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title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params
title categories types origins years cpus params
Sanco 8000
Computers
Professional Computer
France
1982
Z80A
name image company company_name specs tabs forum_thread photos adverts oc_id source
8000 /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_system_s1.jpg /companies/sanco Sanco
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NAME 8000
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MANUFACTURER Sanco
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TYPE Professional Computer
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ORIGIN France
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YEAR September 1982
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BUILT IN LANGUAGE Microsoft Basic and K-Basic on Master diskette
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KEYBOARD Typewriter type. 98 keys with numeric keypad, arrow keys and 15 definable function keys
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CPU Z80A
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SPEED 4 MHz
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RAM 64 KB + 4 KB character generator
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ROM 4 KB
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TEXT MODES 80 columns x 24 lines + 1 status line
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GRAPHIC MODES None
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COLORS Monochrome Green phosphore
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SOUND Built-in speaker
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I/O PORTS 8001: Serial and Parallel ports, Light pen\ Others: + second Serial port, external FDD
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BUILT IN MEDIA 1 or 2 400 or 800 KB floppy-disk drives. 5 or 10 MB hard disk drives
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OS CP/M 2.2
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POWER SUPPLY Built-in switching power supply unit
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PERIPHERALS up to 192 KB of RAM by 64 or 128 RAM expansion
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PRICE From 3,000
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1042
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SANCO 8001 All the computers of the 8000 series had the same design, 12" display and keyboard. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_system_s2.jpg
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TOP VIEW /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_topview_s1.jpg
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SANCO 8160 #1 The 8160 featured only one slim size floppy drive, and one 10 MB NEC hard disk drive. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_systemhd_s1.jpg
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SANCO 8160 #2 /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_side_s1.jpg
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RUNNING System running the CP/M Operating System and the K-BASIC interpreter. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_running_s1.jpg
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KEYBOARD CLOSE-UP Note that the function keys were equipped with transparent key caps, allowing personalized key labels to be inserted. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_keyboard_s1.jpg
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REAR PANEL Rear panel of an extended version, here the 8160. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_rearpanel_s1.jpg
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INSIDE THE 8001 Only in the 8001 version the light mainboard is mounted vertically, behind the CRT.\ The floppy drives are connected to the left connector, the right one is a Z80 bus expansion. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_inside_s1.jpg
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INSIDE THE 8003 In all other models, the mainboard is located under the case. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_inside_s2.jpg
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INSIDE THE 8160 The HDD controller card is mounted vetically and connected to te mainboard through a piggyback I/O card. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_inside_s3.jpg
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8003 MAINBOARD **(1)** Floppy disk drives connector\ **(2)** 8251 USART (Universal Synchronous-Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter) used for serial transmissions\ **(3)** 64 KB RAM bank, 8 x 4164 chips\ **(4)** Two sockets, on each side of the RAM bank allow to connect a 64 or 128 KB RAM expansion module\ **(5)** The content of the character generator EPROM is transferred into RAM during the boot sequence so the user can personalize each character\ **(6)** NEC D780C, Z80A compatible CPU\ **(7)** NEC D765 floppy disk controller\ **(8)** NEC D8257 addresses bus controller\ **(9)** Z80 SIO Serial Input/Output controller\ **(10)** Z80 CTC Counter/Timer Circuit\ **(11)** NEC D8255 Programmable Peripheral Interface. This chip has 24 programmable I/O pins.\ **(12)** Hitachi video controller\ **(13)** Z80 bus expansion connector\ **(14)** 12 KB video RAM chips (6x6116 chips)\ **(15)** Real time clock battery. If you plan to store your Sanco for a long time, remove this battery, otherwise, its acid will eat into all of the neighbouring components. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_mainboard_s1.jpg
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8160 MAINBOARD Same board as the 8003 but with a piggyback 64 KB expansion RAM module and an I/O card providing data transfer with the hard disk controller card. /media/museum/photos/sanco_8000_mainboardhdd_s1.jpg
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FRENCH ADVERT, JAN. 1984 Seductive Sanco computing. Treat you to a star for less than 3,000 Euros /media/museum/pubs/sanco_8000_pub_s1.jpg
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https://web.archive.org/web/20230608220558/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1069 2023-06-08

The Sanco 8000 series followed the 7000. Like its predecessor, it was actually conceived by the French company SFCE (Sanyo France - Calculatrices Electroniques) and manufactured by Logic Systems International Inc. (LSI), a small Japanese company which would later release some PC compatible systems.

Sanco name came from the summary of Sanyo (SFCE was a Sanyo calculators distributor) and Cofelec, a subsidiary of the Thomson co., which made the first Sanco 5000 computer.

Sanco 8000s were robust machines, based on the CP/M Operating System and intended for professional use. They were only sold along with business management software packages dedicated to each branch of industry, from the lawyer to the plumber. SFCE sold about 70% of the Sanco machines to French customers, the remaining machine were sold in various European countries.

The Sanco 8000 range was comprised of the following versions:
• 8001 Economical version with light mainboard and 2 x 400 KB FDD,
All the following version featured the normal mainboard which memory could be expanded up to 192 KB
• 8001 and 8102 with respectively one or two 400 KB FDD,
• 8003 Two 800 KB FDD,
• 8150 800 KB FDD + 5 MB HDD,
• 8160 Same as 8150 but 10 MB HDD.


Sanco in the UK and Zimbabwe, by Mike Hopkins
The Sancos 7000 and 8000 were also sold in the UK by Memory Computer. Their subisidiary in Zimbabwe sold the Memory 7000 range. There were sub-models, called the 7001 (2x5/25" floppy disks), the 7102 (2x8" floppies).
Many of the Zimbabwe sales were to accounting firms, and ran the Peachtree accounting software. Also to farms for farm accounting.