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PC-9801

From NEC Retro

PC9801.jpg
PC-9801
Manufacturer: NEC
Release Date RRP Code
PC-9801
JP 		¥298,000298,000

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The PC-9801 is a computer released by NEC in 1982, and the first computer in the PC-9800 series.

Hardware

The PC-9801 was envisioned as a high-end business machine by NEC, being built around a 16-bit µPD8086 processor (NEC's version of Intel's 8086) and two µPD7220 graphics chips, developed by NEC to efficiently display the kanji character set (at a high enough resolution to read). In this original setup, one is used for graphics, and the other for text.

This PC-9801 shares much in common with the original PC-8801, with many peripherals designed for the PC-8801 (such as monitors) being compatible with both machines. Built into ROM is N88-BASIC (86), which derives from the PC-8801's N88-BASIC; the two are very similar, and though the languages are not completely interchangable, often only minor changes were required to make a PC-8801 BASIC program run on a PC-9801.

The PC-9801 was significantly more expensive than the PC-8801 at launch; as well as taking into account for the computer itself, customers were expected to purchase an external PC-9881 8-inch disk drive in order to interface with the machine. Likewise while the default PC-9801 can handle some types of kanji characters, if the user wanted to make full use of word processing software, a PC-9801-01 expansion board would need to be purchased for JIS kanji level 1. Were a printer required as well, the combined cost would reportedly total nearly ¥1,000,0001,000,000.

While not strictly designed for gaming, the PC-9801's popularity in business inevitably led to video games being produced for the system (not dissimilar to the IBM PC in the West). The PC-9801 has higher resolution graphics than most of its contemporaries, but is limited to 8 colours. Much like the PC-8801, sound hardware is limited to a simple "beeper".

Technical specifications

  • CPU: µPD8086 clocked at 5MHz
  • Graphics: 2x µPD7220 clocked at 2.5MHz
    • 640×400, 8 colours, 1 page
    • 640×400, 2 colours, 3 pages
    • 640×200, 8 colours, 2 pages
    • 640×200, 2 colours, 6 pages
  • RAM: 128KB
  • VRAM: 48KB
  • Sound: Internal "beeper"

List of games

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nec.co.jp/press/ja/0210/1004.html#chu4 (Wayback Machine: 2002-10-20 22:38)


PC-9800 series hardware
PC-9801 (1982) | PC-9801 F (E) (1983) | M (1984)

V30 Computers: U | VF | VM | UV | CV (1985-1988)
286 Computers: VX | UX | RX | DX | UR | UF | FX (1986-1992)
386 Computers: RA | RS | ES | DA | DS | CS | FS | US (1988-1992)
486+ Computers: FA | BX | BA | BX2 | BS2 | BA2 | BA3 | BX4 (1993-1995)

stuff
Okay so I have no idea how best to do this
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