Description
On the other hand, the TOSBAC-4200 was developed in 1961 as a dedicated computer for office computation. It used the same circuits as the TOSBAC-3100, magnetic tape for external memory, and magnetic core memory (which had just become practical) as the main memory unit. The development targets included: (1) To enable all the business processing previously performed with PCS (Punch Card Systems), and (2) To enable easy handling of kana characters. The aim was total replacement of the PCSs which were widely used in the business processing field in Japan at that time. One digit (a unit expressing a single character -- numerical, alphabetic or kana) was represented with 8 bits, and thus kana letters could be handled without control codes.
