【Fujitsu】 FM16β(Beta)

This was a Fujitsu's 16-bit personal computer for business use. Two types (the FD type and HD type) were announced in December of 1984 as successors of the FM-11EX (announced in November of 1982), the first 16-bit personal computer in the Fujitsu FM Series, and an enhanced version of the FM-11EX called the FM-11BS (announced in February 1984). These machines had the following features:

1. They were high-performance, low-cost personal computers, which led other companies in adopting the 80186 (clock frequency 8MHz)
2. 512KB high-capacity memory was provided as a standard feature by using 256 kilobit DRAM (max. 1 megabyte)
3. Achieved a drawing speed about 30 times faster than previous software processing by using custom LSI for graphics
4. JIS level 2 kanji (Chinese character) ROM was a standard feature, in addition to JIS level 1 (6,802 standard characters, including non-kanji)
5. Two types were provided: the FD type with two 1MB 5-inch mini floppy disk drives, and the HD type equipped with one 1MB mini floppy disk drive and a 10MB hard disk
6. Two types of keyboards were available to increase efficiency of Japanese language input (the JIS keyboard equipped with a conversion key at the thumb position, and a thumb shift keyboard)
7. Operating systems (OS) were: CP/M-86 with enhanced Japanese language features, Japanese language MS-DOS and 286-XENIX (At the time of announcement, only CP/M-86 could be used)
8. Compatibility at the BASIC level with the FM-11

The FM16β(Beta) FDII and HDII models equipped with the 80286 (clock frequency 8MHz) were added later (they were announced in 1986). These developed into the subsequent FM R Series.

For business use, there were the desk-top type FM16β, and the FM16π(PAI), an A4 size portable machine.