MSX
R800 (Turbo R) | |
Memory |
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Graphics |
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MSX is a standardized
MSX systems were popular in Japan and several other countries. There are differing accounts of MSX sales. One source claims 9 million MSX units were sold worldwide, including 7 million in Japan alone,[7] whereas ASCII corporation founder Kazuhiko Nishi claims that 3 million were sold in Japan, and 1 million overseas.[8] Despite Microsoft's involvement, few MSX-based machines were released in the United States.[9]
The meaning of the acronym MSX remains a matter of debate. In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi recalled that many assumed that it was derived from "Microsoft Extended", referring to the built-in Microsoft Extended
Before the success of Nintendo's Family Computer, the MSX was the platform that major Japanese game studios such as Konami and Hudson Soft developed for. The Metal Gear series, for example, was first written for MSX hardware.[13]
History
In the early 1980s, most
Major Japanese electronics companies entered the computer market in the 1960s, and Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial) was also developing
Recently, NEC's personal computers sell well in Yamagata too, and our dealers also request merchandise. However, we must purchase not only personal computers, but also home appliances from NEC. I think Matsushita also need develop personal computers.
Yamashita ordered the vice president, Shunkichi Kisaka, to develop a personal computer, and Kisaka called on Kazuyasu Maeda of Matsushita R&D Center.[15]
Maeda requested Nishi to assist with the development. They were already close to each other. When they met at a seminar held by NEC, they noticed both were from Kobe and had graduated from the same university. They often talked to each other about home computers. At the same time, Spectravideo contacted Microsoft in order to obtain software for their new home computer. Nishi went to Hong Kong to meet with Spectravideo, and suggested some improvements to its prototype. Spectravideo's president, Harry Fox, was willing to accept Nishi's proposals. Nishi conceived to create a unified standard based on its machine, and Maeda agreed with his idea.[12] Nishi wanted to involve Panasonic and Sony in the development of home computers. While they were competing for videotape formats, Nobuyuki Idei of Sony accepted his proposal. Idei thought Sony should cooperate with Panasonic on its development because the SMC-70, Sony's first personal computer, faced difficulty in the market when Sony started their computer business. Maeda also wanted to invite NEC, but NEC chose to go its own way.[15]
Nishi proposed MSX as an attempt to create a single industry-standard for home computers. Inspired by the success of
Nishi's standard was built around the Spectravideo
Debut
On June 27, 1983,[18] the MSX was formally announced during a press conference, and a slew of big Japanese firms declared their plans to introduce the machines. The Japanese companies avoided the intensely competitive U.S. home computer market, which was in the throes of a Commodore-led price war. Only Spectravideo and Yamaha briefly marketed MSX machines in the U.S. Spectravideo's MSX enjoyed very little success, and Yamaha's CX5M model, built to interface with various types of MIDI equipment, was billed more as a digital music tool than a standard personal computer.
Evolution
MSX spawned four generations. The first three, MSX (1983), MSX2 (1985),[19] and MSX2+ (1988), were all 8-bit computers based on the Z80 microprocessor. The MSX2+ was exclusively released in Japan.
A new MSX3 was originally scheduled to be released in 1990, but delays in the development of its Yamaha-designed VDP caused it to miss its time to market deadline.[20] In its place, the MSX TurboR was released, which used the new custom 16-bit R800 microprocessor developed by ASCII Corporation intended for the MSX3, but features such as DMA and 24-bit addressing were disabled. Like the MSX2+, the MSX TurboR was exclusively released in Japan. By the time the MSX TurboR standard was announced in 1990, only Panasonic was manufacturing MSX computers. Its initial model FS-A1ST met with moderate success, but the upgraded model FS-A1GT introduced in 1991 sold poorly due to its high retail cost of 99800 yen (about 740 USD at the time). Production of the TurboR ended in 1993 when Panasonic decided to focus on the release of 3DO.[citation needed] The VDP was eventually delivered in 1992, two years after its planned deadline, by which time the market had moved on. In an attempt to reduce its financial loss, Yamaha stripped nearly all V9958 compatibility and marketed the resulting V9990 E-VDP III as a video-chipset for PC VGA graphic cards, with moderate success.
