The MZ-80K was introduced in 1978 on the Japanese market in kit form. Not as a kit it was sold up from August 1979 in Germany ( price DM 1.800; source: The German magazine "Computerwoche" issue No. 33 from August 17, 1979 ). In UK it was officially unveiled in October 1979 at the Birmingham International Business Show ( price £600 ). Later 2 new models were available: MZ-80K2 ( Japan 1980 ) and MZ-80K2e ( Japan 1981 ) all in Japan available only.
In autumn 1980 it was first sold with a 5.25" floppy. Two systems were available now:
System 1 has one floppy disk and a printer ( 48K, Basic and assembler included. Price: DM 8.500 + tax ).
System 2 has a second drive ( price DM 11.600 + tax ).
May be, that the MZ-80K was known in Germany as BA-MZ-80K too or Sharp presented it first as BA-MZ-80K but sold it as MZ-80K ?
It is possible but not easy to change the 40-column hardware for CP/M usage which opens a wide range of software. Its standard CPU speed of 2MHz can be easily changed to 4MHz.
The MZ-80K was a big success; about 100,000 systems were sold.
Further Sharp MZ information can be found at http://www.sharpmz.org/mzovview.htm
This model was donated by Ernest Cheale
Other pictures showing the Chess game.
We als have another MZ-80K kindly donated by Gordon Gatiss
