Welcome back to part 18 of my fourth SepTandy Spectacular. In the last post we took a look at theT andy 1000's Disk Drives, Printers and Modems. In this entry we conclude going to wrap up this years spectacular by taking a look at the Tandy 1000's miscellaneous peripherals and add ons.
Starting off with sound cards, We have the Creative Game Blaster, Released in 1988, for $199.95.
The Creative Game Blaster (1988)
Most people know Creative for their Sound Blaster line of sound cards, but the company did not start with the Sound Blaster. In fact it took the company mutiple failiures and this card to create the cards they would be famous fore. Creative was founded in 1981 in Singapore childhood friends and schoolmates Sim Wong Hoo and Ng Kai Wa, and Originally got its start as a computer repair store in Pearl's Centre in Chinatown.
Creative Labs Original repair store location (1981)
Soon they diversified by developing computer add ons starting with a memory board for the Apple II computer. In 1984, they introduced the Cubic CT, an IBM-compatible PC
adapted for the Chinese language with multimedia features like enhanced color graphics and a built-in audio board capable of producing speech and music.
The Creative Labs Cubic CT (1984)
However due to the lack of demand for multilingual computers and multimedia software, the Cubic CT sold poorly. Despite low sales, Creative decided to shift focus from language to music by introducing the Creative Music System in 1987.
The Creative Music System card (1987)
By using dual Philips SAA1099 sound chips, the card could produce 12 channels of square-wave stereo sound, with four channels of which can be used for noise.
However the CMS also did not sell well, Because the same year the CMS came out, so did the Adlib card.
The Adlib card (1987)
The Adlib used the Yamaha YM3812 chip, which was used FM synthesis to not only create better sound, but also could be used for sound effects, so it could be used for games as opposed to just music creation. Not only that but there were already other sound cards and devices on the market aimed at music composition. Like the IBM Music Feature Card and the Roland MT-32.
Left to right the IBM Music Feature Card and the Roland MT-32
But yet again, Creative was undeterred. After forming their US office in 1988, they struck a deal with Tandy to rebrand the card and sell it exclusively in their stores as the Game Blaster this time focusing on games rather than music composition.
But surprise surprise, The Game Blaster also did not sell well. Although it sold slightly better that the Creative Music System, again due to the Adlib's capabilities and support and the fact the Game Blasters sound wasn't that much better than the Tandy 1000's own sound capabilities.
Finally Creative realized that the only way to create a successful sound card to generate profitable sales, they needed to create a card to compete with the Adlib. So by late 1988, they began to do just that. Codenamed Killer Kard, they took the basic design of the Game Blaster, added the YM3812 for Adlib compatibility, made it capable of stereo sound, and added a built in gameport for both joysticks and MIDI connections.
The result was the Sound Blaster released in 1989, At a fairly competitive price.
The Creative Sound Blaster 1.0 (1989)
The card was an immediate success, as it was fairly priced, offered compatiblity with existing software using the Adlib Card, and offered stereo sound and joystick port saving the user from buying separate cards. Although it contained the Game Blaster/ CMS hardware for compatiblilty, it was rarely used. Still, Creative offered compatibility as an option on all of the Sound Blaster until the release of the Sound Blaster Pro in 1991.
As for the sound capabilities, The two Philips SAA1099 sound chips each provide 6 voices of squarewave audio for a stereo total of 12, and 4 could be combined for creating a noise channel. To give you an idea, here's some examples of dos games using the CMS sound.
Some examples of DOS games using the Game Blaster
Moving on to other add on cards, CPU accelerators were also available for the 8088 based 1000, with the 286 Express Upgrade Board (Catalog number 25-1035), released in 1988, for $399.95.
A listing for the 286 Express Upgrade Board in the 1989 Radio Shack Catalog
By plugging this into your 1000, 1000 HD, 1000 TX or1000 SX, you can take advantage of an Intel 80286 clocked at 7.16 Mhz to put your machine in the AT class, While not much of an improvement over the 7.16 Mhz 8088 based 1000's it did at least keep machines in use for longer.
The 286 Express Upgrade Board.
Finally we have another unique expansion card, The Trackstar 128 (Catalog number 25-1028), Released in 1988, for $399.95.
A listing for the Trackstar 128 in the 1989 Radio Shack Catalog
This card plugged into the Tandy 1000 SX and TX, and allowed them to run Apple II software, with connections for an Apple II disk drive and joysticks.
