Information AboutSharp X1 |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SHARP X1 | |
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The X1 is a series of Home Computer released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988 . It was based on Z80 CPU . Despite Computer Division of Sharp Corporation had released MZ series, suddenly Television Division released a new computer series as X1. When the original X1 was released, all other home computers generally have BASIC language in the ROM, however X1 had not BASIC ROM and it had to load the interpreter from a cassette tape. Free area was available as big as possible with this concept. This policy was originally from MZ series, and they were called ''clean computer'' in Japan. Beside the cabinet shape of X1 was much stylish than others at that time and cabinet colors (includes Red) was selectable. RGB display monitor for X1 had television tuner and computer screen could be super-imposed on TV. Full of TV functions could be controlled from computer program. Character font was completely programmable (aka PCG) with 4bit color, and it was effectively used into a lot of games. Entire of VRAM memory was mapped on I/O area, so it was controlled without bank change. Since X1 had those feature, it was very powerful on game software. While X1 was struggling to sell, PC8801 ( NEC ) was quickly becoming popular in Japan market. In 1984, Sharp released X1 turbo series with high resolution graphics (640x400, while X1 had 640x200.) It had a lot of improvements but clock speed was still 4MHz. In 1986, Sharp released X1 turbo Z series with 4096 colored analog RGB monitor. X1 twin which had PC-Engine in the cabinet was finally released as the last machine of X1 in 1987. Then this series was succeeded on X68000 series later. TECHNICAL INFO |
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