From: "Jack Spencer JR." <eeville@dreamscape.com> 
To: "Charles T. Turley" <cturley@grin.net> 
Subject: Re: Apple IImsx
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 12:56:18 -0400
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>No, I'm not aware of just what the MSX is all about - please enlighten me 
on it.

Well, I don't know a whole lot. This is a FAQ I found, it may be a little outdated.

One little bit of trivia I *DO* know is that the 80's video game console the ColecoVision was a stripped down version of the MSX platform. 

Remember ColecoVison? They also put out the ADAM home computer as an add-on for the VG console or a stand alone computer. 

CV and MSX are not really compatable. We both know by now that being based on the same architecture and really being compatable are two entirely different things ;) In my VG emulator hobby, I have run seen CV emu's for the MSX platform.

I believe the Apple IImsx is more just an alternative to the Apple IIpc idea. Perhaps a more exciting one, since they would have helped each other. IIpc would have been more like a defeat [to the PC & IBM] 

Anyway, here's what I found:



Jack

~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~^v~ ^v

MSX FAQ - By Benny-Roger Gunderen

Archive-name: MSX-faq
Posting-Frequency: On the 1st every month 

comp.sys.msx Frequently Asked Questions (4/01/96) 

The latest FAQ is archived on:
http://www.sci.fi/~tonisra/msx.html
and other places

This FAQ is posted twice a month on the 1th and 15th to comp.sys.msx.

Lines preceded by a '+' have been added or modified since the last version was posted.

This FAQ isn't copyrighted, you can use it as you want. If you have any ideas for the FAQ, send me a message. Also, as english isn't my mother tongue, this FAQ has certainly typing mistakes, grammar errors,
etc... I welcome all the corrections.

Send me a message if you have something to add to what I extracted. My email address is multiost@telepost.no 



------------



Table of Contents



Introduction



1) Emulators and utilities

1.1) emulators
1.2) utilities



2) Where can I find emulators, ROMs and programs? 

2.1) FTP sites
2.2) WWW
2.3) BBS
2.4) How to use the programs with the emulators? 

3) How can I transfer my programs from MSX to PC? 

4) What the heck is a PMA file??

5) How can I help the MSX world?



6) Useful address and informations

---------------------------

Introduction



This unmoderated newsgroup comp.sys.msx is open to discussions about the Z80 and R-800 MSX-1/MSX-2/MSX-2+/MSX Turbo R computers and emulators for various platforms. 

Appropriate topics include, but are not limited to: 

- MSX hardware and software,
- MSX emulators,
- ads for selling/buying the relative hardware and software. 

etc...



+ What is a MSX computer?
The whole MSX story started in 1983 when the computer companies wanted to make a worldwide home computer standard. The idea was that you could run programs made for one machine on a variation on models from different companies (Just like the PC standard today).
Companies involved with this was among others, Sony, Philips, Spectravideo, Sanyo, Yamaha, Mitshubishi, Panasonic, Dragon, Daewoo and a lot of other companies.
The MSX was based around the Z80 3.5Mhz 8Bit CPU, a well know and well supported CPU for its time. It also came with a 3 channel PSG which had no problems matching the poor quality PC sound or other machines made in the early 80's. There was also the possibility to add extra sounds via SCC cartridges made by Konami, MSX Music (FM-Pac) from Panasonic and also a soundcard originally made by Philips. As it also supported 16 colors the machine was well suited for games and education programs. Later models had more colors and more RAM. The MSX did very well in Japan, South America (there are 400.000 MSX machines only in Brazil!) and quite well also in Europe. It did not however become a huge success worldwide, but it did reasonably well, in fact it was made and sold in Japan till well into the 90's... and the user base still have lots of active fans (including myself), though not the same as it was 10 years ago for natural reasons... (the developent goes on and so does the computer freaks :)) Still it is possible to obtain new hardware for the MSX even today thanks to various MSX clubs. These clubs make the Moonsound soundcard based on OPL-4 and is said to be very good. There is also the GFX9000 graphics board that add even better graphics to the MSX in addition comes things like SCSI interfaces, adapters etc......

MSX-1: A Z80 3.5Mhz based computer with MSX-Basic, 8->64kb RAM, 16 Colors based on the Texas TMS9918(NTSC USA, Japan) and the TMS9929(PAL/SECAM Europe and others) video chip and 16kb Vram. 3 channel PSG sound, cassette interface, 1 or 2 8bit expansion slots for adding diskdrive, cartridge games etc.... Perhaps the best MSX-1 ever made was the Spectravideo 738, also called X-Press. It had built in 3.5" SS diskdrive and had a RS232C port + a dedicated CPM 2.2 system disk and 80 columns. Copyright: 1983 Microsoft

MSX-2: Like the MSX-1 it was based on the Z80, but it came with at least 64kb Ram and had up to 256Kb Most models came with built in diskdrive (3.5" SS or DS) The video chip had a larger palette and could display 256 colors in screen 8 (V9938)
The MSX-2 also came with at least 64kb VRam and usually 128kb Manufactured by most of the companies that started with MSX-1 the most popular ones was made by Sony and Philips (at least in Europe)
Copyright: 1985 Microsoft(&ASCII?)

