THE NEW TANDY 1000 RL On July 25th, the new 25-1450 Tandy 1000 RL ($599.95) and 25-1451 Tandy 1000 RL Hard Drive ($999.95) computers were introduced in New York City. These new units usher in a new type of computer -- a system with the home user in mind. The NEW Tandy 1000 RL is a PERSONAL COMPUTER SYSTEM FOR THE HOME. DeskMate Home Organizer For the RL, we have designed 15 new applications, collectively known as the DeskMate Home Organizer. These programs were developed after extensive market research determined the common uses for a computer at home. The programs are divided into three categories: personal, kitchen and financial. By category, these are the Home Organizer Applications: Personal Collections: Helps keep collections organized, such as coins, stamps, videos, records, etc. Diary: Keeps a password-protected diary on the computer to express your thoughts daily. Home Inventory: Keeps an organized list of your possessions in your home for insurance and other purposes. Information Center: A "bulletin board" for leaving messages, plus a list of important phone numbers and a date book. This replaces the refrigerator door as the family message center. Itemized List: Keep a detailed account of anything in your home inventory or any other list. Travel Planner: Create an itinerary of your vacation or business trip and schedule every day. Kitchen CookBook: Browse through recipes filed by category. Make a selection and a "recipe card" displays both an ingredient list and preparation instructions. Includes 30 recipes from the New Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Grocery List: A real time saver, created from a list of foods you normally buy. Just check each item needed and print a list. Meal Planner: Put together a menu created from recipes in your CookBook. Financial Organizer Account Information: A handy file of your checking, savings, credit union and other accounts. Checkbook Register: Keeps track of the checks you've written and keeps the current balance of your account. Checkbook Balancer: Helps reconcile your bank account with the monthly statement, easily and quickly. Expense Itemizer: Using information from the Checkbook Register, find out where your money went during the month. Includes both a monthly Pie Chart and annual Bar Chart for quick reference. Financial Notebook: Keeps information on stocks, bonds and loans right at your fingertips. Mathcard: Solve problems with commonly used formulas, including loans, savings, unit conversions and more. Nine Other DeskMate Applications Included The RL also includes nine other DeskMate programs: Desktop, Text, Draw, PC-Link, Telecom, Hangman, Music, Sound and Address Book. This makes a total of twenty-four applications included with the Tandy 1000 RL computer, right out of the box. Value added with a capital "V". Screen Saver Feature This DeskMate also features a new "screen saver" option that causes the screen to go blank after a period of keyboard and mouse inactivity, thus allowing the monitor to stay powered on all the time with no risk of screen burn-in. On the hard drive version, the screen saver option also controls a spin-down of the SmartDrive, where the SmartDrive is turned off, after a period of keyboard and mouse inactivity, until needed. These two features are designed so the user can leave the computer powered on at all times, making it a true home information center. "Success Guaranteed" "The Tandy 1000 RL is so easy to use, we Guarantee Success," is the slogan we are using to indicate how confident we are that anyone can be successful using the RL. First, there are the built-in tutorial programs to step you through the applications, as well as a new manual that covers both software and hardware. Second, the friendly face of DeskMate allows you to learn one interface and then use common features in all programs. Third, there is context-sensitive help available anytime it is needed. Hardware Features The new hardware features in this 1000-family computer include a dedicated PS/2 style mouse port (uses 25-1042 PS/2 Style Mouse, $49.95) and a standard 25-Pin parallel port, just like the Tandy 2500, 3000 and 4000 computers. The PC-Compatible Tandy 1000 RLs both feature an 8086 microprocessor running at 9.54 MHz clock speed. (Note that this is faster than the Tandy 1000 SL and SL/2.) The standard memory is 512K RAM, with an available upgrade to 768K (25-1082, $59.95). Included with both machines are two joystick ports, a serial port, a parallel printer port, PS/2 mouse port, one 720K 3 1/2" diskette drive, 101-key enhanced keyboard, special 1000 sound circuitry with bidirectional DACs, Tandy Enhanced Graphics and Hercules video support, volume control, stereo headphone jack, microphone jack, one ten-inch expansion board slot, MS-DOS and DeskMate in ROM and the all new DeskMate Home Organizer applications. On the 25-1450 floppy RL, there is an additional storage device slot for either a 25-1075 3 1/2" floppy diskette drive or a 25-1047 20 Megabyte SmartDrive and a SmartWatch socket for adding a real-time clock (25-1033, $39.95). On the 25-1451 hard drive RL, the SmartWatch is included on the main board; and a 20 Megabyte SmartDrive is already built in and formatted, with MS-DOS and DeskMate pre-installed on the drive. You just power up and go! Special Features These features alone would make a solid computer for the home user, but we've added special features that make this the perfect family system. First, there's NO FAN in the RL. It was designed to run cooler than