NAME  

PC-5000

MANUFACTURER  

Sharp

TYPE  

Portable

ORIGIN  

Japan

YEAR  

1983

BUILT IN LANGUAGE 

Microsoft Basic 1.0

KEYBOARD  

Full-stroke 72 keys with 8 function keys and arrow keys (English, German and French versions)

CPU  

Intel 8088

SPEED  

4.77 MHz

RAM  

128k, up to 256k (Magnetic Bubble Memory, 64k and 128k modules)

ROM  

192k (64k system program + 128k for Basic/MS-DOS)

TEXT MODES 

80 chars x 8 lines (LCD screen)

GRAPHIC MODES 

640 x 80 dots

COLORS  

Monochrome

SOUND  

Beeper

SIZE / WEIGHT 

325 (W) x 305 (D) x 85 mm (H) / 4.5 Kg

I/O PORTS 

Bubble memory cartridge slot
Serial port (proprietary)
RS232c port
Bus expansion port
Tape-recorder

OS  

MS-DOS

POWER SUPPLY 

12vdc 850mA

PERIPHERALS  

Built-in thermal transfer printer (optional), double 5''1/4 disk-drive (360k), numeric keypad

PRICE  

3506 FF(France, 1985)
Ј1195 (U.K., 1984)
350 000 yens (Japan, 1985)

 

Sharp PC-5000

PC-5000

 The PC-5000 was the Sharps's first attempt to produce a laptop computer, and was one of the first clamshell style portable computers with the Grid Compass and the Gavilan.

So it is a clamshell style portable computer: when you open the PC-5000, the LCD screen (8 x 80) is lifted to reach its ''in-use'' position, and when you close the computer the screen tilts until it covers the keyboard.


There is an optional printer, which could be mounted into the case of the PC-5000.

The type of memory used here is quite special; it's magnetic bubble memories. The advantage is that it's quite fast and you can change the memory cartridges (64k or 128k each) in the computer. Thus you can reach 256k RAM, or you can insert applications stored on ROM modules. But the main drawback of theses memories is that there are very expensive.

The PC-5000 uses MS-DOS but is not really PC compatible, although Sharp tried to sell it by focusing on this point.

Some good software was available for the PC-5000, including Easy-Writer II (word processor), EasyComm (communications)and Easy-Planner (spreadsheet). They were sold together as the EasyPac (some sources say that Easy-Report was included). EasyMenu was the menu-interface built-in the PC-5000.