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| The 1000 EX offers one feature the Tandy 1000 SX, as well as the 1000 and 1000A, never had, a user-accessible volume control on the outside of the chassis in the form of a roller wheel on the right hand side, and a headphone jack. This was possibly the first model of 1000 to have these features. It was later replaced by the [[Tandy 1000 HX]] just a year or two later. | | The 1000 EX offers one feature the Tandy 1000 SX, as well as the 1000 and 1000A, never had, a user-accessible volume control on the outside of the chassis in the form of a roller wheel on the right hand side, and a headphone jack. This was possibly the first model of 1000 to have these features. It was later replaced by the [[Tandy 1000 HX]] just a year or two later. |
| | | |
− | =Press Release= | + | =Articles= |
| + | ===HARD DISK FOR TANDY 1000/EX=== |
| + | <pre> |
| + | by A.B. Trevor, 12 April 1987 |
| + | |
| + | As of this writing, Tandy does not offer a hard disk drive for the |
| + | Tandy 1000/EX, but an external 20 meg drive is available from Hard |
| + | Drive Specialist. The Tandy Memory Plus Expansion (MPE) board is a |
| + | prerequisite. The controller card is installed internally to the top |
| + | connector of the MPE board, meaning that you may have only one other |
| + | device installed with the hard disk -- most likely a modem or RS-232 |
| + | card. A short ribbon cable converts the controller's standard PC |
| + | edge connector to mate with the 62 pin Tandy "Plus" socket on the |
| + | MPE. A two foot 54 conductor ribbon cable and 3 loose power wires |
| + | originate on the top of the controller and are routed out the back |
| + | of the EX to the drive itself. This makes for a VERY tight fit in |
| + | the EX expansion cavity. The ribbon cable connectors and ROM chip |
| + | extend above the board and touch the expansion cover; in my case, |
| + | the cover actually bulges out a bit with the hard disk controller |
| + | in place. |
| + | |
| + | The drive itself is mounted in a Tandy plastic case measuring |
| + | 11.5"x6.5"x2.75". (It looks like the case for the external 3.5" |
| + | floppy drive... very nice). An unusually bright (for an HD) round |
| + | LED is mounted on the front of the drive enclosure as an access |
| + | indicator. The drive is quiet, but makes enough noise that you |
| + | hardly need the light. Note that the only cables attached to the |
| + | drive go to the EX -- power is obtained from the EX as well. Aside |
| + | from the casual cabling and the very tight fit of the installed |
| + | controller, it is a nice looking, neat installation. |
| + | |
| + | The drive comes pre-formatted, but HDS says that it can be |
| + | reformatted if you like either with the programs HSECT, FDISK, and HFORMAT. |
| + | Or, you can use DEBUG to execute a BIOS routine. |
| + | Speaking of the BIOS, I have had one or two strange hangs with |
| + | certain copy protected programs since I installed the hard disk, |
| + | but other than that, it appears to be compatible with all software |
| + | I have tried. |
| + | |
| + | Performance by today's standards is poor, but so is the drive IBM |
| + | supplies with XT's. Still, you wonder how much HDS saved by |
| + | selecting such a slow drive. Most of my applications are not |
| + | disk intensive, so it makes no difference. It is just great to be |
| + | freed from floppy swapping. |
| + | |
| + | SPECS: |
| + | Track to track: 15.15ms avg |
| + | Random/TT mix: 44.51ms avg |
| + | Random seek: 72.51ms avg |
| + | Cost: $729 |
| + | |
| + | Hard Drive Specialist |
| + | 16208 Hickory Knoll |
| + | Houston, TX 77059 |
| + | 713-480-6000 |
| + | |
| + | While this is a good choice if you already have an EX, or for some |
| + | reason you particulary want a high performance EX. But it doesn't make |
| + | sense to go out and buy an EX with the intent of installing hard |
| + | disk, since you can get an SX with hard disk for no more money, now |
| + | that 20 meg disks can be gotten for around $350. I happen to like the |
| + | EX form factor, and now that I have the HDS disk, I wouldn't swap |
| + | the EX for anything short of a PS/2 Model 80. |
| + | </pre> |
| + | |
| + | =Press Releases= |
| <pre> | | <pre> |
| TANDY CORPORATION ANNOUNCES THE TANDY 1000EX COMPUTER | | TANDY CORPORATION ANNOUNCES THE TANDY 1000EX COMPUTER |