most computers, and all components were built with the special requirements of a fanless environment in mind. The floppy drive has a disk-change-detection circuit, so when you change diskettes, the DeskMate screen is updated automatically. The RL has a durable, rugged metal enclosure with a very compact footprint of 2 7/8" high, 14" wide and 15" deep. If you choose to add a SmartDrive to your floppy RL computer later, you'll find the installation a very easy task. The 25-1047 20 Megabyte SmartDrive features a new initialization program that runs under DeskMate. Four keystrokes and you're finished. Even a labeled blank diskette is included! The MS-DOS/GW-BASIC diskette installs to the SmartDrive under DeskMate as well. Just start DeskMate, press <F7>, highlight INSTALL, put your MS-DOS/GW-BASIC diskette in Drive A, and MS-DOS is installed in its own directory. It even creates or modifies the AUTOEXEC.BAT file and sets the ROM. Comparing the Tandy 1000 RL to the IBM PS/1 What about comparing the IBM PS/1 to the Tandy 1000 RL? For direct comparison, a chart is included at the end of this article. Here are a few things to note: The PS/1 software includes programs that require the learning of five different interfaces (PS/1 desktop, Prodigy, Promenade, Microsoft Works, and DOS 4.0 shell). The DeskMate and DeskMate Home Organizer software requires the learning of ONE common set of commands. The PS/1 has a faster processor, VGA Graphics, DOS 4.0, a PS/2 mouse and a built-in modem, and all this comes at a price. The RL has faster video (this causes it to appear to run faster than the PS/1), an expansion slot, serial port, two joystick ports and built-in digital sound standard. It also has a superior keyboard to the IBM. In fact, it's the same keyboard that we use with our most expensive computers. If you want a modem or VGA, they are available for the RL. But if you don't want a modem or to pay extra for VGA graphics, you don't have to. Since DOS 4.0's primary advantage is being able to have hard drive partitions of 32 MB, and the PS/1 hard drive is only 30 MB, it is no advantage to use DOS 4.0. DOS 3.3 runs faster and takes up less memory as well. And during the introductory sale, you get a PS/2 Style Mouse (25-1042) FREE with the purchase of a Tandy 1000 RL and a monitor, a $49.95 value. If you want to bring work home, such as preparing a speech or presentation or using Lotus Spreadsheet for DeskMate for forecasting, the RL can do the job. For more intensive programs and power users, the Tandy 1000 TL/2 or 2500 XL may be better suited to your needs. This is a HOME Computer For the majority of home users, both new and experienced, the Tandy 1000 RL has all the power and expandability they will ever use or need. Functionality, ease of use and early success will keep this computer busy long after others have been relegated to the closet or that dusty, unused corner of the garage. Of course, we believe that the RL is THE Home Computer. But we're not alone. Good Housekeeping Seal The Tandy 1000 RL has earned the Good Housekeeping Seal. It is the first computer to have earned this distinguished symbol, and we are very proud of it. The Seal is one of the most widely respected in the world, and surveys show that the Seal represents quality and reliability to the customer. The Tandy 1000 RL is the only computer ever to have earned it. The Tandy 1000 RL proves, once again, Tandy Computers -- there is STILL no better value! Tandy vs IBM PS/1 Comparison Chart IBM TANDY TANDY PS/1 FD 1000 RL 1000 TL/2 CPU 80286 8086 80286 Speed 10 9.54 8 Base Memory 512K 512K 640K Max Mem on Board 1 MB 768K 768K Expansion Slots 0 1-10" XT 4-10" XT Floppy Drives 3 1/2"/1.44 MB 3 1/2"/720K 3 1/2"/720K Hard Drive -- Optional 30 MB 20 MB 20/40 MB Keyboard 101-Key 101-Key 101-Key Video VGA TCGA/CGA TCGA/CGA Sound -- Voices 1 Voice 3 Voice 3 Voice -- Digital 8-Bit DAC 8-Bit DAC Serial Port No Yes Yes Parallel Port Yes Yes Yes Mouse Port Yes Yes No Joystick Port No Yes - 2 Yes - 2 Headphone Jack Yes Yes Yes Microphone Jack No Yes Yes Clock Yes No Yes Base Price With Mono Monitor $999.00 $749.90 $1,149.90 With Color Monitor $1,449.00 $899.90 $1,299.90 Mouse No Cost 49.95 49.95 2400BPS Modem No Cost 149.95 149.95 Clock No Cost 39.95 No Cost Memory to 640K 199.00 59.95 No Cost Adapter Card Unit 169.00 No Cost No Cost Audio Card/Joystick 249.00 No Cost No Cost Second Joystick 39.00 No Cost No Cost Subtotal-accessories $656.00 $299.80 $199.90 TOTAL Monochrome $1,655.00 $1,049.70 $1,349.80 TOTAL Color $2,105.00 $1,199.70 $1,499.80 IBM TANDY PS/1 HD 1000 RL HD CPU 80286 8086 Speed 10 9.54 Base Memory 1 MB 512K Max Mem on Board 1 MB 768K Expansion Slots 0 1-10" XT Floppy Drives 3 1/2"/1.44 MB 3 1/2"/720K Hard Drive 30 MB 20 MB -- Optional Keyboard 101-Key 101-Key Video VGA TCGA/CGA Sound -- Voices 1 Voice 3 Voice -- Digital 8-Bit DAC Serial Port No Yes Parallel Port Yes Yes Mouse Port Yes Yes Joystick Port No Yes - 2 Headphone Jack Yes Yes Microphone Jack No Yes Clock Yes Yes Base Price With Mono Monitor $1,649.00 $1,149.90 With Color Monitor $1,999.00 $1,299.90 Mouse No Cost 49.95 2400BPS Modem No Cost 149.95 Clock No Cost No Cost Memory to 640K No Cost 59.95 Adapter Card Unit 169.00 No Cost Audio Card/Joystick 249.00 No Cost Second Joystick 39.00 No Cost Subtotal-accessories $457.00 $259.85 TOTAL Monochrome $2,106.00 $1,409.75 TOTAL Color $2,456.00 $1,559.75 Tandy prices shown are from Radio Shack 1991 Computer Catalog, RSC-22. PS/1 prices shown are from IBM Press Announcement of June 26, 1990.