Sharp MZ-800

The Sharp MZ-800 is a home computer manufactured by Sharp, released in 1984. It was primarily marketed in Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom, with a particularly strong following in Central Europe (especially Czechoslovakia). It is the successor to the MZ-700 and represents a significant upgrade in graphics and sound capabilities. The MZ-800 features a Z80A CPU at 3.55 MHz, 64 KB RAM, 16 KB VRAM (expandable), and a Texas Instruments SN76489-compatible sound chip providing 3 tone channels + 1 noise channel. Graphics modes include 320×200 at 4 colors and 640×200 monochrome with standard VRAM, or up to 320×200 at 16 colors / 640×200 at 4 colors with expanded VRAM. Text modes support 40×25 and 80×25 characters. The system includes two ATARI-compatible joystick ports. Like all MZ series computers, the MZ-800 follows the “clean computer” philosophy — only a minimal monitor program in ROM. BASIC and other languages must be loaded from cassette or disk. The machine also runs P-CP/M (Sharp's customized CP/M 2.2). European models could substitute the tape drive for a 2.8-inch Quick Disk drive. The MZ-800 is backwards compatible with the MZ-700 via a hardware/software compatibility switch, giving access to the entire MZ-700 software library.