Impact
In Japan, South Korea, Argentina, and Brazil, the MSX was the preeminent home computer system of the 1980s. It was also fairly popular in
In comparison with rival 8-bit computers, the
A Sony MSX2 machine was launched into space to the Russian Mir space station.[25]
Similar systems
The system MSX most closely resembled was the Spectravideo SV-328 home computer (Spectravideo even claimed to be "MSX compatible" in advertisements before the actual launch of MSX systems, but it was not completely compatible with it). This led to a new and short-lived kind of software cracking: converting. Since the MSX games were unplayable on the SV-328 computer, SV-328 crackers developed a method of modifying the (MSX) games to make them work on the SV-328. In most cases, this included downloading the MSX BIOS to the SV-328 from tape or floppy disk. Spectravideo later launched the SVI-728 which completely adhered to the MSX standard.
The
Localization
By default, MSX machines have a
In 2011, AGE Labs introduced Language Pack firmware, aiming to make each model support several localizations. In AGE Labs' GR8BIT kit, the Language Pack is installed by default in place of the Kanji-ROM. It allows changing the character set and keyboard layout of the machine at startup between Japanese, Russian, International and Portuguese locales. It also gives the ability to change locales during machine operation using the newly introduced LANG
command in BASIC.[26] The selected locale setting is stored into the unused RTC NVRAM memory space.
Games
Several popular video game franchises were established on the MSX:
- Antarctic Adventure and Penguin Adventure
- FDSversion)
- Bomberman
- Eggerland
- Metal Gear
- Parodius
- Puyo Puyo (released alongside the FDS version)
Others received various installments on the MSX, including several titles unique to the system or largely reworked versions of games on other formats:
- Castlevania (as Vampire Killer)
- Contra
- Dragon Quest
- Dragon Slayer
- Final Fantasy
- Gradius (Nemesis)
- R-Type
- Wizardry
- Xak
- Xevious: Fardraut Saga
- Ys
Manufacturers
- MSX
- /Epcom, Talent.
- MSX2
- AGE Labs.
- MSX2+
- Sony, Sanyo, Panasonic, ACVS/CIEL*, DDX*.
- MSX TurboR
- Panasonic.
* Clones or unlicensed equipment.
Legacy
2001
In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi initiated a MSX revival around an official MSX
2011
In 2011, AGE Labs announced[28] GR8BIT, a do-it-yourself kit for building an MSX computer. The kit, licensed by the MSX Licensing Corporation, is targeted to those wanting to learn about computer hardware. It includes all the necessary components to assemble a working MSX2-compatible computer except for an ATX chassis, power supply, floppy drive, hard disk, PS/2 keyboard, and monitor.
2014
Some of the Korean forum members who made Zemmix Neo created a new MSX-compatible called Mini IQ3000 Cutie, which has similar features to Daewoo Electronics' Korean-made MSX2 model, the IQ-2000. It is based on 1ChipMSX but has some special features like 'Scan Line Generator', which improves the quality of the video display, and 'Multi Language Support' that allows it to support two languages. By default, the machine operates using the Korean version of MSX displaying the Korean font, but if the 'del' key is pressed during booting it will operate in Japanese mode. Even though the default mode is Korean, the default font allocation table is Japanese, and will show Japanese characters when executing Japanese version software programs.[29]
2019
In 2019, a group of fans developed the MSX Mini Replica. It is a 1:2 scale reproduction of the Philips VG-8020 computer compatible with the software of the MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, and TurboR generations. It incorporates 2 USB ports, an HDMI video output and internally uses the same hardware as the C64 Mini. Connecting an additional peripheral called MSX Player allows it to run original games on ROM cartridges.
2020
The MSXVR is a computer released in 2020 and compatible with the MSX family of computers. Like the latest Zemmix game consoles, it is also based on a Raspberry Pi card with additional circuitry to connect the original MSX peripherals.
