MSX

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
This article is about the computer standard MSX. For the AFSPC's space mission, see Midcourse Space Experiment.
Image:Msx.png
MSX
Type Home computer
Released 1983 (MSX1)
Discontinued 1995 (MSX turbo R)
Processor Zilog Z80
Memory 16KB ~ 512KB
OS MSX-DOS / MSX BASIC
Sony MSX 1, Model HitBit-10-P
Enlarge
Sony MSX 1, Model HitBit-10-P

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s. It was a Microsoft-led attempt to create unified standards among hardware makers, conceived by one-time Microsoft Japan executive Kazuhiko Nishi. Despite Microsoft's involvement, MSX-based machines were seldom seen in the United States but were hugely popular in other markets. Eventually 5 million MSX-based units were sold world-wide.

Nishi proposed MSX as an attempt to create a single industry standard for home computers. Inspired by the success of VHS as a standard for video cassette recorders, many Japanese electronic manufacturers along with Goldstar, Philips and Spectravideo built and promoted MSX computers. Any piece of hardware or software with the MSX logo on it was compatible with MSX products of other manufacturers. In particular, the expansion cartridge form and function were part of the standard; any MSX expansion or game cartridge would work in any MSX computer.

Nishi's standard consisted primarily of several off-the-shelf parts; the main CPU was a 3.58 MHz Zilog Z80, the graphics chip a Texas Instruments TMS9918 with 16 KB of dedicated VRAM, and the sound was provided by the AY-3-8910 chip manufactured by General Instrument (GI). These components alongside Microsoft's MSX BASIC made the MSX a competitive, though somewhat more expensive home computer package.

Before the appearance and great success of the Nintendo Famicom, MSX was the platform for which major Japanese game studios, such as Konami and Hudson Soft, produced their titles. The Metal Gear and Castlevania series were originally written for MSX hardware.

Contents

[edit] History

In the 1980s Japan was in the midst of an economic awakening. Large Japanese electronics firms may have been successful in the early computer market had they made a concerted effort in the late 1970s. Their combined design and manufacturing power could have allowed them to produce competitive machines, but they initially ignored the home computer market and appear to have been hesitant to do business in a market where no industry standard existed. [citation needed]

When MSX was announced and a slew of big Japanese firms announced their plans to introduce machines, it set off a wave of panic in the U.S. industry [citation needed]. However, 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.

Consequently, MSX never became the worldwide standard that its makers had envisioned, mainly because it never took off in the United States. In Japan and South Korea, MSX was the paramount home computer system in the 1980s. It was also popular in The Netherlands, Spain, Brazil, some Arab countries and the Soviet Union.

The exact meaning of the 'MSX' abbreviation remains a matter of debate. At the time, most people seemed to agree it meant 'MicroSoft eXtended', referring to the built-in MSX-BASIC programming language, specifically adapted by Microsoft for the MSX system. However, according to Kazuhiko Nishi during a recent visit to Tilburg in the Netherlands, MSX stands for 'Machines with Software eXchangeability'. The MSX-DOS disk operating system had file system compatibility with CP/M and was similar to MS-DOS. In this way, Microsoft could promote MSX for home use while promoting MS-DOS based personal computers in office environments.

MSX spawned four generations: MSX 1 (1983), MSX 2 (1986), MSX 2+ (1988) and MSX turbo R (1990). The first three were 8-bit computers based on the Z80 microprocessor, while the MSX turbo R was based on an enhanced Zilog Z800 known as the R800. The Turbo R was introduced in 1990 but was unsuccessful due to a lack of support and the rise in popularity of the by then well-established IBM PC Compatible market. Production of the Turbo R ended in 1995.

In total, 5 million MSX computers were sold making it extremely popular in comparison to other home-computers. Notable examples are the very popular Apple II, with a production totalling 2 million units, and the TRS-80 with only 250,000 units sold.

