NEC PC-9801 and Epson PC Club

Summary

NEC released the PC-9801 in October 1982, establishing the PC-98 family that dominated Japan’s computer market for more than fifteen years. The first model uses a 5 MHz Intel 8086 and 128 KB RAM, displaying graphics at up to 640 × 400 pixels. There is a practical reason why it is not IBM-compatible: Japanese text requires thousands of kanji characters, beyond the graphics capabilities of contemporary IBM PCs. NEC therefore chose its own architecture, bus, BIOS and graphics, with a kanji ROM supplying the characters.

By late 1983, NEC held around half of Japan’s PC market, rising to more than 60 per cent in 1991. A total of 18.3 million machines shipped before production ended in 2004. The collection’s example is a later model, the PC-9801RX.

Epson began building compatible clones in 1987. NEC sued over the BIOS; Epson then wrote its own using clean-room methods, and the companies reached an agreement later that year. One such clone is the Epson PC Club, also in the collection.