Manufacturer | Sharp Corporation |
---|---|
Generation | First |
Release date | March 1980 |
CPU | SC43177/SC43178 processors at 256 kHz |
Memory | three TC5514P 4 Kbit RAM modules |
Display | 24 digit dot matrix LCD |
Input | Full QWERTY-style keyboard |
Power | four MR44 1.35 V Mercury button cells |
Successor | Sharp PC-5000 |
Related | Sharp PC-1500 Sharp PC-1251 |
The Sharp PC-1211 is the first pocket computer ever released, marketed by Sharp Corporation in March 1980.[1][2] The computer was powered by two 4-bit CPUs laid out in power-saving CMOS circuitry. One acted as the main CPU, the other dealt with the input/output and display interface. Users could write computer programs in BASIC.
A badge-engineered version of the PC-1211, the TRS-80 Pocket Computer (model PC-1), was marketed by Radio Shack in July 1980 as the first iteration of the TRS-80 Pocket Computer with just a marginally different look (outer plastic parts in black, not brown, gray display frame)