PC-6000 series

The NEC PC-6000 Series is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced in November 1981 by NEC Home Electronics (NEC-HE). There are several models in this series, such as the PC-6001, the PC-6001 MK2 and the PC-6001 MK2 SR. There is also an American version, called the NEC TREK, or NEC PC-6001A. It was followed by the PC-6600 Series.

NEC PC-6001
PC-6001 (No brown keyboard frame)
ManufacturerNEC Home Electronics
TypeHome computer
Release dateNovember 1981 (1981-11)
Introductory price¥89,800
Units sold150,000 (PC-6001)[1]
MediaROM Cartridge, Compact Cassette
CPUZilog Z80 compatible NEC µPD780C-1 clocked at 3.8MHz, MC6847 compatible co-processor M5C6847P-1
Memory16-32KB RAM, 20KB ROM
Display256×192 (monochrome), 128×192 (2 colors), 64×48 (9 colors), 256×128, 128×128
InputKeyboard
PredecessorNEC PC-8000
SuccessorNEC PC-6601
NEC PC-8801

Several peripherals were available for the system in North America, including an expander with three cartridge jacks (some of the cartridge-based games used two cartridges), a cassette-tape recorder, a 5.25" floppy disk drive, a printer, and a touchpad.

Development

NEC-HE was a subsidiary company of NEC and manufacturer of consumer electronics. In 1980, they started manufacturing the PC-8001 which was developed by the Electronic Devices division of NEC. It was successful and grew the personal computer market in Japan. They started developing a low-cost home computer, and it became the PC-6001. At the same time, the Electronic Devices division developed the PC-8801 for home and business, and the Information Systems division developed the PC-9801 for business. In 1983, NEC had four personal computer lines come out from different divisions. To avoid confliction, they decided to consolidate personal computer business into two divisions; NEC-HE dealt with the 8-bit home computer line, and the Information Systems division dealt with the 16-bit personal computer line. NEC-HE discontinued development of the PC-6000 series, the PC-6600 series, and the PC-8000 series. They were merged to the PC-8800 series.[2]

PC-6001
PC-6001 motherboard

The PC-6001 has the µPD780 processor (NEC clone of Zilog Z80), 16 KB RAM (up to 32 KB), General Instrument AY-3-8910 3-voice sound generator, a ROM Cartridge connector, a cassette tape interface, 2 x joystick port, a parallel printer connector, an RF modulator output and a composite video output. It supports four screen modes; 32x16 characters with 4 colors, 64x48 pixel graphics with 9 colors, 128x192 graphics with 4 colors, and 256x192 graphics with white and green colors. The ROM cartridge allowed the user to easily use software such as video games. The Japanese version uses a chiclet keyboard while a North American version (PC-6001A) uses a typewriter keyboard.

PC-6001mkII
PC-6001mkII

The PC-6001mkII has 64 KB memory, 16 KB video RAM, a 5¼-inch 2D floppy drive interface, Kanji character generator, RGB monitor out, speech synthesizer unit and a typewriter keyboard. It supports following screen modes; 40x20 characters, 80x80 pixel graphics with 15 colors, 160x200 graphics with 15 colors, and 320x200 graphics with 4 colors.

References
  1. "日電、新日電低価格パソコン強化、7月1日から発売―漢字ROMなど装着。" [NEC and NEC-HE will reinforce low-cost personal computers shipped with Kanji ROM and release on July 1st.]. Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun. 1983-06-29. p. 6.
  2. 日本電気社史編纂室 (2001-12-25). 日本電気株式会社百年史 [100 year history of NEC]. 日本電気. pp. 652–660.
Notes
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