website/content/museum/sharp-mz-700.md

---
title: Sharp MZ 700
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- Japan
years:
- '1983'
cpus:
- Sharp LH-0080
params:
  name: MZ 700
  company: /companies/sharp
  company_name: Sharp
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: MZ 700
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Sharp
  - label: TYPE
    value: Home Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: Japan
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1983'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: None - Monitor in ROM
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: Full stroke 69 key with 5 function keys and 4 cursor keys
  - label: CPU
    value: Sharp LH-0080 (Zilog Z80 A compatible)
  - label: SPEED
    value: 4 MHz
  - label: RAM
    value: 64 KB
  - label: VRAM
    value: 2 KB
  - label: ROM
    value: 2 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 40 x 25
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: 50 x 80
  - label: COLORS
    value: '8'
  - label: SOUND
    value: one channel, 3 octaves
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 44 (W) x 30.5 (D) x 8.5 (H)
  - label: I/O PORTS
    value: Parallel, Joystick (2), Z80 Bus, Tape, RGB
  - label: BUILT IN MEDIA
    value: Tape recorder
  - label: OS
    value: optional CP/M with FDD
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: Built-in power supply unit (5V)
  - label: PRICE
    value: |-
      About 533 (1983) for the MZ 721\
      £250 (MZ-711)\
      £420 (MZ-731)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  - hardware
  - software
  - emulators
  - links
  - docs
  photos:
  - title: FRONT VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: SIDE VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: 'SIDE #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: A SHARP MZ730 WITH A MZ-800 PLOTTER
    subtitle: ''
    text: It appears that the external MZ 800 white plotter can be inserted directly onto the case of the MZ 700, but it doesn't fit entierly into that case.
    image: null
  - title: MZ-730 SYSTEM
    subtitle: ''
    text: MZ-730 system with integrated tape recorder and 4 colors plotter/printer (without cover)
    image: null
  - title: REAR VIEW
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: 'REAR #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: 'REAR #3'
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: MOTHERBOARD EXPLAINED
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      A well designed board with a very good display quality. However, graphic capacities were missing, as well as a better compatibility with the standards of the market (real Centronics printer and Atari joysticks)

      **(1)** System init button (Reset).\
      **(2)** Speaker volume adjustment.\
      **(3)** Parallel interface, not really Centronics compatible, for Sharp printers.\
      **(4)** Z80-A Microprocessor manufactured by Sharp.\
      **(5)** Connector for expansion unit.\
      **(6)** Connector for the integrated cassette recorder.\
      **(7)** Connectors for Sharp joysticks.\
      **(8)** Two jack plugs for an external cassette recorder.\
      **(9)** RGB DIN Video output.\
      **(10)** Switch which reverses the cassette recording phase.\
      **(11)** Specialized Sharp chipset which manages video display and video memory.\
      **(12)** Characters generator Rom circuit.\
      **(13)** Keyboard connector.\
      **(14)** Interface chip in charge of tape recorder and keyboard management.\
      **(15)** Clock chip for internal synchronization between various chips.\
      **(16)** Chips holding 64 Kb. of RAM memory for the user programs.\
      **(17)** ROM holding the basic input/Output routines and the monitor.\
      **(18)** Loudspeaker connector.\
      **(19)** Main power plug.\
      **(20)** This switch allows the selection between the integrated plotter/printer or an external dot matrix printer.\
      **(21)** Integrated plotter/printer connector.
    image: null
  - title: THE SHARP MZ 730 BUILT-IN PLOTTER
    subtitle: ''
    text: 'It has four colors (green, blue, black and red) and has three text modes : 26, 40 and 80 columns, it can then replace the video display, however, the plotter can''t print graphical characters but print its hexadecimal ascii code instead. It can print grahics with a resolution of 480 x 2000, some graphical functions have been added to the Basic to print high resolution graphics.'
    image: null
  - title: THE SHARP MZ 720 / 730 BUILT-IN TAPE RECORDER
    subtitle: ''
    text: It reads and writes at 1200 bauds.
    image: null
  - title: DUST COVER
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      Found in USA, not made by Sharp.\
      Can be used as a carrier bag with a handle.
    image: null
  - title: BOX
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  adverts:
  - title: :-)
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: 'GERMAN AD #1'
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      "Welcome in the world of the "clean"-computers"

      Courtesy of **www.sharpmz.org**
    image: null
  - title: 'GERMAN AD #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      "Large achievement capability and high versatility with 64kb RAM."

