SHARP MZ-800 Fans Community Web

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====== Community of SHARP MZ series users ======

This website is mainly aimed at the community of Sharp fans in the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic.

===== Communication =====
For the communication between user of SHARP MZ-800 computers in Czech Republic there is mostly used the e-mail conference.

     * [[http://mail.ordoz.com/mailman/listinfo/sharpmz|Subscribe to the conference]]

There is also IRC channel available. It's primary focused on this community web project.

    * [[irc://irc.freenode.net/xbup|#sharpmz]] on [[http://www.freenode.net|freenode.net]]
    * [[http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=sharpmz|alternative web client]]

===== History =====

Computers of the SHARP MZ-800 brand were imported in the former Czechoslovakia during a deep totality (Communist era). There were are two models available: MZ-811 for 6 600 Kčs (Czech Crown) and MZ-821 for 7 800 Kčs. Cheaper model did not contain a built-cassette recorder and owners of this model had to deal with "Tape Loading Error" moments of despair in front of the screen very often. Later was eventually available MZ-1P16 4-colour plotter for 3 800 Kčs. That was basically the only extension which you could legally obtain for your Sharp. Therefore despite this computer was relatively advanced piece of hardware compare to other alternatives available on the market, it suffered on a lack of quality software, documentation and accessories. This gave rise to several high-quality Sharp clubs where they came with incredible amount of hardware improvements and expansions. Soon the programmers discovered the fact that it is not hard to port the game from ZX Spectrum computers, and so the era of the software porting started. After 1990, several distribution companies was born, most notably: mZx software RTMV soft or [[http://www.bbs.cz|BBS Corporation]]. They offer relatively good software for a relatively high prices, but at least this brought some high quality software for Sharp. Some of them were for example: text editor FET, copying programs Turbo Copy and Intercopy, graphical programs Artex and MZ-Paint, or ported games from ZX-128, such as Robocop, Ghostbusters II, and others. It is almost unbelievable how long our Sharp prevailed. At a time when world of home computers was dominated by Amiga and Atari ST, there was still porting activity for the Sharp producing better and better games, while others 8-bit computers of its era quickly disappeared. There was also specialized press dedicated for Sharp. Regularly based listing of programs in electronics, an article on the MZ-800 came in workbook "A computer is friend of human" and there was specialized magazine HC-INFO. Even after many years there is still activity in the form of emulators, various software tools and various websites.

 ===== Community web =====

If you are a fan, or if you own any of the SHARP computers, register and feel free to share your experiences. There are following services available:

   * Modifiable content of the web ([[http://dokuwiki.org|DokuWiki]])