2023
In 2022, Nishi announced an official revival of the MSX computer standard dubbed the MSX3, to be implemented in multiple configurations, including an upgrade cartridge to existing MSX computers. Later, in 2023 following a successful crowdfunding campaign, an IoT device resembling a Game Boy with a keyboard, the MSX0, was revealed, intended for IoT uses, alongside the base MSX3 unit. Plans also call for a supercomputer, the MSX Turbo X 128, based around the concept of clusters.[30]
System specifications
MSX[31] | MSX2 | MSX2+ | MSX TurboR | |
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Release | Worldwide (1983) | Worldwide (1985) | Only officially in Japan (1988) (available in Europe and Brazil via upgrades) |
Only Japan (1990) |
Processor | Zilog Z80A running at 3.58 MHz | Zilog Z80A running at 3.58 MHz (the HC-90 and HC-95 models from JVC have a 6.144MHz HD64180 CPU, but this is not part of the standard)
|
Zilog Z80-compatible running at 3.58 MHz (the MSX2+ models from Panasonic can be set to run on 5.37 MHz by software, but this is not part of the standard) |
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ROM | 32 KB | 48 KB | 64 KB | 96 KB |
|
|
| ||
RAM | 8 KB minimum, most machines provided either 32 or 64 KB; machines with 128 KB exist | 64 KB minimum, commonly 128 KB in Europe, 64 KB on Japanese computers, machines with up to 512 KB were made. Normally memory mapped (4 MB per slot maximum, 48 MB max total) | Commonly 64 KB (on Japanese computers), normally memory mapped (4 MB per slot maximum, 48 MB max total) | 256 KB (FS-A1ST) or 512 KB (FS-A1GT)
|
Video display processor | Texas Instruments TMS9918 family
|
Yamaha V9938 (a.k.a. MSX-Video) Supports all MSX video modes
|
Yamaha V9958
|
Yamaha V9958 (aka MSX-Video), so the same capabilities as MSX2+ |
Sound chip | General Instrument AY-3-8910 (PSG) |
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|
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Clock chip | (Not installed.) | Ricoh RP5C01 (or compatible) | ||
Interfaces |
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Media |
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Peripherals
Keyboard
The keyboard is a functionally separate unit which could be connected by non-multiplexed and multiplexed interfaces. Multiplexed keyboard units feature additional data direction line, allowing sending scan line number to the keyboard using same data lines used for return scan code, decreasing overall number of wires between keyboard and machine. Non-multiplexed interface is usually used for internal keyboards (and some external keyboards, like Panasonic CF-3300); multiplexed interface is used for external keyboards (e.g. in Yamaha YIS805 model).
The keyboard is organized as a matrix with maximum 11 input lines and 8 output lines, accounting for maximum 88 keys (including all control, numerical and alphanumerical keys). Each scan line is regularly queried to identify the state of the keys on the line; query speed is identified by the system interrupt frequency. Such organization allows system to sense state of each key, not exhibiting notorious problem with 8042 microcontroller-based keyboards when pressing several keys simultaneously (usually more than 3) generates wrong input characters, or renders inability to sense the press of more keys.
Due to the keyboard scan being controlled by the system interrupts, one of the troubleshooting hints when an MSX machine does not display any image (assuming power is present) is to press the CAPS key to see if the respective LED toggles. If it does not toggle, the system is likely suffering a more serious problem than just lack of image on the screen (i.e. the problem with video cable or video display interface in overall).
In 2009, Kamil Karimov designed the adapter board
In 2011, AGE Labs embedded a PS/2 keyboard controller unit, based on
Cartridges
MSX standard requires at least 1 cartridge slot, most MSX models have 2. These slots[33] are interchangeable, so in most cases it makes no difference in which slot a cartridge is inserted. The physical connector is a 50 pin (2 × 25 contacts), standard 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) pitch edge connector. Using these cartridge slots, a wide variety of peripherals could be connected.
Regular game cartridges are about the size of an audio cassette (so-called "Konami size"). Despite their higher cost, this was a popular format due to its reliability and ease of use.
Around 1985, Hudson Soft released the credit card-sized Bee Card, which was meant as a cheaper and more convenient alternative to ROM cartridges. But it was a commercial failure, and very few titles were released on the format.
Source files[34] for development of the MSX cartridges are available from AGE Labs for EAGLE.
Floppy disk drives
Early MSX models did not have a built-in disk drive, so software were initially published on cartridge and cassette tape.[14]
Mitsumi
Sony also created a battery backed RAM cartridge the
Traditional floppy disk drives were made available for MSX in 1984, either built-in or in the form of a cartridge containing the disk interface electronics and a BIOS extension ROM (the floppy disk drive interface), connected to an external case with the drive. In South America, many of these systems used a 5.25 in (133 mm) floppy disk drive, but in Europe, 3.5 in (89 mm) drives were more popular. In Japan, some MSX1 systems included a built-in 3.5-inch disk drive, like the Panasonic (previously named National) CF-3300. In Europe, a range of Philips MSX2 systems NMS 8230, 8235, 8245, 8250 and above featured either 360 or 720 KB 3.5-inch floppy drives.
