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APC series

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Logo of NEC APC (Advanced Personal Computer) series

TheAPC (Advanced Personal Computer) was a series of businessmicrocomputers released outside of Japan by theNEC Corporation.[1] The series comprised theAPC, theAPC II andAPC III, international versions of models from the Japanese NECN5200 series(jp).[2]

The8086-basedN5200, released in 1981, was the first computer to use theNEC μPD7220 High-Performance Graphics Display Controller.[3]

The better-knownPC-9800 series, released a year later by the different division, had a similar architecture to the original N5200 and used many of the same components. The most significant differences between the two were that the PC-9801 had slightly lower vertical screen resolution, graphics were standard instead of optional (still using a second μPD7220) and it used 5.25" floppy drives instead of 8".

TheAPC IV, despite sharing the series name, was an ordinaryIBM PC/AT compatible and not compatible with the earlier APC models.

N5200

[edit]
The NEC APC, the first of the series

The N5200 is a series ofpersonal computers released in 1981. The APC is a version of the N5200 that was sold outside Japan.[4]

Although its computer architecture is very similar to the PC-98, it was developed and marketed in a different way. At that time, NEC was avertical integrated company as seen in other big Japanese companies, and intended to open new business. The management allowed a few divisions to start a new computer business, so each divisions developed own computer systems for different markets. The N5200 was marketed as a personal computer which could be used as both a standalone computer and acomputer terminal forACOSmainframe platforms. It was developed by the Terminal Units Division who developed computer terminals for mainframes, but the PC-98 was developed by the Small Systems Division who developed standalone enterprise systems. The position of the N5200 is similar toIBM 3270 PC, but there is significant difference that the N5200 didn't offer the PC-98 compatibility instead it had own software library.

As of 1982, bothCP/M-86 andMS-DOS lackedtask switching and anISAM support, so NEC developed a proprietaryoperating system for the N5200, called PTOS.[5] PTOS was ported to the PC-98 in the early 1990s, and the N5200 computer line was absorbed.

APC

[edit]
APC
The NEC APC (1982)
ManufacturerNippon Electric (NEC)
TypePersonal computer
Release date1982; 43 years ago (1982) (APC)
Introductory priceStarting fromUS$3,298
Operating systemCP/M-86,MS-DOS
CPU8086 @ 5 MHz
Memory128 to 256kilobytes
Removable storageFloppy discs
Display12"CRT, monochrome or color; 80 × 25 characters text, 8 colors; (640 × 494 with optional hardware)
GraphicsμPD7220
ConnectivityParallel port,RS-232

The first APC was released in 1982[6][7] at$3,298 for a single-floppy monochrome system or$4,998 for a dual-floppy color system.[8][9][10] It used a 16-bitNEC μPD 8086 CPU with 128 KB ofRAM (expandable to 256 KB), 8 KB ofROM, and 4 KB of battery-backedCMOS RAM, a clock/calendar chip, parallel printer and RS-232 serial interfaces, and one or two built-in 8" floppy diskette drives[4] supporting both single-sided single-density (243 KB) and double-sided double-density (1 MB) formats. (An external 10 MB hard disk drive was also available.[11][4]) The detachable keyboard had 86 keys (including thenumeric keypad) and an additional 22 function keys.[12]

Display

[edit]

A built-in 12" monochrome or 8-colour display was driven by anNEC μPD7220 display controller generating an80 × 25 character display. An additional line at the top of the screen displayed status information. Each character was displayed in an8 × 19 dot cell (giving640 × 475 screen resolution) and could be one of 250 predefined7 × 11glyphs from ROM or 256 user-defined8 × 16 glyphs from RAM. Each character cell also had an attribute byte indicating the colour (or, for monochrome screens, whether it was highlighted or not) and any mix of reverse video, blinking,over-bar,under-bar and blanked (not displayed).[12]

The optional graphics board[13] adds a second μPD7220 graphics controller with up to 512 KB memory displaying640 × 494 graphics that overlay the text screen output. (This is higher than the resolution of the user-addressable text screen because graphics can overlay the status line as well.) The graphics controller allows panning the screen over the display memory, zooming, independentscrolling of different screen areas and other graphics functions. Alight pen can be used for input.[9]

Software

[edit]

Operating systems includedCP/M-86 andMS-DOS.[8][14][15]