[edit] MSX Revival

This article or section documents a current event in computer or video gaming.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
1chip MSX
Enlarge
1chip MSX
  • In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi initiated an 'MSX Revival' around an official MSX emulator called [MSX PLAYer]. This is the only official MSX emulator. All MSX copyrights are maintained by the MSX Association.
  • In 2004 Dutch company Bazix announced they had become the representatives of MSX Association in Europe, being the English contact for any questions regarding the MSX trademarks and copyrights (licensing).
  • On October 17, 2006, Bazix launched WOOMB.Net, a website selling MSX games (translated to English if necessary), with a selection of 14 games. In Japan, game sales began earlier, through Project EGG. WOOMB.Net is the English counterpart of this (and other) Japanese services offered by D4 Enterprise.
  • D4 Enterprise also announced (in August 2006) the launch of a new MSX2 compatible system called the "one chip-MSX", a system based on an Altera Cyclone EP1C12Q240C8 FPGA. The "one chip-MSX" is similar in concept to the C-One, a Commodore 64 clone also build on the basis of a single FPGA chip. The new MSX system is housed in a box made out of transparent blue plastic, and can be used with a standard monitor (or TV) and a PC keyboard. It has two MSX cartridge slots and supports the audio extensions MSX-MUSIC and SCC+. A SD/MMC-flashcard can be used as an external storage medium, emulating a disk drive and can be used to boot MSX-DOS. Due to its VHDL programmable hardware it is possible to give the device new hardware extensions simply by running a reconfiguration program under MSX-DOS. The "one chip-MSX" also has two USB connectors that can be used after adding some supporting VHDL code.
  • In 2006 Nintendo of Japan posted on its Virtual Console webpage that MSX games will be available for Wii's Virtual Console emulator.

[edit] MSX trivia

  • The birthday of the MSX Home Computer Standard is June 27, 1983, the day it was formally announced during a press-conference.
  • MSX 1 computers were very similar to the Colecovision video game system. They shared the same CPU and video processors. Their sound processors were also very similar. A Colecovision emulator for the MSX exists.
  • By far, the most popular and famous MSX games were written by Japanese software-house Konami.
  • As the MSX's processor, the Zilog Z80A could address up to 64 kB of memory, the default allocation (used in most, if not all models) was with the lower 32 kB for ROM BASIC and the upper 32 kB for RAM. Machines intended to run MSX-DOS (a CP/M-like system) had 64 kB RAM, but the lower 32 kB were disabled in order for the ROM BASIC to function. When the computer booted MSX-DOS, the ROM BASIC was disabled and all of the 64 kB address space was mapped to RAM.
  • Among MSX-DOS compatible software (directly ported from CP/M) there was dBase II, Turbo Pascal version 3 and Wordstar. Therefore, in the late 80's, several Brazilian companies used an MSX system as their "corporate" computer. As an MSX 1 could display only 40×25 text, there were expansion kits that upgraded the display to 80×25, giving MSX a more professional appeal. MSX 2 & up were never manufactured by the main companies (Gradiente and Sharp) in Brazil. Much of the market was created alone by Ademir Carchano (MSX Projetos et al) which created most of the aftermarket hardware for MSX, including the MegaRAM cartridge (a way to copy and play MegaROM games), the MSX 2.0 and 2+ conversion kits and IDE interfaces. Although cheaper IBM-PC clones eventually dominated the market, the MSX remained somewhat popular, with hardware being created and sold for substantial prices for some time afterwards.
  • MSX 1 games were published mainly on cartridge and cassette tape. Later in the 1980s the MSX 2 was released, which generally included 3.5" disk drives, and consequently the popular media for games and other software shifted to diskettes.
  • The MSX 3.5" floppy disks, at least those formatted under MSX-DOS 2.0, were directly compatible with MS-DOS (although some details like file undeletion and boot sector code were different). [1]

[edit] Franchises established on the MSX

Several popular video game franchises were established on the MSX:

Others got various installments on the MSX, including some titles unique to the system or largely different to the games on other formats:

