cj7hawk
Veteran Member
My first computer was a JR-100U - by Panasonic. Mine originally came with an english manual, which I found the PDF for in a few places and the one I managed to find had a japanese manual, and except for missing the top poly sheet, it's in near original condition. No scratches, still wrapped in plastic, and was an attic find in Japan.
It wasn't the first computer I got to use - that went to a Sinclair ZX80 a friend owned, which I got some limited access to, but it was the first computer I got to have. My dad went on a trip when I was about 14, and brought it back from Japan. Probably the most expensive present he got me when I was a kid. I even put in a joystick interface, but never learnt to program it as machine code was out of my experience at 14 and new to computers. But I programmed many basic programs and played what games I did have to death on it.
Finding and collecting old computers was fun, and I managed to get a zx80 long ago, but the JR-100U eluded me. Until a few weeks ago. At first, I thought I had been had - as soon as I bought it, it showed back up in another ad, with exactly the same pictures and description, but Ebay assured me the sale appeared genuine when I contacted them... So I waited.
And it arrived. As pictured. In great condition.
I'm waiting on a power adapter since it has a 110 volt PSU, but there was something that just clicked when I took it out of the box - something about the feel and the magic of the first computer I ever held in my hands and was able to use by myself. Write my own programs and make it do what I wanted - not someone elses, or time shared on a computer at school - and still only the third computer I had ever laid my hands on ( the first, a terminal at an open day when I was around 12, the second a friends zx80, then I had my own. ). Memories of all the code I wrote came flooding back. Modifying integer maths in basic to handle decimals and perform floating point calculations... Writing my own routines to perform square roots in integer basic. Games, routines and other functions. My first typing trainer ( with the space bar next to the C key instead of down the bottom ).
At first, I wondered if I should get the JR-200 since both appeared at the same time on Ebay - it was like the JR-100 but color, twice the memory at 32K and far more capable with a space bar, but holding the JR-100 in my hands too me straight back to the past... I still can't turn it on and feel like it's the only collectors computer I bought that I had absolutely no regrets buying. It felt like the prodigal son had returned home.
It was an underpowered machine, and I write my bit-addressable software in BASIC. It was slow. It was limited. The tape was painful to use. The graphics were monochrome.
But it was mine once again, since I lost the original when my mother died and my sister cleaned out her house to sell it ( I never thought to keep it back then ).
If anyone has a service manual or can point me to other manuals, adverts and documentation for the JR-100U that I can obtain, I would be most appreciative. I'm not expecting to find a lot - after all, it's the first JR-100 that I can recall seeing on ebay, and suddenly 2 come up at the same time. They didn't sell well, and I think I heard less than 1000 got sold worldwide, though it's anecdotal and I can't find a modern reference to it.
Kind Regards
David
It wasn't the first computer I got to use - that went to a Sinclair ZX80 a friend owned, which I got some limited access to, but it was the first computer I got to have. My dad went on a trip when I was about 14, and brought it back from Japan. Probably the most expensive present he got me when I was a kid. I even put in a joystick interface, but never learnt to program it as machine code was out of my experience at 14 and new to computers. But I programmed many basic programs and played what games I did have to death on it.
Finding and collecting old computers was fun, and I managed to get a zx80 long ago, but the JR-100U eluded me. Until a few weeks ago. At first, I thought I had been had - as soon as I bought it, it showed back up in another ad, with exactly the same pictures and description, but Ebay assured me the sale appeared genuine when I contacted them... So I waited.
And it arrived. As pictured. In great condition.
I'm waiting on a power adapter since it has a 110 volt PSU, but there was something that just clicked when I took it out of the box - something about the feel and the magic of the first computer I ever held in my hands and was able to use by myself. Write my own programs and make it do what I wanted - not someone elses, or time shared on a computer at school - and still only the third computer I had ever laid my hands on ( the first, a terminal at an open day when I was around 12, the second a friends zx80, then I had my own. ). Memories of all the code I wrote came flooding back. Modifying integer maths in basic to handle decimals and perform floating point calculations... Writing my own routines to perform square roots in integer basic. Games, routines and other functions. My first typing trainer ( with the space bar next to the C key instead of down the bottom ).
At first, I wondered if I should get the JR-200 since both appeared at the same time on Ebay - it was like the JR-100 but color, twice the memory at 32K and far more capable with a space bar, but holding the JR-100 in my hands too me straight back to the past... I still can't turn it on and feel like it's the only collectors computer I bought that I had absolutely no regrets buying. It felt like the prodigal son had returned home.
It was an underpowered machine, and I write my bit-addressable software in BASIC. It was slow. It was limited. The tape was painful to use. The graphics were monochrome.
But it was mine once again, since I lost the original when my mother died and my sister cleaned out her house to sell it ( I never thought to keep it back then ).
If anyone has a service manual or can point me to other manuals, adverts and documentation for the JR-100U that I can obtain, I would be most appreciative. I'm not expecting to find a lot - after all, it's the first JR-100 that I can recall seeing on ebay, and suddenly 2 come up at the same time. They didn't sell well, and I think I heard less than 1000 got sold worldwide, though it's anecdotal and I can't find a modern reference to it.
Kind Regards
David
