Tandy 102 or little Christmas for me...

[Adventurer]

I collect all type of portable devices, and Tandy 100/102 has been on my radar for some time. However, either the price was not right, or the unit was in worst condition than I expected. Finally I got a really good deal on Ebay, with Tandy 102 and accesories. Today, when I received the package (12 kg), I had a feeling like I was opening a treasure chest. When all, what was inside the package was on the table, I was pretty speechless - many accesories were not even mentioned in the listing:

The package includes:

Tandy 102 with little yellowing, but no visual damage, with Super Rom installed, and with original package !

Original black carry case for Tandy

Two ! Tandy external floppy drives, one new in package, never opened:

Two 128 K external storage cards (new to Tandy, but does look so)

Two 128 K ROM chips - do not know the contents

Original Trs-80 tape recorder in working condition, only the cord is missing, but that should really be a minor issue:

Software library in leather wrap, package with two cassetes, does not look used:

Original Tandy floppy storage box with several floppies with basic programs (untested yet)

Several original Tandy cassetes with original design:

Many books and reference manuals, including software ROM manuals, technical reference, Basic reference and a large book: "The Tandy 200 portable computer", with all functionality described step by step with programming examples:

Two cables, which I have not identified yet - maybe someone can help, in first picture, lower right.

Since I am totally new to Tandy series, what are suggestions, where do I start? One of the first thing would probably get cable from recorder to Tandy, and to back up all useful data from the tapes. Probably serial cable for connection to PC, what else?

What other accesories I might need or be missing? Thanks!

 

[krebizfan]

Could you do a separate image of just the two blue cables including a close up of the connectors? I mean they look like standard floppy drive cables which would be strange to see with a Model 102.

The main thing you are missing is the PDD drivers for a PC. Go to club100.org and get a set. Copy all the floppies directly to the PC.

Two PDDs, you are so lucky. Enjoy.

 

[HoJoPo]

I believe those are printer cables, header connector on one end, Centronics parallel on the other.

 

[tingo]

Great treasure!

 

[kyodai]

If you have an old stereo with a double cassette deck then you can copy the tapes onto ordinary audio tapes as a backup.

Pretty cool package, seems it also came with Lucid, so you now have a spreadsheet program. ^^

 

[Adventurer]

Just a little status update. First, thanks everyone for suggestions, will try to back up and check the software I have, when I will have a little bit more free time.

As for connectors, close up photo is here:

I do think it is probably Centronics connector, I just had no experience with that - when I started to use computers, LPT was most commonly used.

Tried to play a bit with Tandy 102 - decided to install floppy drivers and format a floppy. Connected floppy drive to Tandy, inserted utility floppy, switched to Basic, typed command for floppy install, floppy drive made some sounds, and then stopped. Tried several times - the same. Took out second, never used floppy drive - everything worked as expected, format completed succesfully as well. As a person, who has no experience with Tandy before - everything is so simple, so easy to get used to the commands and interface - I like it!

Then I returned to the floppy drive problem. Sure, I could just keep broken one for parts, and use new one, but I simply can not - I want to leave this "new one" in this condition for a long time. Carefully put it back in the box, and took a broken one - tried to format floppy - was getting "disk out" message, after a short motor sound. Tried floppy disc cleaner - did not work, and I finally noticed, that floppy disk is not turning at all. There had to be some mechanical problem.

Took a set of screwdrivers, and opened floppy drive - everything was coming apart pretty easy, and soon I noticed the source of the problem:

The drive belt was off. In fact, there was another problem as well - it was very loose, so then motor would not be able to spin the disc even with it in place. Looked around for replacements - found none. Finally made at least a temporary solution - the belt is running in two layers now, and the grip is strong again:

Final test, after putting everything back:

Format the floppy - OK
Copy a text file to the floppy - OK

Hearing the drive working properly again was a music to my ears. At least for now, I have two working floppy drives again...

 

[HoJoPo]

A 36 pin Centronics connector is typically used a the printer end of a parallel printer cable (like the cable you have). On a PC, there is a 25 pin DB-25 male connector on the other end, on the Tandy 100/102/200, it uses a header connector. The cable you have is definitely for a parallel printer.

 

[Adventurer]

Could you do a separate image of just the two blue cables including a close up of the connectors? I mean they look like standard floppy drive cables which would be strange to see with a Model 102.

The main thing you are missing is the PDD drivers for a PC. Go to club100.org and get a set. Copy all the floppies directly to the PC.

Two PDDs, you are so lucky. Enjoy.

Thanks for the tip, the drivers do work fine on my Libretto 50ct, works great!

However, I do not know how to use the expansion RAM card - installed new batteries, plugged in to Tandy 102 expansion port, and well - nothing happens. Do I need special drivers for it? Maybe a command line? I have found no info on these cards on the Web, unfortunately. Below is the picture with connectors on this card:

Here is the photo of ROM slots with 128K memory ROM in place - it should show software to switch memory banks on menu, but there is nothing:

 

[Adventurer]

Problem solved! I did not know about command "CALL 63012", which loads data from ROM. Too much used to Plug and Play hardware I guess

However, working with data on this machine must have been a real problem, unless they were frequently transferred to the "Big" computer. For example, If I want to use Super ROM and memory expansion, it means frequent pulling out and replacing ROM modules , depending what I might need - storage or additional programs. I do not think ROM modules would last very long that way, from the other side I guess there were not many who bought this RAM expansion , which did cost about half of the the price paid for the Tandy.

 

[HoJoPo]

Problem solved! I did not know about command "CALL 63012", which loads data from ROM. Too much used to Plug and Play hardware I guess

However, working with data on this machine must have been a real problem, unless they were frequently transferred to the "Big" computer. For example, If I want to use Super ROM and memory expansion, it means frequent pulling out and replacing ROM modules , depending what I might need - storage or additional programs. I do not think ROM modules would last very long that way, from the other side I guess there were not many who bought this RAM expansion , which did cost about half of the the price paid for the Tandy.

Some programs can be copied from ROM to memory or the floppy drive. You may be able to copy them from ROM to floppy, then floppy to the memory expansion...