The Trackstar 128
The Trackstar 128 was made by Diamond Computer Systems, Later known as Diamond Multimedia. Like Creative Labs, They also had an interesting told by this card before they made the products most people remeber them for. Dimond was founded in 1982 By Chong Moon Lee with H. H. Huh, and got its start making expansion cards for the Apple II and IBM PC, with the Trackstar being their first product.
It was originally announced in March of 1984 at the West Coast Computer Faire in San Fransisco, as the Dimond 3 (So named because it used 3 CPUs: 1 6502 for the main Apple II processing, another 6502 for video processing, and a Zilog Z80 for compatibility with the Microsoft Softcard for running CP/M) at a price of $695 dollars.
A listing for the Dimond 3 in the July 1984 issue of Creative Computing Magazine
It was eventually renamed the Trackstar toward the end of the year and continued to be sold as an alternative to buying a Apple II by providing the computer in a card equipped with 64K of RAM, Apple CP/M compatibility, and full compatibility with the Apple II+.
The Diamond Trackstar (1984)
The card was followed up with the Trackstar 128 in 1986, which was basically the same card, only it included 128K of RAM (Hence the name) Apple Double High Res Graphics compatibility to make it on par with the Apple IIc, the floppy conector being moved to a daughter board, and without the Z80 to reduce both the width and price to $395 dollars. While it was mainly sold as an ISA card, there was also a Microchannel version available for IBM PS/2 computers as well
Wanting to expand into the Educational Market Radio Shack formed a licensing deal with Dimond to offer the Trackstar 128 with Tandy 1000's to schools. While Tandy was never able to Dethrone Apple competely, The combo did manage to get the Tandy 1000 a small place in the educational market.
A promotional photo featuring the Tandy 1000TL equiped with the Trackstar 128
The card was followed up with the Trackstar E in 1987, and the Trackstar Plus in 1989. The Trackstar E was designed to be add compatibility with the Apple IIe and the Trackstar Plus was an upgraded version of the Trackstar E with a optional faster 2 Mhz mode and improved compatibility. The most notable edition to both of these cards was the ability to create virtual disk images called TrackStore files, allowing you to copy physical Apple II formatted disks to your PC, for quickly and easily loading programs, As well as create virtual ProDOS hard drives up to 10 MB in size to store multiple programs on your hard drive.
Left to right: The Trackstar 128 E (1987) and the Trackstar Plus (1989)
After the Trackstar Plus, Dimond would soon rename themselves to Dimond Multimedia expand into making graphics and sound cards for the PC, and later become one of the first manufactures to sell cards with the famous 3Dfx Voodoo graphics standard with the release of the Dimond Monster3D card in 1996, and continue to produce high end graphics and sound cards after that. The also introduced the Dimond Rio PMP300, one of the first commercially successful portable consumer MP3 players, in 1998.
Left to right: The Dimond Monster3D card (1996) and the Dimond Rio PMP300 (1998)
However after a merger with S3 to become SonicBlue in 1999, They started to struggle financially due to failure of the S3 Savage 2000 video card, and a drop in the soundware market with the bankruptcy of Aureal Semiconductor, Resulting in SonicBlue filling for Chapter 11, and shutting down in 2003.
The Dimond brandname was later purchased by a company called Best Data shortly after, and later Best Data was purchased by a Taiwanese company called Tool Corporation who continue to use the Dimond name today on various computer accessories like video capture equipment and monitor stands.
Moving on to input devices we start off with the Universal Keyboard Adapter (Catalog number 26-1030), Released in 1988, for $99.95.
A listing for the Universal Keyboard Adapter in the 1989 Radio Shack Catalog
This adapter was designed to address one problem: Using a more standard Model M keyboard on the older Tandy 1000's. You see when the 1000 was originally introduced it used a propriatary DIN connector for the keyboard that was incompatible with the standard XT and AT connectors.
The original Tandy 1000 keyboard with the DIN connector cable
But with the introduction of the 1000SL and TL, the keyboard was updated to the more standard Model M layout with an XT connector.
The Later Tandy 1000 SL and TL keyboard
But because the keyboard used a different standard and protocol, you couldn't use it on older models. So this adapter allowed you to plug the newer keyboards into the older models. It was also useful for plugging in any XT keyboard making it appealing since you could use other keyboards that are easier to find. Sadly the adapter is rare to find today, but much like the Joystick ports its easy to build your own adapter to do the same thing.
The Universal Keyboard Adapter
For Joysticks, A new edition was the Pistol Grip Joystick (Catalog number 26-3123), released in 1989, for $29.95.
A listing for the Pistol Grip Joystick in the 1990 Radio Shack Catalog
This switched to the more Ergonomic pistol grip style of joysticks rather than the earlier Kraft based design of the Deluxe Joystick, making it more comfortable to hold and including an extra set of buttons at the top for firing with your trigger finger and thumb.
