The Sharp PC-7000: A Middle-of-the-Road Machine from the 80s
As I sat down to work on this old Sharp PC-7000, I was reminded of the numerous portable PCs I used as a kid. My parents' friend had an old machine that he would occasionally bring over and let me play with, and it always brought back memories of lazy summer afternoons spent playing games like Flight Simulator 2.0.
The PC-7000 itself is a decent machine for its time, with a compact design and a rugged build that makes it suitable for on-the-go use. But what really sets it apart is its potential. Despite being released in the middle of the 80s, this machine had some key upgrades that made it a capable desktop replacement. For example, some later variants replaced one of the floppy drives with a 10 or 20 megabyte drive, giving the system some serious processing power.
One of the things I was most excited to explore was the PC-7000's keyboard and switch setup. As it turns out, this machine uses linear Alps keyswitches, which were commonly found on Japanese MSX systems back in the day. While they don't feel as great today as they did when new, they're still an interesting piece of computer history. And getting inside the PC-7000 to take a closer look at its motherboard and components was surprisingly easy.
The motherboard itself is a crowded but tidy affair, with plenty of room for upgrade options like adding more RAM or swapping out the CPU for something faster. One notable feature is the presence of an 8087 co-processor socket, which suggests that this machine had some serious processing power beneath the surface. Of course, we'll have to see how it performs in real-world tests to confirm just how capable it was.
Despite its potential, the PC-7000 isn't without its limitations. With only 320KB of RAM and no hard drive, it's not exactly a powerhouse by today's standards. And if you're looking for a machine that can run modern games or applications, this won't be it. But as an MS-DOS machine from the late 80s, the PC-7000 is still plenty capable.
I spent some time testing out the PC-7000 with some of my favorite old games, including Sierra AGI adventures like Pharaoh's Tomb and Digger, Burgertime, and Bouncing Babies. To my surprise, most of these games worked perfectly on this machine, with only a few exceptions due to the low resolution trickery used at the time. It was great to see that some of these classic titles still hold up today.
One of the most nostalgic aspects of working with the PC-7000 is the LCD panel itself. The old EL backlit display is a relic from another era, and it's amazing how much it reminds me of my childhood. I spent hours playing games on this kind of display when I was younger, and seeing it again brought back all sorts of memories.
As I continued to work on the PC-7000, I couldn't help but think about its place in the history of portable PCs. Released in the middle of the 80s, this machine sold well and became a staple in many people's homes and offices. It may not have been the most powerful machine out there at the time, but it was certainly capable enough for most users.
If I were to recommend an upgrade to this machine, I would suggest adding a hard drive and perhaps a CRT adapter to plug it into a real monitor. With these additions, the PC-7000 would become a proper desktop replacement and have serious processing power. Of course, it's not exactly a laptop, but as a portable machine, it has its own charm.
As I wrap up my work on this old machine, I'm reminded of just how much I enjoy working with retro hardware like this. It's a fun challenge to figure out what makes these machines tick and how they can be used today. And who knows? Maybe one day we'll see more of these classic portable PCs being brought back to life for modern audiences.
Thanks for joining me on this journey into the world of old computers! If you enjoyed this article, be sure to stick around for more content like it in the future.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWell, isn’t this neat!Greetings, folks, and y’know what?Sometimes you’ve just gotta reset and goback to the 1980s with your computing experience.Or at least I do.And the experience I’m interested in todayis this lovely cinder block of a system, theSharp PC-7000, selling for $1,795 upon itsintroduction to the US by Sharp Electronicsin October of 1985.A portable machine from the days when storagewas measured in kilobytes, color graphicsweren’t a priority, and batteries weren’teven a consideration here.Sure, slimmer, lighter, battery-powered portablesexisted.But if you wanted a proper IBM PC-compatibleto take with you on a trip in ‘85, chancesare you’d choose a luggable like this.Which, believe it or not, was on the lessridiculous side of things,in terms of size and weight.Chunky next to more modern machines, no question,but relative to some of its contemporaries?The thing was downright slim.Compare it to something like the IBM PortablePC 5155 released a year prior, which was closerin size to a sewing machine than the lunchboxlook of the PC-7000.Not only that, but the IBM was too large forthe new 1985 FAA carry-on