NEC PC-8001

The PC-8000 series started in Japan during 1979 derived from the TK-80 hobbyist board from 1976. There is a confusing sequence of similar model numbers that follow this original PC-8001 release. They are summarized in the following table:

YEARMODELPROCESSORRAM (KB)TEXTNOTES
1979PC-8001μPD780C-1@4MHz16/3280×25160×100 (middle tier) [psuedo grx only]
More refined than the TRS-80 Model 1 (color CRT and style/quality) but not much more capable (semigraphics only).
1981PC-8801
aka
PC-88		μPD780C-1@4MHz6480×25N-mode (8001-compatibile)
(higher end) [detached keyboard]
“How many files?”
V1 grx (640×200 640×400 with varying color options)
Sort of like a base-model 16KB 5150.
1981PC-6001μPD780C-1@4MHz3232×16256×192 (lower end) + AY-3-8910 audio
“How Many Pages?” (sort of CoCo2 with C64-iike audio)
1982PC-9801µPD8086@5MHz12880×25640×400 (business machine)
[expand to 640KB] (two video chips)
1983PC-8001 mk IIμPD780C-1@4MHz6480×25320×200/640×200 N-BASIC N80-BASIC
includes more built-in IO support/disk support, but still needs PCG-8200

Across all these models, they share the same CRT/display options and disk drive peripherals. There was also a cable or adapter available to “normal televisions.”

A good reference to Japanese early personal computer development is here.

Some aspects about the PC-8001 specifically:

  • Uses a Z80-compatible CPU (NEC rebranded)
  • Uses Microsoft BASIC (style is similar to Commodore BASIC; quote-mode behaves differently — these tailings are refered to as “N-BASIC” for “NEC BASIC”)
  • Pressing “ESC” is like pressing PAUSE on this system
  • No CAPS LOCK but has a key to switch between “plain text” and Japanese characters
  • PC-8001A is the US version, PC-8001B is the UK version.

Software that I’ve tried:

  • The NEC stock demo software (tape)
  • 11x modern-makes game (from between 2021-2023) [WAV]
  • ALICE text adventure (tape)
  • Mario Special (PC-8001 Mk II only)

NEC PC-6082 / DR-320: So far PLAY button not working. Used a 2009 Toshiba laptop as substitute (laptop that still had audio plug interface).

For info on how I handled the BEEP speaker of a PC-8001 Mk II, refer to: Fixing the BEEP out of the NEC PC-8001 Mk II (plus Mario Special demo) (youtube.com)

Opened case, with and without the Power Supply installed:

GROUP 1: Survey of the mainboard.

GROUP 2:

GROUP 3:

NEC Data Recorder PC-6082 / DR-320

I received a PC-6082 cassette tape deck with the PC-8001. While the EJECT, FWD/REW buttons are working, the PLAY button is not. When I press PLAY, after a moment the unit appears to automatically press the STOP button (so it doesn’t stay PLAYing). Four screws on the bottom hold the lower half of the case in. Here are images of the interior of this PC-6082 tape unit:

Images of the PC-8001 system fully setup, loading one of the NEC sample programs.

While not completely necessary, this is what I used to down-convert from 115V to 100V.

NEC PC-8001 TERM-mode EXPOSED

For a discussion on getting RS232 and TERM command working on the NEC PC-8001 (just running 3 wires, no additional chips or hardware needed- other than the WiModem232-like device to act as the modem to WiFi bridge) see here.

Related video that describes the prep and result of that.

The main thing to know is this: From the internal 16-pin DIP socket that is exposed during the 8251 chip, you can run your own ribbon cable like this…

And once it is working, the supporting built in ROM software support is enabled like this:

console,,0,1         ; enable color (if using color output CRT)
width 80,25          ; 40col mode works, or can use 80col
color 6              ; yellow, or some interesting color
term a,0,1,0         ; ASCII 8-n-1 mode

During "term" you can press CTRL+B to exit back out to BASIC prompt.  Run "term" command again to resume the terminal.  On the PC-8001 MK II, use GRAPH+B instead.

The built in terminal is fairly limited (no ANSI, backspace support is non-standard or lacking). Some VT-52 commands might be supported (like clear screen), but it remains unclear on the exact terminal control codes that are supported.

The “term” command still works on the later model NEC PC-8001 MK II. In this setup, I am also using a newer WiModem232 Pro (the Pro version includes a set of red LED lights that show TX/RX and other pin activity). Note I had an issue in setting up the WiModem232, and it was eventually resolved after doing “AT*WIFI” to reset the device, followed later by “AT#WIFI!”

No internal 16-pin DIP adapter is needed on the PC-8001 MK II. Instead, you can use a regular DB25 cable or adapter at the back side of the system. That’s the main difference with the MK II: it eventually includes the I/O expansion built in (and the system has 64KB instead of only 32KB). The MK II does have some additional video modes, but is otherwise very backwards compatible with the regular NEC PC-8001.

AT*WIFI
(follow instructions, use your phone to connect to the WiModem and configure it)
AT#WIFI!     
(this may be necessary to fix "ERROR" showing up after doing ATDT; note the use of # instead of * and the "!" at the end)

In the Japanese version of the PC-8001 User’s Guide, it has some better diagrams of the pinout (compared to what I’ve seen in the English version of the User’s Guide).

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