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sharp pc-1403:

Overview Photograph
FCC ID	None
Model or Part #	PC-1403
My unit's vintage	Serial #87160865
CPU	Hitachi SC61860 (8-bit CMOS)
Memory	8K SRAM (6863 bytes available), 72K ROM
Operating System	BASIC and a very powerful scientific calculator mode.
Ports	Single proprietary port for RS-232 communications (requires level shifter), printer, and tape interface.
Video/audio output	Internal custom 24 characters x 1 line LCD (5x7 matrix) with several enunciators. Internal piezo beeper, fixed frequency.
Available peripherals	CE-126P and CE-129P thermal printers, CE-124 tape interface, CF-140F floppy drive, CE-152 tape recorder.

I acquired my PC-1403 as part of a general hankering for pocket computers that I owned when I was in high school. Back then I had two such machines that I remember clearly; a Sharp PC-1248 (similar in technology to this machine, but with a futuristic black rubber styling and a smaller LCD) and a comparatively high-end PC-2500 with integral graphical LCD and four-color plotter printer.

The PC-1403 straddles the boundary between a high-end programmable calculator and a fully-fledged computer. The main thing that separates it from contemporaneous 8-bit personal computers is obviously screen size. The BASIC dialect is fairly standard, but has some behavioral oddities related to the small screen; for example, it's not possible to have an INPUT statement with a prompt that's set at runtime; code like this:

10 PRINT "ENTER VALUE FOR POSITION ";P;:INPUT V

will fail with a syntax error at the semicolon after P. So it can be hard to write user-friendly programs on this beast. (The PC-1248's dialect, by the way, is much closer to standard). Apart from these issues, the BASIC seems to have the same general flavor as the Microsoft BASIC used by Radio Shack, et al; maybe it is in fact MS BASIC.

There exist a couple of emulators that claim to be able to emulate the PC-1403 but I have had operational problems with both of them. I'm still investigating this.