PC-9800 series

"PC-98" and "PC 98" redirect here. For the 1998 computer guideline by Microsoft and Intel, see PC System Design Guide.

PC-9801RX with the Intel 80286
Type	Personal computer
Release date	October 1982 (1982-10) (PC-9801)
Introductory price	¥298,000
Discontinued	2003^[1]
Operating system	CP/M-86, MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows
CPU	8086 @ 5 MHz and higher
Memory	128 kilobytes and higher
Predecessor	PC-8800 Series

The PC-9800 Series is a lineup of Japanese 16-bit and 32-bit personal computers manufactured by NEC from 1982 through 2000. The platform established NEC's dominance in the Japanese personal computer market, and by 1999, more than 18 million PC-98 units had been sold.^[2]

History

NEC µPD8086D-2 (8 MHz), an Intel D8086-2 clone

NEC µPD7220 from PC-9801F

The first model, the PC-9801, was launched on October 1982,^[3] and employed an 8086 CPU. It ran at a clock speed of 5 MHz, with two µPD7220 display controllers (one for text, the other for video graphics), and shipped with 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 640 KB. Its 8-color display had a maximum resolution of 640×400 pixels. Its successor, the PC-9801E, which appeared in 1983, employed an 8086-2 CPU, which could selectively run at a speed of either 5 or 8 MHz. The NEC PC-9801VM used NEC V30 CPU.

When the PC-9801 was launched in 1982, it was initially priced at 298,000 yen (about US$1,200 in 1982 dollars).

In the 1980s and early 1990s, NEC dominated the Japan domestic PC market with more than 60% of the PCs sold as PC-9801 or PC-8801. In 1990, IBM Japan introduced the DOS/V operating system which enabled displaying Japanese text on standard IBM PC/AT VGA adapters. After that, the decline of the PC-98 began. The PC-9801's last successor was the Celeron-based PC-9821Ra43 (with a clock frequency of 433 MHz, using a 440FX chipset-based motherboard design from 1998), which appeared in 2000.

While NEC did not market these specific machines in the West, it did sell the NEC APC III, which has similar hardware as early PC-98 models.^[4]

Hardware

PC-9801VM memory map

The PC-98 is different from the IBM PC in many ways; for instance, it uses its own 16-bit C-Bus instead of the ISA bus; BIOS, I/O port addressing, memory management, and graphics output are also different. However, localized MS-DOS or Windows will still run on PC-9801s.

Clones

Seiko Epson manufactured PC-9801 clones, as well as compatible peripherals.^[5]

Software

Software for the PC-98 generally ran from program and data disks (Disk 0 & 1 or A & B), and NEC did not have a strong GUI to go up against Microsoft's Windows 95 when it took Japan's PC market by storm. NEC's decision to work with Microsoft to offer a PC-98 compatible version of Windows 95 could be seen as the first step towards the PC-98's downfall, as consumers were no longer required to have an NEC-built system to run software designed for Windows.

The PC9801 had thousands of game titles designed for it, many of which made creative use of the system's limitations (it was originally designed as a business machine) to great commercial success. Despite having hardware specifications far inferior to the Fujitsu FM Towns and Sharp X68000 personal computers, the massive install base and steady flow of game titles (in particular "dōjin" style dating sims and RPGs, as well as early games of the Touhou Project franchise) kept it as the favored platform for PC game developers in Japan until the rise of the DOS/V clones.

NEC kept much of its hardware and platform proprietary or under license, so while it had a virtual monopoly in the Japanese market, later IBM PC clones with DOS/V and Windows from companies such as Hitachi and Panasonic that did not require such license fees (like Epson's 98 clones) flooded the market and displaced NEC. The proprietary technology that was NEC's strength turned into its weakness as its competitors could use off-the-shelf technology to build cheaper IBM PC clones at a time when NEC was charging much steeper prices for its PC-98s.

Models

Partial list of PC-98 models sold in the Japanese market (no 1992-2000 models, no notebook models, etc.).