The Pistol Grip Joystick
The last new joystick Tandy produced was the Archer Competition Joystick (Catalog number 270-1707), released in 1991, for $24.95.
A listing for the Archer Competition Joystick in the 1992 Radio Shack Catalog
With this joystick Tandy finally ditched the CoCo compatible joystick connector for the standard 15 pin gameport used on other PCs. In adition to the 15 pin cable, It was also designed to be compatible with the Apple II as well, with a 9 Pin cable as well and a switch to toggle between IBM PC and Apple II connectors.
The Archer Competition Joystick
Its also one of the few joysticks Tandy marketed under the Archer brand which was originally used for Radio Shack's line of TV antennas and AV parts. They began to use the Archer brand to sell joysticks starting with Archer Super Deluxe Competition Joystick Back in 1983, which was an OEM version of the Spectravideo Quickshot I.
A listing for the Archer Super Deluxe Competition Joystick in the 1994 Radio Shack Catalog
Despite this, Tandy continued to use Archer brand for game controllers mainly for game consoles with based on OEMed versions of Joysticks like Kraft and SVI well into 1994 with controllers for the NES and Sega Genesis.
A listing for the Archer game controllers in in the 1994 Radio Shack Catalog
For Mice the Color Computer mouse for the CoCo and Tandy 1000 was followed up with the Deluxe Color Computer Mouse (Catalog number 25-3125), Introduced in 1987, for $49.95.
A listing for the Deluxe Color Computer Mouse in in the 1988 Radio Shack Catalog
Much like the Pistol Grip Joystick, the Deluxe Color Computer Mouse moved to a more ergonomic housing making it a little more comfortable in the hand, and moved from the Macintosh style one button design to the more standard 2 button design somewhat resembling the original Microsoft "Green-eyed" mouse.
The Deluxe Color Computer Mouse
But for those looking for Microsoft mouse compatibility, there was the Tandy Serieal Mouse (Catalog number 25-1040), also Introduced in 1987, for $49.95.
A listing for the Tandy Serial Mouse in in the 1988 Radio Shack Catalog
The Serial Mouse was even more ergonomic than the the Deluxe Color Computer Mouse, adding a curve to the buttons making it even more comfortable in the hand, and moved to a serial connection for compatibility with the Microsoft Mouse, and can be used on other PCs with the appropriate adapter.
The Tandy Serial Mouse
Tandy also briefly carried a mouse from a very familiar brand: Logitech. From 1988 to 1990. they sold both 9 pin and 25 pin serial versions of their popular C7 Mouse, for $99.95.
A listing for the Logitech Serial mice in in the 1989 Radio Shack Catalog
The C7 was originally introduced back in 1985, and was Logitech's first commercially successful product on the consumer market, beating out the sales of the Microsoft Mouse, and being a popular mouse OEM of choice for companies like HP, DEC, AT&T, and Olivetti.
An ad for the Logitech C7 (1985)
While not as ergonomic as the previous Tandy mice and having far more rubbery buttons, it's still a fairly serviceable serial mouse with better tracking than competing mice and pairs great with XT and AT class machines, with the 1000 included.
The Logitech C7 (1985)
The last new mouse available for the Tandy 1000 was the Tandy 2 Button Mouse (Catalog number 26-1042), Released in 1990, for $49.95.
A listing for the Tandy 2 Button Mouse in in the 1991 Radio Shack catalog
This mouse finally ditched the blocky design of the previous mice in favor of a curved design, similar to the mice we use today. It also adopted the PS/2 connector which was introduced with the Tandy 1000RL
The Tandy 2 Button Mouse
Finally we move have miscellaneous storage options, again starting with the most interesting with the External 10 MB Disk Cartridge System (Catalog number 25-3022), Released in 1985, for $2100.00 dollars.
A listing for the Tandy External 10 MB Disk Cartridge System in the 1986 Radio Shack Computer Catalog
While the Drive was sold as the 10 MB Disk Cartridge System, it was an OEM version of the Iomega Bernoulli Box drive 1010.
The Iomega Bernoulli Box drive
Like the Game Blaster and the Trackstar 128, The Bernoulli Box was another early product from a company that would become famous for later PC peripherals: Iogema. They were founded in 1980 in Roy, Utah, by 3 men: Jerome Paul Johnson, David Bailey, and David Norton.
The Iomega Logo (1981-1993)
The three of them were former engineers for IBM and initially conceived of the Bernoulli Box in 1979 and pitched to be developed and sold as an IBM product. However, IBM was not interested in it and instead gave them permission to start their own company and develop the drive from there.
