The PC-100 was a leading-edge personal computer, which had a mouse-driven graphical user interface and for which NEC, for the first time, used MS-DOS as its standard operating system.
The PC-100 had spreadsheet, word-processing, and other applications incorporated from the beginning by NEC, because the system was so unique and third-party commercial applications were not readily available when the computer was first released. One of these bundled applications was JS-WORD by JustSystem, which later created the“Ichitaro”family of Japanese word-processing software. Word-processing software with mouse-controlled editing was revolutionary at the time.
The PC-100 could not run the applications as the same generation’s hit series of NEC’s PC-9800 series, and thus it was not commercially a huge success. Nevertheless, the PC-100 was so advanced in technology wise—for example the mouse-based graphical user interface or the high-resolution display unit which could be placed in either vertical- or horizontal-way — that it took in advance the future PC trends.
| CPU | 7 MHzμPD8086-2 (Intel 8086 compatible) |
|---|---|
| ROM | Equipped with 32 KB standard |
| Main RAM | Equipped with 128 KB standard |
| VRAM | Equipped with 128 KB standard |
| Image output | Display in landscape orientation Text (displaying letters, numbers, and kana characters): 80 characters x 25 lines, 90 characters x 25 lines, 90 characters x 32 lines, 120 characters x 64 lines Text (Japanese display): 80 characters x 25 lines, 90 characters x 25 lines Graphics: 720 x 512 pixels (1024 x 1024 pixels in VRAM space) Display in portrait orientation Text (displaying letters, numbers, and kana characters): 64 characters x 45 lines, 85 characters x 45 lines, 85 characters x 90 lines Text (Japanese display): 64 characters x 45 lines Graphics: 512 x 720 pixels (1024 x 1024 pixels in VRAM space) Display colors Models 10 and 20: Monochrome (16 specified colors from 512 colors when a color board was installed) Model 30: Color (16 specified colors from 512 colors) |
