I spent my teenage years on this computer. Played all the Sierra On-Line games. Kings quest Space quest, Leisure suite Larry. Police quest. So many awesome games. I hope Someone does a 2020’s version of these games. That would be so fun.
One thing about the RL/SL/TL machines, is the fact in addition to the Texas Instruments SN76489 audio, you have a rather high-quality DAC that will also play digital samples (like in the PoP example). I mean hell, the DAC was good enough to make the RL be fully capable of playing MOD music on an 8086.
I ran Deskmate on a Tandy 1000 EX, an HX, and a TX. It was a pretty useful and intuitive tool, by the standards of the day. I had a few Tandy optimized games, but by the time I could afford a 386 type machine, Soundblaster and VGA had both become affordable, so there was little advantage to going with the 1000 line any more (and I wasn't working at The Shack any more, either). Still, that music app in Deskmate was pretty legit, and the handful of Tandy optimized games I did have were awesome.
Yeah listening to the Monkey Island theme on a Tandy reminds me of playing both SQ3 and KQ4 on the Tandy and man the music is so different vs a SB/Adlib and even a Roland MT32.
Interesting how the CGA version of Indy 500 doesn't animate the car's wheels when in cockpit view. I always played the game on VGA mode so I never saw this.
I think this old version of Zak which used the C64 graphics supports CGA Composite, judging from the striped look. You should try it on a monitor which supports NTSC Composite like a Commodore 1084.
@@GuybrushThriftweed Sorry, never heard of that one before. Wiki says its only 6Mhz so it should be inferior to Tandy, but Tandy has to work with twice the size of the frame buffer, so...
I thought tandy 1000 tl was released in late 80s? Wouldn't it have been better to compare it to a vga and adlib from same time period instead of CGA and pc speaker? My 286 already had a vga card when I bought it in 1988.
The 1000 TL was basically a 1000 with a faster processor in a smaller case. Similar features regarding graphics and sound. I have a 1000 from 1985, with an 8088 4.7 MHz processor and an expansion board to boost memory from 128 KB to 640 KB.
i kinda like the bad graphics and sound, gives more to your imagination in games or it was just me being a kid but now days its only fps that and nvidia those and the story is lacking :)
I spent my teenage years on this computer. Played all the Sierra On-Line games. Kings quest Space quest, Leisure suite Larry. Police quest. So many awesome games. I hope Someone does a 2020’s version of these games. That would be so fun.
Mid 20s!
I just discovered the world of Tandy games with the PCEm emulator, I love that sound!
Me too it's pretty awesome! Also if you use winimage, you can turn the games into a 360kb floppy disk image and load them onto PCEM
I just got a Tandy 1000 TL. Now I can see how my Commander Keen 4 Tandy port runs on a real machine instead of emulators.
Awesome and very detailed comparison. Thanks!
One thing about the RL/SL/TL machines, is the fact in addition to the Texas Instruments SN76489 audio, you have a rather high-quality DAC that will also play digital samples (like in the PoP example). I mean hell, the DAC was good enough to make the RL be fully capable of playing MOD music on an 8086.
I wonder what the comparison would be like for Civilization 1.
CGA does have a 16 color graphics mode, but it only works on the composite out line. Some early games supported it like Burgertime and Ms Pac Man.
I hadn't played The Cycles or that Indy game before. I'll have to check those out.
I'm looking for an overview of the Tandy 1000 TL/2. Would be great if you could make one.
Tandy sure was... ahead of the game :)
Shift-M to turn on the mouse in maniac mansion and zak mckracken. You're welcome.
I used to play Jill I cant remember which tandy I had
Jill of the jungle
@@marccaselle8108 yeah thats the one you can turn in to a fire bird a fish and a demon
I ran Deskmate on a Tandy 1000 EX, an HX, and a TX. It was a pretty useful and intuitive tool, by the standards of the day. I had a few Tandy optimized games, but by the time I could afford a 386 type machine, Soundblaster and VGA had both become affordable, so there was little advantage to going with the 1000 line any more (and I wasn't working at The Shack any more, either). Still, that music app in Deskmate was pretty legit, and the handful of Tandy optimized games I did have were awesome.
Yeah listening to the Monkey Island theme on a Tandy reminds me of playing both SQ3 and KQ4 on the Tandy and man the music is so different vs a SB/Adlib and even a Roland MT32.
Interesting how the CGA version of Indy 500 doesn't animate the car's wheels when in cockpit view. I always played the game on VGA mode so I never saw this.
I think this old version of Zak which used the C64 graphics supports CGA Composite, judging from the striped look. You should try it on a monitor which supports NTSC Composite like a Commodore 1084.
try Indianapolis 500 in composite CGA mode (15 distinct colors) and then check again against the Tandy
I can recognize the sound of Miniscribe hard drive motor on the ibm pc, isn't it ?
Ooooh MI1 !!!!!
Can't you get 16 colors in a 200 line mode using an EGA card? I think those games which are EGA would have a similar look to the Tandy.
I enjoy
Glad you liked it !
So Tandy, was not just a graphic board, but an entire pc-game system ?
Hi, You use the 5162 Keyboard on the Tandy TL without modification ?
"IBM XT with 286..." It has accelerator card with 286?
Or it's the IBM 5162 :)
@@GuybrushThriftweed Sorry, never heard of that one before. Wiki says its only 6Mhz so it should be inferior to Tandy, but Tandy has to work with twice the size of the frame buffer, so...
@@fradd182 The 5162 is kinda rare and unknown. Less than the 5170
where can I get these old games for my tandy 1000 tl
Check internet archive and "The Eye"
Nice!
Something about that Zak McKracken soundtrack reminds me of Kraftwerk's "Robots".
Should have compared the Tandy with an Ibm with EGA graphics rather then CGA
Do you sell IT??
#OcTandy
I thought tandy 1000 tl was released in late 80s? Wouldn't it have been better to compare it to a vga and adlib from same time period instead of CGA and pc speaker? My 286 already had a vga card when I bought it in 1988.
The 1000 TL was basically a 1000 with a faster processor in a smaller case. Similar features regarding graphics and sound. I have a 1000 from 1985, with an 8088 4.7 MHz processor and an expansion board to boost memory from 128 KB to 640 KB.
im hurry that you grab an amstrad pc1512 to push it as its high level with super-cga amstrad mode and other stuff. take care
can you shuddup a moment and let me hear the tandy sound?
I hate cga is a really weird mode to display images.
Cga is butt ugly, I can't stand games that have that color palette.
For me it's ega VGA or better.
i kinda like the bad graphics and sound, gives more to your imagination in games or it was just me being a kid but now days its only fps that and nvidia those and the story is lacking :)
Please remove that high pitch noise from the monitor