      Courtesy of **www.sharpmz.org**
    image: null
  - title: 'GERMAN AD #3'
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      Part of a software advert

      Courtesy of **www.sharpmz.org**
    image: null
  - title: 'GERMAN AD #4'
    subtitle: ''
    text: Courtesy of **www.sharpmz.org**
    image: null
  hardware:
  - title: MZ-1T01 TAPE RECORDER BOX
    subtitle: ''
    text: The MZ-1T01 tape recorder is used to enhance the Sharp MZ-711.
    image: null
  - title: MZ-8AF1 FLOPPY DISK INTERFACE BOX
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: MZ-1U06 BOX
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: BUS EXPANDER
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      This Trippler expander allowed to add peripherals on the three free sides of the box:\
      • A ROM cartridge at left side\
      • an RS-232 interface at top side\
      • a Quick Disk interface at right side.
    image: null
  - title: FRENCH FDD UNIT
    subtitle: ''
    text: Instead of selling the original Sharp FDD unit, the Sharp French subsidiary (Sharp Burotype Machines) preferred to made their own unit. The case could hold up to 4 drives. The drives were Canon models.
    image: null
  - title: MZ-1F11 QDD
    subtitle: ''
    text: The MZ 700 can use the MZ 800 Quick Disk Drive. The QDD uses 2.8" floppy disks (64 Kb / two sides). It needs the MZ-1E14 interface card to connect it on the MZ 700 bus (shown on photo).
    image: null
  - title: MZ 80P3 - DOT MATRIX PRINTER
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: MZ-P4 PRINTER
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  - title: MZ-P6 PRINTER
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: null
  emulators:
  - title: EMUZ-2000
    url: http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~object/
    platform: Windows
    text: SHARP MZ-80B / 2000 / 2200 emulator for Windows
  - title: MZ 700 Emulator
    url: http://www.mars.dti.ne.jp/~marukun/mz700/index.html
    platform: Windows
    text: For Win9x / Me / 2K / NT
  links:
  - title: Detailed info about the MZ 700 Series
    url: http://www.sharpmz.org
    text: All about the Sharp MZ 700
  - title: KaZuhiro FuRuhata's games
    url: http://www.shiojiri.ne.jp/~openspc/mz700/index.html
    text: Great 80's Games adapted on the MZ 700 !
  - title: Sharp Games
    url: http://sharpgames.atspace.com
    text: Some homebrew games in develoment for the MZ
  - title: The Sharp Users Club
    url: http://sharpusersclub.org
    text: Very useful web site done by the UK Sharp Users Club
  - title: www.sharpmz.org
    url: http://www.sharpmz.org
    text: THE website for all MZ fans !!
  docs:
  - title: SHARP MZ-700 SERVICE MANUAL
    url: null
    cover: null
    text: |-
      **SHARP MZ-700 SERVICE MANUAL**\
      written by Sharp Corporation

       compiled/archived by www.sharpmz.org\
       type of document : PDF\
       source : [www.sharpmz.org](http://www.sharpmz.org)
  comments:
  - author: Jonny (uk)
    date: Thursday 30th June 2022
    text: The newspaper game for the MZ-700 was called Scoop and it was by Solo Software that wrote all of their commercial games in BASIC.
  - author: '''''CABBIK'''' (England)'
    date: Saturday 13rd January 2018
    text: |-
      The MZ-721 was my follow-up to owning a highly modified ZX81 (or as it was better known as ''the Sinclair Beirut'' due the extreme cooling mods).

      Now this was very much a worthy sucessor to the 80 machines, carried all the best feature and added to it, had a decent keyboard and had a rarity feature (amongst home computers) of a fairly sharp drift free picture (the fact it, via RF modulator, had a high signal output helped no end, and if you had the pleasure of using it with a CV monitor, sharp as f\*ck).

      Sure, whilst there was a fair $ion of software (outside of the programming language cassettes), most never appeared in the UK via the sole supplier (Sharpsoft, in London). But, unlike many computers in the day, it came with a pretty comprehensive reference data set in the manual, so it acually encouraged you to tinker with assembly coding. In fact, my exam project for school was rapidly migrated from it''s assembler version developed on a ZX81 to the MZ721.

      Of course, accessories were like hen''s teeth, but because it came with such good documentation, it wasn''t rocket science to build your own controllers for gaming and other uses.

