Look at this beauty that I picked up from the post office today. ☺️

Usually when Tandy 1000 machines turn up on eBay, they tend to be offered by sellers in North America. So I was pleasantly surprised to see this Tandy 1000 EX listed by someone in Greece, a few weeks ago. And for a reasonable price too!

Also, it looks to be in good condition, and thankfully it didn't have a cyrillic keyboard . 😅 It has a US keyboard layout, which is perfect for me. (Unlike our Belgian and German neighbors, thankfully we in the Netherlands standardized on the US layout early on in the PC era.)

It doesn't have any expansion cards installed. I found this one project on GitHub for a three-in-one card for these models that maxes out the amount of RAM, adds an XTIDE interface and a serial port. Hopefully I'll be able to buy one of those card preassembled somewhere. I don't yet trust my soldering skills enough to risk damaging this fine retro machine. I would also like to upgrade it with a NEC V20 CPU and a CGA2SCART adapter, to pimp it out as much as I can. I'm not sure about putting in a Gotek drive. It would probably be more practical, but I kind of like that wonderfully clunky 5.25" floppy drive on the side. 😁 Any additional suggestions for upgrades are welcome!

The plug was removed from the power cable, probably because Greece has a different plug than we do. (We use German plugs in the Netherlands.) At first, it made me a bit concerned about whether this was originally a North American machine that would require 120V power instead of our 230V, but then I was reassured about the "warranty void if opened" stickers on the bottom, that contained the notices in 4 European languages, including, amusingly, Dutch.

I'm still amazed at the good condition this thing is in. There was some Styrofoam protection around it in the cardboard box it was shipped in, but not all that much. Thankfully, it survived the journey in tact.

The first thing (after a wipe with a cleaning cloth) will be to stick some new felts to the bottom for protection. Then I'll mount a plug to the power cable, and then I'll switch it on, to see if it works. I'll have to connect it through composite video for now, since I don't have a CGA2SCART adapter yet. Do any of you know if this model outputs any video over the composite output port on startup? Or does this have to be enabled somehow? I guess I'll just find out. This is going to be fun!

Hmmm, now that I've had this thing lying on the floor in my apartment for a bit while I typed this post, I'm getting a faint whif of that typical smell that you notice when you open up the PC case of someone who smokes. 😬 Better open it up to see if it needs a bit of cleaning or vacuuming on the inside...

Nice Tandy!

We had a Tandy 1000HX when I was a kid. I really wish I had appreciated old PCs at the time, because it was already quite outdated when I started using it. I hated the fact that it wouldn't play basically any game I could find. Bear in mind, this was the mid '90s, so the lack of Tandy software makes sense to me now. 🤣 My brother was away to college with the only PC of ours that could play games, so having one that couldn't play ANYTHING was very sad.

I don't know what ever happened to it, but if I ever found one somewhere I'd certainly tinker with it. 😁

^ I know what you mean. So glad I got my Tandy 1000 SL before the prices started going insane on eBay.
Also glad I got that 1000 TL motherboard for the same reason (and was able to cram it into the SL's box, with some kludging).

gerry wrote on 2021-05-05, 08:40:

as noted by others - what a great buy! i was thinking "what bad caps?" until half way down, but i'm sure it'll be good as new when you are done

i wouldn't worry about the lack of ISA, to me that board says Athlon XP and Windows XP. i'd be happy with that

Confirmed it is an Athlon XP 2100+. Ironically this is the first AMD processor I have ever owned. All 4 of my IBM PS/2 systems have Intels, my modern computer has an i7-8086k, my Windows 98 Machine has a PIII, and my PC/XT has an Intel 8088. Looool.

It does seem to be more Windows XP geared with the lack of ISA slots. I don't have a particular need or want for an XP era build (or the space) considering you can run most of those games on Windows 10 anyway. I'll probably try it with Windows 98. I have a problematic Aureal Vortex 1 which would be nice to test in it, it dislikes my ABIT VH6-II.