luggage size restrictions.The Sharp, however, conformed nicely, measuringroughly 16 by 8.5 by 6 inches,well within airline stipulations.And though it weighed 2/3rds less than certaincompetitors, it still had some heft, weighing21.5 pounds or 9.3 kilograms, including thekeyboard.But yeah, it’s a short and wide little thingand I enjoy its company,so let’s take a closer look!Which we can do thanks to LGR viewer Woodywho kindly sent it this way for the cost of shipping.He was under the impression it was unused,but ehh, I have doubts.There are scratches, stains, and signs ofwear in the spots you’d most expect, plusthis decidedly not stock strip of...tactical Velcro.All pointing towards a previous life of service.But whoever first used it certainly kept itin great shape over the decades, with thingslike the serial port still having its protectivecap installed, and the carrying handle stillwrapped up in what I assume is its originalplastic wrapping.Really, beyond a few nicks and scuffs it shouldclean up well!So lemme go ahead and do that before movingon, because after nearly 38 years,I think this PC-7000 deserves a bath.Oh heck yeah, and with that we have a significantlycleaner system.I didn’t think it was too dirty, but afterseeing all the grime that wiped off and scrapedout of those crevices, I’m feeling muchbetter.There’s just one thing that remains, andy’know what?I know this may have been here over threedecades, but it’s MINE now dang it, andI wanna caress that handle.Ahh much better.A little wipe down of the residue and wowdoes this feel fresh.As does the entire PC, just in general, evenbefore the cleaning!I’ll admit the single biggest reason I tookthis thing in was due to its shape, its formfactor, its overall style and pizzazz.I’d say it’s quite sharp-looking but that’stoo on the nose,so uh, I’m gonna go with “spiffy.”This is a spiffy system, and even if it didn’twork, I’d be happy to have it sittin’ aroundbeing awesome.And part of that awesomeness can be attributedto Vadem Limited out of San Jose, California.An ODM company that Sharp brought on to co-designaspects of the PC-7000 back in the day.The same Vadem that had previously designedthe Morrow Pivot, which somewhat evolved intothe Zenith Z-170 – a direct competitor tothe 7000.I don’t have any big point to make hereI just find it amusing.And I think they did a nice job, with a moreappealing look than the Pivot, and a betterdesign than its predecessor, the 1984 SharpPC-5000.That was their first computer targeted forsale in the US, and while its clamshell designwas sweet, that skinny little 8-line LCD wasa real hindrance.So the 7000’s larger 10.5” STN monochromeLCD was a solid improvement,while still leaving much to be desired.On the positive side, it was illuminated,with electroluminescent, or EL, backlightingmaking it glow bluish green.Kinda like a souped-up version of Timex Indiglo,if you ever had one of those watches.It also adjusted to 5, 10, and 15 degree angles,allowing for better viewingdepending on where your head’s at.And the 2.1:1 aspect ratio could display upto 640x200 graphics or 80x25 characters intext mode, ideal for DOS, word processing,and spreadsheets.But while having backlighting is nice, lowcontrast is not,and boy is this some low contrast.Adjusting the wheel above the tilt controllets you waft between contrast that’s alwayssomehow too high and too low at the same time,and it gets worsedepending on ambient room lighting.This was improved on the PC-7100, but hereit’s just kinda blah.Inverting the display helps at times, buttruthfullyit’s just an alternative style of bad.Oh well, at least the rest of the hardwarewas pretty darned decent for 1985, startingwith the processor, an Intel 8086-2 runningat 4.77 or 7.37MHz.Along with 384KB of RAM, though it’s limitedto less than that to the user.As well as graphics that can switch betweenMDA and CGA,both in monochrome through the built-in display of course.And dual 5.25” 360K floppy drives, slimones at that, being packed inside a rathersmall space narrower than a single full heightdrive.Around back is the PSU taking standard IECpower cords, a spot for the $255 CRT adapterupgrade with RGB output, 25-pin parallel andserial ports,and another spot for the $349 1200 bps modem upgrade.There was also the $399 CE-700P thermal printer,which would neatly snap in place on the backof the system for transportation and storage.Though it did have to be disconnected to beused, unlike some other systems with bolt-onprinters that printed while attached.On the left-hand side is a lovely power switch,up top is the carrying handle, and on bottomis an interface for Sharp’s CE-710E expansionunit, which added a hard drive and three ISAexpansion slots, creating a real tower ofpower situation.So yeah, no hard drive was included normally,but it did come with MS-DOS version 2.11 onfloppy disk. Something this didn’t haveso I grabbed a copy online.It’s a slightly customized version of DOSwith some small additions.Namely the Sharp diagnostic program that performsa variety of tests on the PC-7000 and makessure everything’s in fine working order.Even cooler is