In the 80s , Radio Shack sell a line of Tandy personal electronic computer in its stores . Tandy machine were sometimes mocked – 1980 ’s TRS-80 model was deride as the " Trash-80 " by critics – but they were very democratic with a sure kind of computer hobbyist , partially because they were available at the ubiquitous Radio Shack .
In these vintage Radio Shack ads , we see the development of Tandy computers from proprietary designs to IBM PC clones . It ’s a little depressing to see the ad go from playfulness scenario - based adventure to slow characteristic comparisons . But hey , it ’s Radio Shack , what did you look ? ( Hey , while you ’re there , can you pick me up some speaker cable ? Thanks ! )
Color Computer 3 (Circa 1986)
The " CoCo 3 " sold for just over $ 200 ( ! ) , and it could output either to a TV or a real computer monitor . In the telecasting modality , its ability to exhibit textual matter wasextremely limitedso things like word processing count terrible – then again , it was extremely cheap . Its central processing unit run at a by all odds clumsy 0.895 megacycle , though there was a mode to double its speed ( so you ’d be cooking at just under 2 Mc ! ) . The CoCo model were proprietary systems , so Tandy ’s ads spent a bunch of time touting the " over 100 platform " available for the system .
take down about this one : the youngster doing a book report is using a CoCo 3 attached to a TV , which accounts for why the word mainframe looks so atrocious . It ’s probable a 32- or 40 - column show , mean the letter are immense and blocky . And green ! Ugh .
Tandy 1000 TX (Circa 1988)
By 1988 , Tandy had yield up on its proprietary system and jump on the IBM PC ringer bandwagon . In this ace - boring spot , the master merchandising point is the price , though there is a nod made to software documentation ( the kid at 0:22 is making a means - boring train image , patently lacking a mouse , so just whacking away at the keyboard ) .
Tandy Sensation (circa December 1992)
The Tandy Sensation : it ’s a 486 with a CD - read-only storage crusade . That you could buy at Radio Shack . But wait , there’s … voicemail ! What ? ! Never mind , watch out for those flying CD - ROM disk , dudes !
Did you have a Tandy in the 80 or 90s ? If so , what did you most ( or least ) enjoy about it ?
