Frael King

This computer arrived in the collection almost by chance. While having a chat at the hairdresser's, one of the customers had an "old computer" to sell. The asking price was very high, while the value of this computer is very low, so I decided to negotiate the price decisively and the seller accepted. The Frael King computer is in excellent condition, equipped with a Mitsumi KPQ-E84YC keyboard and Philips BM7502/00G green phosphor monitor.

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Frael King computer, Philips BM7502/00G monochrome monitor, fosfori verdi, tastiera Mitsumi KPQ-E84YC din 5 poli

Frael King

The Frael King is an entry-level desktop, but really entry! It seems it was delivered to the students of the computer course of the 2F School, so it was not sold directly by the manufacturer. Although Frael is an Italian company, the Frael King computer was produced by Frael Asia in Taiwan.

The example in my possession is from 1989. For a computer from those years... it has rather simple characteristics, when compared to the computers available at that time. Consider that the Frael King is equipped with an NEC V20 processor (μPD70108), compatible with the Intel 8088. In that same year, Intel began producing the 486!

I had compared the performance of vintage CPUs with each other and with modern ones in this video/article.

Startup screen

The computer starts with the following texts:

FRAEL KING BIOS ver 3.40
Copyright 1989 FRAEL CO., LTD.
IMAGE POSITIVE

Runs diagnostic tests and counts all 512 KB of RAM. Then load the software on the 720 KB diskette.

Frael King computer vintage, Philips BM7502/00G monochrome monitor, fosfori verdi, tastiera Mitsumi KPQ-E84YC din 5 poli

Technical characteristics of the Frael King vintage computer

CPU: NEC V20 (μPD70108), 16 bit, 8 MHz

RAM: 512 KB

ROM: 128 KB (contiene il POST = Power On Self Test e il BIOS = Basic Input-Output System)

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Graphics: Integrated CGA graphics card, with 8-pin round connector (composite video) and RF connector for TV

Text mode: 80 columns x 20 rows

Graphics mode: 640 x 200 pixels

Frael King vintage computer IBM compatibile, scheda madre, NEC V20, slot ISA, RAM, ROM

Audio: beep

Keyboard: external 5-pole DIN

Accompanying software: computer course of the 2F School, containing the MS DOS version 3.30 operating system

Storage media: n. 1 internal floppy disk drive, 3.5″, 720 KB

Frael King vintage IBM compatible computer, internal, motherboard, floppy controller, riser card, ISA slot

Expansion ports, internal:

  • N. 2 ISA 8 bit expansion ports on riser card
  • There are some empty sockets, probably you can expand the RAM and add more features, but I haven't found any documentation about it.
Frael King, porte posteriori, riser card, slot ISA 8 bit

Expansion ports, external:

  • 5-pole DIN keypad
  • Other 5-pole DIN connector with unknown functionality
  • Parallela DB 25 poli (Centronics)
  • 9-pole DB connector for TTL monitors
  • 8-pole round composite video connector
  • RF connector

There is also a switch that allows you to select the type of monitor: TTL or PAL TV.

Frael King, rear ports, keyboard, parallel, RF, monitor, power, switch

Dimensions: 28.5 x 36 x 8.5 cm. Weight to measure.

Emulation

The Frael King boots with MS DOS operating system. It is possible to emulate the MS-DOS environment with DOSBox (although DOSBox is an emulator for x86 systems).

Power supply

The Frael King personal computer power supply is inside the computer. On the back of the computer, there is the IEC C14 power connector, where you can connect the mains power cable. My example is powered by 230 V alternating current 50 Hz.

The voltages generated, in direct current, are:

  • 5V
  • 12V

The power switch is on the back of the computer, just below the power connector.

Date of entry into the collection: 09/16/2023

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