APC III

[edit]
APC III
ManufacturerNippon Electric (NEC)
TypePersonal computer
Release date1984; 41 years ago (1984) (APC III)
Operating systemMS-DOS 2.11
CPU8086 @ 8 MHz
Memory128 kilobytes and higher
Removable storageFloppy discs
DisplayNTSC TV or monitor; 80 × 25 characters; 8 colors; 640 × 200, 640 × 400
GraphicsμPD7220
ConnectivityParallel port, RS-232 x1 with 2 more serial via an expansion card

TheAPC III[16] (Advanced Personal Computer) was released byNEC in 1984.[17][18] An update on the NEC APC II, which replaced the original NEC APC, all the NEC APC models utilized theIntel 8086 processor, unlike theIBM PC and clones.

The unit was physically smaller than an IBM-PC. The compact case included two 514" half-height disks (two floppies or one floppy and one hard disk), and space for standard options (hard disk controller, additional video memory). Special options (including additional system memory) required using expansion slots, of which four were available.

C-bus expansion cards (PCBs) could be inserted without removal of the exterior case, as was required for the IBM PC.[citation needed]

The entire computer could be disassembled to functional blocks (e.g.: expansion card cage, power supply, disk drive cage) with removal of a few easy access screws. Other components didn't even need a screwdriver, except for the outer case, by using robust plastic clips. The disk cage could be further disassembled if required.[citation needed]

As with the IBM PC, the maximum usable memory was 640 KB (the address range of theIntel 8088 and 8086 is 1 MB). The APC came with 128 KB standard.

Specification

[edit]
FeatureAPC-IIIIBM-PC
Speed8 MHz4.77 MHz
Resolution640 × 400640 × 200
Storage (floppy)720 KB (80 track, DD)320 KB (40 track, DD)

Hardware

[edit]

Interfaces

[edit]

RS-232 serial,Centronics parallel and video interfaces were built onto the motherboard, whereas expansion cards were required for almost every function of an IBM PC except for the CPU,BIOS and built-in RAM.[citation needed]

Display

[edit]

Maximum display capabilities were a text mode of80 × 25 characters (with four planes) and/or graphics at640 × 400 pixels (with two planes).[19] Either text, graphics, or graphics with text overlay were software selectable. The base one bit-per-pixel[citation needed] was easily upgradeable to three bits per pixel (taking the graphics mode from monochrome to either eight colours or eight shades of grey). The computer was capable of running monochrome (or grey) through an NTSC TV monitor, although this was not recommended (text reduced to40 × 20, graphics to640 × 200). Monochrome (usually green) or color screens were usually included in the price. The APC III's 'on-board' video controller meant that upgrades (other than internally mounted video memory) could not be achieved, and the display was stuck at640 × 400 with 8 colors.

The NEC APC series supported a proprietaryNEC APC character set and user-definable fonts in text mode.[citation needed]

Expansion bus

[edit]

The expansionbus supported 16-bit-wide data and 20-bit-wide address capability. By comparison, the original IBM supported an 8-bit data bus with 20-bit address, which was later revised to 16 data bits and 24 address bits in thePC AT.

The motherboard was designed to allow easy addition of an8087math co-processor.[citation needed]

Disk drives

[edit]

Most Australian units were shipped with 720 KB floppy disk drives (80 track, double density), although specifications imply the drives were only 360 KB[20] (40 track, DD). 360 KB disks were readable and writeable by 'double-stepping' the 720 KB drives.

Users could also purchase a hard disk expansion option. This was initially limited to the 10 MBST-506 hard disks. This capacity could be increased to 20 MB (but no higher) after upgrading toMS-DOS 3.1.[21]

The hard disk controller was only configured to operate a single internal hard disk. An external hard disk expansion port was available, so you could have two floppies and an external hard drive, or one floppy with an internal hard drive.

Operating systems

[edit]

Shipped standard withMS-DOS 2.11,[22] other operating systems were available, such as theUnix derivative,PC-UX. Later, MS DOS 3.1 was released for the APC.[citation needed]

Compatibility

[edit]

The APC III was not fully compatible with the IBM-PC, either on a hardware level (although some parts were compatible), or a software level (although again, some software was compatible).

Later on NEC released the SLE card, or 'Software Library Expander', that was essentially an IBM PC on an expansion board, although graphics was limited toCGA only, quite a step down from the native graphics.