      I can remember how people laughed at the fact you had to load up Basic (or other interpreters), but it was no big deal - as a wise, older family friend passed on to me, all he did was start it loading, go make a cup of tea and by the time you carried it back to your desk, it was loaded ...

      Painless choice, for those who''s idea of home computing wasn''t spoon-fed endless commercial cassettes fair. Oh, i almost forgot - mine got overclocked as part of my experiments... to a massive (back in the day) 16 Mhz, but that did involve some serious modding to make it happen - it taught me the value of inherent limits and that heatsinks were essential parts of a modding tinker demon''s kit.
  - author: Tom (Israel)
    date: Sunday 23rd July 2017
    text: |-
      Hi\
      As a young child we had a mz700 at home, today i enjoy loading the roms on my computer and see the difference between what i remember and how it is in reality :)

      Can anyone help, i remember a game that you needed to manage or control a newspaper company\
      I might be wrong here, I don''t think we really understand what it really was but that''s the best i can tell.

      I remember it was mostly text and white display.

      Does someone know what i am talking about ? or something similar to that

      Thank you\
      Tom
  - author: paul mackay (newcastle/australia)
    date: Saturday 19th March 2016
    text: I have a sharp mz700 complete working with manual and tape. if anyone is interested I would sell (otherwise it will be a new pc case for my computer)
  - author: Martin (Germany)
    date: Saturday 28th March 2015
    text: |-
      Me being in a Retro mood, I started re-coding some old MZ-700 games into a free Android app. Pity there is no real emulator so far.

      At least Man-Hunt, Painful Man and Land Escape (so far) can now be shown to our minors to show them, where it all began...

      Check out https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id$com.gumhold.RetroRunnerMZ

      Long live those "poor" ASCII-graphics :)

      Hope you like it,

      Martin
  - author: Stig Thyholt (Norway)
    date: Sunday 20th November 2011
    text: |-
      I have a Sharp MZ721 with Philips TP200 screen (green monocr) .\
      Database and text program and games.\
      Is this worth anything ? How much ?
  - author: Svein Arild Hagnæss (Norway)
    date: Monday 5th September 2011
    text: My parents gave me one of these, and I programmed it a lot. Made all sorts of games and databases, and of course played games. Still remember the cluttered BASIC code and RENUM was my favourite command, he he.
  - author: Dave Reilly
    date: Friday 19th August 2011
    text: My parents got me an MZ-712 about 24 years ago. It was the first computer I learnt to programme in (using S-Basic)... My mum threw the computer out a few years ago though (I still annoy her about this) so I never seen it again... I made loads of unique programmes on it and it was a quality piece of kit....
  - author: Kennet Hermansen (Denmark)
    date: Thursday 4th August 2011
    text: |-
      I believe I had one of these. I know we had a Sharp and it was in the early 80ies.

      It had a built in tape drive and it looked a lot like this one.

      I never learned how to program it though.

      Mostly because I wasn''t very good at English at the time, so I don''t think I ever read the manual. It came with some rather interesting games though.

      I eventually replaced it with a Commodore 64. Because that''s what my friends had. The Sharp might have been a better computer however.
  - author: darren morris (United Kingdom)
    date: Wednesday 29th December 2010
    text: This is Classic Computing....and i have still got a Sharp MZ 700 and Monitor of working order in my roof space..The printer still works but after 27 years its got a dry...
  - author: adam
    date: Thursday 2nd December 2010
    text: i parents brought one of these computer for me and my brothers my grandparents were not happy about it because there own commodores 64 anyway i enjoy much more because i learn how to program in basic and yes the games were not great but here i enjoy clocking snake every time
  - author: John Whitworth
    date: Sunday 4th July 2010
    text: 'Re: Christopher Davies not wanting to press EXEC - it reminds me of my friend and I, typing in a game from a magazine on his BBC. We got the error $Type Mismatch at line 4000 or something. So we replaced line 4000 with: 4000 Mismatch. Took ages for the $Syntax Error at line 4000 to pop up! But we thought it was progress! LOL!'
  - author: Anders (Norway)
    date: Sunday 6th July 2008
    text: This was my first computer that my famely bought when I was 5. So I have spent meny hour playing games on this machine. I still have it, and one game also. wonder if it works!!
  - author: Christopher Davies (UK)
    date: Saturday 30th September 2006
    text: This was my first computer. It took ages to boot as basic had to be loaded from tape. I spent ages typing in basic programs which used charictor based graphics. It was given to me for my birthday and when it said press EXEC I would not press it as i thought it ment delete or kill what I had just spent hours typing in.
  - author: David (Portugal)
    date: Saturday 26th November 2005
    text: My first computer where I learn BASIC. Still working !
  - author: Miguel (Málaga)
    date: Friday 19th August 2005
    text: It was my second computer after a couple of years using a ZX81. I enjoyed it a lot and spent hundreds of hours on it. I learned BASIC, PASCAL, FORTH and FOTRAN using my Mz-731. I remember I made some programs based on Scientific American articles. The best one was to represent and move an hypercube using the plotter to render the hypercube in red & blue (one eye each) and using a red-blue glasses you could see it in 3D. I have just tryed it today after 20 years and it still works. Unfortunately my programs tape is lost.
  - author: Christian Müller (Germany)
    date: Thursday 2nd December 2004
    text: |-
      The Sharp MZ-731 was the first computer I ever got my hands on. My dad bought one in 1983 when I was 6. I was fascinated by the games and always wanted to write one myself.\
      In the summer break after 2nd form I started reading the BASIC manual and trying my hands at coding.

