--- title: Panasonic JR-200U categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - U.S.A. years: - '1983' cpus: - MN 1800A params: name: JR-200U image: /media/museum/photos/panasonic_jr-200u_system_1.jpg company: /companies/panasonic company_name: Panasonic specs: - label: NAME value: JR-200U - label: MANUFACTURER value: Panasonic - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: U.S.A. - label: YEAR value: January 1983 - label: END OF PRODUCTION value: '1984' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: JR Basic 5.0 - label: KEYBOARD value: Chicklet keyboard with basic statements printed on the keys, 64 keys - label: CPU value: MN 1800A (6802 compatible) - label: SPEED value: Unknown - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: MN1544 - label: RAM value: 36kb (32k + 2k for graphic characters + 2k VRAM) - label: VRAM value: 2 kb - label: ROM value: 16 kb - label: TEXT MODES value: 32 x 24 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 64 x 48 - label: COLORS value: '8' - label: SOUND value: 3 voices, 5 octaves - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 348 × 208 × 56 mm / 1,7 Kg - label: I/O PORTS value: Composite video out, RF video out, RGB video out, Expansion bus, Tape (600/2400 bauds), RS-232c/printer port, External speaker - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: None - label: POWER SUPPLY value: AC100V 50/60Hz, 8w - label: PERIPHERALS value: JR-F11 floppy disk-drive, JR-U07 Joystick interface, JR-U05 RS232 interface, JR-PO1 Centronics interface - label: PRICE value: $349.95 (USA, march 1983) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - software - emulators - links photos: - title: REAR CONNECTORS subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/panasonic_jr-200u_back_1.jpg adverts: - title: US ADVERT subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/pubs/panasonic_jr-200u_pub_s1.jpg hardware: - title: F-01 DISK-DRIVE subtitle: 5''1/4 floppies text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/national_jr200_f01_1.jpg screenshots: - title: BOOT SCREEN subtitle: Basic text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_basic_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: JR-200 title text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_jr200-2_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: 3D graph display text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_3d_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: Color graph display text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_color-graph_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: 'Color graph display #2' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_color-graph2_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: Color demo text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_colors_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: Color sample text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_color-sample_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: Panasonic JR200 text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_jr200_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: Merry go 'round text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_manege_ss.gif - title: DEMO TAPE subtitle: Panasonic Home Computer text: '' image: /media/museum/software/matsushita_jr200_schema_ss.gif - title: BREAKING BLOCK subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_breakingblock_ss.gif - title: COSMIC PATROL subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_cosmic-patrol_ss.gif - title: CRAZY MAZEY subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_crazy-mazey_ss.gif - title: GEOGRAPHY EXPLORER USA subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_geography-explorer_ss.gif - title: SANTA PARAVIA subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_santa-paravia_ss.gif - title: VORTEX subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/panasonic_jr200_vortex_ss.gif emulators: - title: Virtual Panasonic JR-200U url: http://www.geocities.com/emucompboy/ platform: Windows text: Thanks to James the Animal Tamer , there is now a JR200 emulator ! links: - title: Armchair Arcade Covers the PPC JR-200U url: http://www.armchairarcade.com/neo/node/1598 text: Excellent article from Armchair Arcade, very detailed - title: Matsushita JR Museum url: http://dec.sakura.ne.jp/~hayashi/jr/index.html text: A japanese virtual museum dedicated to the JR computers ! comments: - author: Marq (Finland) date: Sunday 28th September 2014 text: The Service Manual is now available at Vintage Volts. All in all, a lot more has been discovered about the machine. My current guess is that the CPU runs at 1.366 MHz. - author: Lance Lindell (United States) date: Sunday 