The earlier penetration of the market saw PC clones adopt the IBM PC architecture. In the export markets, NEC fell into line with the 16-bitIBM-AT architecture and did not pursue the APC-III architecture any further.

APC IV

[edit]
APC IV
ManufacturerNippon Electric (NEC)
TypePersonal computer
Release date1986; 39 years ago (1986) (APC IV)
CPUIntel 80286 @ 10 MHz
Memory640 kilobytes to 1MB
StorageHard drive

The APC IV, released in 1986, was anIBM PC/AT clone that was not designed to be compatible with previous APC models.[23][24]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"NEC APC".www.ricomputermuseum.org. Retrieved2022-11-25.
  2. ^"Daves Old Computers - Nippon Electric Company - APC".Daves Old Computers.Archived from the original on 2021-04-20. Retrieved2021-11-02.
  3. ^田辺皓正, ed. (1983-04-30).マイクロコンピュータシリーズ15 8086マイクロコンピュータ (in Japanese). 丸善株式会社. p. 254.
  4. ^abc"DAVES OLD COMPUTERS- Nippon Electric Company - APC".dunfield.classiccmp.org. Retrieved2022-11-25.
  5. ^内田, 幸久; 田沼, 憲雄 (1983-03-21). "EDPの世界と親和性を持つパーソナル・コンピュータ用OS —PTOS EX—".Nikkei Computer (in Japanese).Nikkei McGraw-Hill:170–183.ISSN 0285-4619.
  6. ^Morgan, Chris (September 1982)."NCC Report".BYTE. pp. 58–61. Retrieved2024-12-29.
  7. ^"APC NEC".www.old-computers.com. Archived fromthe original on 2011-11-13. Retrieved2022-11-25.
  8. ^ab"Necis [sic] Joins 16-Bit Auction By Releasing APC System".Computerworld:45–46. 1982-05-31. (NB. The article contains an obvious transmission error, the company's name isNEC Information Systems, Inc., not Necis.)
  9. ^ab"NEC APC - Advanced Personal Computer".www.oldcomputers.net. 2021-11-05.Archived from the original on 2021-07-28. Retrieved2021-11-05.
  10. ^"NEC Information Systems Inc. (Lexington, Mass.)".Classic Tech. 2014-08-06.Archived from the original on 2021-10-26. Retrieved2021-11-05.
  11. ^APC Hard Disk Subsystem Reference Guide. Lexington, MA: NEC Information Systems, Inc. 1983.
  12. ^abAPC System Reference Guide (Revised - March 1983 ed.). Lexington, MA: NEC Information Systems, Inc. September 1982.
  13. ^Needle, David (21 Mar 1983)."NEC's 7220 GDC chip allows high-resolution color graphics".InfoWorld. Vol. 5, no. 12. p. 33.
  14. ^CP/M-86 User/Programmer's Guide. NEC Information Systems Inc. 1983.
  15. ^MS-DOS System Reference Guide. NEC Information Systems, Inc. 1983.
  16. ^"APC III NEC".www.old-computers.com. Retrieved2022-11-25.
  17. ^"日電、パソコンの対米輸出に本腰、ソフトは現地社から、TVなどで大規模宣伝も。" [NEC is now committed to breaking into the U.S. with their PC . Its software will be available from the U.S. subsidiary and the advert will be broadcast widely.].日本経済新聞 (The Nikkei) (in Japanese). 日本経済新聞社. 1984-07-09. p. 11.NEC has released the APC-3 in the United States. Its features are similar to the PC-9800 series.
  18. ^InfoWorld. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. 1985-02-25.
  19. ^"APC-III System Reference Guide, Section 4 (Display Controllers)", NEC Information Systems March 1985
  20. ^"APC-III System Reference Guide, Section 1 (Hardware Overview)", NEC Information Systems March 1985
  21. ^"APC-III System Reference Guide, Section 2 (System Board) Figure 2.21 (hand-written notes)", NEC Information Systems March 1985
  22. ^NEC APC III, n.d., retrieved2022-11-25
  23. ^"Competing at the Top: High-Performance ATs".PC Magazine. Vol. 6, no. 2. 1987-02-21. pp. 194–195. Retrieved2021-11-05.
  24. ^InfoWorld. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. 1986-10-06.

Further reading

[edit]
  • "NEC APC-III Owner's Guide", NEC Corporation August 1994.

External links

[edit]
NEC computers
Personal computers
Supercomputers
SX series
SX-related topics
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