GMC-4

{{Short description|Japanese microcomputer}}

File:Gmc-4n.jpg

The GMC-4 is the only 4-bit microcomputer to be mass-produced in the last 30 years (as of 2009).{{Cite web|url=http://matrixsynth.blogspot.com/2009/07/gakken-gmc-4.html|title=MATRIXSYNTH: The Gakken GMC-4}} It was produced by Gakken, a Japanese publisher who distributed it with a magazine attached to a box containing the components required to assemble the computer. It is based on the Texas Instruments TMS1100 microcontroller.

The GMC-4 is a modernized version of Gakken's 1983 Gakken FX-System, also known as the R-165. This system was also sold by Radio Shack as the Science Fair Microcomputer Trainer, but replaced the FX's circuit board with hand-wired circuity assembled by the user using springs to hold short bits of wire.{{cite book |url=http://adb.arcadeitalia.net/download_file.php?tipo=mame_current&codice=fxmcr165&entity=manual&oper=view&filler=fxmcr165.pdf |title=Science Fair Microcomputer Trainer |publisher=Radio Shack}}

The purpose of the GMC-4 is education.{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} It provides an accessible way to learn about assembly language and the principles of computing.