In 1976, the CB radio market (a big money-maker for RadioShack) had died, and Tandy was looking for a new product line to exploit. At the same time, some of Tandy's electrical engineers were ordering something called a MITS Altair 8800. Without a keyboard or monitor, the Altair didn't look like much, but it was a real computer that an individual could afford. A lot of people were buying them, and a lot of magazines had articles about them. John Roach, an executive at Tandy, decided that this 'fad' was at least worth looking into.

After tossing around the idea of selling a kit similar to the Altair, the team decided to do what no company had yet done--sell a fully assembled microcomputer, complete with keyboard, monitor, processor, memory, and a programming language. Tandy hired Steve Leininger, a member of the Homebrew Computer Club, to design what eventually became the TRS-80 Microcomputer System (Model I).

Still it seemed that no one was convinced the computer would be a success--no one but Leininger. In a meeting with John Roach, Charles Tandy himself and Lewis Kornfeld, president of Radio Shack, Tandy and Kornfeld were discussing what to do with 3000 computers if it was a bust. Leininger said he thought they would sell 50,000. Roach's response was simply, "Horseshit."

When theTRS-80 was released on August 3, 1977, no one in the press seemed to care about the TRS-80. The public, on the other hand, was obviously impressed. Soon, RadioShack stores were flooded with orders--they were back ordered for months. In the first year, Radio Shack sold almost 55,000--even more than Leininger's prediction.

In May of 1979, Tandy released the Model II with a faster microprocessor and larger, higher capacity, 8-inch disk drives. This would become the first computer in the TRS-80 business line.

In July 1980, Tandy released the Model III. TheModel III was little more than a Model I, expansion interface, monitor, disk drives, and power supply thrown into a single enclosure. This new design moved the computer from the hobbyists' realm into the plug- and-run realm more suitable for businesses and schools.

The Model 4, released in April 1983, was backward compatible to the Model III, but featured a faster CPU and better display (80 columns by 24 rows). It also included an updated DOS which finally answered most users' complaints.

By 1983, computers and accessories were the biggest single category of revenue for Tandy (34.5%). But this industry which Tandy pioneered had some serious competition. Tandy had been running a race with Apple since the introduction of the Apple ][ in 1978. In 1981 the computer giant, IBM, decided to enter the personal computer market. This move changed the face of the computer industry.

In November 1983, Tandy, still too proud to fully bow to IBM, introduced the Tandy 2000. The 2000 ran MS-DOS, like the IBM PC, but it wasn't really an IBM compatible. The 2000 sported an Intel 80186 processor which was considerably faster than the PCs 8088. The 2000 also had far superior graphics capability (600 x 400 x 16 colors) and higher capacity disk drives (720k 5¼"). By this time though, standardization was the game, and the 2000 failed primarily due to it's advanced features.

In 1984, Tandy released the 1000, a nearly 100% IBM compatible, which became its best selling line of computers ever. The glory days of the Model I/II/III/4 were over though. Tandy now took its lead from IBM.
 

A Brief Chronology of Tandy Computers:
 

Year	Computer	CPU	Price (US$)	Line
1977	Microcomputer System (Model I)	Z80	$599.95	TRS-DOS
1978	Tandy 10	8080	$9950
1979	Model II	Z80	$3450	TRS-DOS
1980	Model III	Z80	$699	TRS-DOS
1980	Color Computer	6809	$399	Color Computer
1982	Model 12	Z80	$3199	TRS-DOS
1982	TDP-100	6809	$479	Color Computer
1982	Model 16	68000	$4999	Xenix
1983	Model 4	Z80	$1699	TRS-DOS
1983	64k Color Computer	6809	$399	Color Computer
1983	Color Computer 2	6809	$239.95	Color Computer
1983	MC-10	6803	$119.95	Color Computer
1983	Model 16B	68000	$4999	Xenix
1983	Model 100	80C85	$799	Laptop
1983	Model 2000	80186	$2750	MS-DOS (not IBM comp.)
1984	Model 4P	Z80	$1799	TRS-DOS
1984	Tandy 6000	68000	$4499	Xenix
1984	Tandy 1200HD	8088	$2999	MS-DOS
1984	Tandy 1000	8088	$1199	MS-DOS
1985	Model 4D	Z80	$1199	TRS-DOS
1985	Model 200	80C85	$999	Laptop
1985	Model 600	80C88	$1599	Laptop (not MS-DOS)
1985	Tandy 3000	80286	$2599	MS-DOS
1986	Color Computer 3	6809	$219.95	Color Computer
1986	Model 102	80C85	$499	Laptop
1987	Tandy 4000	80386	$3799	MS-DOS

Tandy continued producing MS-DOS computers.Tandy Computers was eventually purchased by AST.

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