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[Author/submitter here] True. I didn't know anything very solid about them at the time -- and not much now, TBPH.

ikejix 3y ago
And his big brother APC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APC_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APC_series NEC version of Alto: PC-100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_PC-100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_PC-100 And their competitor FM-Towns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_Towns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_Towns These are used x86 CPU.
tzs 3y ago
Although PC-98 was not PC-compatible, Microsoft did support it in DOS and Windows. Programs that just went through DOS or Windows and didn't make lower level BIOS calls directly or try to manipulate hardware directly would frequently just work out of the box on PC-98. The biggest difference between PC-98 and PC compatibles the DOS/Windows didn't hide that I remember, and that I remember being the biggest source of DOS/Windows programs failing even if they weren't doing low level calls was drive letter assignment. On PC-98 A: was the drive you booted from. If your system had a floppy drive and a hard drive, and you booted from hard drive then A: would be your hard drive. B: would be your floppy. In a PC-compatible A: would be the floppy and C: would be the hard disk regardless of which of the two you booted from. Quite a few programs turned out to have "C: is the first hard drive" hard coded in.
Longlius 3y ago
There's a great channel on Youtube called Basement Bros that goes over a lot of the games available at the time for the PC-98 (and other outmoded Japanese home computer platforms) and also touches on how these machines were used day-to-day. Definitely worth a look, especially if you have any interest in the history of Japanese game development as a lot of very high-profile people got their start writing games and applications for the PC-88, PC-98, MSX, etc.
- lproven 3y ago
  [Author/submitter here] I can't stand videos for getting info myself, but this is good info for others. If only there were some kind of collaborative wiki-type site this could be group edited into something Wikipedia eligible. ;-)

And his big brother APC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APC_series https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APC_series NEC version of Alto: PC-100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_PC-100 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEC_PC-100 And their competitor FM-Towns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_Towns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_Towns These are used x86 CPU.

tzs 3y ago

Although PC-98 was not PC-compatible, Microsoft did support it in DOS and Windows. Programs that just went through DOS or Windows and didn't make lower level BIOS calls directly or try to manipulate hardware directly would frequently just work out of the box on PC-98. The biggest difference between PC-98 and PC compatibles the DOS/Windows didn't hide that I remember, and that I remember being the biggest source of DOS/Windows programs failing even if they weren't doing low level calls was drive letter assignment. On PC-98 A: was the drive you booted from. If your system had a floppy drive and a hard drive, and you booted from hard drive then A: would be your hard drive. B: would be your floppy. In a PC-compatible A: would be the floppy and C: would be the hard disk regardless of which of the two you booted from. Quite a few programs turned out to have "C: is the first hard drive" hard coded in.

Longlius 3y ago

There's a great channel on Youtube called Basement Bros that goes over a lot of the games available at the time for the PC-98 (and other outmoded Japanese home computer platforms) and also touches on how these machines were used day-to-day. Definitely worth a look, especially if you have any interest in the history of Japanese game development as a lot of very high-profile people got their start writing games and applications for the PC-88, PC-98, MSX, etc.

lproven 3y ago
[Author/submitter here] I can't stand videos for getting info myself, but this is good info for others. If only there were some kind of collaborative wiki-type site this could be group edited into something Wikipedia eligible. ;-)