[edit] Manufacturers of MSX computers

[edit] System specs

[edit] MSX 1

Philips MSX 1, Model VG-8020
Enlarge
Philips MSX 1, Model VG-8020

[edit] MSX 2

  • Processor: Zilog Z80A running at 3.58 MHz
  • ROM: 48 kB
    • BIOS + Extended BIOS (32 kB)
    • MSX BASIC V2.0 (16 kB)
    • DiskROM (16 kB) (optional)
    • MSX-Audio BIOS (32 kB) (optional)
  • RAM: commonly 128 kB (64 kB on Japanese computers, Sony HB-F700P had 256 kB)
  • Video Display Processor: Yamaha V9938 (aka MSX-Video)
    • Video RAM: 128 kB (sometimes 64 kB or 192 kB)
    • Text modes: 80×24 and 32×24
    • Resolution: 512×212 (16 colours out of 512) and 256×212 (256 colours)
    • Sprites: 32, 16 colours, max 8 per horizontal line
    • Hardware acceleration for copy, line, fill, etc.
    • Interlacing to double vertical resolution
    • Vertical scroll register
  • Sound chip: General Instrument AY-3-8910 (PSG)
    • 3 channels + noise
  • Clock chip RP5C01

[edit] MSX 2+

  • Only officially released in Japan (available in Europe and Brazil via upgrades)
  • Processor: Zilog Z80 compatible running at 3.58 MHz or more (5.37 MHz versions were available)
  • ROM: 64 kB
    • BIOS + Extended BIOS (32 kB)
    • MSX BASIC V3.0 (16 kB)
    • DiskROM (16 kB)
    • Kun-BASIC (16 kB) (optional)
    • Kanji ROM (optional)
  • RAM: commonly 64 kB (on Japanese computers)
    • Memory mapped (4 MB/slot max)
  • Video Display Processor: Yamaha V9958 (aka MSX-Video)
    • Video RAM: 128 kB
    • Text modes: 80×24 and 32×24
    • Resolution: 512×212 (16 colours out of 512) and 256×212 (19268 colours)
    • Sprites: 32, 16 colours, max 8 per horizontal line
    • Hardware acceleration for copy, line, fill, etc.
    • Interlacing to double vertical resolution
    • Horizontal and vertical scroll registers
  • Sound chip: General Instrument AY-3-8910 (PSG)
    • 3 channels + noise
  • Optional sound chip: Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL) (MSX-Music)
    • 9 channels FM or 6 channels FM + 5 drums
    • 15 pre-set instruments, 1 custom
  • Clock chip RP5C01

[edit] MSX turbo R

  • Only released in Japan
  • Processor: R800 and Zilog Z80 running respectively at 29 MHz and 7.14 MHz
  • ROM: 96 kB
    • BIOS + Extended BIOS (48 kB)
    • MSX BASIC V4.0 (16 kB)
    • DiskROM (16 kB)
    • Kun-BASIC (16 kB)
    • Kanji ROM (256 kB)
    • Firmware (4 MB)
  • RAM: 256 kB (FS-A1ST) or 512 kB (FS-A1GT)
    • Memory mapped (4 MB/slot max)
    • Additionally 16 kB (FS-A1ST) or 32 kB (FS-A1GT) of SRAM (battery-powered)
  • Video Display Processor: Yamaha V9958 (aka MSX-Video)
    • Video RAM: 128 kB
    • Text modes: 80×24 and 32×24
    • Resolution: 512×212 (16 colours out of 512) and 256×212 (19768 colours)
    • Sprites: 32, 16 colours, max 8 per horizontal line
    • Hardware acceleration for copy, line, fill, etc.
    • Interlacing to double vertical resolution
    • Horizontal and vertical scroll registers
  • Sound chip: General Instrument AY-3-8910 (PSG)
    • 3 channels + noise
  • Sound chip: Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL) (MSX-Music)
    • 9 channels FM or 6 channels FM + 5 drums
    • 15 pre-set instruments, 1 custom
  • Sound chip: PCM
    • 8-bit single channel (no DMA), 16 kHz max using BIOS routines.
    • Microphone built-in
  • Sound chip: MIDI in/out (FS-A1GT only)
  • Clock chip

[edit] Emulators

MSX computers are one of the most emulated platforms today. It was emulation of MSX machines that started the current emulation scene, mainly due to the work of Marat Fayzullin on the Z80 emulation[citation needed].

