UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Tandy 200 portable computer

ct92404 · 2nd Mar 2018, 1:36 pm

Hi all,
I recently bought a Tandy 200 portable computer. It was made in 1985 and I guess it could be considered an early laptop computer. It still works! I've been playing with it for the past few days, typing some documents on the simple word processing program that came with it built-in, and I made a couple of simple BASIC programs so far. Amazingly, the little computer runs on only 4 AA batteries! (It can also run on a DC power adaptor, but I prefer batteries). It's actually kind of cute.

It's about the size of a 3-ring binder.

But I did run into a problem. The ONLY internal memory it has is RAM. It does have a back-up battery on the motherboard, which apparently recharges from either the AA batteries or the power supply. (And amazingly it is still able to hold a charge!) But once both are dead, any data you saved will get wiped out! The little computer of course doesn't have any kind of internal hard drive. It has a tape cassette interface using a DIN cable, which is what I planned to use to save files externally. I don't have the original cable to hook up a tape recorder, so I made one. I connected an audio line out from the cable to my modern laptop to try to save the sound as an audio file. Unfortunately, when I tried to save files from either the word processor or BASIC, it didn't work. I heard a faint click sound from the Tandy, but there wasn't any sound of data being transmitted (beeps, hiss, etc). The other computer didn't pick up anything either.

Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I double checked to make sure that I soldered the wires to the right pins on the cable and everything seems to be connected correctly. But even without the cassette cable connected, from what I've read about these computers and the videos I've seen on YouTube, you're supposed to be able to hear the sound of data being sent when you load or save files to casette. But I'm not getting anything.

I don't know if this particular computer was ever sold in the UK, or if anyone here is familar with it. But I'd really appreciate any suggestions!
- Chris

2nd Mar 2018, 1:36 pm	#1
ct92404 Pentode Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: San Bernardino, California, USA. Posts: 101	Tandy 200 portable computer - need help Hi all, I recently bought a Tandy 200 portable computer. It was made in 1985 and I guess it could be considered an early laptop computer. It still works! I've been playing with it for the past few days, typing some documents on the simple word processing program that came with it built-in, and I made a couple of simple BASIC programs so far. Amazingly, the little computer runs on only 4 AA batteries! (It can also run on a DC power adaptor, but I prefer batteries). It's actually kind of cute. It's about the size of a 3-ring binder. But I did run into a problem. The ONLY internal memory it has is RAM. It does have a back-up battery on the motherboard, which apparently recharges from either the AA batteries or the power supply. (And amazingly it is still able to hold a charge!) But once both are dead, any data you saved will get wiped out! The little computer of course doesn't have any kind of internal hard drive. It has a tape cassette interface using a DIN cable, which is what I planned to use to save files externally. I don't have the original cable to hook up a tape recorder, so I made one. I connected an audio line out from the cable to my modern laptop to try to save the sound as an audio file. Unfortunately, when I tried to save files from either the word processor or BASIC, it didn't work. I heard a faint click sound from the Tandy, but there wasn't any sound of data being transmitted (beeps, hiss, etc). The other computer didn't pick up anything either. Does anyone have any idea what could be wrong? I double checked to make sure that I soldered the wires to the right pins on the cable and everything seems to be connected correctly. But even without the cassette cable connected, from what I've read about these computers and the videos I've seen on YouTube, you're supposed to be able to hear the sound of data being sent when you load or save files to casette. But I'm not getting anything. I don't know if this particular computer was ever sold in the UK, or if anyone here is familar with it. But I'd really appreciate any suggestions! - Chris Last edited by ct92404; 2nd Mar 2018 at 1:42 pm.