 | This article has multiple issues. Please helpimprove it or discuss these issues on thetalk page.(Learn how and when to remove these messages) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
|
 | |
 FM Towns Model 2F | |
| Developer | Fujitsu |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Fujitsu |
| Product family | FM Towns |
| Generation | Fourth Generation |
| Release date |
|
| Lifespan | 1989–1997 |
| Discontinued | Summer 1997 |
| Units sold | 500,000[1] |
| Media | Compact disc |
| Operating system | Towns OS,Windows 3.1,Windows 95 |
| CPU | Intel 386DX @ 16 MHz |
| Display | 320×200 - 720×512 resolutions, 256 colors on-screen out of a palette of32 768 |
| Graphics | Fujitsu custom graphics chip |
| Sound | Ricoh RF5c68 Yamaha YM2612 |
| Power | 100 VAC ～ |
| Related | FM Towns Marty |
TheFM Towns (Japanese:エフエムタウンズ,Hepburn:Efu Emu Taunzu) is a Japanesepersonal computer built byFujitsu from 1989 to 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended formultimedia applications andPC games, but later became more compatible withIBM PC compatibles. In 1993, theFM Towns Marty was released; it is agame console compatible with existing FM Towns games.
The "FM" part of the name means "Fujitsu Micro" like their earlier products, while the "Towns" part is derived from the code name the system was assigned while in development, "Townes". This refers toCharles Townes, one of the winners of the 1964Nobel Prize in Physics, following a custom of Fujitsu at the time to code name PC products afterNobel Prize winners. The e in "Townes" was dropped when the system went into production to make it clearer that the term was to be pronounced like the word "towns" rather than the potential "tow-nes".[2]
Fujitsu decided to release a new home computer after theFM-7 was technologically overcome byNEC'sPC-8801. During the life of the FM-7, Fujitsu learnt that software sales drove hardware sales, and in order to acquire usable software quickly, the new computer was to be based on Fujitsu's "FMR50" system architecture. The FMR50 system, released at 1986, was anotherx86/DOS-based computer similar to NEC's popularPC-9801. The FMR50 computers were sold with moderate success in Japanese offices, particularly in Japanese government offices. There were hundreds of software packages available for the FMR, includingLotus 1-2-3,WordStar,Multiplan, anddBASE III. With this basis of compatibility, the more multimedia-friendly FM Towns was created.
NEC's PC-9801 computers were widespread and dominated in the 1980s, at one point reaching 70% of the 16/32-bit computer market, but the early models had limited graphics (640×400 with 16 of 4096 colors) and sounds (4-operator/3 voice monaural FM sounds + 3 channel SSG sounds). Just asCommodore saw an opening for theAmiga in some global markets against theIBM PC, a computer with improved graphics and sound was considered to overcome the PC-9801 in the home-use field in Japan.
With many multimedia innovations for its time, the FM Towns was that system, though for a number of reasons it never broke far beyond the boundaries of its niche market status.
Eventually, the FM Towns lost much of its uniqueness by adding aDOS/V (PC clone plus DOS with native Japanese language support) compatibility mode switch, until Fujitsu finally discontinued making FM Towns specific hardware and software and moved to focus on theIBM PC clones (Fujitsu FMV) that many Japanese manufacturers - who previously were not players in the PC market - were building by the mid to late 1990s. To this day, Fujitsu is known for its laptop PCs globally, and FM Towns (and Marty) users have been relegated to a small community of aficionados.
Several variants were built; the first system (FM TOWNS model1 and model2) is based on anIntel80386DX processor running at a clock speed of 16MHz, with the option of adding an80387FPU, features one or twomegabytes ofRAM (with a possible maximum of 6 MB), one or two 3.5"floppy disk drives, aPCMCIA memory card slot and a single-speedCD-ROM drive. Its package includes agamepad, amouse and amicrophone.
The earlier, more distinctive models featuring a vertical CD-ROM tray on the front of the case (model1, model2, 1F, 2F, 1H, 2H, 10F and 20F) were often referred to as the "Gray" Towns, and were the ones most directly associated with the "FM Towns" brand. Most featured 3 memory expansion slots and used 72-pinnon-paritySIMMs with a required timing of 100ns or less and a recommended timing of 60ns.
