X68000 Hardware

Here is a list of hardware produced by Sharp. This list is taken primarily from the X68000XVI manual, and from bits of information from the Internet. It doesn’t include all of the plethora of third-party hardware available. For instance, the X68000 can use MSX joysticks and some games (notably Street Fighter II’) came with additional hardware to allow the connection of Nintendo Super Famicom and Sega Megadrive controllers.

The System SACOM X68000 MIDI boards require a propriety cable for connection to a MIDI synth, or you can make an adapter yourself. Details are on this site.

X68000 Models

Here is a table of the different X68000 models Sharp released over the years. This table is adapted from one which appears on a Japanese computer history website, located here.

Name	Release Date	Model	CPU	Memory	FDD	HDD
X68000	March 1987	CZ-600C	10MHz	1MB	5.25”		SASI
X68000 ACE	March 1988	CZ-601C		1MB
X68000 ACE-HD		CZ-611C		1MB		20MB
X68000 EXPERT	March 1989	CZ-602C		2MB
X68000 EXPERT-HD		CZ-612C		2MB		40MB
X68000 PRO		CZ-652C		1MB
X68000 PRO-HD		CZ-662C		1MB		40MB
X68000 EXPERT II	March 1990	CZ-603C		2MB
X68000 EXPERT II-HD		CZ-613C		2MB		40MB
X68000 PRO II	April 1990	CZ-653C		1MB
X68000 PRO II-HD		CZ-663C		1MB		40MB
X68000 SUPER-HD	June 1990	CZ-623C		2MB		81MB	SCSI
X68000 SUPER	January 1991	CZ-604C		2MB
X68000 XVI	May 1991	CZ-634C	16MHz	2MB
X68000 XVI-HD		CZ-644C		2MB		81MB
X68000 CompactXVI	February 1992	CZ-674C		1MB	3.5”
X68030	March 1993	CZ-500C	25MHz	4MB	5.25”
X68030 -HD		CZ-510C		4MB	3.5”	80MB
X68030 Compact	May 1993	CZ-300C		4MB
X68030 Compact-HD		CZ-310C		4MB		80MB

Colour Display/Televisions

Model No.	Description	Dot Pitch	Features
CZ-600D	15” Colour Display Television	0.39mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz
CZ-601D	15” Colour Display Television	0.39mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz
CZ-602D	15” Colour Display Television	0.39mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz
CZ-605D	15” Colour Display Television	0.39mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz automatically selectable through the analogue RGB input Television function Remote control included Tilt stand included Built-in stereo amplifier Two speakers included
CZ-607D	14” Colour Display Television	0.31mm
CZ-611D	15” Colour Display Television	0.31mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz
CZ-612D	15” Colour Display Television		Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz
CZ-613D	15” Colour Display Television	0.31mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz automatically selectable through the analogue RGB input Television function Remote control included Tilt stand included Built-in stereo amplifier Two speakers included
CZ-614D	15” Colour Display Television	0.31mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz
CZ-615D	15” Colour Display Television		Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz VGA capable

Colour Displays

Model No.	Description	Dot Pitch	Features
CZ-606D	14” Colour Display	0.31mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/31kHz automatically selectable through the analogue RGB input Tilt stand included
CZ-603D	14” Colour Display		Tilt stand included
CZ-604D	14” Colour Display	0.31mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/31kHz automatically selectable through the analogue RGB input Tilt stand included Built-in stereo amplifier Two speakers included
CZ-606D	14” Colour Display
CZ-608D	14” Colour Display
CU-21HD CU-21CD CZ-621D	21” Colour Display	0.52mm	Horizontal scan frequencies of 15k/24k/31kHz automatically selectable through the analogue RGB input Built-in stereo amplifier Two speakers included

Printers

Model No.	Description
CZ-8PK7	24 pin Kanji printer (80 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PK8	24 pin Kanji printer (136 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PK9	24 pin Kanji printer (80 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PK10	24 pin Kanji printer (136 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PG1	24 pin colour Kanji printer (80 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PG2	24 pin colour Kanji printer (136 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PC5-BK	48 dot thermal colour Kanji printer (80 columns [pica-sized characters])
CZ-8PC2	24 dot thermal colour Kanji printer (80 columns [pica-sized characters])
IO-735X	Colour jet printer
CV-6PV1	Colour video printer