After a few more years of development, Iomega released the Bernoulli Box drive in 1982, For $2,500 dollars for the drive with 10MB disks availible for $45.00 dollars each.
An introduction brochure for the Bernoulli Box drive (1982)
The drive gets its name from the Bernoulli Principle, which is a law in fluid dynamics that an increase in the speed of a fluid occurs simultaneously with a decrease in pressure or a decrease in the fluid's potential energy, first discovered by Swiss Mathemetician Daniel Bernoulli in 1738.
The idea is the disk spins while riding a cushion of air without actually touching the read/write head of the drive, so in case of a error the disk can move away from the head and then back toward it for normal operation. This made it far more reliable than a floppy disk and even a hard drive in theory, since the contactless design made it less likely for head crashes and will remain reliable as long as the drive is kept clean of dust and debris.
This made it very appealing for data storage in business for use in data backup and was successful enough for Iomega to make new versions like a RS-422 serial version for the Macintosh in 1985, a SCSI version in 1986, and an improved Bernoulli Box II in 1987. The Bernoulli Box II used smaller disks and had higher capacities from 90MB all the way up to 230MB by 1993.
The Bernoulli Box II (1987)
However by 1994, Iomega had started to lose revenue as the Bernoulli Box had lost its appeal with the price of hard drives decreasing and their only other product the Ditto tape drive barely selling at all. So they created a new format: The Zip Disk, introduced in 1994 for $200.00 dollars for the drive and 100MB disks availible for $20.00 dollars each.
The Iomega Zip 100 (1994)
This was the product most people remeber Iomega for, and while they may have not been as ubiquitous as other storage mediums, it had decent success both in homes and buisnesses due to its cheap price and high capacity, again mainly used for data backup, as well as various niche specialized and industrial applications like graphic design, Airline navagation sysems, music sequencers, and digital photography.
But Again they eventually lost their appeal by the 2000's as CD-RW's and USB Flash Drives came down in price by the time the 750 MB Zip Disk was introduced, Leading Iomega to discontiue the format in 2003.
Afterwards Iomega was aquired by EMC Corperation in 2008, which in tern was bought by Lenovo in 2013 to become LenovoEMC, and was kept in opperation until Lenovo shut down the division in 2016.
The Tandy 10 MB Disk Cartridge System was an OEM of the first Bernoulli Box drive: The Iomega Bernoulli Box drive 1010, taking the original 10MB large cartridges mesuring 8.23 x 11.02 x 0.71 inches, about the size of a sheet of A4 paper.
There was also the TCS-100 (Catalog number 25-3021), also introduced in 1985, for $1999.00 dollars for the drive and tapes for $34.95 each.
A listing for the TCS-100 in the 1986 Radio Shack Computer Catalog
Using these tape cartridges, The Drive could store up to 10 MB on 1 tape. While it lack the reliability of the Bernoulli, it was far cheaper makingit appeal to businesses on a budget.
And finally we have the one storage media that lasted the longerst: CD-ROM. The first was the Hitachi CDR-1503S (Catalog number 90-2156), Released in 1987, for $995.00 dollars.
A listing for the Hitachi CDR-1503S in the 1989 Radio Shack Computer Catalog
While the drive was designed before CD-ROMS were standardized, it is mostly compatible with ISO 9660:1988. Only downside is since its an early drive its stuck at a very slow 1x speed.
The Hitachi CDR-1503S
Later there was the External Tandy CDR-3000 and the internal Tandy CDR-1000, (Catalog number 25-1084 and Catalog number 25-1081 respectively) both released in 1991, for $99.95 and $399.95 respectively.
A listing for the External Tandy CDR-3000 and the Tandy CDR-1000 in the 1992 Radio Shack Catalog
While thhese were cheaper, they were still stuck at a very slow 1x speed, making loadtimes increadibly long. it would not be untill the introduction of 4x drives in 1994, not only decreasing load time, but also increasing storage to 600MB, resulting in CD-ROMs replacing floppydisks as primary data storage from the mid 90s to the 2000's when they were replace by DVD-ROMs.
While there were many other perufrals, CD-ROMS is where we end today, And with that, this concludes my fourth SepTandy Spectacular, I hope you enjoyed my look at the The various Tandy periferals and add ons. In the next Special, I plan to go back to official Radio Shack products and take a look at some of the more obscure machines that havent been mentioned much and eventualy some software from a company with Radio Shack computer roots. But until then, that wraps it up, thanks for reading. See you next time!