National JR-100

Summary

In the 1980s Matsushita Electric (from 2008 Panasonic) produced the JR home computer series with the JR-100, JR-200, JR-300 and JR-800. In 1981 the National JR-100, which is only available in New Zealand outside Japan, started.

The distinctive rubber keyboard has 45 keys, each with up to five functions. Inside, the Motorola 6802-compatible MN 1800A CPU runs the built-in BASIC interpreter at 0.890 MHz. There is 16 KiB of memory. In text mode, the computer displays 32 × 24 monochrome characters, and a built-in beeper produces different pitches. A cassette recorder connects through a jack socket.

The japanexclusive JR-U05 extension brings a joystick and RS-232 interface and extends the JR-100 with an additional 16 KiB to the maximum memory capacity of 32 KiB.

Only the direct successor of the JR-100 will receive a version designed for the western market as Panasonic JR-200U.