FM Towns

FM Towns
FM Towns Model 2F
DeveloperFujitsu
ManufacturerFujitsu
Product familyFM Towns
GenerationFourth Generation
Release date
  • JP: February 28, 1989
Lifespan1989–1997
DiscontinuedSummer 1997
Units sold500,000[1]
MediaCompact disc
Operating systemTowns OS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95
Display320×200 - 720×512 resolutions, 256 colors on-screen out of a palette of 32 768
GraphicsFujitsu custom graphics chip
SoundRicoh RF5c68
Yamaha YM2612
Power100 VAC ~
RelatedFM Towns Marty

The FM Towns (Japanese: エフエムタウンズ, Hepburn: Efu Emu Taunzu) is a Japanese personal computer built by Fujitsu from February 1989 to the summer of 1997. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia applications and PC games, but later became more compatible with IBM PC compatibles. In 1993, the FM Towns Marty was released, a game console compatible with existing FM Towns games.

The "FM" part of the name means "Fujitsu Micro" like their earlier products, while the "Towns" part is derived from the code name the system was assigned while in development, "Townes". This refers to Charles Townes, one of the winners of the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics, following a custom of Fujitsu at the time to code name PC products after Nobel Prize winners. The e in "Townes" was dropped when the system went into production to make it clearer that the term was to be pronounced like the word "towns" rather than the potential "tow-nes".[2]

  1. ^ "FMV-TOWNS - AzbyClub サポート". www.fmworld.net. Fujitsu. 1995. Retrieved 2019-06-10.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference museum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).