Tandy 1000 RL-HD
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| A Tandy 1000 RL/HD, from Radio Shack's 1991 computer catalogue RSC-22A | |
| Specifications | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Tandy Corporation, sold by Radio Shack |
| Type | Compact desktop personal computer (IBM PC compatible) |
| CPU | Intel 8086, 9.54 MHz, surface mounted |
| Memory | 512 KB, expandable to 768 KB |
| Storage | One 3.5-inch 720 KB floppy drive; 20 MB XT IDE SmartDrive fitted |
| Display | Built-in Tandy video: MDA, Hercules, CGA and Tandy enhanced modes |
| Sound | Three-voice sound and an 8-bit DAC with microphone input |
| Power | Internal fanless supply, 25 W |
| OS / Firmware | MS-DOS 3.3 and DeskMate in ROM; DeskMate and Home Organizer on the hard disk |
| Model no. | 25-1451 |
The Tandy 1000 RL-HD (sold as the 1000 RL/HD) is the hard disk version of the Tandy 1000 RL. Radio Shack fitted a 20 MB SmartDrive in the second drive bay and added a battery-backed real-time clock, and shipped the machine with DeskMate and the Home Organizer already loaded on the disk.[1][2] In Radio Shack's comparison table the rest of its specification matches the RL's, so the RL's guides cover this model.[2]
History
[edit | edit source]The RL/HD cost $999.95 in 1991 (catalogue number 25-1451) and $899.95 in Radio Shack's 1992 catalogue.[2][3]
Differences from the RL
[edit | edit source]| Item | RL | RL/HD |
|---|---|---|
| Real-time clock | Optional | Built in, battery backed |
| Hard disk | Optional SmartDrive | 20 MB SmartDrive fitted |
| Further drives | One 3.5-inch 720 KB | None |
| Catalogue number | 25-1450 | 25-1451 |
Source: Radio Shack catalogue RSC-22A.[2] Wikipedia also notes the RL/HD's clock chip and 20 MB drive.[4]
Hard disk
[edit | edit source]The RL/HD's drive is an XT IDE unit, which will not work on an ordinary AT IDE controller; one owner's machine has a Seagate ST-325X.[5] XT IDE drives were not made larger than 40 MB.[6] Owners who replaced it with an XT-IDE card report:
- The built-in hard disk had to be disabled with SETUPRL /A before the XT-IDE card's BIOS would take over, and the card only worked at D800h.[5]
- Another owner had to pad the XT-IDE ROM image with 16 KB of FFh bytes before the BIOS before it would work in an RL.[5]
- The RL/HD has a single expansion slot, so an owner who added both an XT-IDE card and a floppy controller had to choose between them.[5]
Clock
[edit | edit source]The RL/HD's clock runs from a coin cell, but the setup settings are held in an EEPROM, so removing the cell does not reset them.[5][7]
Related pages
[edit | edit source]- Tandy 1000 RL
- Tandy 1000 RL General Maintenance
- Tandy 1000 RL Troubleshooting Guide
- Tandy 1000 RL Capacitor Replacement Guide
- Tandy 1000 RLX
- Tandy 1000
References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ Radio Shack, computer catalogue RSC-22 (1991), p. 15, "1000 RL Hard Drive", page scan at RadioShackCatalogs.com (retrieved 2026-10-22).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Radio Shack, computer catalogue RSC-22A (1991), p. 7, "Home office and family PCs", page scan at RadioShackCatalogs.com (retrieved 2026-10-22).
- ↑ Radio Shack, computer catalogue RSC-23 (1992), p. 8, "Home office and family PCs", page scan at RadioShackCatalogs.com (retrieved 2026-10-22).
- ↑ "Tandy 1000", Wikipedia (retrieved 2026-10-21). Section "1000 RL and RL/HD".
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 "Help with Tandy 1000 RL/HD", Vintage Computer Federation forum, March 2023 to March 2024, thread. Posts by Scottmm78 (3 March 2023), twolazy (3 March 2023), SteveHere (4 March 2023) and indyjoenz (2 April 2023).
- ↑ Jeff Hayes, "Tandy 1000-series FAQ", version 2.52, 25 October 2005, TVDog's Tandy 1000 archive (retrieved 2026-10-21). Section II.D.1.
- ↑ Hayes, "Tandy 1000-series FAQ" (2005), section II.K.8.