In 1985, the MSX2 was released, and these systems often (but not always) also included a built-in 3.5-inch disk drive. Consequently, the popular media for games and other software shifted to floppy disks.
The
The MSX 3.5-inch floppy disks are directly compatible with MS-DOS (although some details like
In September 2012, AGE Labs extended the standard by including support for 1.44Mb 3.5-inch format. The 1.44Mb diskette size goes in two configurations: Standard (1 sector per cluster, 9 FAT sectors), and Compatible (4 sectors per cluster, 3 FAT sectors).[39]
MSX-Audio
- Yamaha Y8950, commercially released as:
- Panasonic: MSX-Audio FS-CA1 (32 KB of SampleRAM, 32 KB of AudioROM)
- Philips: Music Module NMS-1205 (32 KB of SampleRAM, no MSX-Audio BIOS)
- Toshiba: MSX FM-synthesizer Unit HX-MU900 (no sample RAM, no MSX-Audio BIOS)
- 9 channels FM or 6 channels FM + 5 drums. YM3526 compatible.
- ADPCM record and play, with Hardware acceleration
- Can be upgraded to 256 KB of SampleRAM
MSX-Music
- Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL), also known as:
- 9 channels FM or 6 channels FM + 5 drums
- 15 pre-set instruments, 1 custom
- Built-in on most MSX2+ and as standard on MSX TurboR computers
Emulation
MSX computers are
The official MSX emulator MSXPLAYer (in Japanese) is produced by the MSX Association, of which the inventor of the MSX standard, Kazuhiko Nishi, is the president.
As of version 0.146.u,
Virtual Console
In February 2007,
List of MSX emulators
Name | Current version | Date | System | Platform | License | Website |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
blueMSX | 2.8.2 | August 14, 2009 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR, SpectraVideo SVI318/328, ColecoVision, Sega SG-1000 | Windows | GPL
|
[1] |
openMSX | 19.0 | July 25, 2023 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR, SpectraVideo SVI318/328, ColecoVision, Sega SG-1000 | Multiplatform
|
GPL
|
[2] |
Clock Signal | 2022-11-25 | November 11, 2022 | Diverse computers and consoles; MSX 1 only. | macOS | Open source | [3] |
CocoaMSX | 3.5.41 | October 23, 2013 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR | macOS | GPL
|
[4] |
fMSX | 6.0 | February 24, 2021 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+ | Multiplatform
|
Commercial | [5] |
fMSX PSP | 3.5.41 | March 17, 2010 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+ | Sony PSP | Open source | [6] |
jsMSX | 0.9.2 | April 19, 2013 | MSX | JavaScript | GPL
|
[7] |
MAME | 0.251 | December 31, 2022 | Diverse computers and consoles | Multiplatform
|
GPL | [8] |
meisei | 1.3.1 | February 9, 2010 | MSX | Windows | Open source | [9] |
MSKISS | 0.2.4 | March 13, 2000 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+ | DOS, Windows | Freeware | [10] |
MSX Emulator | 0.10b | October 26, 2006 | MSX | Atari ST | Freeware | [11] Archived November 11, 2020, at the Wayback Machine |
MSX Emulator | 1.8 | August 16, 2010 | MSX, MSX2 | UNIX
|
GPL
|
[12] Archived October 23, 2019, at the Wayback Machine |
msxDS | 0.93 | January 1, 2012 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+ | Nintendo DS | Freeware | [13] |
NLMSX | 0.48 | June 12, 2003 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR | Windows | Freeware | [14] |
NO$MSX | 1.5 | May 1, 2003 | MSX, MSX2 | Windows, DOS | Shareware | [15] |
paraMSX | 0.50b | October 8, 2009 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR | Windows | Freeware | [16] |
RuMSX | 0.41 | July 2, 2008 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX TurboR | Windows | Freeware | [17] |
WebMSX | 6.0.3 | June 2, 2020 | MSX, MSX2, MSX2+, MSX turbo R | JavaScript | ? [Source on GitHub | [18] [19] |
See also
- MSX character sets
- List of MSX games
- History of computing hardware
- Moonsound
- SymbOS
- Zemmix
- Canon V-20
References
- ISBN 9781904705390.
- ISSN 0287-9506.
