--- title: NEC PC 8001 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - Japan years: - '1979' cpus: - uPD 780c-1 params: name: PC 8001 company: /companies/nec company_name: NEC specs: - label: NAME value: PC 8001 - label: MANUFACTURER value: NEC - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: Japan - label: YEAR value: '1979' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: BASIC interpreter - label: KEYBOARD value: Full-stroke keyboard with numeric keypad, 5 function keys, JIS standard layout - label: CPU value: uPD 780c-1 (compatible with Z80) - label: SPEED value: 4 MHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: ìPD3301D (CRT controller), ìPD8257C-5 (DMA controller) - label: RAM value: 16 KB (upgradable to 32 KB and 64 KB) - label: VRAM value: 3 KB - label: ROM value: 24 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 36x20, 36x25, 40x20, 40x25, 72x20, 72x25, 80x20, 80x25 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 160 x 100 (320 x 200 in option) - label: COLORS value: '8' - label: SOUND value: Built-in beeper - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: 440 x 265 x 80 mm / 4 Kg - label: I/O PORTS value: Centronics, RS232c, IEEE 488 (optional), cassette interface (600 baud) - label: BUILT IN MEDIA value: One or two 5.25'' disk-drives (PC-8031) - label: OS value: N-BASIC, CP/M optional - label: POWER SUPPLY value: AC100V±10% 50/60Hz, 20w - label: PERIPHERALS value: Fixed expansion unit with dual 5'' 163 KB FDD, extra 32 KB of RAM, 2 x RS232C, IEEE488 and Parallel interfaces - label: PRICE value: 168,000 yens (Japan, 1979) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - connectors - software - emulators - links photos: - title: PC-8001 subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: SYSTEM + PRINTER subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: IN USE subtitle: '' text: Complete system in use, including NEC dual 5.25" floppy drives unit, hard disk unit and printer image: null - title: PC-8001A subtitle: '' text: U.S. version of the PC-8001 image: null - title: COMPLETE SYSTEM subtitle: '' text: Complete system with PC-8012 I/O unit and PC-8031 dual floppy drive unit image: null - title: SIDE VIEWS subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: KEYBOARD subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: REAR SIDE subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Reset switch\ **(2)** Tape recorder DIN plug\ **(3)** Monochrome composite video output\ **(4)** Colour TTL RGB output\ **(5)** Parallel printer connector\ **(6)** Z80 bus extension connector image: null - title: INSIDE subtitle: '' text: On the U.S. version, the mainboard is covered with a metallic protection against magnetic fields. The switching power supply unit occupies the whole width of the computer. image: null - title: MOTHERBOARD subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** 16 x 4116 chips (here Nec µPD416-30) hold 32 KB of RAM\ **(2)** 3 x 8K 2364 ROM hold the NBASIC interpreter. One socket remains empty\ **(3)** Z80 processor (Nec D780C version)\ **(4)** Nec 8257 DMA controller\ **(5)** Nec D3301, manages video and colours\ **(6)** Nec 8251 USART (Synchronous/Asynchronous receiver/transmitter)\ **(7)** Keyboard connectors\ **(8)** Nec D2316, video RAM chip\ **(9)** Parallel printer connector\ **(10)** External bus connector image: null - title: ROM & RAM AREA subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: USER MANUALS subtitle: '' text: '' image: null adverts: - title: FRENCH ADVERT (APRIL1982) subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: FRENCH ADVERT (APRIL 1982) subtitle: '' text: '' image: null hardware: - title: PC-8012 EXPANSION BOX subtitle: '' text: The expansion box is here fitted with a 64 KB RAM board. image: null - title: PC-8031 FD EXTENSION subtitle: '' text: This unit uses two 140 KB single side 5.25" TEAC floppy drives. A Z80 processor manages the controller board. image: null - title: DUAL 5.25'' FLOPPY DISCS UNIT subtitle: '' text: |- Dual 5.25" Double-side, double-density 320 KB floppy drive unit.\ The unit uses the 8255 parallel interface. It can be also used with PC-8001/mkII, PC-8801 Series, PC-9801/E/F/M etc. image: null connectors: - title: COMPOSITE VIDEO DIN PLUG subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** VDD 12V\ **(2)** GND\ **(3)** Video Out\ **(4)** NC\ **(5)** Light pen image: null - title: RGB VIDEO DIN PLUG subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** VDD 12V\ **(2)** GND\ **(3)** Color clock\ **(4)** H-SYNC\ **(5)** V-SYNC\ **(6)** R\ **(7)** G\ **(8)** B image: null screenshots: - title: BOOT SCREEN subtitle: '' text: '' image: null emulators: - title: M88 emulator url: http://retropc.net/cisc/m88/ platform: Windows text: Japanese emulator - title: PC88 Emulator url: http://home.highway.ne.jp/soltin/pc88win.html platform: Windows text: Japanese emulator - title: QUASI88 url: http://www.117.ne.jp/~show/pc8801/pc88emu2.html platform: Multiplatform text: Multiplatform emulator links: - title: Junyo Kubota's PC-8001 page url: http://my.reset.jp/~toragiku/kopa/8001.htm text: Interesting (japanese) - title: PC-8001 Page url: http://tje12.is.