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Pretty Eight Machine

I got a really good deal on a Fujitsu FM-8, the big, brown predecessor of the FM-7. Of course, it’s missing a few parts. Follow along with me as I get acquainted with an earlier version of Fujitsu’s dual-processor wonder computer.

In my research, I found that the October 1982 issue of I/O magazine published an article describing how to build the HERO-09 accelerator board at home, written by TAKAYA Kasasaku. Blog superfriend Nicole even set up her proprietary nya™ BASIC benchmark that shows a stock FM-8 is even slower than a Sega SC-3000 at printing large quantities of scrolling text. Based on my limited research, machines without an expansion had just an empty space-filling cup here, often colloquially referred to as “the ashtray.” The seller left the screws that mount this ashtray behind, which was nice of them.

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