Published on Dec. 6, 2007
Last updated on Sep. 4, 2023
This was a personal Japanese language word processor from Fujitsu, which was announced in November 1986. Fujitsu already had the OASYS Lite Series of portable word processors, but customer needs diversified with the dissemination of word processors. To meet these diverse needs, the OASYS Lite F-ROM (pronounce "Frahm") Series controlled cost increases and enabled functional extension by introducing the new concept of separately supplying the word processor main unit and the expansion software (which was provided on dedicated IC cards). With the OASYS 30AF announced at the same time, this was the first personal word processor capable of personal computer communications. The F-ROM7 was a mass-market model with integrated printer and floppy disk and the F-ROM9 was a model with a separate printer which achieved light weight and compactness. Machines in the F-ROM Series had the following features:
(1) They were equipped with a large, tilted liquid crystal screen (Lite F-ROM7: 40 char. x 5 line, Lite F-ROM9: 40 char.x 10 line).
(2) They were equipped with a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive, which could store a maximum of 230,000 characters (approx. 190 A4 pages).
(3) Capabilities could be expanded by using two F-ROM cards
Numerous F-ROM cards offered a wealth of character types (Minchotai, Gothic, textbook font, brush font, rounded characters etc.), postcard address printing software, and RAM cards for documents.
(4) Personal computer communications, using a modem or coupler, was offered for the first time.
(5) They were equipped with a sorting function, search function and arithmetic operation function.
Subsequently, Fujitsu announced the OASYS Lite F-ROM 9MD, with built-in modem, the enhanced F-ROM8 in May 1987, the F-ROM10 in October 1987, and the F-ROM10S, F-ROM11 and F-ROM11D in June 1988. A liquid crystal display with backlight was used in the F-ROM11D.
| Model | OASYS Lite FROM7 | OASYS Lite FROM9 | OASYS Lite FROM11D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Announcement date | November 1986 | June 1988 | ||
| Type | Integrated printer | Separate printer | Integrated printer | |
| Input system | Interactive kana-kanji automatic conversion system, phrase input, most recent use priority learning system (with save function) | |||
| Keyboard | Thumb shift keyboard, Japanese "50 sounds" keyboard (optional) | Thumb shift keyboard, JIS layout "hiragana" keyboard | ||
| Display | Type | Tilted liquid crystal display | Tilted liquid crystal display with backlight | |
| Number of characters | 40char x 5line (including one message line) | 40char x 10line (including one message line) | 40char x 10line (including one message line) | |
| Documents | In main unit | 7,200char | 33,600char | |
| Floppy disks | 3.5inch floppy disk x1, standard equipment: Approx. 230,000char | |||
| Vocabulary dictionary | General vocabulary: Approx. 40,000word, User stored: Approx. 200word (800word in the F-ROM11D) | |||
| Printer | B4 24dot, thermal transfer, postcard printing capable | |||
| Weight | 5.1kg | Main unit: Approx. 2.3kg, Printer Approx. 2.0kg |
Approx. 5.1kg | |
| Power supply | Battery drive (4 "D" batteries) or AC100V | Main unit: Battery drive (4 "C" batteries) or AC100V Battery drive (4 "D" batteries) or AC100V |
Lead battery or AC100V | |
(Note) The above specifications are from the time of announcement, and may have been changed due to later improvement.
