Owner of a Tandy 2500 SX/33! New to vintage computing. Want to learn more:
Posted by Benson879@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 5 comments
Hey all! A few months ago, I brought home my parents old Tandy 2500 that had been in their basement for years. I had previously messed around with it off and on, but never really decided to do much more with it until now. Operates MS Dos 5.0 and Windows 3.1. Posted a few pictures above to show it's current memory details (partially just to avoid butchering any terminology)
So far, I've mainly just installed a handful of games on there, (this was done through some blank floppies that I copied over files with a USB floppy drive from previous games I owned on my laptop) as well as learning to use MS DOS editor to modify .bat files, commands, system menus, etc.
I'm looking to do a little more, though. A few things I want to potentially look into:
Adding more memory expansion. Any recommendations for what I should look for? Want to be able to create more system space, and run some programs I currently have insufficient memory to run (I don't think it can even run Doom currently)
Adding an adlib/soundblaster card. Would also like to see what I can find available for this.
Potentially adding a CD port drive. I'm not sure if I will do this, but I would at least like to see my options. It looks like I have the bay that could support this.
I am leery about what I would purchase, because I know older systems like this could possibly have compatibility issues. I want to avoid risking damaging the system, so want to make sure I'm looking for the right hardware. Any suggestions?
dirtmcgurk@reddit
Hey hey! Fellow new Tandy owner here (1000TX). I'm waiting on an ISA SD card adapter to arrive now. As for sound I really think Tandy sound is unique and you should look for games that support it. Any 486+ can run doom etc and you can always pick one up down the line.
Sirotaca@reddit
It's pretty much just a normal 386 PC. It does have the Tandy PSSJ audio, which is neat, but unfortunately it's not at the normal port so most games won't recognize it.
RAM will be standard 30-pin SIMMs; a pair of 4 MB sticks will max it out. You've got three ISA slots, so adding an AdLib or Sound Blaster card is no problem.
That system would not be happy running Doom. You really need at least a 486 for it to be playable.
FuckedUpYearsAgo@reddit
Doom on 386.. doable if you reduce screen size. Sx vs Dx, going to be painful on SX
gnntech@reddit
I can't for the life of me understand why Tandy moved the address space for their audio system. It completely broke the compatibility with most games that supported Tandy audio.
With DOS 5.0, you can run Windows 3.0 and 3.1 without issue. If you max out the RAM, you could also install Windows 95 but I wouldn't do that on this kind of machine.
Internal space may be a consideration for ISA expansion so full-width sound cards may not fit. Definitely look for a Sound Blaster 16 as that will have the most compatibility.
You could in theory get a SB16 card that also has the CD-ROM pins on it to connect a Sony CD-ROM drive.
Sirotaca@reddit
I'd personally prefer a Sound Blaster Pro 2 over a 16, at least if maximum game compatibility is the goal. The Tandy 2500 SX/33 already has an IDE interface, so you can just use that for the CD-ROM drive.