website/content/museum/sanyo-phc-10.md

---
title: Sanyo PHC-10
categories:
- Computers
types:
- Home Computer
origins:
- Japan
years:
- '1982'
cpus:
- PD7901G
params:
  name: PHC-10
  image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_1.jpg
  company: /companies/sanyo
  company_name: Sanyo
  specs:
  - label: NAME
    value: PHC-10
  - label: MANUFACTURER
    value: Sanyo
  - label: TYPE
    value: Home Computer
  - label: ORIGIN
    value: Japan
  - label: YEAR
    value: '1982'
  - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE
    value: Basic (Tiny Basic type)
  - label: KEYBOARD
    value: 56 keys calculator type keyboard (including 4 arrow keys)
  - label: CPU
    value: PD7901G
  - label: RAM
    value: 2 KB (expandable up to 4 KB)
  - label: ROM
    value: 4 KB
  - label: TEXT MODES
    value: 1 line of 16 characters built-in LCD display
  - label: GRAPHIC MODES
    value: None
  - label: COLORS
    value: Black & white LCD display
  - label: SOUND
    value: Built-in buzzer
  - label: SIZE / WEIGHT
    value: 51 (H) x 160 (D) x 300 (W) mm / 620 gr
  - label: POWER SUPPLY
    value: 4 AA cells or external power supply
  - label: PRICE
    value: |-
      24800 yens (Japan, 1982)\
      £60 (UK, october 1982)
  tabs:
  - photos
  - adverts
  photos:
  - title: SANYO PHC-10
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      Picture of the only real model known on earth apart from the press pictures of the 80s !

      Picture courtesy of twitter.com/HereBeDragons3
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_2_1000px.jpg
  - title: SANYO PHC-10
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      Picture of the only real model known on earth apart from the press pictures of the 80s !...

      Picture courtesy of twitter.com/HereBeDragons3
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_3_1000px.jpg
  - title: INSIDE THE PHC-10
    subtitle: ''
    text: Picture courtesy of twitter.com/HereBeDragons3
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_inside_800px.jpg
  - title: MOTHERBOARD
    subtitle: ''
    text: Picture courtesy of twitter.com/HereBeDragons3
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_mobo_1_small.jpg
  - title: LCD DISPLAY
    subtitle: ''
    text: |-
      1 line of 16 characters. Each characters is displayed through a 5x7 pixels matrix.

      Picture courtesy of twitter.com/HereBeDragons3
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_lcd-display_1_1000px.jpg
  - title: PICTURE TAKEN FROM PRESS MAGAZINE IN 1982
    subtitle: ''
    text: ''
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_1%5B1%5D.jpg
  - title: PICTURE FROM PRESS MAGAZINE
    subtitle: ''
    text: Taken from "Your Computer" dated october 1982
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10_press_1.jpg
  - title: PHC-10, PHC-20 & PHC-25
    subtitle: ''
    text: These three computers were released at the same time.
    image: /media/museum/photos/sanyo_phc10-20-25%5B1%5D.jpg
  adverts:
  - title: 'YOUR COMPUTER ARTICLE #1'
    subtitle: ''
    text: Dated october 1982
    image: /media/museum/pubs/your-computer_oct-1982_sanyo-phc-systems_1%5B2%5D.jpg
  - title: 'YOUR COMPUTER ARTICLE #2'
    subtitle: ''
    text: Dated october 1982
    image: /media/museum/pubs/your-computer_oct-1982_sanyo-phc-systems_2%5B2%5D.jpg
  oc_id: 1318
  source:
    url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230605043224/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=1318
    date: '2023-06-05'
---

The PHC-10 was released at the same time as the PHC-20 and [PHC-25](/museum/sanyo-phc-25/), in 1982. Sanyo wanted to offer a perfect line of products for computing initiation. These three models were supposed to be complementary. But despite high hopes, they just were flops and it's not clear if the PHC-10 was even really sold, as only one or two were found until today, excepts for press pictures from the 80s.

PHC stands for "Personal Home Computer". The PHC-10 was the entry-level system of the trio. It offered a version of Tiny Basic stored in ROM and a built-in LCD display of 1 line by 16 characters. Characters are displayed through a 5x7 pixels matrix. Editing of the program lines are facilitated by the use of the orange arrow keys.

The Tiny Basic is stored in a 4KB ROM inside the purpose-designed chip also used as the processor, and the computer offers 2KB RAM which can be expanded to 4KB max. The PHC-20 has even a built-in buzzer to produce sound and music through the BEEP command.

Apart from the NEC chip acting as microprocessor and ROM, the motherboard is almost empty !

The set of BASIC commands are:\
RUN, NEW, LIST, SIZE, RETURN, REM, END, FOR, NEXT, STEP, INPUT, PRINT, IF, GOTO, GOSUB, LET, RND, ABS, BEEP, PAUSE.\
This is the minimum to program something interesting. This Basic only handles integers. Thus dividing 5 by 3 will give you a result of 1 !

To overcome the 1 line display limitation, the PAUSE command can be used to replace PRINT. While PRINT will need you to press RETURN each time to read the next line, PAUSE will print the line for 1 second, and then display the next one.

The computer could be powered by 4 AA cells and was supposed to last for 80 hours ! It even could retain data when in sleep mode, which is automatically activated if the the computer is not used for 5 minutes. That made the PHC-10 a real portable computer in 1982, a bit like the [Epson HX-20](/museum/epson-hc-hx-20/) or the [Casio FP-200](/museum/casio-fp-200/) both released the same year.

Surprisingly, it looks very similar to the [Laser 50](/museum/video-technology-laser-50-one/) from Video Technology released three years later in 1985. In 1982, the PHC-10 was meant to compete against initiation computers like the [Sinclair ZX-80](/museum/sinclair-zx-80/) or [ZX-81](/museum/sinclair-zx-81/), or pocket computers like the [Sharp PC-1500](/museum/sharp-pc-1500-pc-1500a/) or the [Tandy TRS80 PC-1](/museum/tandy-radio-shack-trs-80-pc-1/).

<table> <tr> <td></td> <td>We need more info about this computer ! If you designed, used, or have more info about this system, please send us pictures or anything you might find useful.</td> <td></td> </tr> </table>