17th November 2013 text: Hello, I want to let enthusiasts know that there is currently a mint Panasonic JR-200U listed on eBay by user ID seattlegoodwill. They are very reputable and seem to always have a good stock of "old computers." Save it from the landfill! Lance - author: Marq (Helsinki, Finland) date: Friday 16th March 2012 text: 'I''''ve been trying to hack the JR-200UP for some time now and have discovered a thing or two (the technical manual WOULD have been a nice addition...) See the findings here: http://www.kameli.net/marq/?page_id$1270' - author: Robert Saler (Toronto, CANADA) date: Tuesday 11th October 2011 text: |- This message is for J. Mitch Hopper - I recently bought a Panasonic JR-200 but with no manuals. Cute little computer, but I am going to need manuals to figure anything out.\ I see from the postings that you have docs - could you please email them to me at robert.saler@gmail.com.\ Cant do anything without them - sorry for the trouble.\ Thanks - Robert - author: Clocky (Australia) date: Thursday 22nd September 2011 text: |- I have a JR-200U and need any information I can find, could you please email me the manual to clockmeister@internode.on.net J. Mitch Hopper? Thanks in advance. - author: J. Mitch Hopper date: Wednesday 17th August 2011 text: |- Note to athansoft:\ Alas, I forgot to send you the manual. Very sorry for the delay. Just sent it. - author: athansoft date: Thursday 27th January 2011 text: My email is athansoft@hotmail.com. Thank you J. Mitch Hopper. I am waiting for your pdf files - author: J. Mitch Hopper date: Thursday 20th January 2011 text: I have manuals. If you want them, post a message here with contact info. I will email the PDF on request. - author: athansoft (Greece) date: Tuesday 18th January 2011 text: I have a Panasonic JR-200UP but without manuals. Could anyone sent me photocopies or pdf file of it and I''ll pay him. Thank you - author: J. Mitch Hopper date: Sunday 8th August 2010 text: I have a JR-200 new-in-the-box with manuals. Looking over the detailed memory map,I see that it is exactly the same as the Radio Shack CoCo - right down to the free, unassigned space. - author: Michael (United States) date: Sunday 22nd December 2002 text: 'For the most in-depth information available on the JR-200u visit: http://home.kc.rr.com/vintagecomputers/index.html' - author: James the Animal Tamer (Internet) date: Saturday 6th April 2002 text: |- Emulator resides on\ www.geocities.com/emucompboy I'd need the technical or development docs to make the emulator better. - author: Hafthor Stefansson (Earth) date: Friday 29th March 2002 text: |- I still have an old Panasonic JR-200U that I bought from J&R Music World in\ NY in 1984 or so. For the day, it was actually a pretty nice little machine.\ 32KB, better graphics than the CoCo, but still not very good, a Motorola\ 6802 processor, fairly decent sound, an independent timer (which is how it\ ended up as a fancy alarm clock for me for a couple of years). I didn't get any peripherals with it, but I did have the cassette cable and used a crappy little Radio Shack cassette recorder to save/load my programs. I had no software except for the stuff I wrote myself, but it was still a great first computer. I never really figured out how the MON debug monitor thingy worked.\ Also, I never got a real owners manual. When J&R shipped it to me, it was missing the manual all together. After several phone calls, they agreed to send one. What I got was a Xerox copy of the manual. That kinda sucked, but\ it worked. related: - /museum/matsushita-national-jr-200 oc_id: 553 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230609170048/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=553 date: '2023-06-09' --- This computer is the same as the [Matsushita JR-200U](/museum/matsushita-national-jr-200/). Two years in the making, the Panasonic JR-200 computer was officially announced in January of 1983, with additional launch dates provided for the computer and peripherals. The JR-200u received early and strong support from two software publishing companies; Data-Most and Walt Disney Telecommunications. Having the support of both of these companies, especially Data-Most, was crucial in Panasonic's strategy to successfully market this computer, as well as it's plans to have 30 software titles available by the official launch in the spring of 1983. Additionally, Panasonic planned for an additional 24 titles to become available by mid-summer of 1983 by consulting with other software developers. From the start, the Panasonic JR-200u was never meant to be a cartridge based machine. Panasonic had other plans for a cartridge based system which never materialized. Initially, software was to be developed first on cassette tapes, and later floppy disks.