Tandy 10 Business Computer System Explained

Tandy 10 Business Computer System[1] [2] [3] [4]
Developer:Radio Shack[5]
Manufacturer:Applied Digital Data Systems (ADDS)
Price: [6]
Discontinued:late 1980
Media:Two dual-sided 8" diskette drives
Os:ADOS Disk Operating System
Cpu:8080 CPU
Memory:48K memory[7]
Display:24x80 video display

The Tandy 10 Business Computer System was a short-lived product developed by Radio Shack in the late 1970s as a business-oriented complement to their TRS-80 Model I desktop computer. Released in 1978, the Tandy 10 was built for Radio Shack by Applied Digital Data Systems (ADDS), and was only sold by Radio Shack's dedicated computer center stores.

The computer itself was about the size of a two-drawer filing cabinet, with a monitor and keyboard built into a desk-shaped console, along with two 8-inch floppy drives vertically mounted in the pedestal. Its features included:

Optional:

The original ADDS machine, the System 50,[8] was intended to be used as a data entry system and not as a standalone computer. The original "language" it contained was actually a form designer; data was then entered into the form and then "sent" via RS-232 to a mainframe. Since it had a microprocessor, Tandy matched it up with Peachtree Accounting software in an attempt to market it as a business computer.

The system did not sell in large numbers. Radio Shack's next business system was an extension of the TRS-80 product line, the TRS-80 Model II, released in May 1979. The Tandy 10 was discontinued in late 1980.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Libes . Sol . March 1979 . BYTE News . . 2015-03-17 . 109 . "The Tandy-10 is made for Tandy by Digital Data Systems (DDS) and will have a base price of $8995. Using an 8080, it will have a video display, keyboard 48 K bytes of programmable memory, two 8 inch flopy disk drives, BASIC and a disk operating system similar to CP/M.".
  2. https://archive.org/stream/TRS-80_Monthly_Newsletter_Issue_1-6_Part_One_1979_H_E_Computronics_US_reprint/TRS-80_Monthly_Newsletter_Issue_1-6_Part_One_1979_H__E_Computronics_US_reprint#page/n7/mode/1up TRS-80 Monthly Newsletter - Issue 1-6 - Part One (1979)(H & E Computronics)(US)(reprint)
  3. http://www.trailingedge.com/trs80/Tandy10.pdf Tandy 10
  4. http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/html/catalogs_extra/1978_tandy10/h001.html 1978 Tandy 10 Brochure
  5. https://archive.org/stream/kilobaudmagazine-1978-09/Kilobaud_1978_September#page/n11/mode/1up New Products: Tandy 10 Business System
  6. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YWFSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LHwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3429%2C6399905 Advert: Tandy 10
  7. http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?3297-Tandy-10-Business-Computer&p=20312#post20312 Here are some pics of the Tandy 10 16K RAM board. As you can see, the board consists of an array of 1Kx1 2102 RAM chips, along with some DIP switches. The DIP switches were used to configure the bank of memory for the card. The Tandy 10 had three of these cards, for a total of 48K.
  8. Web site: The Tandy 10 . 2015-03-17 . Matthew Reed . TRS-80.org.