The new MPF1 Plus - The lowest-cost Z80 computer with all these features!

The Microprofessor MPF-1 Plus was a redesigned version of the original MPF-1, originally released by Multitech Industrial Corporation in the summer of 1982. Its launch came after the company had released its MPF-II model, which was aimed more at the home market.

The MPF-1 was essentially a stand-alone Z80-based machine code development/educational computer, running at 1.75MHz. It was a little like an integrated version of the Nascom 2 from 1980, although it could take add-ons which made it more-or-less a "full" microcomputer. 

Its built-in display was formed of 20 16-segment flourescent characters, and in contrast to the original model it had a full keyboard. It also had two 8255 PIAs, which gave the board 48 I/O lines.

It was very much aimed at the serious hobbyist market, rather than at general consumers, and seemed to revel in its machine-code credentials, charging extra for something as polluting as a high-level language interpreter like BASIC. 

Concluding a review of the MFP-1, Ken Alexander wrote:

~"the standard of construction was high and coupled with the wealth of documentation provided, the system is indeed a powerful software development tool. the computer is a powerful stand-alone machine and with the range of ad-ons produced for the system can grow in to a very flexible computer. At £165 ([[165|1983]] in [[now]]) the Plus version of the system is more expensive than many personal micros but this is a computer that is far more versatile than most of the 'designed down' consumer computers[source: "MPF-1 Plus Reviewed", Electronics and Computing Monthly, November 1983, p. 33]".


