Retro Computing

Tandy 3-in-1 expansion review for the 1000HX and EX

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Tandy 3-in-1 expansion review for the 1000HX and EX

The Tandy 3-in-1 expansion for the Tandy 1000 EX and HX make these compact vintage PC compatibles much more useful. Here is my experience with this device, and some tips.

Two versions of this device exist. The first expands the memory to 640K and provides UMBs, compact flash for mass storage, and an RS 232 port. These are usually available on Ebay for around $100 US. The newer version 2 of the device adds all of that as well as a standard parallel port.

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Tandy 1000 and 1000SX upgrades

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Tandy 1000 and 1000SX upgrades

I watched a YouTube video recently about a Tandy 1000sx and he inquired about what kind of upgrades he should try. So let’s explore some options for upgrading a Tandy 1000 SX, or the models it replaced, the Tandy 1000 and Tandy 1000A.

The Tandy 1000 and Tandy 1000SX have ISA expansion slots, giving them more options for upgrading than the IBM PCjr or the compact all-in-one Tandy 1000EX or HX. But the Tandy 1000SX with five slots can go a step further than the 1000 or 1000A, which only have three slots.

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Amiga 500 motherboard revisions

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Amiga 500 motherboard revisions

There were four major revisions of the Amiga 500 motherboard released, and that matters if you are trying to upgrade them. Fortunately, if you know what to look for, you can quickly distinguish between all four, and you can even identify them without opening the case. Although it is certainly easier to identify them if you can see the entire board.

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Intellivision launch titles

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Intellivision launch titles

When looking at the contrast between the Atari 2600 and Colecovision launch titles, Mattel’s initial lineup of four Intellivision launch titles gives some insight into their thinking. Since they had to build a new market, they produced a mix of two traditional games, an action/combat video game, and an educational title in an effort to appeal to a fairly broad audience. Not to mention each title competed directly with a title in Atari’s library.

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Atari 800 vs Commodore 64

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Atari 800 vs Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 was the most popular computer of the 8-bit era, and I will argue that the Atari 800 was the most underrated computer of the 8-bit era. Ironically, some of the key designers from each system ended up changing companies when the time came to design successors to these two products, so they are forever intertwined. How did these two systems stack up? Let’s look at the Atari 800 vs Commodore 64.

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Intellivision System Changer

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Intellivision System Changer

In 1982, Coleco dropped a bomb on the game console industry. Atari led the industry in sales, with Mattel, the toy maker, taking the number two spot with a slightly more advanced console called the Intellivision that enjoyed reasonable if modest success. Then Coleco came along with its own high-end console. One of Coleco’s gimmicks was an expansion module to make its console compatible with the Atari console, immediately making it have more cartridges than anyone else. Mattel decided to counter.

The Mattel System Changer was essentially the equivalent of the Coleco Expansion Module 1, just for a different console. The function is the same, but the outcome was a bit different.

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What a sprite is

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing, Software
What a sprite is

What is a sprite? Sprites are a concept in computer programming, primarily gaming, or at least primarily thought of as gaming related. But if you are reading this on a desktop or laptop computer, you just used a sprite to click on this link.

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Colecovision launch titles

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Colecovision launch titles

The Coleco Vision launched in July 1982, and made a relatively big splash, selling about 2 million units, largely on the strength of its launch titles. Here’s a list of Colecovision launch titles along with notes about each game.

The strategy behind the Colecovision launch titles is pretty clear. Noting that the most popular Atari 2600 titles were ports of arcade hits, Coleco aggressively licensed arcade titles, starting with acquiring a license for Donkey Kong before it was even released in the United States. Of the remaining launch titles, only Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s Castle was not an arcade port.

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How many Commodore 64s sold

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
How many Commodore 64s sold

The Commodore 64 is the best selling computer of all time. Depending on who you ask, it sold 17 million, 20 million, or 12 million units. And the generally accepted sales figure for the Commodore 128 is 4.5 million units. Who is correct? How many Commodore 64s and Commodore 128s sold?

The commonly repeated figures of 17 million Commodore 64s and 4.5 million Commodore 128s don’t line up with Commodore’s own annual reports and other internal sales documents. The primary sources indicate Commodore sold about 12.3 million Commodore 64s and 128s between 1982 and 1993.

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Do the date codes in a retro computer matter?

Dave Farquhar Retro Computing
Do the date codes in a retro computer matter?

Youtuber Dave Plummer made an interesting argument in his PET 2001 repair video. He said he wants the date codes on his chips to match as closely as possible, arguing that it matters to vintage car enthusiasts, so it’s going to matter in the future on vintage computers too.

He has a point.

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