Tempest wrote:

I have a chance to get my hands on a nice little Tandy 1000TX setup (monitor, keyboard, serial mouse, etc.) for a good price. I've been looking for a PC to fill in the gap between my PCjr and my Pentium 120 system and thought that the Tandy might do the trick. I have some questions though:

1. How compatible is the 1000TX with older PCjr software? I know it's a 286 that can be slowed down, but I've read that it might still be too fast. I know software from 81-83 is generally too fast on anything other an a real 8088, but what about later XT software? My understanding is that the 1000TX is close to being an AT clone.

The first blog entry linked below should answer your question, and you may find the two underneath it also relevant to your question :

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2012/06/i … 1000-games.html

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2014/09/t … e-versions.html

http://nerdlypleasures.blogspot.com/2015/02/f … r-versions.html

Tempest wrote:

2. I've read that the TX has some kind of issue with it's drives using anything later than Tandy DOS 3.2. Is this true and is there a patch for that? Can it be upgraded to at least Tandy DOS 3.3?

I never had a problem with MS-DOS 6.22 in any Tandy 1000 I have owned, including the TX. My friend Cloudschatze has even more than I have and he never complains about it either. I would suggest that one user's difficulties should not speak for the experience that everyone may have, especially now when the machine is not your everyday work machine.

Tempest wrote:

3. How hard is it to upgrade this system? Is it better to keep it stock or should I look into adding an EGA card or a Soundblaster? What about 386/486 processor upgrades?

An 8-bit Sound Blaster will work just fine, and you may be able to get away with a non-PNP 16. There is a processor upgrade called Make-it-486 that should fit and work well, if you can find one 🤣

Tempest wrote:

4. If I'm stuck with DOS 3.2 (see question 2) is there a problem with putting in a larger hard drive (it comes with a 20MB) and just partitioning it into 32MB chunks?

I see no reason to torture yourself with Tandy DOS for the reasons given above. However, if you are truly concerned about it and want to keep to the stock Tandy DOS 3.2, it comes with a custom partitioning utility that will give you four 32MB partitions.

Tempest wrote:

5. Silly question: I have an IBM 5151 monochrome monitor that I've been dying to use (I have a thing for monochrome). Is it possible to use this monitor with the 1000TX somehow? If so can I use something like an EGA Wonder card to get 'EGA monochrome' style graphics?

I am not sure this is possible because the TX typically disables its built-in graphics adapter if an onboard adapter is inserted. If you had a Hercules-compatible card that would fit in your TX, then it may be worth trying. With EGA and its on-board BIOS and monochrome emulation and no VSWITCH utility that works with the TX, it is not looking hopeful. However, EGA cards can coexist with CGA cards when set to be the secondary display adapter, so I could not completely rule out the possibility. Even so, I would find a Hercules card to be more useful because more games and programs supported it over monochrome graphics on the EGA.

Interesting. Sounds like I'm better off saving my PCjr and looking for a real 386/486 PC then. It doesn't sound like the Tandy 1000TX will really offer anything over my PCjr.

Tempest wrote:

Interesting. Sounds like I'm better off saving my PCjr and looking for a real 386/486 PC then. It doesn't sound like the Tandy 1000TX will really offer anything over my PCjr.

The main advantages of the TX over the PCjr. are guaranteed compatibility with the hundreds of DOS titles that support Tandy (the PCjr. Tandy graphics mod may not be sufficient for all games), the speed advantages of an 80286 @ 8MHz vs. an 8088 or V20 @ 4.77MHz, a less annoying keyboard and 8-bit ISA slots.

I do have the Tandy mod done on my PCjr, and I haven't run into anything that it didn't like (yet). Still, I think I'd be better off with a 386/486 to fill in the void between my PCjr and my Pentium box.