Fujitsu FM-7/77

Introduced in Japan in 1982, the Fujitsu Micro-7 (FM-7) was a relatively inexpensive 8-bit home computer that was popular in the mid-1980s. It was considered to be a competitor to both the Sharp X1 and the NEC PC-8800 Series in the Japanese home computer market. The FM-7 was also partially compatible with the American TRS-80 Color Computer and the European Dragon 32/64 as it shared the same processor, built in variants of Microsoft BASIC, and the ability to run the OS-9 operating system. The FM-7 was actually a faster, more capable version of the earlier FM-8 computer that was marketed for business use. While less expensive, the FM-7 had a faster memory system, and greatly enhanced sound capabilities making it attractive to hobbyists; Fujitsu would continue the business line with the FM-11.

The FM-7 was built around a pair of Motorola 6809 processors, one devoted to running the graphics subsystem, and offered relatively high resolution graphics for the time, including a 640x200 8 color mode as well as three channel mono sound. By 1984, the original FM-7 was phased out for the backwards compatible FM-77 models which featured faster processors, and more VRAM to offer additional graphics capabilities including a 4096 and later 256k color mode in 320x200 resolution. The original FM-7 could be expanded with an optional cassette or 3.5" floppy drive. The FM-77 introduced the 3.5" drive as a standard internal component. Subsequently, games for this platform may be on either cassette or 3.5" floppy. Later models of the FM-77 in the AV line also offered enhanced sound capabilities.

The FM-7/77 line continued to be produced and enhanced through the late 1980s, with the last model, the FM77AV40SX, introduced in November 1988. By that time, the FM-77's graphics ability had made it a platform for video digitization as well as being able to superimpose graphics on television signals, which made it popular for creating titles in video production. Ultimately Fujitsu would retire the FM-7 in favor of the FM Towns line, a 32-bit computer based on the Intel x86 architecture that was introduced in February 1989.

Note that the similarly named Fujitsu FM-X is a MSX clone and games for that system should not be linked to this plaform.