  • fMSX (homepage): A portable MSX emulator by Marat Fayzullin
    • The first widespread MSX emulator and the most ported one
    • Offers accurate MSX, MSX 2 and MSX 2+ emulation with sound
    • Source is available in a commercially restricted license (free ports are allowed and encouraged)
    • The majority of MSX emulators today were more or less based on the fMSX source code
  • blueMSX (homepage): Considered by many the best MSX emulator[1]
    • A fairly new MSX emulator (development started September 2003) initially based on Marat Fayzullin's fMSX
    • Perfect looking emulation of MSX, MSX 2, MSX 2+, MSX turboR, Colecovision and Spectravideo
    • Very accurate sound emulation
    • Many unique emulation features such as ethernet emulation, video recording, digitizing, and theme based user interface
    • Open source (GPL) since v2.0, which didn't use Marat Fayzullin code anymore
  • OpenMSX (homepage): The MSX emulator that aims for perfection
    • Open source (GPL) MSX emulator with some unique features (script based operation, command interface via pipes/socket, etc.)
    • Extremely accurate MSX, MSX 2, MSX 2+ and turboR emulation
  • BrMSX: discontinued
    • The fastest MSX and MSX 2 emulator ever, written entirely in Assembly for DOS only
    • BrMSX author, Ricardo Bittencourt, is now part of the blueMSX development team
  • CJS MSX Emulator (homepage): discontinued
    • Along with fMSX was one of the very first successful MSX emulators
    • Unlike fMSX the code was not portable and is compatible only with IBM-PC running DOS
    • Fast MSX and MSX 2 emulation with good sound support
  • fMSX for Series 60 (homepage) by Juha Riihimäki
    • Very interesting port of the famous fMSX emulator for the Nokia Series 60 based devices
  • MSX PLAYer
  • NLMSX (homepage)
    • A basic, fairly accurate MSX, MSX 2, MSX 2+ and turboR emulator based on fMSX 2.0b
  • NO$MSX (homepage) by Martin Korth
    • A decent MSX and MSX 2 emulator aimed to be more of a serious development tool than just an emulator
    • Has a very useful and comfortable debugger and is written entirely in Assembly language to run smoothly on a 33 MHz PC.
  • paraMSX: fMSX port by Yeongman Seo
    • Was one of the best fMSX ports for Windows in its time
  • RuMSX (homepage): Turbo-R emulator
    • One of the older MSX, MSX 2, MSX 2+ and turboR emulators
    • Had very nice sound support for its time
    • Very intuitive user interface
    • The first MSX emulator with turboR support
  • RedMSX (homepage): blueMSX derivative
    • Started out as a hack on blueMSX to add zipped ROM support and the SCALE2X [2] graphical enhancement algorithm
    • Added support for zipped DSK (disk images), lightguns and drag-and-drop launching of zip files
    • While blueMSX compiles only with Microsoft Visual Studio .Net, RedMSX will compile with Microsoft Visual C/C++ 6.
    • RedMSX's CPU load is very low (even less than blueMSX) making it run fast and accurately even in older, inexpensive hardware

[edit] Peripherals

[edit] MSX-Audio

  • Yamaha Y8950, also known as:
    • Panasonic: MSX-Audio (standard name)
    • Philips: Music Module (no MSX-Audio BIOS)
    • Toshiba: MSX FM-synthesizer Unit (no sample RAM, no MSX-Audio BIOS)
  • 9 channels FM or 6 channels FM + 5 drums
  • ADPCM record and play
  • 32 kB of sample RAM, which can be upgraded to 256 kB

[edit] MSX-Music

  • Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL), also known as:
    • MSX-Music (standard name)
    • Panasonic: FM-PAC
    • Zemina: Music Box
    • Checkmark: FM-Stereo-Pak
  • 9 channels FM or 6 channels FM + 5 drums
  • 15 pre-set instruments, 1 custom
  • Built-in in many MSX 2+ computers and the MSX turbo R

[edit] References

  1. ^ The MSX Resource Center Foundation has published a comparison of various prominent MSX emulators

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../m/s/x/MSX_e216.html"