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~mino/PC-8001/PC-8001.html text: It looks interesting but it's all japanese ;-) comments: - author: Chris @LA (Los Angeles) date: Thursday 7th July 2011 text: The same company that made the "Wedge" also built an RGB to Color Composite Converter for this unit. I don''t remember the name of the outfit but the Wedge was a brilliant bit of technology. - author: mcl (United States of Amnesia) date: Saturday 21st August 2010 text: |- The information here is incomplete. Aside from the Wedge which was sold by a third party, NEC itself sold a number of addon units. The 32k RAM keyboard-shaped PC-8001A was the main micro computer, with everything built into the keyboard case $ a design similar to the Commodore 64 or he Atari 400 or 800 or Atari ST. But NEC also made and sold the PC-8031A mini disk unit, which allowed up to four half-height floppy disc drives to be installed. These were DSDD drives with 360K capacity each, so by installing 4, you got an instant storage capacity of up to 1.44 megs on drives A: and B: and C: and D:. The PC-8031A was an external beige box in which you could install the floppy drives. It had a built-in floppy drive controller and connected to the keyboard computer by a cable. Then there was the PC-8012A I/O unit. This contained serial and parallel ports as well as a primitive analog sound I/O similar to the creative sound blaster. Again, this was a beige box that also connected to the main keyboard computer through a cable, or it could connect to the 8031A floppy drive unit via a pass-through port. Finally, NEC sold the JC-1202DH(A) color character display, which uew the exact same chassis and cabinet and power supply as the earlier NEC green screen monochrome monitor but with color circuity. It was a simple analog monitor, no different from the Commodore or Apple color monitors. You could use any analog color monitor with this computer. As with the C64 or the Apple $$+, the color monitors were interchangeable. NEC also sold its own particular brand of dot matrix printer with this computer. It used a standard Centronics (today we call it a parallel) port. You had to have the 8031A drive unit to load drivers for the NEC printer and run the software. I''m not sure whether the I/O unit came with an extra 32K of RAM on a board inside the beige box, but I think so. If memory serves, this thing ran Wordstar and the NEC printer was EPSON-compatible, so you could use EPSON printer drivers and output the usual graphics + text using escape and control characters to produce primitive block graphics. This unit was very impressive for its time. It cost a lot for all 3 units $ you stacked the two beige boxes up on top of one another and put the NEC monitor on top of those, then hooked them up via cable to the keyboard computer and hung the dot matrix printer (and a Hayes serial modem if you wanted) off the back of the I/O module. But if you paid the money and set it all up, you had a very fully functional machine that could connect to a BBS at 300 baud, print out properly formatted documented using standard dot matrix graphics + text, play 8-bit sounds, and you had many of the same capabilities of the later EGA monitors with a variety of different colors. The disk drives were particularly good. They didn''t go bad, unlike the full-height Tandon drives on earlier computers like the Kaypro II or the TRS-80. Those full-height 48 TPI Tandons used in earlier computers were notorious for drifting out of alignment, but the 96 TPI DSDD NEC floppy drives never went bad. If you find one of these units with the floppy drive module in storage and fire it up, chances are it will still boot and work. - author: Jef Denno (USA) date: Friday 25th July 2008 text: |- I sold these very successfully in the 80's. The base system was 32K, but a company in Concord, CA. made a thing called the "WEDGE" that mounted below the Base system and added the needed 32K plus it had analog and digital input ports and other goodies. This was a TANK of a PC. I have a few of them and I would bet that they still work. We even added a 7MB hard drive (wow!) It was loud, slow and expensive, but 7 MEGABYTES!!!! - author: Leonardo Daniel Ulanosky (Earth) date: Monday 16th October 2006 text: Yo trabajé con una. NEC PC 8001B. Fue la primera computadora que usé en mi vida. Era el año 1984, y era muy superior a las computadoras que se veían por ahi, hasta que apareció la Commodore64. related: - /museum/nec-pc-8001-mk-2 - /museum/nec-pc-8001-mk-2-sr - /museum/nec-pc-8801 - /museum/nec-pc-8801-fa - /museum/nec-pc-8801-fe - /museum/nec-pc-88va oc_id: 178 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230601101546/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=178 date: '2023-06-01' --- In 1979, the NEC PC-8001 was an excellent machine, offering 8 colors when most of its competitors were still monochrome. There is even a (low) graphic resolution of 160 x 100 dots. It could display capital and small letters. The PC-8001 had great success with Japanese businesses, where it was widely used. At the time, NEC claimed that the PC-8001 represented at least 45% of their home japanese market. This is when the PC serie from NEC and MZ serie from Sharp started competing! The base system was 32K, but a company in Concord, CA. made a thing called the "WEDGE" that mounted below the Base system and added the needed 32K plus it had analog and digital input ports and other goodies. The US version of the PC-8001 was named **PC-8001A**. --- **Contributors :** Jeff Denno
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