=== Overview ===
Sharp's X1 computer was an unexpected surprise both outside and inside the company, having been designed by Sharp's consumer electronics division rather than the computer division responsible for the earlier MZ series.
For their next project, the X1 team was encouraged to shoot for the moon, and this no-compromise approach produced a legendary result: the Sharp X68000.
Dubbed a "personal workstation" rather than a personal computer, the X68000 was built around the 16-bit Motorola 68000 processor, the same processor found in early Sun Microsystems workstations, the Apple Macintosh, the Commodore Amiga, and the Atari ST. Flanking the CPU was a powerful sprite controller chip, code-named Cynthia, which could handle up to 128 16x16-dot sprites. A dizzying number of resolutions were supported, reaching up to 512x512 pixels with 65,536 colors, or even 1024x1024 pixels with fewer colors. The official 15-inch color display/TV could automatically switch among 15/24/31kHz horizontal scanning frequencies, and was equipped with dual digital/analog RGB input.
Stereo sound was provided by an 8-channel FM synthesis chip (the Yamaha YM2151) paired with a 1-channel PCM chip for simple digitized audio samples, and a PSG sound generator.
The bare specs alone make for possibly the most powerful home computer of 1987, but the genius of the X68000 design team was to combine raw horsepower with elegant looks and user-centric functions.
Inheriting the DNA of the similarly stylish X1, the case featured a striking vertical design, bisected into two tall compartments like a pair of Manhattan skyscrapers. Nestled between the towers was a retractable carrying handle. Instead of the typical beige box, the main housing and keyboard came in a pale ash gray or a sleek jet black.
The X68000 also featured dancing keyboard LEDs, soft-eject floppies, a mouse that doubled as a handheld trackball, a software-controlled power button, front and rear joystick ports, and a convenient volume knob on the front panel. Sharp applied all of its experience in designing TVs and audio components to create a computer that looked and felt more like a piece of high-end AV gear.
Most of all, the X68000 was unabashedly a home computer, a machine for the gamer, the artist, and the enthusiast rather than the businessman. The original model was bundled with the DOS-like operating system Human68k, co-developed by Hudson Soft, the X-BASIC programming language, a simple Japanese word processor... and a pixel-perfect port of Konami's Gradius. The perennial 1980s dream of bringing the arcade home was a reality, a full three years before the Neo Geo appeared.
As you might expect, the X68000 was expensive compared to other home computers of the time. The custom designs that made the X68000 such a powerful system in the first place also limited its future adaptability. Whereas NEC's PC-9801 series was able to nimbly incorporate new standards and hardware from the IBM PC-compatible ecosystem, all while leveraging economies of scale due to its extensive business contracts, the X68000 was first and foremost a love letter to enthusiasts, and Sharp only made half-hearted attempts to sell the X68k as a business machine. Financially, the X68000 was a success, but only a modest one.
Sharp continued to release one or two refreshed models per year, mostly keeping the basics the same, and only increasing the RAM, adding a hard disk drive, and eventually upgrading the processor starting in 1991. The final X680x0 model was released in 1993, a mere six years after the initial release.
But the story of the X68000 does not end there.
The X68000 had managed to inspire extraordinary passion in its userbase, and a community had formed to help keep their dream machine useful and relevant. The relatively small retail game library was supplemented with hundreds of doujin games and unofficial ports of games released on other systems. An uncountable number of free utilities and custom drivers were shared on BBSes and online services. Support for CD-ROM and MO drives was developed by Gorry, a talented programmer and one of the more prominent members of the scene. A few ambitious doujin groups even created hardware addons, like the Mercury Unit sound board (named after the Sailor Moon character), and the Nereid, a custom expansion board equipped with a LAN interface, extra memory, and a USB port. For a small, tight-knit group of power users, the X68000 spirit lived on throughout the 1990s.
In the spring of 2000, as the X68000 community was at long last starting to wind down, the members of the Sharp Products User's Forum (FSHARP) hosted on the @nifty online service petitioned Sharp to release the X68000 BIOS data and operating system files. Incredibly, Sharp agreed, and with the permission of four other rights-holding companies, officially sanctioned the release of the X68000 IPL ROM, the Human68k and SX-Window operating systems, and various dev tools for non-commercial use and emulation. It was a generous show of support and appreciation towards the users who had kept the cord plugged in for one of the most remarkable machines in computing history.
=== Running software ===
The primary operating system for the X68000 is Human68k, which is generally similar to DOS. Common commands such as DIR, CHDIR (CD), and TYPE are the same. Executable files are denoted by the extensions .x and .r, while batch programs retain the common .bat extension. Luckily, the X68000 uses a flat memory model, so there's no need to fuss with traditional DOS headaches like conventional memory vs. XMS/EMS.
However, there is one key difference to keep in mind: drive letters are assigned according to the boot device. If you boot from a floppy disk, the floppy drives become drives A: and B:, while the hard disk drive becomes C:. Conversely, if you boot from the hard disk, the hard disk becomes A:, while the floppy drives become B: and C:.
Almost all game software will run directly from floppy disks with no need to install. Otherwise, boot up Human68k first, then locate the main program from the command line or a filer utility.
Some games perform a write-protect check as a crude form of copy protection, so if something isn't working, try covering the write-protect notch on the floppy, or setting the disk image file to read-only.
Many games, particularly doujin games, require joystick input and do not accept keyboard commands.
The X68000 also features some keys not found on a modern keyboard, such as the Opt.1 and Opt.2 keys. To access these keys, you will need to map them to something convenient when using an emulator.