Model	CPU	Year	Features	Other
PC-9801	8086 5 MHz	1982	RAM 128 KB, 6 slot C-bus	640×400 8 colors, 2 externals floppy drive 8" (optional) 298,000yen
PC-9801E	8086-2 5/8 MHz	1983		2 externals floppy drive 8" (optional)
PC-9801F	8086-2 5/8 MHz	1983	F1 and F2 with 128KB of RAM, F3 256 KB of RAM and hard-disk 10 Mb	Internal floppy drive, 5" 2DD (640KB/720KB)
PC-9801M	8086-2 5/8 MHz^[6]	1984		M1: 2 internal floppy drive, 5" 2HD (1MB/1.2MB); M2: 1 internal floppy and HD 20Mb
PC-9801VF	NEC V30 8 MHz	1985	RAM 256 KB	double 5" floppy-disk 2DD resolution 640×400 with 8 colors (16 colors optional) chosen from among the 4096 available
PC-9801VM	NEC V30 10 MHz	1985	RAM 384 KB	double 5" floppy-disk 2HD/2DD resolution 640×400 with 8 colors (16 colors optional) chosen from among the 4096 available
PC-9801VX	80286 8-10 MHz	1986	RAM 1 MByte	resolution 640×400 with 16 colors chosen from among 4096
PC-9801U	NEC V30 8 MHz	1985		2 floppy-disk 3.5" 2DD
PC-9801UV	NEC V30 10/8 MHz	1986		2 floppy-disk 3.5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801UX	80286 10 MHz	1987		2 floppy-disk 3.5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801RA	80386DX 16-20 MHz	1988		2 floppy-disk 5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801RS	80386SX 16 MHz	1989		2 floppy-disk 5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801RX	80286 12 MHz	1988		2 floppy-disk 5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801ES	80386SX 16 MHz	1989	ES2 no HD, ES5 HD 40MB	2 floppy-disk 3.5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801EX	80286 12 MHz	1989		2 floppy-disk 3.5" 2HD/2DD
PC-9801DA,DA/U	80386DX/20 MHz	1990		/U means 3.5" floppy No /U means 5" floppy
PC-9801DS,DS/U	80386SX/16 MHz	1990		/U means 3.5" floppy No /U means 5" floppy
PC-9801DX,DX/U	80286 12 MHz	1991		/U means 3.5" floppy No /U means 5" floppy
PC-9801FA,FA/U	80486SX/16 MHz	1992		F means "File slot", memory proprietary expansion slot
PC-9801FS,FS/U	80386DX/16 MHz	1992
PC-9801FX,FX/U	80386SX/16 MHz	1992
PC-9821	Intel 80386SX	1992	RAM 4 MByte, drive CD-ROM	hard disk 40 MByte, resolution 640×480 with 256 colors and SCSI interface
PC-9821Ra43	Celeron 443 MHz	2000		Last computer of series

References

↑ "PC-9800シリーズ受注終了のお知らせ" [PC-9800 Series Discontinuation Notification] (in Japanese). NEC. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
↑ "Computing Japan". Computing Japan. LINC Japan. 54-59: 18. 1999. Retrieved 6 February 2012. ...its venerable PC 9800 series, which has sold more than 18 million units over the years, and is the reason why NEC has been the number one PC vendor in Japan for as long as anyone can remember.
↑ John Szczepaniak. "Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier". Hardcore Gaming 101. p. 2. Retrieved 2011-03-16. Reprinted from "Retro Japanese Computers: Gaming's Final Frontier", Retro Gamer (67), 2009
↑ "Old-Computers.com". Archived from the original on April 23, 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
↑ "EPSON PC`s DATABASE TOP PAGE" (in Japanese). Retrieved June 10, 2016.
↑ "Photo of motherboard of PC-9801M".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to PC-9800 series.

Intro to NEC PC-9800 World
PC 9801, the first model of the series
Info about NEC PC-9801M with uPD8086D-2
"PC博物館" [PC Museum] (in Japanese). Retrieved June 7, 2016.
"With98 : PC-98データバンク" [With98 : PC-98 Data Bank] (in Japanese). (unofficial). Retrieved June 7, 2016.
"モデルナンバー（本体） - PC-9800 - NEC - レトロＰＣ - Retro Computer People" [Model number (computers) - PC-9800 - NEC - Retro PC - Retro Computer People] (in Japanese). Retrieved June 10, 2016.
"なおちま屋 = 昔のカタログ保存館" [Naochima-ya - Old catalogue museum] (in Japanese). Retrieved June 10, 2016.
Neko Project II, a PC-98 emulator for Windows and Mac OS X

Preceded by PC-8800 Series	NEC Personal Computers	Succeeded by

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/9/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.