• Sharp MZ-80K

    From dbnnet@3:633/280.2 to All on Tue Sep 5 16:47:39 2023
    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these:
    The Sharp MZ-80K.

    https://dbnnet.blogspot.com/2018/06/my-most-memorable-computers.html https://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=174&st=1

    From late 1980 to 1983 I must have spent a good
    few thousand hours trying to master it!
    Was an amazing little machine that provided much pleasure.
    Had to load the BASIC from tape every time you switched it on.


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  • From Andy Burns@3:633/280.2 to All on Tue Sep 5 17:28:23 2023
    dbnnet wrote:

    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
    Sharp MZ-80K.

    A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?

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  • From dbnnet@3:633/280.2 to All on Tue Sep 5 17:52:26 2023
    In article <klo3kmFecgmU2@mid.individual.net>, usenet@andyburns.uk
    says...
    dbnnet wrote:

    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
    Sharp MZ-80K.

    A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?

    They were quite popular in the UK, Germany, Japan etc but don't think
    that they were ever marketed in North America.
    I bought mine in South Africa where Sharp always had a strong presence.


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  • From Andy Burns@3:633/280.2 to All on Tue Sep 5 17:55:42 2023
    dbnnet wrote:

    andy burns says...

    dbnnet wrote:

    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
    Sharp MZ-80K.

    A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?

    They were quite popular in the UK

    I don't think I'd agree they were popular here, they may have been
    technically good machines, my friend's father would likely have chosen
    it on that basis, but I never heard of anyone else having one.


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  • From Andy Leighton@3:633/280.2 to All on Tue Sep 5 19:06:59 2023
    On Tue, 5 Sep 2023 08:55:42 +0100, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    dbnnet wrote:

    andy burns says...

    dbnnet wrote:

    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The
    Sharp MZ-80K.

    A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?

    They were quite popular in the UK

    I don't think I'd agree they were popular here, they may have been technically good machines, my friend's father would likely have chosen
    it on that basis, but I never heard of anyone else having one.

    Well they were around a bit before the real surge in home computers.
    To my mind they were a competitor of the PET. Like the PET it was
    fairly expensive and people I knew had stuff like the UK101, Atom,
    Microtan-65 and Nascom-1 in early 1980. By 1982 that had all changed,
    none of those machines (with maybe the exception of the Atom) were seen
    as particularly desirable. Generally the MZ80K got the occasional
    listing in some of the computer magazines of 1982 (and maybe 1983) so
    there must have still been some around.

    --
    Andy Leighton => andyl@azaal.plus.com
    "We demand rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty!"
    - Douglas Adams

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  • From dbnnet@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Sep 8 19:43:27 2023
    In article <sm0y1hhf970.fsf@lakka.kapsi.fi>,
    anssi.saari@usenet.mail.kapsi.fi says...
    dbnnet <dbnnet@yahoo.com> writes:

    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these:
    The Sharp MZ-80K.

    A couple of my friends had the later MZ-800 models I think but I don't
    think I've ever seen an MZ-80K.

    It certainly was more advanced than the MZ-80K.
    I never saw one physically, other than this photo: https://old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=208


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  • From dbnnet@3:633/280.2 to All on Fri Sep 8 20:20:04 2023
    In article <slrnufdrtj.sk0i.andyl@azaal.plus.com>, andyl@azaal.plus.com says...
    On Tue, 5 Sep 2023 08:55:42 +0100, Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
    dbnnet wrote:

    andy burns says...

    dbnnet wrote:

    I wonder how many people are still around who used one of these: The >>>>> Sharp MZ-80K.

    A school-friend had one, maybe he still has?

    They were quite popular in the UK

    I don't think I'd agree they were popular here, they may have been
    technically good machines, my friend's father would likely have chosen
    it on that basis, but I never heard of anyone else having one.

    Well they were around a bit before the real surge in home computers.
    To my mind they were a competitor of the PET. Like the PET it was
    fairly expensive and people I knew had stuff like the UK101, Atom, >Microtan-65 and Nascom-1 in early 1980. By 1982 that had all changed,
    none of those machines (with maybe the exception of the Atom) were seen
    as particularly desirable. Generally the MZ80K got the occasional
    listing in some of the computer magazines of 1982 (and maybe 1983) so
    there must have still been some around.


    Yes... was very much aimed as a competitor to the Commodor PET whick was launched the year before. The Radio Shack TRS-80 (I) was also launched in 1977.
    The MZ-80K was launched in 1978 (same year as the Exidy Sorcerer)and was initially priced at 60O Pounds in the UK. That was later reduced to under
    400 though.
    In 1980 the Sinclair ZX80 was launched... and that was to be a game changer
    as it was a lot cheaper. The next year they launched the ZX81 as well.


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