the built-in setup program,accessible via this dedicated keyboard key.Anytime you need to change system settings,you can press that button and enter the menu,which lets you do stuff like change displaysettings, serial and parallel options, CPUspeed, time, date, and so on.This kinda thing in ROM was not a guaranteeback in ‘85, so it’s a welcome inclusion.And of course, along the front of the machineis where the keyboard clips in place, attachingto the system and protecting the LCD whenstored,and easily detaching when you need it.The coiled keyboard cable packs into thislittle slot, with RJ-11 jacks on either end.It’s more custom than that though, withthe pinout and wiringdiffering from a standard phone cable.The board itself is pretty decent, with 84full travel keys and a layout similar to thePC/AT just with function keys along top, anoverlay row above those, and backslash tothe left of Backspace allowing for a largerEnter.And the LED indicators for Caps, Scroll, andNum Lock are neatly built into the key switchesthemselves for each respective key.On that note, they’re all linear Alps keyswitches,with both SKFL and integrated domeround slider style switches underneath.Same as you found on a number of JapaneseMSX systems back then.They don’t feel great, and no doubt needa deeper cleaning, but even at their bestI’m not a huge fan of this type of lighter-weightlinear switch.Getting inside the PC-7000 is simple enough,just remove a few screws and the whole backpanel comes off, revealing a crowded yet tidymotherboard.Here you can see that 8086-2 CPU and its co-processorcompanion socket ready for an 8087.As well as the on-board RAM, which could actuallybe doubled to a total of 768K.There’s also the real time clock battery,which I really need to replacebut hey, it still works for now.And as mentioned earlier, this model had nohard disk.But later variants replaced one of the floppydrives with a 10 or 20 megabyte drive, givingthe system some real desktop replacement potential.And really, that describes the PC-7000 overall.Potential!In its base configuration, it might not havehad everything you’d ever need if you werea power user, but dang if it didn’t covera whole lotta bases for a lotta folks.It’s a properly capable MS-DOS PC, and itruns... not much, if we’re being honest.Especially with only 320KB RAMand no hard drive.But whatever, that’s half the charm thesedays, so I say enjoy for it what it does ratherthan lament what it doesn’t.Like hey, Flight Simulator 2.0 works great!Always a good test of IBM PC compatibility,and being able to fly around a deeply disappointingChicago skyline on this thing is a treat.And so long as you fall within RAM and CPUrestrictions, a number of late 80s titleswork as well, from Sierra AGI adventures toWheel of Fortune.It’s a good time, no alcohol required.And of course there are no shortage of early80s CGA and MDA classics to boot up and enjoy,from Tetris to Digger, Burgertime to BouncingBabies.Sadly some of my CGA favorites, like Round42 and Paku Paku, do not work.They half start up, but due to the modifiedlow res trickery being utilized,it’s graphically messed up enough to be unplayable.But that’s an exception, thankfully.And games like Pharaoh’s Tomb, and otherCGA shareware classics, work just fine.This is not far off from how I played it backin the day at my aunt and uncle’s place,so it’s oddly nostalgic stuff.Mm, this kind of EL backlit LCD panel withits smeary low contrast imagery never failsto take me back.I may have grown up in the 90s, but obsoletehand-me-down machines like this were nevertoo far away, it seemed like there was alwayssome cousin, some friend of the family, someweird dude who showed up to live in your basementthat had an obsolete PC kickin’ around andwas like “hey kid, wanna try some DOS?”Can’t have only been me, right?I dunno my childhood got weird, filled withstrange individuals loaning out even strangercomputers, slowly molding me into the LGRI am today.And that is the Sharp PC-7000.A decidedly middle-of-the-road machine inthe middle of the 80s, but one that was easilyand continually recommended as a result.The thing sold well, in the hundreds of thousands,with new models featuring various integratedupgrades being sold until 1990.Not a bad run at all for a portable PC clone!It would have benefited greatly from an improvedLCD, and from what I’ve read even the 7100’simproved display wasn’t all that.But really, just add a hard drive and thatCRT adapter to plug it into a real monitor,and you’d have a system that would serveas a nice PC at home on a desk,and out on the road, on another desk.Like a hotel room or airport loungeor whatever, I dunno.It’s no laptop, that much is clear.But it is a lovely portable/luggable/lunchboxmachine for its time, and should you everrun across one for a nice price, I’d saysnatch it up!It provides a proper mid-80s portable PC experience,with all that entails.And if you enjoyed this computery retrospectivethen do stick around!Making stuff like this on LGR is just whatI do, and more is always in the works foryour future viewing pleasure.And as usual, thank you for watching!\n"