Storage Devices

Model No.	Description	Features/Notes
CZ-500H	Hard Disk Unit	10MB capacity
CZ-501H	Expansion Hard Disk Unit	10MB capacity
CZ-620H	Hard Disk Unit (External)	20MB capacity
CZ-64H	Expansion SASI Hard Disk Drive (Internal)	40MB capacity. For use with the CZ-602C, 603C, 652C, 653C
CZ-68H	Expansion SCSI Hard Disk Drive	80MB capacity. Built in to the CZ-604C and 634C models
CZ-68HA	Expansion SCSI Hard Disk Drive	80MB capacity. For use only with the CZ-674C
CZ-5H08	Expansion Hard Disk Unit (SCSI)	80MB capacity.
CZ-5H16	Expansion Hard Disk Unit (SCSI)	160MB capacity.
CZ-6MO1	Optical Disk Unit
JY-701MPA	Optical Disk Cartridge	Uses ISO standard 5.25” 594MB optical disks
CZ-6FD5	5.25” Floppy Disk Drive Unit	For use with the CZ-674C, 300C, 310C; two drives

Everything else

Model No.	Description	Features/Notes
CZ-6VT1	Colour Image Unit
CZ-8NS1	Colour Scanner	Works in conjunction with the CZ-6BN1 parallel board for faster scanning
CZ-8TM2	Modem	Capable of 300bps or 1200 bps
CZ-6EB1	I/O Expansion Box	Four expansion slots are provided
CZ-6BE2	2MB expansion RAM Board
CZ-6BE2A	2MB expansion RAM Board	Only for use by X68000XVI models (runs at 16MHz)
CZ-6BE2B	2MB expansion RAM	RAM for use by the CZ-6BE2A above
CZ-6BE4	4MB expansion RAM Board
CZ-6BG1	GP-IB	General Purpose Interface Bus card
CZ-6BU1	Universal I/O Board
CZ-6BF1	RS-232 interface board
CZ-6BP1	Math coprocessor board	Uses the 68881 processor
CZ-6BP2	Math coprocessor	The 68881 processor for use by the X68000XVI
CZ-6BC1	Fax Board	G III Fax adapter board
CZ-6BL1	LAN Board	Ethernet LAN board
CZ-6BL2	LAN Board	Ethernet/Cheapernet (10BASE2) LAN board
CZ-6BM1	MIDI Board
CZ-6BN1	Scanner Parallel Board	Parallel board for use with the CZ-8NS1 scanner
CZ-6BV1	Video Board	NTSC, S-Video television board
CZ-6BS1	SCSI Board	SCSI board for use primarily with external optical disk drives and hard disk drives
CZ-8NT1	Trackball
CZ-8NJ1	Joycard	A two-button joypad
CZ-8NJ2	Intelligent Controller (CYBER STICK)	The cyber stick features an aeroplane-style joystick and throttle control; their positions can be switched. Games such as Thunder Blade and Super Hang-On make use of it
CZ-6SD1	System Rack
CZ-6TU	RGB System Tuner	Includes a remote control
BF-68PRO	CRT Filter	Fits the following models: CZ-605D, CZ-613D, CZ-606D, CZ-604D
CZ-8LM1	RS-232C cable
CZ-8LM2	RS-232C cable	Cross cable
AN-S100	Speaker Box

The SWITCH command on the X68000

The SWITCH program is an important part of the Human68k operating system, especially as it's necessary to set the amount of memory installed in the machine. So here is a description of the different options available.


To start SWITCH, simply enter SWITCH at the command line. Provided the program is present and the PATH is set correctly (which should be the case if booting from system disks), the SWITCH program will open.

Using SWITCH is straightforward. On the left is a list of the system variables which can be changed by the user. To the right of each is the current setting, and to the right of the current setting is the list of available settings.

To change a variable, simply select it with the arrow keys and press Return. Each setting can then be varied using the up and down arrow keys. To exit the program and save changes, select the bottom option (終了), and a dialog will appear. Press Y to exit and save changes, N to exit and NOT save the changes, and ESC to cancel and continue using the program.


Let’s look at each variable in turn.


