Old Tandy Computer model

[nightrnr]

I used to have an old Tandy PC, like ages ago. I have no intentions of buying another one back (old PC's seem to be a proxy market these days). However, I am quite interested in what the specs are for it, just to know what games it could have theoretically run.
Here's what I remember:

No Hard Drive, programs loaded from floppies only, I think. Main interface may have booted from bios.
Had a 3.5" floppy drive (definitely not 5.25").
Had a basic Windows-like interface with mouse support.
Mostly (royal) blue backrounds. Not sure if EGA or VGA graphics.
Used to play hang man and mess around with an art program (both came with the computer).
The only other game I was able to load back then was a dos game called Sandstorm, which loaded (from floppy), but required a different mouse driver, so couldn't play.

Anyone know what model this Tandy might have been. My searches have been inconclusive.

[samsonlonghair]

I only know of two Tandy model families: Tandy 1000 family and Tandy 2000 family. The Tandy 1000 came in different variants with two letters after the thousand. For example: Tandy 1000ex, Tandy 1000hx, Tandy 1000sx, et cetera. The two letters indicated the “trim level” features of your Tandy. For instance, the original Tandy 1000 came with 128k of RAM, but the Tandy 1000sx came with 256k of RAM. You could also install more RAM yourself after the fact.

The Tandy 1000 was basically a clone of IBM’s PCjr computer with some custom improvements. Most notably, Tandy computers featured a better color palette than the IBM PCjr.

Not sure if EGA or VGA graphics.

CGA graphics could only display four colors simultaneously. Tandy offered an improved version of CGA called “TGA” that displayed sixteen colors simultaneously. Tandy 1000 was also compatible with PCjr titles that ran in CGA graphics.

No Hard Drive, programs loaded from floppies only, I think. Main interface may have booted from bios.

Hard disk drives were super expensive back in the day, so the original Tandy 1000 did not come with HDDs, but most of them could be expanded to add a HDD by utilizing the ISA slot (a precursor to IDE), or you could install a SCSI controller, and connect your HDD via SCSI. There was also a version called the Tandy 1000hd that came with a HDD.

[marurun]

Tandy graphics competed with CGA. TGA displayed 16 colors and CGA was only 4 colors. EGA succeeded CGA and supported 16 colors and higher resolutions than either CGA or TGA.

[samsonlonghair]

You’re right; I meant to type CGA, not EGA. I’ll go back and edit that.

[nightrnr]

Hmm, I think it might have been a 1000 RLX then, not a bad model as far as that series of PC's go.
If so, it could use a hard drive, just didn't come with one. Had to have been VGA graphics too, as Sandstorm required at least EGA, which Tandy didn't seem to offer.

This was interesting guys, thanks for the input.
Kind of wish I still had one to mess with. In particular, I would've liked to see it run Eye of the Beholder in full VGA glory (didn't have access to that one back then), but I probably would've run into the mouse incompatibility.

I miss growing up in the 90's... like the entire decade. Every year was some major breakthrough in technology.