In part 1 I talked about the NEC Starlet. Now, a bit more.

Software.

The  Starlet  comes with a number of programs that run from  ROM.  MicrPro’s Wordstar and CalcStar are included in their mobile, “To  Go”  forms.  WordStar was the de-facto word processor back in  the  day and so it’s inclusion here is logical.  In addition, there is a terminal emulator and personal filer.

Telecom.

The terminal emulator is worth a special mention. It emulates the  DEC  VT-100 terminal.  This is one of the most popular  terminals  and being emulate one allows the Starlet to communicate with most  available systems of the time.  In addition to emulation, Telecom  offers  file  transfers both as plain text or with  modem7/xmodem  protocol.  There  is even a switch on the file that allows it  to  convert WordStar files on the fly as they are being  transferred.  This must have been quite a boon at the time.

Add-ons.

The  Starlet had a variety of add-ons available there was a  3.5″  floppy  disk drive,  a CRT/disk adapter,  a 32K RAM cartridge.  I  don’t have any of these so can’t really comment but they look  to  be well thought out.