- ^ Wood, Robert (1983). "Japanese seek to dominate home market". InfoWorld. 5 (49): 158. Retrieved September 16, 2019 – via Google Books.
- ^ "MSX: The Japanese are coming! The Japanese are coming!". The Register. June 27, 2013.
- ^ "Kazuhiko Nishi". eNotes.com.
- ^ "The First MSX". ascii.jp.
- ^ Loguidice, Bill (April 14, 2017). "The bright life of the MSX, Japan's underdog PC". PC Gamer. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
- ^ "【伝説のパソコンMSX】仕掛け人がついに明かす「失敗の本質」". ダイヤモンド・オンライン (in Japanese). December 26, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2023.
- ^ Root, Howard; Williams, Brian (August 1984). "Faceoff: will MSX be a success in the United States". Creative Computing. Vol. 10, no. 8. p. 198.
- ^ Nishi, Kazuhiko (April 21, 2001). MSX Fair Tilburg 2001 – by Totally Chaos (video). Event occurs at 14:40. Archived from the original on December 11, 2021. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
- ^ Watt, Peggy (February 4, 1985). "Japan's MSX poised for the US". InfoWorld. Vol. 7, no. 5. InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. pp. 19–20 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Nishi, Kazuhiko (December 5, 2020). "ついに明かされる! 伝説のパソコン「MSX」誕生の驚くべき"舞台裏"". Diamond Online (in Japanese). Retrieved February 22, 2021.
- ^ "Kojima Productions". Konami.jp. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
- ^ a b Dvorak, John C. (November 28, 2006). "Whatever Happened to MSX Computers?". Dvorak Uncensored. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 4-532-16331-5.
- ^ The history of Spectravideo samdal.com, retrieved December 20, 2012
- ISSN 0199-6649.
- ^ "The Toshiba MSX (HX-10) 64K". retrovideogamesystems.com. September 8, 2010.
- ^ "MSX2". OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum.
- ^ MSX-FAN Magazine (February 1995 issue, p. 90)
- ^ "Distance education in the Cuban context". July 22, 2012. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012.
- ^ Steil, Michael (February 1, 2011). "How many Commodore 64 computers were really sold?". Pagetable.com. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
- ^ Reimer, Jeremy. "Personal Computer Market Share: 1975–2004". Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2009.
- ^ "5 to 6 million Apple IIs sold". Mac Daily News. June 5, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
- ^ "MSX IN SPAAAACCCEE". msx.gnu-linux.net.
- ^ a b Brychkov, Eugeny (2012). KB0004: Using GR8BIT Language Pack and PS2 Keyboard (PDF). AGE Labs.
- ^ MSX Resource Center. "One Chip MSX MKII". Msx.org. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
- ^ "The birth of a GR8BIT – The do it yourself MSX 2". MSX Resource Center. January 18, 2012. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
- ^ Center, MSX Resource. "Mini IQ3000 (Temporarily name for small project) – MSX Resource Center (페이지 1/9)". www.msx.org.
- ^ "MSX Co-Creator Kazuhiko Nishi Reveals "Every MSX Can Be An MSX3"". www.timeextension.com.
- ^ "Portar MSX Tech Doc". problemkaputt.de.
- ^ Karimov, Kamil (February 14, 2010). "Контроллер PS/2 клавиатуры для MSX (Russian)". MSX Resource Center. Retrieved September 20, 2013.
- ^ "2 standard MSX cartridge slots". Archived from the original on April 26, 2012.
- ^ "MSX breadboard schematic, board and library". AGE Labs. Archived from the original on December 1, 2013. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
- ^ https://www.msx.org/wiki/Category:QuickDisk_BASIC Mitsumi QuickDisk BASIC Copyright screen
- ^ picture of HBI-55 data cartridge Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ MSX Technical Data Book
- ^ "MSX-DOS 2 section". The Ultimate MSX FAQ. Faq.msxnet.org. Retrieved June 22, 2011.
- ^ "Storage subsystem v.3.0 Manual" (PDF). AGE Labs. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
- ^ "fMSX: Portable MSX Emulator". Fms.komkon.org. December 31, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
External links
- MSX at Curlie
- The MSX Resource Center
- The MSX Files
- SCROLL Issue 12: Introducing MSX
- MsxToday – Community dedicated to MSX standard computers.
- MSX.bas – Website dedicated to preserve and make available software written in MSX BASIC.