Hard drives are not standard equipment, and are not required for most uses. The OS is loaded from CD-ROM by default. ASCSICentronics 50/SCSI-1/Full-Pitch port is provided for connecting external SCSI disk drives, and is the most common way to connect a hard drive to an FM Towns PC. Although internal drives are rare, there is a hidden compartment with a SCSI 50-pin connector where a hard drive may be connected, but the power supply module does not typically provide the requiredMolex connector to power the drive.
The video output is 15 kHzRGB (though some programs used a 31 kHz mode) using the sameDB15 connector and pinouts as the PC-9801.
Theoperating system used isWindows 3.0/3.1/95 and a graphical OS called Towns OS, based onMS-DOS[3] and thePhar LapDOS extender (RUN386.EXE). Most games for the system were written inprotected modeAssembly andC using the Phar Lap DOS extender. These games usually utilize the Towns OS API (TBIOS) for handling several graphic modes, sprites, sounds, a mouse, gamepads, and CD-audio.
The FM Towns is capable of booting its graphical Towns OS straight from CD in 1989 - two years beforeAmiga CDTV booted its GUI-basedAmigaOS 1.3 from internal CD drive and the CD-bootableSystem 7 was released for theMacintosh in 1991, and five years before theEl Torito specification standardized boot-CDs on IBM PC compatibles in 1994.
To boot the system fromCD-ROM, the FM TOWNS has a "hidden C:"ROM drive in which a minimumMS-DOS system, CD-ROM driver andMSCDEX.EXE are installed. This minimalDOS system runs first, and the DOS system reads and executes the Towns OSIPL stored in CD-ROM after that. The Towns OS CD-ROM has an IPL, MS-DOS system (IO.SYS), DOS extender, and TownsAPI (TBIOS).
A minimal DOS system that allows the CD-ROM drive to be accessed is contained in a systemROM; this, coupled with Fujitsu's decision to charge only a minimal license fee for the inclusion of a bare-bones Towns OS on game CD-ROMs, allows game developers to make games bootable directly from CD-ROM without the need for a boot floppy or hard disk.
VariousLinux andBSD distributions have also been ported to the FM Towns system, includingDebian andGentoo.[4][5]
The FM Towns features a custom Fujitsu graphics chip, enabling video modes ranging from 320×200 to 720×512 resolutions,[6][2] with 16 to 32,768 simultaneous colors out of a possible 4096 to 16 million (depending on the video mode); most of these video modes have twomemorypages, and it allows the use of up to 1024sprites of 16×16 pixels each. It also has a built-in fontROM for the display ofkanji characters.
The system has the ability to overlay different video modes; for example, the 320×200 video mode with 32,768 colors can be overlaid with a 640×480 mode using 16 colors, which allows games to combine high-color graphics with high-resolution kanji text.
It uses 640KB ofvideo RAM, including 512 KBVRAM and 128 KBsprite RAM.[7]
Up to two graphical layers can be overlaid, whether it is twobitmap layers, or the sprite layer with a bitmap background layer. The latter is useful foraction games, though the sprite function is not as advanced as that of rival32-bit computer, theSharp X68000.[2] When the sprite layer is used, it is rendered to VRAM layer 1 on top, with the bitmap background as VRAM layer 0 below. When two bitmap layers are used, then both are rendered to VRAM layers 0 and 1.[6]
.jpg)
The following is a list of models and the CPUs they contain from the factory:
FMV Towns[9]
The FM Towns system is able to play regularaudio CDs, and also supports the use of 8PCM voices and 6FM channels, using theRicoh RF5c68 andYamaha YM2612 sound chips, respectively. The system has ports in the front to accommodatekaraoke, LEDs to indicate volume level, and software to add popular voice-altering effects such as echoes.
Games on the FM Towns regularly useRed Book Audio CD music tracks, especially if they are designed specifically for the Fujitsu system. Games ported from the PC-9801, for instance, might have used only PCM/FM music. This was a novelty and innovation far ahead of other PCs of the time made possible by the standard CD-ROM drive found in every FM Towns computer.
TheRicoh RF5c68 is an eight-channelsound chip developed byRicoh. It is notably used in Fujitsu's FM Towns computer series, along withSega'sSystem 18 andSystem 32arcade gamesystem boards.[10]
The RF5c68 supports eight 8-bitPCM channels, with 19.6kHz[11] or variablesampling rate.Audio bit depth ranges from8-bit to10-bit.[11][12]
| Divisions and subsidiaries |
|  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joint ventures and shareholdings |
| |||||
| Products, services and standards |
| |||||
| People | ||||||
| Places | ||||||
| Other | ||||||
