3 having a 80286 processor on the motherboard, Tandy still treated it as a XT-class machine and the amount of base memory is still limited to 640 KB RAM that can be expanded to 768 KB with 128 KB being reserved for video memory.

PCem treats the emulated Tandy 1000TL/2 as a 8088-based PC this way.

Tandy 1000RLX that it included support for up to 1 MB of memory (640 KB base and 384 KB extended) though it wasn't a full class AT-compatible computer. The Tandy 1000RSX is the only machine in the Tandy 1000 series to include a 80386SX 25MHz processor with 1 MB of RAM and can go up to 9 MB (640 KB base and 8,576 KB extended) with two 16-bit ISA slots and SuperVGA graphics.
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SarahWalker
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Re: Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by SarahWalker »

ppgrainbow wrote:PCem treats the emulated Tandy 1000TL/2 as a 8088-based PC this way.
PCem doesn't emulate the Tandy 1000 TL/2...
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ppgrainbow
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Re: Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by ppgrainbow »

SarahWalker wrote:
ppgrainbow wrote:PCem treats the emulated Tandy 1000TL/2 as a 8088-based PC this way.
PCem doesn't emulate the Tandy 1000 TL/2...
Oops. I read it wrong. I was actually mentioning the Tandy 1000 SL/2 not the TL/2. Sorry that I got the model names wrong.
ibmpc5150
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Joined: Sat 17 Jan, 2015 6:17 pm

Re: Tandy 1000 Fun!

Post by ibmpc5150 »

I think none of emulators don't support Tandy 1000 correctly. (MESS seems to more close to real machine.)

1) Tandy 1000 text font doesn't user IBM PC's standard.
2) Tandy 1000 Graphic mode not to compatible with EGA/VGA
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