RS232C – This option allows the user to change the settings of the external RS232 ports on the system, and as such, peforms the same function as the SPEED program. From left to right, the port settings are: baud rate – number of data bits – parity – stop bits – flow control.
Baud rate: options are 19200 baud, 9600 baud, 4800 baud, 2400 baud, 1200 baud, 600 baud, 300 baud, 150 baud, 75 baud
Data bits: options are 8, 7, 6, or 5 bits
Parity: can be either odd (奇数), even (偶数) or none (なし)
Stop bits: can be either 1, 1.5 or 2
Flow control: options are Xon (XON/XOFF), Rts (RTS/CTS) or None


MEMORY – The most important variable of all. As the X68000 does not automatically detect the amount of RAM that is available, it is necessary to set it here manually. The minimum amount of RAM is 1MB; the maximum, 12MB.


BOOT – The user can choose how the system will boot when turned on or reset.
STD: the default. When STD is set, the machine will search for a bootable drive in the following order: Floppy Drive 0, Floppy Drive 1, other floppy drives… SCSI device 0, SCSI device 1 and so on.
SCSI0 – SCSI7: The machine will boot from the selected SCSI device.
2HD0 – 2HD3: The machine will boot from the selected floppy drive.
RAM/ROM: The machine will boot from the selected RAM or ROM area.


EJECT – Tells the machine whether or not to eject the floppy disks when the machine is switched off.
ON – Disks are ejected
OFF – Disks are not ejected


OPT2KEY – This setting determines when the monitor can be controlled using the OPT.2 key or not.
TVCTRL – Television control is possible
NORMAL – Television control is not possible


CONTRAST – Controls the level of contrast of the monitor. The higher the number the greater the contrast.


KANA – Determines whether kana input will be use the JIS standard or the AIU standard.


TV_CTRL – Determines whether the monitor is switched off as a result of the X68000 being switched off.
TV – The monitor stays on if the machine is switched off.
OFF – The monitor is switched off if the machine is switched off.


LCD_MODE – allows the display of seven-segment LCD style characters when using calculator mode (started by pressing the OPT.1 and OPT.2 keys together)
NORMAL – The monitor displays characters normally
LCD – The monitors uses seven-segment characters


SRAM – Determines how static RAM should be employed on the machine
NO_USE – Static RAM is not used
RAMDISK – Static RAM is used as a RAM disk. This option requires that the SRAMDISK.SYS device driver be loaded.
PROGRAM – Static RAM is available to programs to use.


P0 to P8 – these values set the colours to be used for the text palette. The Red, Green and Blue values have 32 possible values each


XCHG – Determines the appearance of the yen sign, overscore and pipe characters.
0: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘￥’,      ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ¯ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ | ’
1: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘\’,        ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ¯ ’ ,   and ‘ | ’ as ‘ | ’
2: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘￥’,      ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ~ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ | ’
3: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘\’,        ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ~ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ | ’
4: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘￥’,      ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ¯ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ ¦ ’
5: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘\’,        ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ¯ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ ¦ ’
6: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘￥’,      ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ~ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ ¦ ’
7: ‘￥’ is displayed as ‘\’,        ‘ ¯ ’as ‘ ~ ’,    and ‘ | ’ as ‘ ¦ ’


HD_MAX – Sets the number of hard disks attached to the machine. This is not user-definable, it's set by the machine (as far as I can tell)


WAIT_PRN – sets how long the machine should allow the printer to respond before a timeout is declared, the value specified being the number of seconds the machine should wait


FIRST_KY – Specifies how long the delay should be after a key is pressed and held before the machine begins to repeat the character.


NEXT_KEY – when the machine is auto-repeating a key currently being held down, NEXT_KEY specifies how much of a delay the machine should wait before repeating that key


SCSI_ID – The SCSI ID of the machine is set in the factory and shouldn’t be changed

Space Harrier to JAMMA

 

 

Here's the pinout for the Space Harrier 50 pin connector.

A1		B1
A2		B2
A3		B3
A4		B4
A5		B5
A6		B6
A7	+5V	B7
A8	Stick Up/Down	B8	Stick Left/Right
A9	Ground	B9
A10		B10
A11		B11
A12		B12
A13		B13
A14	Shot 3	B14	Shot 1
A15	Shot 2	B15	Start
A16	Service	B16	Test
A17	Coin 2	B17	Coin 1
A18	GND (coins)	B18
A19	Coin Counter*	B19	GND (test/service)
A20		B20	GND (PSU)
A21	GND (buttons)	B21	GND (PSU)
A22		B22	5V (Start Lamp)
A23	Start Lamp	B23	Coin Counter*
A24	Coin Counter 2	B24	+5V (PSU)
A25	Coin Counter 1	B25	+5V (PSU)

So the inputs for Space Harrier are very straightforward, there are two axes for direction and three shot buttons, as well as the usual coin, start and test and service inputs. In testing I actually found that the "Shot 1" and "Shot 3" buttons are reversed, though it doesn't really matter.

