NEC M-System keyboards History

In 1983, NEC 日本電気 came out with a new keyboard and new Japanese input system, called M-system (M式), designed by Dr. Masasuke Morita at NEC.

M-system is 2 things:

1. A physical keyboard design that has 4 or more thumb keys, and symmeric (typically have dedicated sections for left hand and right hand).
2. A efficient Japanese input system. It's a romanji input system. (you type English Letter then convert to kata (Japanese alphabet)) The English letter arrangement is optimized for kana.

Over the years, there are several M-system keyboard designs. Here's a list of them.

• NEC PC-8801-KI, 1983

• NEC 文豪 Mini7, 1985
• NEC M-system, 1990
• NEC 文豪 Mini7RM, 1992
• NEC PC-9801, 1992
• NEC Ergofit, 1998

Reference

• • 【NEC】 Keyboard based on new input system (M system)
  • 2013-01-21
  • By Information Processing Society Of Japan.
  • http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/word/0027.html

2020-05-06 Thanks to NimShiko 〔https://medium.com/@elderiomeersky〕 for correction.