website/content/museum/hitachi-mb-6880-basic-master-and-basic-master-level-2.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
Hitachi MB-6880 / Basic Master and Basic Master Level 2	Computers	Home Computer	Japan	1978	Motorola 6800	name image company company_name specs tabs photos links comments oc_id source MB-6880 / Basic Master and Basic Master Level 2 /media/museum/photos/hitachi_basicmaster-level2_1.jpg /companies/hitachi Hitachi label value NAME MB-6880 / Basic Master and Basic Master Level 2 label value MANUFACTURER Hitachi label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN Japan label value YEAR 1978 / 1979 label value KEYBOARD QWERTY full-stroke keyboard. JIS standard. 56 keys. label value CPU Motorola 6800 (HD 46800) label value SPEED 750 Khz. label value RAM Basic Master : 4k\ Basic Master Level 2 : 8k label value ROM 16 kb label value TEXT MODES 32 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 32 x 24 (8x8 dots characters) label value COLORS Black & White label value SOUND Speeaker (5bit D/A converter) label value SIZE / WEIGHT 42.5 × 28.5 × 8 cm / 4kg label value I/O PORTS Tape (300 bauds) , Audio out label value BUILT IN MEDIA Optional Digital Tapes label value OS Built-in Basic label value PRICE Basic Master :118000 yens\ Basic Master Level 2 : 228000 yens photos links title subtitle text image THE BASIC MASTER LEVEL 2 This machine was also labeled as the Hitachi MB-6880 L2. Thanks to the [Electric Brain Museum](http://www.tk.airnet.ne.jp/mit/mitland/Musium/musium.html) for this picture /media/museum/photos/hitachi_basicmaster-level2_2.jpg title subtitle text image MB-6881 The MB-6881 is the Basic Master Level 2 MK 2! But what is the difference between the MB-6880 and MB-6881? Please help... /media/museum/photos/hitachi_basic-master_mb6881.jpg title subtitle text image MB-6881 #2 /media/museum/photos/hitachi_basic-master_mb6881_2.jpg title url text Electric Brain Museum http://www.tk.airnet.ne.jp/mit/mitland/Musium/HITACHI/BMaster.html Some useful infos here (Japanese) author date text Hisayuki Nomura (Japan) Thursday 10th December 2020 (I''ll write this as a message because "Add Info" does not work) MB6880 , formal name was "Basic Master" but it called as "Basic Master Level 1" after MB-6880L2 , "Basic Master Level 2" was released. Basic Master Level 1 was shipped with 4KB RAM with Level 1 BASIC language that only integer value supported. Basic Master Level 2 was shipped with 8KB RAM with Level 2 BASIC that support floating value. These product line made great success at the beginning of Japanese microcomputer market. By the success of BasicMaster , the three company - Hitachi , NEC and Sharp - was called "The Big Three". Hitachi continued to release variation of Basic Master Level2 series such as MB6881(Basic Master Level II 2) , MB6885 (Basic Master Jr) . However "Basic Master Level 2" series was lack of Hi-resolution graphics or Kanji characters. Hitachi''s microcomputer continue declined until Basic Master Level 3 released. author date text Zelda Hyrule Monday 1st June 2009 I love this machine I still own one at this day. But it died yesterday!!!! author date text Mickey Malone (Finland) Monday 1st June 2009 I owned one of these 17 years ago when I was 40. author date text Masaru Takechi (Tokyo, Japan) Friday 25th October 2002 Once I was an owner of this computer. I remember that clock speed of this computer is 750KHz. (below MHz, wow.) Double-edged clock mechanism of Motorola's 6800 brought good performance to this computer. Program exectuion speed was close to 2MHz Z80 Machine, such as Sharp's MZ-80K. 1 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230327131414/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1 2023-03-27

This early japanese computer seems quite strong with its metal case. The machine has a very sober look. The keyboard is minimalist too, no CTRL or ESC keys...

There is apparently no graphical high-resolution but the computer offers 253 predefined characters including graphic symbols.

The power switch is placed on the front case just above the keyboard.

The MB6880 formal name was "Basic Master" but it was called as "Basic Master Level 1" after MB-6880L2 "Basic Master Level 2" was released.

Basic Master Level 1 was shipped with 4KB RAM with Level 1 BASIC language that only integer value supported.

Basic Master Level 2 was shipped with 8KB RAM with Level 2 BASIC that support floating value.

These product line made great success at the beginning of Japanese microcomputer market. By the success of Basic Master serie, the three company - Hitachi, NEC and Sharp -were called "The Big Three".

Hitachi continued to release variation of Basic Master Level2 series such as MB6881(Basic Master Level II 2) and the MB6885 (Basic Master Jr).

However "Basic Master Level 2" series lacked Hi-resolution graphics or Kanji characters. Hitachi's microcomputer continued to decline until Basic Master Level 3 was released.

Thanks to Hisayuki Nomura for the info