Fujitsu Micro 8

Historia

Introduced may 1981, the FM 8 was one of the first Fujitsu micro computers (after the LKIT-8 hobby computer in 1977). In any case it was the first member of the FM series, FM standing for Fujitsu Micro. At that time its features were really impressive: bi-processor (even an additionnal Z80 cpu could be installed), 64 KB RAM, bubble memory, built-in chinese characters ROM, 640x200 high resolution with 8 colors and no proximity conflict! The FM-8 was developed by employing innovative design and state-of-the-art semiconductor technology, and was designed for use in a variety of fields, ranging from high-level hobby use, to business applications and process control. The Japanese Computer Museum specifies: The FM-8 had the following features: - Equipped with two Motorola 6809 8-bit CPUs (main and sub) - The worlds first use of 64 kilobit DRAM (like that in large main frame computer) in a microcomputer (64 kilobyte main memory) - Japanese language display using Chinese character (kanji) ROM (JIS level 1 2,965 characters, optional) - High-resolution color graphics (640x200 dot, 8 colors selectable at each dot) - The provided operating systems (OS) included F-BASIC, as well as UCSD-PASCAL, FLEX and CP/M (required Z80 card option) - First use in a personal computer of bubble memory as external memory (At the time of announcement, the machine had a bubble cassette with a 32 kilobyte capacity. A 128 kilobyte cassette was added later. Bubble memory did not catch on, however, and was eliminated from the standard features in the FM-7.) When booted, a menu offers different choices: 1 - F-BASIC (ROM/DISK mode) 2 - DOS (mini- floppy disk) 3 - Bubble memory 4 - DOS (standard floppy disk) There are a lot of character sets available (8x8 matrix): 69 alphanumeric char., 63 katakana signs and 62 graphic symbols. And for characters with a 16x16 pixels matrix: 2965 chinese characters (JIS standard level 1) and 453 non-chinese characters (JIS non-chinese characters). Optional mini floppy disks could be connected (320 KB each), as well as an expansion unit which allowed many things (voice input/ouput, hard disk connection, RS232c interface, analog interface for measurement,etc.) In November 1982, Fujitsu announced a upper model of the FM-8 called the FM-11, and a mass-market model called the FM-7.

Características

Lenguajes  	Fujitsu Micro 8 Basic version 1.0
Teclado  	Full-stroke Teclado with programmable function Teclas, arrow Teclas and separate numeric keypad. JIS standard. 95 Teclas.
CPU  	68A09
Velocidad  	1 MHz
Co-procesador  	6809 (video & I/O)
RAM  	64 KB as main Memoria (30358 bytes free under Basic)
VRAM  	48 KB
ROM  	44 KB (Basic, boot and monitor)
Modos de Texto  	80 x 25 / 80 x 20 / 40 x 25 / 40 x 20
Modo gráfico  	640 x 200 (8 Colores)
Coloresc  	8
Sonido  	Beeper
Tamaño/Peso  	490 (W) ×330 (D) ×110 (H) mm / 6kg
Puertos de entrada/salida  	Tape (1600 baud), RGB / Composite / TV RF video outputs, RS232, Parallel/Centronics, Joystick (2), ROM/RAM cartridges, expansion bus
OS  	Fujitsu Disk Basic , OS-9 (Microware), Flex, UCSD-PASCAL, CP/M (with optional Z80 card)
Fuente de alimentación  	AC 100V 50/60Hz 50VA
Perifericos  	optional mini floppy disks (MB27607) - 320 KB each, System Expansion Unit (MB26001)
Precio  	218 000 yen (Japan, 1981), £895 (UK, 1983)