Fujitsu's PC 40-year story [3] "FM-7" pushed up to "8-bit Gojin Family"

1982 (Showa 57) 8-bit PC "FM-7 (FUJITSU MICRO 7)" released on November 8

Along with the product announcement of the FM-7 and FM-11, the FM-8 has also been enhanced.Fujitsu has a lineup of three computers that can be said to be "Shochiku Ume".At this time, it was also announced that Tamori would be appointed as the image character of the FM series.

From the outside, the FM-7, which is the lower model of the FM-8, is a standard strategy as a lineup expansion.On the other hand, the FM-11, which steps up from 8-bit to 16-bit, seems to have a major hurdle in commercialization in terms of technological innovation, but for the development team at the time, it is rather an FM-7.It was a model that urged a big decision.

Originally, the FM-8 has been focusing on high performance, aiming for a computer like Fujitsu, and has launched a market as a PC that can be used for business use.In order to achieve high performance, the release time was delayed by about two years compared to competitors, and finally the market has been launched.

Nevertheless, in the new product FM-7, it was forced to decide to change the concept of a product that was strongly aware of home use, as much as possible, the expandability that had been struggled with the FM-8.。Specifically, the RS-232C connector equipped with the FM-8 and an extension slot for 8-inch floppy disk drive are omitted.The FM-8, called the "heavy tank", was reborn in the FM-7 as a lighter sports car.

The price of the FM-7 is 126,000 yen.The price setting, which is cheap from 218,000 yen to 92,000 yen of the FM-8, naturally attracted a big topic.Of course, it is not just a product that has been reduced.The development team has stepped up to avoid eliminating Fujitsu.

The biggest point is the LSI equipped with a newly developed pallet function.As a result, high -speed processing is realized on the 8 color screen.The graphic function was greatly enhanced, such as optimizing the display of games.

The 16-bit machine FM-11, which was released at the same time as the FM-7, has three models EX, AD, and ST.The top FM-11EX is equipped with an Intel-compatible 16-bit CPU "MBL8088" and a 8-bit CPU "MBL68B09E" compatible with Motorola.In addition, an optional Z80 card (CPU card) was prepared so that in addition to the use as a 16-bit personal computer, the software assets developed for the FM-8 could be used.

From the integrated structure of the conventional body and the keyboard, each of them is designed to be separated, and the OS is equipped with CP/M-86 as standard.The work calculation program FMCALC is also equipped as standard, saying that "expensive software can be obtained at the hardware price alone and can be used from the day of the introduction."The fact that the OS was bundled with hardware and provided in hardware (and price) was also attracting attention.By the way, looking back at the successive PCs of Fujitsu, many products come with many applications at the time of purchase, but it seems that this has been going on since this era.

To the corner of the "8 -bit Goryo Family"

After the release, it was the FM-7 that expanded its sales at once.As a result, the low -priced route on the entire Japanese PC market was ignited, raising Fujitsu's position at a stretch.He was overtaken by Hitachi from among the three prior three companies, and he decided to play a corner of the "8-bit Mika" along with the NEC PC-8801 series and Sharp's X1 series.It was called "Sanke").

It is ironic that Fujitsu's personal computer business, which pursued high functionality with the FM-8, was taken off by the low-cost route FM-7, but the 8-bit personal computer market in 1983 was FM-.There was so much momentum that some people involved in the industry who said that they moved around 7.

At that time, Masain Afuku, who had undergone the semiconductor business division that developed the FM-7, recalled that "I thought I should go 100,000 units in total," but the FM-7 was in 1984 in 1984.The cumulative shipment number of 220,000 units was recorded by the end of the month production.It became a hit product that represents the dawn of Japan in Japan.

Entering MSX

As the price of PCs has progressed with the FM-7, a PC of the "MSX" standard has appeared.MSX is a common standard proposed by Microsoft and ASCII.At that time, the application that operates for each manufacturer or model has different applications, but the major feature of the MSX standard, regardless of the manufacturer or model, the same application was moved in any MSX PC.

More than 10 companies, including home appliance manufacturers such as Sony and Matsushita Electric Industries (now Panasonic), have entered MSX one after another.On November 1, 1983, Fujitsu released the FM-X, which is based on the MSX standard.The price of FM-X is 49.It was 800 yen.NEC and Sharp, who had already built the ground in Japan, had forgotten the entry, and only Fujitsu entered the MSX among the "8 -bit Gojinke", but did not include a pure MSX standard computer.

The FM-X used the optional FM-7 interface to connect to the FM-7.This supports high -speed display of color graphics that cannot be tasted with MSX with sprite function and smooth animation production.

In addition, 8 octave and 3-weighted stereo sounds by two PSGs (program sound generators), borrow FM-7 RAM, increase the user area of FM-X to 32KB, and use the FM-7 printer.-The expansion elements were given.In cooperation with the FM-7, it was an MSX PC that aimed to differentiate from other companies.

In conjunction with the launch of the FM-X, Fujitsu had been conducting a monitor campaign that could use the FM-X for one year for users (limited to 200 people) who purchased the FM-7.It is an unusual campaign that you can use another computer if you buy a personal computer.The cooperation of these two models was a unique feature of Fujitsu, not in other MSX.MSX-compliant personal computers were commercialized until the 1990s ( *), but Fujitsu has withdrawn only with one model of FM-X.

* The final standard was "MSXTURBOR" announced in 1990, and only Matsushita Electric Industries (now Panasonic) launched a compatible computer for general consumers.

FM-7 genealogy

The successor to the FM-7, which became a huge hit, was the popular version of the popular version of the FM-NEW7 and the "FM-77", which was announced on May 10, 1984.The news release at that time was added to the strong words that "I am convinced that the FM-7 series will make the Standard model of 8-bit more immovable by this announcement."It's a confident work.

The FM-NEW7 maintained full compatibility with the FM-7 and used more than 1,000 types of applications and peripherals that had been released.In addition, high -performance memory and gate array are used to achieve high performance.The price was 99,800 yen, further lowered.

On the other hand, the FM-77 enhances ease of use and expandability.In addition to the maximum graphic performance compared to the FM-7, by connecting the optional super-in-paused unit, letters and graphic patterns could be synthesized in videos such as TVs.The pursuit of these graphic functions will be inherited by the successor FM77AV.The price of the FM-77 was from 198,000 yen.

In the FM-77, new 3.The feature is that it is equipped with a 5 -inch floppy disk drive.However, he said that he had a lot of trouble inside the company.With new media, existing 5 -inch floppy disk software cannot be used.It was unknown how much new media could be accepted in the market.

It was said that there was also a challenge whether the procurement of the drive would be in time.The development team was 3 in January 1984.The 5 -inch floppy disk drive once returned to a blank paper, so you can see that you were worried.

Eventually 3.We decided to install a 5 -inch floppy disk drive.The reason is that "the attitude of a leader company is to challenge new things."The FM-7 will be the leader in the 8-bit PC market and will lead the market in the FM-77..It has led to a 5 -inch floppy disk drive.