The Tandy 3000 is a personal computer introduced by Radio Shack in 1986 based on the 16-bit 8 MHz Intel 80286 microprocessor.
[1][2] The Tandy 3000[3] is functionally a clone of the IBM PC-AT, the first PC by a major manufacturer using the fully 16-bit Intel 286 processor.
Owners could outfit the computer, and upgrade it, with standard PC components sold by Tandy or available from third-party suppliers.
Microsoft BASIC, bundled with Tandy's DeskMate productivity suite, was offered at extra cost.
Being a generic AT clone wearing the Tandy badge, any third-party drives compatible with the AT could be installed.
In later years drives with capacities far greater than 35 MB became available for installation, though the MS-DOS 3.2 most often purchased with the computer could not manage so much storage without partitioning.
The motherboard was revised to permit up to 16 MB of RAM in the expansion slots, the maximum mount of memory the 286 chip could address.
In 1989, Tandy updated the 3000 HL with several improvements: clock speed of 10 MHz and a 3.5 inch high density (1.44 MB) floppy disk drive.
[7] In 1990, Tandy updated the 3000 NL's motherboard with built-in VGA circuitry, obviating the need to install a video card in an expansion slot.
Accordingly, starting in 1991, Tandy followed the industry trend of substituting computers using it for products based on the 286/PC-AT technology.
In 1992, Tandy offered an upgraded 2500 XL with its 286 processor clocked at 16 MHz and a Super VGA (maximum pixel resolution of 1024 x 768) video card built into the motherboard.