Matsushita JR series

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The Matsushita JR series was a line of 8-bit personal computers developed by Matsushita Communication Industrial Co., Ltd., a division of Matsushita Electric Industrial (now Panasonic). They were sold under Matsushita's 'National' and 'Panasonic' brands. Based on the success of the Sharp MZ and NEC PC-8000 series, these computers aimed primarily at the home computer and educational markets during the early 1980s.

Contents

The JR series included four computer models: the JR-100, [1] the JR-200, [2] [3] the JR-300 [4] and the JR-800. [5] All four models were sold under the 'National' brand; [6] [7] [8] [9] the JR-100 and JR-200U were also sold elsewhere under the 'Panasonic' name. [10] [11] [12]

The JR series found a strong foothold in Japanese schools, particularly the JR-200, which became a standard machine for teaching programming in BASIC.

JR-100

The National JR-100 [13] (sold in some markets as the Panasonic JR-100) [10] [11] was released on November 21, 1981, with a price of 54,800 yen. [14] It was the cheapest domestically produced personal computer at the time of its release.

Like the Hitachi Basic Master and Sharp MZ-80, it was a low-performance, low-priced personal computer offering basic semi-graphic character based graphics, a monochrome display, and minimal sound ability. The CPU was an 8-bit Panasonic MN1800A NMOS microprocessor [15] (compatible with the Motorola MC6802, a slightly improved version of the Motorola MC6800) running at a slow 0.89 MHz, and it came with 16 KB of RAM (expandable to 32 KB). [16] Compared to the cheaper imported Sinclair ZX81 (38,700 yen), the larger RAM on the JR100 made it possible to create better programs.

The computer case is angular and cream-colored, measuring 296mm wide x 154mm deep x 45mm high, being extremely compact. The green keyboard was made of rubber due to its low price, and was mockingly called the "eraser keyboard". It had a shortcut key function, allowing users to enter commands in one go. There was no space bar at the bottom, and the right shift key was replaced with a space bar.

Specifications:

JR-200

The National JR-200 [7] (also sold as the Panasonic JR-200U variant in some countries) [12] was released at the end of 1982 with a price of 79,800 yen. It was a higher-end model than the JR-100, but not compatible with this machine.

The JR-200 [2] [3] is made of silver grey plastic, and has a black matte area around the chiclet keyboard area. It used the same MN1800A CPU as the previous model, but added a second processor, the 4-bit MN1544CJR, [17] which is used for I/O and contains 128 bytes of RAM plus four kilobytes of ROM.

The computer received favorable reviews on its launch. Creative Computing wrote "The Panasonic JR-200 is one of the nicest new computers to make the scene in some time." [18]

Specifications

International Variants

Versions of the JR-200 were developed for the North American and European markets and announced in January 1983: [20]

JR-300

The National JR-300, [8] [4] released in 1984 with a price of 159,000 yen, was completely redesigned in comparison with the earlier JR-100 and JR-200 models. The JR-300 was a hybrid 8/16-bit machine, having a Zilog Z80A CPU as well as a second MN1800A CPU to allow backwards compatibility with the JR-200. [4]

It was advertised as "PC & TV 300" and came standard with a genlock function. A dedicated display (TH15-M300) was available for this. The size and design are similar to the Matsushita MSX machines with separate keyboard.

The JR-300 was primarily delivered to schools as an educational computer, and only a very limited number of machines were released to the general public.

Specifications

JR-800

A handheld model called the National JR-800 [9] was launched in 1983 with a price of 128,000 yen, [21] but it was not compatible with the previous JR computers. [5] It was based around a Hitachi HD63A01V CPU [22] (MC6801 compatible) running at 4.9152 MHz, with 16 KB of RAM, and featured a 192 × 64 pixel LCD screen. [23]

It was a B5 sized handheld computer, powered by four AA batteries or an AC adapter. A dedicated portable printer, the JR-P20, was also released.

Specifications

Character set

The table below shows the semigraphics character set available on the Matsushita JR series, as shown on the operations manual. [24] Characters are rendered using modern equivalents, the exact hardware font it not simulated.

234589EF
00@P┌◯┘
1!1AQ♠▁▗▏
2“2BR♥▂▞▎
3#3CS♦▃▙▖
4$4DT♣▄▛▌
5%5EU⬣▅▎▊
6&6FV←▆▜▟
7'7GW↓▇▚▟
8(8HX↑├▐▘
9)9IY→┤┼▊
A*:JZ🛉│▒▝
B+;K[☺─┬◟
C,<L¥▓◣┴●
D-=M]┐◝░◞
E.>N^█╳▀◜
F/?O_◢╱└╲

See also

References

  1. ↑ "MATSUSHITA National JR 100". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum. Archived from the original on 2023-04-30.
  2. 1 2 "MATSUSHITA National JR 200". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum. Archived from the original on 2023-04-17.
  3. 1 2 Service Manual Personal Computer JR-200U (PDF). Panasonic.
  4. 1 2 3 "MATSUSHITA National JR 300". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum. Archived from the original on 2023-05-10.
  5. 1 2 Hawkings, William (November 1983). "Low-cost computers". Popular Science. p. 150.
  6. ↑ "National JR-100". Hobby PC Catalog. p. 82. [Image shows 'National'-badged JR-100]
  7. 1 2 "National JR-200". Hobby PC Catalog. pp. 84, 85. [Images show 'National'-badged JR-200]
  8. 1 2 "National JR-300 (catalogues)". National catalogues (1983-10, 1984-3). Archived from the original on 2 September 2025.
  9. 1 2 "[JR-800-related article]". Technopolis. June 1983. [Image showing National-badged JR-800
  10. 1 2 "[Image of Panasonic-branded JR-100]". Archived from the original on 2 September 2025.
  11. 1 2 "Panasonic JR-100 advertisement". Archived from the original on 2 September 2025.
  12. 1 2 "[Image of Panasonic-branded JR-200U and box indicating name]". Archived from the original on 2 September 2025.
  13. ↑ マイコン1982年2月号
  14. 1 2 "JR-100". 計算機室. May 28, 2017.
  15. ↑ PANASONIC INDL/ELEK {IC} 72. Panasonic. p. 270.
  16. ↑ Operating Instructions - Personal Computer JR-100U. Panasonic.
  17. 1 2 3 Reunanen, Markku. "Discovering the Panasonic JR-200U". .Markku Reunanen.
  18. ↑ Ahl, David (May 1983). "Panasonic JR-200". Creative Computing Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 5. p. 16.
  19. ↑ PANASONIC INDL/ELEK {IC} 72. Panasonic. p. 524.
  20. ↑ "PANASONIC JR-200U". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum. Archived from the original on 2022-11-28. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  21. ↑ "JR-800(ポケコン・ポケットコンピュータ)のことなら「自分でドットコム」(DIY)". www.jibunde.com.
  22. ↑ "National JR-800 Documentation". PockEmul - A vintage Pocket Computers and Calculators emulator. August 2020.
  23. ↑ "The National JR-800 computer". The pocket computer museum.
  24. ↑ Operating Instructions Personal Computer JR-100U. Panasonic. pp. 8, 54.
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