Microprofessor III
Encyclopedia
Acer (company)
Acer Incorporated is a multinational information technology and electronics corporation headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Acer's products include desktop and laptop PCs, tablet computers, servers, storage devices, displays, smartphones and peripherals...
's (then known as Multitech) third branded computer product and also (arguably) one of the first Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
clones (an Apple IIe
Apple IIe
The Apple IIe is the third model in the Apple II series of personal computers produced by Apple Computer. The e in the name stands for enhanced, referring to the fact that several popular features were now built-in that were only available as upgrades and add-ons in earlier models...
clone). Unlike the two earlier computers, its design was influenced by the IBM personal computer
IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
. Because of some additional functions in the ROM and different graphics routines, the MPF III was not totally compatible with the Apple IIe.
One key feature of the MPF III in some models was its Chinese BASIC
Chinese BASIC
Chinese BASIC is the name given to several Chinese-localized versions of the BASIC programming language in the early 1980s.- Versions :...
, a version of Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
-localized BASIC based on Applesoft BASIC
Applesoft BASIC
Applesoft BASIC was a dialect of Microsoft BASIC supplied with the Apple II series of computers. It superseded Integer BASIC and was the BASIC in ROM in all Apple II series computers after the original Apple II model. It was also referred to as FP because of the command used to invoke it instead...
.
The MPF III included an optional Z80 CP/M emulator card. It permitted the computer to switch to the Z80 processor and run programs developed under the CP/M operating system.
Technical specifications
- CPU: MOS Technology 6502MOS Technology 6502The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
, 1 MHz - Memory (RAM): 64KB dynamic RAM and 2KB static RAM
- ROM: 24KB, including MBASIC (MPF-III BASICBASICBASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....
), monitor, sound, display and printer programs and drivers - Operating system: DOS 3.3Apple DOSApple DOS refers to operating systems for the Apple II series of microcomputers from late 1978 through early 1983. Apple DOS had three major releases: DOS 3.1, DOS 3.2, and DOS 3.3; each one of these three releases was followed by a second, minor "bug-fix" release, but only in the case of Apple DOS...
or ProDOSProDOSProDOS was the name of two similar operating systems for the Apple II series of personal computers. The original ProDOS, renamed ProDOS 8 in version 1.2, was the last official operating system usable by all Apple II series computers, and was distributed from 1983 to 1993... - Input/Output: NTSCNTSCNTSC, named for the National Television System Committee, is the analog television system that is used in most of North America, most of South America , Burma, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and some Pacific island nations and territories .Most countries using the NTSC standard, as...
composite videoComposite videoComposite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...
jack, TV RF modulator port, cassette port, printer port, joystickJoystickA joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
9-pin D-type port, earphone, and external speaker jacks - Expandability: internal slots (6), optional Z80 CP/M emulator card
- Screen display:
- Text modes: 40x24, 80x24 (with 80 columns card)
- Graphics modes: 40x48 (16 col), 280x192 (6 col)
- Sound: one channel
- Storage: 2 optional 5.25 inch 140 KB diskette drives
- Keyboard: 90 keys keyboard with numeric keypadNumeric keypadA numeric keypad, numpad or tenkey for short, is the small, palm-sized, seventeen key section of a computer keyboard, usually on the very far right. The numeric keypad features digits 0 to 9, addition , subtraction , multiplication and division symbols, a decimal point and Num Lock and Enter keys...
See also
- Microprofessor IMicroprofessor IThe Micro-Professor MPF-I, introduced in 1981 by Multitech , was the first branded computer product from Multitech and probably one of the world's longest selling computers...
— unrelated Z80 programming education device - Microprofessor IIMicroprofessor IIMicroprofessor II , introduced in 1982, was Acer's second branded computer product and also one of the earliest Apple clones. It does not look like most other computers...