I bought myself an old analogue PC joystick and set about rewiring it for both Space Harrier and Hang-On. In the case of Hang-On I still use my Out Run pedals for the accelerator and brake, so only the left/right axis of the joystick is needed.

Another decision I made was to not cut the 15-pin joystick connector off, and I also didn't want to connect directly to the Space Harrier board, so instead I soldered all of my connecting wires to another 15-pin connector for the joystick end and a big Molex plug at the other end.

The wiring inside a PC joystick is a little different to what the Sega games expect. Also, if you have an old joystick or buy one it may have extra electronics on the inside for autofire etc. It was easy to connect the fire buttons on the joystick though the axes were more complicated. Looking at the pinout above you can see that there's only one +5V line and one Ground line, so you'll need to connect each of them to both pots. The joystick I have works perfectly, with full range in each direction.

I didn't want to cut any wires I didn't need to on the harness, so I use the Service button on both games for credits. The start button is mapped to the fourth button on the joystick.

 

 

 

Graphical faults on Arcade PCBs

Here are some graphical faults with games I've encountered and have been able to verify on other boards, mostly because I bought a second board to replace the first. In all cases, it turned out that the fault was on both PCBs (and others elsewhere), so here they are for reference.


Dragon Spirit
This is an easy one to spot. On the Namco release, wait for the attract mode to show the dragon attacking the first end-of-level boss. As the dragon is being shot and dies, part of the sprite disappears, as shown here. This can also be seen sometimes during the game itself.

The Atari release is interesting. I bought it thinking it wouldn't have the fault. What's interesting is that a new attract mode is available on the Atari release and on the "New" Namco version. Setting the Rank to A or B on the Atari version changes the attract mode to the one with the obvious fault. The New Namco version has a much shorter attract mode, and the Atari version's is much longer. The Old Namco version only has A and B Rank options available (according to the Atari manual, Rank C is the recommended setting).

I've seen this fault on another PCB in an arcade in Tokyo.



Splatter House
Like Dragon Spirit, Splatter House is a Namco System 1 game, and exhibits similar problems. One example can be seen quite early in the first level, when part of Rick "disappears". It was very difficult to get a good photo of this, you can only just about see the problem.

Here's a nice video by superdeadite showing this problem exactly on his PCB (about 20 seconds in).

I've also seen this in an arcade in Tokyo. Other System 1 games may exhibit this behaviour. I think I've seen it briefly on Marchen Maze, but not on Pac-Mania.


Bubble Bobble
Here's a problem on the two Bubble Bobble PCBs I own. On levels where fire bubbles appear, bursting them and allowing the flames to spread results in some of the flames not being fully visible, or sometimes not visible at all. On the JAMMA+ forum some other Bubble Bobble owners confirmed the existance of this problem. Both of my PCBs are Taito versions. I burnt new ROMs to switch one to the Romstar version, this made no difference.



Dynamite Dux
Another game where I bought a replacement PCB for a fault I thought my first one had. When the rock monster at the end of the first level is attacked (most notably with bullets) some of the rock sprites show corruption. My second board was not fully original, it had decrypted ROMs but still shows the same problem.



Psycho Soldier
This is a well know fault. Thin lines appear on the left hand side of the screen as the action scrolls.



After Burner
This is an unusual one, and may be particular to my setup. If the game's Cabinet Type dip switch is set to "Upright", I get graphical problems visible on the sky when the high scores appear. This goes away if the Cabinet Type is set to either of the "Moving" types. Furthermore, if I turn the PCB on and immediately play a game before the first attract mode starts, I don't get the problem. If I were to guess I would say that the problem is related to my JAMMA harness and perhaps is timing related. I had sent it away for repair and the board came back just as it had been, but with the dip switch changed, so I'm guessing the guy repairing it found nothing wrong. He forgot to send back the joystick and harness too, but that's another story altogether.



Athena and Bogey Manor
An annoyance rather than a glitch with these two games is that they expect the monitor to be rotated through 180 degrees to every other horizontal PCB I have.