Apparently I'm insane because I bought a third IBM PS/2 when I already had two that didn't work. I suppose this one is the most functional of the three, though, despite not having a hard drive. It's a Model 57 486SLC2 with 8MB of RAM.

It's going to be fun figuring out what all those numbers mean.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2021-05-05, 19:19:

Nice Tandy!

We had a Tandy 1000HX when I was a kid. I really wish I had appreciated old PCs at the time, because it was already quite outdated when I started using it. I hated the fact that it wouldn't play basically any game I could find. Bear in mind, this was the mid '90s, so the lack of Tandy software makes sense to me now. 🤣 My brother was away to college with the only PC of ours that could play games, so having one that couldn't play ANYTHING was very sad.

I don't know what ever happened to it, but if I ever found one somewhere I'd certainly tinker with it. 😁

Eep386 wrote on 2021-05-05, 19:31:

^ I know what you mean. So glad I got my Tandy 1000 SL before the prices started going insane on eBay.
Also glad I got that 1000 TL motherboard for the same reason (and was able to cram it into the SL's box, with some kludging).

Well, my excitement about my new Tandy 1000 EX was short-lived. 😕 It turned out that it was a 120V 60Hz unit after all, despite the warranty notices being in four European languages. Oops. I plugged it in, it ran a few seconds, and then the fuse blew out. I hope nothing else in the system was damaged. 😟

Why would a North American system have warranty notices not only in English and French, but also in German and even in Dutch? I know I should have checked more carefully, but that really threw me off. 😕

Bought a Wyse keyboard for my Wyse PC. Hope it works since the adapter I made doesn't work (clock issues).

Seller's photos:

digger wrote on 2021-05-05, 22:33:

Well, my excitement about my new Tandy 1000 EX was short-lived. 😕 It turned out that it was a 120V 60Hz unit after all, despite the warranty notices being in four European languages. Oops. I plugged it in, it ran a few seconds, and then the fuse blew out. I hope nothing else in the system was damaged. 😟

Why would a North American system have warranty notices not only in English and French, but also in German and even in Dutch? I know I should have checked more carefully, but that really threw me off. 😕

Oh, no! 🙁
Time to open it up and see if anything other than the fuse let the smoke out.

I found a 20" Planar PL201M-BK monitor at the thrift shop the other day. There was no price so I asked and they gave it to me for $6 CAD. Max resolution is 1600x1200 @ 60Hz. It has a finger sized pressure spot in the top-left, just after 'Hardware Monitor', and internal speakers with, strangely, a headphone jack which might be contributing to its unusual weight. It will make a good companion to my second best thrift store find ever...

...the illustrious Dell 2001FP, compliments of the Salvation Army, which with humble gratitude I made mine for a miser's price...

...Doh!

digger wrote on 2021-05-05, 22:33:

Oops. I plugged it in, it ran a few seconds, and then the fuse blew out. I hope nothing else in the system was damaged. 😟
Why would a North American system have warranty notices not only in English and French, but also in German and even in Dutch? I know I should have checked more carefully, but that really threw me off. 😕

Strange. When I accidentally flipped the 115/230 switch on a PSU it blew up instantly.
Any labels indicating that it's indeed a 115V version?

Eep386 wrote on 2021-05-06, 02:12:

Oh, no! 🙁
Time to open it up and see if anything other than the fuse let the smoke out.

I didn't smell anything burnt out. What would be a visual way to check for such damage? You might not be able to spot such damage from the outside, right?

Miphee wrote on 2021-05-06, 02:35:

Strange. When I accidentally flipped the 115/230 switch on a PSU it blew up instantly.
Any labels indicating that it's indeed a 115V version?

Yes, on the top of the back label.

120V, 60Hz, 0.4A, as you can see on the top of the label.🤦‍♂️I know should have checked it more thoroughly, but the warranty label in four languages on the bottom of the unit really let down my guard. 😳 I mean, come on, why would a unit intended for the North American market contain any warranty notices in German and Dutch?

