Trying to get a Tandy 1000HX running

I picked up a Tandy 1000HX for $5 (probably $4 too much) with the idea that I could find programs for it online, put them on floppy, and mess around with it a bit. I can find the programs but that is about as far as it goes. I can copy them to a floppy but the Tandy doesn't see them. I'm not 100% confident that the copying process is working correctly because from time to time Windows asks if I want to format the disk then if I say yes it says it can't. I tried it with Ubuntu too and although I didn't get the format problem the Tandy still couldn't read the disk. I'm kind of new at this, any ideas about what I could be doing wrong? I'm guessing this is a DOS thing but I really don't know.

 

Your floppy drive is broken. Either the one that is copying the programs TO the floppy disk, or the one on the old Tandy, or both.

Floppy drives typically last a year or two at the most (EVEN LESS IF ITS NEVER USED!!!) Replacement drives are about $2 at most computer shows/Internet, or less than $20 at a cpu store.

The other possibility is that the old tandy is so old that it has a low density floppy drive vs. your high density floppy drive.

If its that old then it won't support a new drive (all are high density), so your better off getting your $5 by taking a sledgehammer to it in the name of Peter Gibbons.

The HD floppies started coming out circa 1990-1993ish, so thats how you can tell.

 

Now that you mention it, this floppy drive has always seemed a bit quirky. I'll swap it out and see what happens.

I believe the Tandy has a low density drive so I'll look into that problem too.

Thanks.

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with this one. I had an HX a long time ago (when they were on clearance from Radio Shack), and I am pretty sure it had a 720 kb drive.

But, if memory serves me, at least you have DOS 3.3 in firmware...forever?!?!

73,
Rickey/AE6QE

 

Yup it has a 720kb drive and I think you guys are right about that being the problem.

I also think I may have a bad batch of floppies because I tried one that I had around the house and I was able to format it just fine. Nonetheless, the Tandy couldn't / wouldn't read it.

 

DOS 2.11

 

Yeesh. Well, at least it's a version of DOS that supports directories ["folders" to some of you newbies] - v1.xx had only the root directory and nothing else. As I understand it, even some of the oldest of the old DOS apps won't run under v1.xx.

Was the HX1000 an XT-class machine, or AT-class?

Random thought: I have an HX1000 too, but mine is a 30-channel Regency handheld scanner.

 

Just format the disk to low density - another thing to try, format it using DOS if you can. XP* (& linux - I believe) use a different method (at least there are a LOT more files on a boot disk) - worth a try...

---*I am assuming you are using XP---

 

i do know one thing about the formatting - i know i always needed 400k disks for my mac - what i would do is take a 800k (720 for the ibm type) and put a piece of tape over the hole at the top of the disk - this would make the computer see it as a 400k disk then i would format - i think true floppies work the same way, but i havent seen one in a while.

 

The tandy drive may not be broken, the heads on that drive are larger in surface area than a HDD floppy drive. try formatting in the tandy for low density and then writing in the other drive. I had this issue with a 1000tx years ago.

Ed