Due to massive amounts of caffeine & sleep deprivation, Kai Kaltenbach said:
Tandy 600
Introduced:
October 28, 1985
FYI: Mine was built in September, 1985, so I would imagine they would need
some time to ramp up production for the introduction.
Storage:
Internal 3.5" 360K floppy
(storage only, not bootable)
Not bootable, 'cause it boots from ROM. BTW, SSDD 80 Track, 9SPT.
Ports:
RS-232 and Centronics parallel
Bus:
Proprietary for external floppy or "other peripherals"
I'm at work, 600 at home (awaiting new internal nicads...) but unless Tandy
or Zenith (OEM) designed a floppy-port-based whatever, the external floppy
port is a 1-for-1 pinout of a standard floppy interface... so you can hook
up either a 3.5" or 5.25" floppy, provided it's 80 tracks or more. (That
means I could hook up my 2" floppy, if I designed an interface cable, as it
only has a 22-pin cable (all standard signals, plus power... just need to
align the signals.)
One option ROM socket (accessible by removing
Multiplan) that holds BASIC or other ROMs
Power:
AC adapter, and built-in NiCd batteries
AC adapter is 8V DC, 1.5A, IIRC. (hafta look when I get home...)
Modem:
Internal 300 baud
Operating System:
Proprietary ROM
It's called HH/OS, (Hand-Held Operating System... tho I doubt you'd call
the 600 a hand-held!) and it was produced by MicroSoft.
Applications:
Built-in System Manager, Word, Calendar, File,
Telcom and Multiplan
BASIC:
Optional ROM cartridge
Keyboard:
72-key
Pricing:
Base system $1599
BASIC ROM $129
96K RAM upgrade $399
Didn't the Basic ROM originally cost $139.95, or did it go up from
original? (I'll have to look that one up in my '89 catalog...) Tandy still
sells the ROM, and they still want $120 for it!!!!! :-(
HTH,
"Merch"
--
Roger Merchberger | If at first you don't succeed,
Programmer, NorthernWay | nuclear warhead disarmament should
zmerch(a)northernway.net | *not* be your first career choice.