Sharp MZ-2000

The Sharp MZ-2000 is a home/business computer manufactured by Sharp, released in 1982 in Japan. It belongs to the MZ-80B lineage (the business/higher-end line of Sharp's MZ series) and is the direct successor to the MZ-80B (1981). The MZ-2000 features a Sharp LH0080A (Z80A-compatible) CPU at 4 MHz, 64 KB RAM, 16 KB VRAM, and a built-in 9-inch green phosphor CRT monitor displaying 640×200 pixels monochrome — quite sharp for 1982 and well-suited for business applications. An optional color expansion board provides 8 colors at 640×200 or 320×200, but requires an external RGB monitor. Sound is a basic single-channel beeper. Storage includes a built-in cassette tape interface and optional 5.25-inch or 3.5-inch floppy disk drives. Like all MZ series computers, the MZ-2000 follows the “clean computer” philosophy — only a minimal IPL (Initial Program Loader) in ROM. BASIC, CP/M, and other software must be loaded from tape or disk. Multiple BASIC interpreters were available (Sharp BASIC, S-BASIC, Hu-BASIC, etc.). The closely related MZ-2200 (1983) is essentially a refined/cost-reduced variant of the MZ-2000, sharing the same architecture. The MZ-2000 was succeeded by the MZ-2500 "Super MZ" (1985), which added color graphics, FM sound, 256 KB RAM, and full backwards compatibility with MZ-2000 software.