Shall I open up a separate thread to discuss this further? I opened one on VCFED, but haven't gotten any replies there yet.

Got some things delivered the day before yesterday.

First out a big box of awesomeness.

So whats inside you may ask. Well this:

ALR dual Ppro motherboard, Shuttle single Ppro board, some NICs, Tray for Ppros, coolers, and some other bits. So happy for this box, was on pins and needles waiting for this 😀
The shuttle motherboard comes with an 200/1MB cpu and cooler with a acoustic warning if the fan fails. And it can be upgraded to dual cpu which is awesome Re: Shuttle HOT-613 (Single vs Dual - Pentium Pro):

A big thanks to the man responsible for this!

Finally an not so retro cpu (i7 870) and some things from Serdashop to play with:

Saved from the recycler...

You can never have too many CPUs 😆

Bought this from a friend for 25€ + shipping, but before you flip out it's non functional, very dirty and the screen is clearly messed up beyond repair. It also emits a weird smell and some kind of grease is leaking from the damaged portion of the screen. Not sure if I can fix it, but I will try someday.

Old stuff for my pc

SIPP , WIFI card and same processor

imi wrote on 2021-05-04, 19:44:

this nice trio of boxes arrived recently :3
I really like the simplicity of the old style gravis boxes
hardware40_25.jpg

What be that Eliminator Gravis? The thing with the card and dial knob? =O

MCGA wrote on 2021-05-06, 21:51:

imi wrote on 2021-05-04, 19:44:

this nice trio of boxes arrived recently :3
I really like the simplicity of the old style gravis boxes
hardware40_25.jpg

What be that Eliminator Gravis? The thing with the card and dial knob? =O

It is a dual Gameport card. The little box with the knob is for adjusting to work with different speed computers.

There were two styles of adjustable gameport cards. Those with switches or jumpers and those with adjustment potentiometers like the Gravis Eliminator.

They all pretty much became obsolete as the newer gameports are not speed sensitive.

That being said, I have a bunch of Gameport cards, including a few of the Gravis Eliminator cards.

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-05-06, 22:43:

It is a dual Gameport card. The little box with the knob is for adjusting to work with different speed computers. […]
Show full quote

MCGA wrote on 2021-05-06, 21:51:

imi wrote on 2021-05-04, 19:44:

this nice trio of boxes arrived recently :3
I really like the simplicity of the old style gravis boxes
hardware40_25.jpg

What be that Eliminator Gravis? The thing with the card and dial knob? =O

It is a dual Gameport card. The little box with the knob is for adjusting to work with different speed computers.

There were two styles of adjustable gameport cards. Those with switches or jumpers and those with adjustment potentiometers like the Gravis Eliminator.

They all pretty much became obsolete as the newer gameports are not speed sensitive.

That being said, I have a bunch of Gameport cards, including a few of the Gravis Eliminator cards.

I thought that's more depending on the game wether you need a speed compensating gameport or not?

cyclone3d wrote on 2021-05-06, 22:43:

It is a dual Gameport card. The little box with the knob is for adjusting to work with different speed computers. […]
Show full quote

MCGA wrote on 2021-05-06, 21:51:

imi wrote on 2021-05-04, 19:44:

this nice trio of boxes arrived recently :3
I really like the simplicity of the old style gravis boxes
hardware40_25.jpg

What be that Eliminator Gravis? The thing with the card and dial knob? =O

It is a dual Gameport card. The little box with the knob is for adjusting to work with different speed computers.

There were two styles of adjustable gameport cards. Those with switches or jumpers and those with adjustment potentiometers like the Gravis Eliminator.

They all pretty much became obsolete as the newer gameports are not speed sensitive.

That being said, I have a bunch of Gameport cards, including a few of the Gravis Eliminator cards.

Thanks! Did not know this. I've never encountered this issue that I know of, but maybe it's because my first PC was a 386 DX 40.

dulu wrote on 2021-05-04, 20:41:

What is this? Sellers picture

https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/quadro2-pro.c2372