      Now I'm 28 and studying Information Theory and Electronics in the 10th semester. I'm going for the finals this year.

      If my dad hadn't bought that computer when I was little who knows if I ever got interested in computers at all.
  - author: Justin Little (Australia)
    date: Sunday 2nd March 2003
    text: I wanted a C64 but I got a Sharp MZ-721 and I loved it. I learned how to make my own programs in basic. Got a printer plotter for my next birthday. I spent hours on this computer. I spent a lot of time finding Pokes that would give me advantages in games. I got a better Basic tape that gave lots of extra commands. It was fun. Then the Commodore 128D came out cheap. So my MZ went into storage, sold it at a garge sale in 2000 for Aus$40.
  - author: Cucal (Teruel)
    date: Monday 28th October 2002
    text: |-
      Este cacharrito fué mi iniciacion a los ordenadores.\
      Mientras todos tenian Amstrad y/o spectrum, yo tenia esto, lo que hizo que tuviera que generar mis propios juegos.

      Una maravilla de ordenador
  - author: Thierry Schembri (Paris, France)
    date: Monday 25th February 2002
    text: 'You will find everything you need about the Sharp MZ 700 at : http://www.sharpmz.org'
  - author: paul hodson (newcastle upon tyne)
    date: Monday 25th February 2002
    text: my parents bought an MZ721 as our first computer... we used it for games for a couple years, and it's been in the loft ever since. Would love to find an emulator with games for it.
  related:
  - /museum/sharp-mz-2000
  - /museum/sharp-mz-2200
  - /museum/sharp-mz-2500
  - /museum/sharp-mz-2800
  - /museum/sharp-mz-3500
  - /museum/sharp-mz-5500-5600
  - /museum/sharp-mz-800-mz-1500
  - /museum/sharp-mz-80a-mz-1200
  - /museum/sharp-mz-80b
  - /museum/sharp-mz-80c
  - /museum/sharp-mz-80k
  software:
  - /software/suicide-run
  oc_id: 87
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230625045625/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=87
    date: '2023-06-25'
---

The Sharp MZ 700 series replaced the aging MZ 80 ([MZ 80K](/museum/sharp-mz-80k/), [MZ 80A](/museum/sharp-mz-80a-mz-1200/) and [MZ 80B](/museum/sharp-mz-80b/)) series. Moreover, the MZ 700 was compatible with the MZ 80K and MZ 80A.

The MZ 700 series is composed of four machines: the first three models were launched in 1983 (November 1982 in Japan) and the last one was launched in late 1985 (in fact, this one is the "ancestor" of the MZ 800):

\- the **MZ 711** was the "naked" model (without any peripheral),\
\- the **MZ 721**, has an integrated tape recorder\
\- the **MZ 731**, has built-in plotter and tape recorder).\
\- the fourth model was the **MZ 780** which was actually a MZ 731 with a 80 columns card, a floppy disk drive and a Centronics port. It worked under CP/M.

There was no language in ROM (the ROM size is only 2 KB, it is just used for boot and OS calls), it has to be loaded from tape. So there was a lot of languages adapted for this machine (more than five versions of BASIC, assemblers, Pascal, Lisp, C, Fortran, Comal, Forth, & others).

The games were a bit poor because of the low resolution (which was actually graphical characters), but there were 512 graphic characters in ROM, which can be used to offset it (sort of).

It will be replaced with the [MZ 800](/museum/sharp-mz-800-mz-1500/).