Microprofessor II
Apple II clone introduced in 1982 by Multitech
Micro-Professor II (MPF-II) is an Apple II clone introduced in 1982 by Multitech (later renamed to Acer). It is Multitech's second branded computer product and also one of the earliest Apple II clones. The MPF II doesn't look like most other computers, with its case being a slab with a small chiclet keyboard on the lower part.
In 1983, the Micro-Professor II had a retail price of £269.00 in the UK and 2995FF in France.
One key feature of the MPF-II was its Chinese BASIC, a version of Chinese-localized BASIC based and compatible with Applesoft BASIC. Versions of the machine sold in Europe, Northern America, India, Singapore, and Australia didn't have Chinese localization.
Peripherals for the machine included a two floppy disk drive controller and a thermal printer.
01Differences from Apple II
The MPF-II is not entirely compatible with the Apple II, not having its text mode. All the text was drawn on the screen by software rather than generated by hardware. It was the only cost-effective way to generate Chinese text on the screen at a time when a hardware-based Chinese character generator could cost hundreds of U.S. dollars.
The MPF-II second graphic buffer was at memory address A000H, while Apple II's was at 4000H. The keyboard input was also mapped to a different address, making it impossible to play Apple's games on the MPF II.
MPF-II keyboard interface was very simple and consisted of an 8-bit output port and an input port that was directly connected to the keyboard matrix. It also lacked the Apple joystick interface.
The external slot interface was also not compatible with the Apple II and the machine couldn't use any standard interface cards (like the Disk II controller).
02Technical information
Micro-Professor II had the following specifications:
- CPU: MOS Technology 6502
- Clock rate: 1 MHz
- RAM: 64 KB (including 16KB RAM mapped at the same address as the ROM)
- ROM: 16 KB (12 KB of which is a BASIC interpreter)
- Text modes: 40 × 24 with 7 × 5 pixel normal or inverse characters
- Graphics modes: 48 × 40 or 280 × 192 in 6 colours (black, white, blue, orange, purple and yellow)
- Sound: 1 channel of 1-bit sound, internal beeper
- Connectors: keyboard, joystick, printer, cartridges, audio in and output for cassette recorder, composite video and RF modulator out
- Optional peripherals: 55 key full-size keyboard, floppy disc drive, thermal and dot-matrix printers, joystick
- Power supply: External PSU; 5 and 12V
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Microprofessor II”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Multitech Microprofessor II Tietokonemuseo (cropped).JPG by Multitech_Microprofessor_II_Tietokonemuseo.JPG: MKFI *Derivative work (non-creditable changes): Ubcule, Public domain
- MultitechMPF-II.jpg by liftarn, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Mpf-II.jpg by User Toytoy on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
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