Welcome back to part 10 of my fifth SepTandy Spectacular. In the last post we took a look the Tandy 2000, Tandy's first IBM Compatible that ended up ended up failing to catch on due to its hardware quirks and high price. In this entry we conclude this years spectacular by jumping all the way to the near end of Tandy's PC line by taking a look at the Tandy Sensation.
Released in 1992, the Tandy Sensation was an early specialized Multimedia PC equiped with a CD-ROM drive. However the machine never really caught on and ended up being the last ever in house computer line from Tandy.
The story of the Tandy Sensation begins with the rise of the CD-ROM. In the early 1990's, The CD-ROM was starting to explode in popularity. The format was originally introduced in 1985 but due to the high price, wildly different formats, and speed, they could only be for databases for industrial, medical, educational, and business use.
By 1988 however, that started to change. The European Computer Manufacturers Association (Or ECMA) submitted a new standard for CD-ROM's to the International Organization for Standardization (Or ISO) for fast tracking. This became the ISO 9660 standard and was adopted quickly ensuring compatibility across different computer platforms.
The first company to produce a PC with a built in CD-ROM drive was Fujitsu, who released the Fujitsu FM-Towns in Febuary of 1989. However this computer was only released in Japan, was not IBM Compatible, and for the most part never really caught on.
By 1991, CD-ROM drives had started becoming more prevelent on both the PC and the Macintosh, and with the rise of the 386 CPU, 256 color VGA graphics, Soundblaster sound, and the rise of hypertext based software like Apple's Hypercard, The CD-ROM brought a whole new bar to what software could be done on a personal computer.
Suddenly Red Book quality sound was possible, programs could have FMV animations, and basic encyclopedia programs could go beyond just text but provide graphics sound and hyperlinks.
But there was a problem, How do you comunicate the concept that a computer would have all the hardware requirements for using multimedia software to the average consumer? Enter the Multimedia PC Marketing Council, a group dedicated to defining the standards for multimedia PC's. Created as a a working group of the Software Publishers Association (SPA, now the Software and Information Industry Association) in 1990, They were created with the specific goal to define a singular standard for multimedia PC's.
The first MPC minimum standard was first set in 1991, with the requirements cosnisting of a machine with a 16 MHz 386SX CPU, 2 MB RAM, 30 MB hard disk, 256-color VGA video, a 1× (single speed) CD-ROM drive using no more than 40% of CPU to read, with < 1 second seek time, a Soundblaster Sound card (Creative Sound Blaster recommended as closest available to standard at the time[2]) outputting 22 kHz, 8-bit sound; and inputting 11 kHz, 8-bit sound, and Windows 3.0 with Multimedia Extensions.
Meanwhile Tandy came to a realization, while their Tandy 1000 line had enjoyed success in the PC market for over the past 7 to 8 years, it was becoming clear to them that the old PCjr based 16 color and 4 voiced line with DeskMate was getting long at the tooth compared to the newer VGA Soundblaster machines running Windows. Seeing the new emering market for multimedia PC's, they created a new ling of PC's Taloring the Multimedia boom with the Tandy Sensation being the interductry model.
The VIS was launched on November 15, 1992 under the Memorex brand (Which Tandy owned at the time) for $699.
On the front lies a 1.44 MB 3.5 floppy drive, the 1x CD-ROM Drive, Headhone and Microphone in, volume up and down buttons, and a power button.
And on the back, there is an Exaust fan, power plug, 3 expansion slots, built in modem, RCA audio out, MIDI out, Joystick port, parallel printer port, serial port keypoard and mouse ports and a monitor port.
The keyboard the Sensation came with was the Tandy Enhanced Keyboard which we have seen previously. Its an XT/AT compatible keyboard in the more modern Model M layout and case design which was starting to become the standard for PC Compatibles. So it should feel pretty farmiliar to type on for people used to typing on PC keyboards today.
Unfortunatly it does use the imfamous Fujitsu Peerless switches, which while incredibly over enineered are Scratchy and Stiff, have very poor key stabalization, and inconsistent clicking. Thankfully, they are at least reliable in tems of electrical contact so they tend to survive heavy use just fine.
The mouse is also a design weve seen before, The Tandy 2 Button Mouse, A basic PS/2 Mouse that was also used with the 1000RL.
For monitors, the Sensation was sold with the Tandy VGM-450, A 14 inch SVGA monitor made by Samsung. Interestingly, despite being an SVGA monitor, it uses a 9-pin D connector for RGB input.
Powering on the computer drops us into something called WinMate, a shell and application suite for Windows 3.1. While not directly related, WinMate could be considered somewhat of a spiritual successor to DeskMate, serving as a migration path to Windows for DeskMate users. It orginized fuctions into different areas depending on what program you were trying to run. For example In Touch would lead you to the communications programs, In Print would take you to printing programs, In Control would take you to your settings etc.
For storage, you have the previously mentioned 1.44 MB 3.5 floppy drive and of course CD-ROM, but theres also a 107 MB Hard Drive for the opperating system.
For Expansion, While the Sensation had most of its ports integrated, you could also install other options like sound cards. Tandy also sold a TV Tunner board so you could watch TV Broadcasts from your computer.
For hardware, the Sensation uses an Intel 80486SX CPU clocked at 20 MHz, 4MB of RAM, and 12kK of ROM for the BIOS.
The graphics are Standard SVGA capable of displaying graphics from 640 × 400 or 640 × 480 with 256 colors up to 1280 × 1024 with 256 colors
And for sound, It has a small Soundblaster compatible card for audio, MIDI and Digitized sound playback.
As for software, the Sensation is a pretty typical 486 based system of the time, which give you a large access to numerous classic DOS games like Doom, Commander Keen, Jazz Jackrabit and others, but with the CD-ROM you could also explore early CD-ROM titles like Myst, The 7th Guest, and Desecnt. Though with the 1X speed it would be painfully slow to load everything. But for thouse lloking to get work done there was also Microsoft Works and Microsoft Bookshelf advetised along side it.
So how did the Sensation sell? As you could probably imagine, not very well! Tandy was already losing monney in the PC division and the Sensation just didnt do much to help. With Tandy finally deciding to pull the plug and sell to AST in July of 1993
So why did this happen? Well the biggest reson was because by that point, Radio Shack was lossing its place in the electronics retail market. By then, other computer retailers like Best Buy, Circuit City, and Walmart were starting to appear more rapidly. They were selling PCs from companies like AST, Compaq, Packard Bell, Acer, and more at far more competitive prices and options than what Radio Shack was offering
Tandy did breifly sell an upgraded verson of the Sensation with a faster CPU, More RAM and using the newer Multimedia PC 2 Specifacations, but it also failed to sell in suitible numbers.
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By the begining of 1994 the Tandy had officially stoped making their own computers and started distributing computers from other companies, starting with AST, and then Compaq and IBM, marking the end of an incredible 17 year run for Radio Shacks computer buisness
As for collectors today Much like the 2000, the Sensation remains an expensive sought after collectors item. It's certainly not a computer to grab to play DOS games on and it shows. but for those into bizzare failed computers, it certainly fits the bill.
And that concudes my look at the Tandy Sensation, An Early Multimedia PC that tried to keep up with the industry, only to fail and take tandy's computer buisness with it. It an interesting footnote in Tandy's Computer history, Showing their final attempt to stay competitive that ultimatly never stuck. And with that, this concludes my fifth SepTandy Spectacular, I hope you enjoyed my look at these more obscure Tandy machines. In the next Special, I plan to go from hardware to software to take a look at a company that got its start publishing games for Tandy Computers. But until then, that wraps it up, thanks for reading. See you next time!
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