MSX-2+: A type of MSX-2 with better graphics VDP 9958 This VDP can display 19268 colors in Screen 12 It was also differed from the MSX-2 in the way that it was able to detect wether a reset was done via software or hardware in order to boot ROM images properly. Anyone remember the problem with some MSX1/2 programs on a MSX1/2 that is just did not help to press the reset button? The damn program was still there......
The sad part about the Japanese MSX 2+ machines was that all models sold only had 64kb Ram which was less than many MSX-2 computers. Many upgraded the RAM but more people seemed to upgrade their old MSX-2 machines to a MSX-2+ VDP instead...........
All models came with built in DS diskdrive and 128k Vram. Another bonus starting with the 2+ is the inclusion of the FM sound (9 channel sound) also called MSX Music Knows manufacturers was Sony, Panasonic and Sanyo Copyright: 1988 (Logo says Microsoft, but some says ASCII too) 

MSX Turbo R: A new breed! Came with both a Z80 and a R-800 CPU at 7Mhz. The R-800 did the same speed as a 28Mhz Z80 would have done, and effectively made the Turbo R the fastest MSX machine ever made.
Panasonic kept the same VDP as used on the MSX 2+ MSX Turbo R did not support cassette as media. Panasonic FS-A1 ST came with 256kb Ram, had PCM and MSX Music Panasonic FS-A1 GT came with 512kb Ram and had MIDI ports. All models had 128Kb Vram
Japanese people could also enjoy the built in programs (ROM) which included e.g. sampling program, paint, edit etc... Sadly only Panasonic made it, but at least they made a reasonable job out of it. At least it was a better attempt than the jump from MSX-2 --> MSX-2+
Copyright: 1990 Panasonic



1) Emulators and utilities

1.1) emulators

At the moment, there are a lot of emulators on the market for PC, Amiga, Atari, Unix and Machintosh.
You will find the best known emulators at ftp.funet.fi/pub/msx fMSX is the version that is available on most platforms like Amiga,PC,Unix,MAC....



1.1.1) fMSX for DOS/Windows 1.0
This is a OK MSX Emulator, its a bit slow so you'll need at least a 486DX2-66Mhz, It has support for disks that you will have to access as images. After my opinion the sound support is not very good as you will have to use General Midi in the setup, Marat's version have a silly 'nag'saying its a demo you will have to
pay $35,- to get a registred version while the Teturo verion does not.
There is also a Korean version of fMSX for DOS available that is very
good.



1.1.2) MSX-2 Emulator v1.0a (c) 1996 CJS This is the best MSX-2 Emulator for DOS that I have ever tested! It is fast, has support for sound, diskdrives and runs almost every MSX 1/2 program around! This is a very nice piece of works! The authors of this program ask for a payment for registration and to me it seem like they deserve it.



1.1.3) fMSX for Amiga v 0.7
Port of the Unix version totally rewritten in 680X0 assembly and is therefore a bit faster than the other fMSX versions. It supports MSX-1 emulation, MSX-2 under construction. It supports PSG or SCC sound and require OS2.0 and 680X20. Written by Hans Guijt



1.1.4) AmiMSX 2.1
Developed by Juan Antonio Gomez Galvez. This emulator is quite a bit faster than fMSX Amiga and has better (though still incomplete) support for MSX-2.
Supports PSG or SCC and requires at least OS2.0 and 680X20. 

1.1.5) Emulators for Unix
fMSX

1.1.6) Emulators for MAC
fMSX written by John Stiles



1.1.7) Other emulators
There are also emulators for computers like PC9801 by Reki Murakami and a emulator for FM-TOWNS I have not seen either of them as I have
never seen one of these computers.
Could anyone mail me a GIF image of these two machines?? 

1.2 Utilities

1.2.1) MSX2BMP (PC)
Program to turn your MSX graphics to PC BMP 

1.2.2) PMEXT (MSX/CPM)
Utility to extract .PMA files on MSX. Needs MSX-DOS 1. PMEXT is part of a file archiving utility pack orginally written for CPM. There is also a version of PMEXT for the PC that require 22INST to run (22INST is some sort of CPM emulator).

1.2.3) d2f, f2d (MSX, PC, Amiga, Unix)
These are programs that can turn an MSX disk into a crunched file and back. They have the following advantages over comparable sollutions: Can be used on multiple platforms, can read disks that don't have directory structure.
The file is available at ftp.funet.fi called 'd2ff2d.lzh' 



2) Where can find the emulators, ROMs and programs? 

ROMs are sometimes included with the emulator, but you can also find it on ftp.funet.fi/pub/msx

2.1) FTP sites

- ftp://ftp.funet.fi/pub/msx/
- ftp://ftp.komkon.com/pub/MSX/
- ftp://riaph.irkutsk.su/pub/
- ftp://saitama-u.ac.jp/pub/msx/
- ftp://msx.bnc.nl/pub/msx

2.2) WWW
- http://grelb.src.gla.ac.uk:8000/~webster/msx + http://www.freelight.com/fms/MSX/
- http://www.sci.fi/~tonisra/msx.html
+ http://www.xs4all.nl/~andersen/umf.htm - http://msx.bnc.nl/msx
- http://worldnet.net:80/~benoitm/

2.3) BBS

2.3.1) Europe Scandinavia
Norway:
NOTE! is down at the moment due to accident! Benny had a car crash and will most likely stay at the hospital for the next month! - Masco BBS: +47 32883622 and +47 92212127 Speed 28800Bps V34, 2 lines
Multi language support (English, Norwegian, Swedish, French, Spanish, catalang, 1st-reader etc.....)
Huge amount of MSX files in the MSX conference. SysOp: Benny-Roger Gundersen

Finland:
- Kalevala Box: +358 187602210
Speed 14400Bps V32 1 line
Multi language support (English and Finnish) Lots of MSX files, MSX Only BBS
SysOp: Toni Siira

2.3.2) Europe central
Holland:
- MSX BBS Hack Track: +31 314333729
Note! Only open 21-->09.00 C.E.T.
Speed 9600Bps, system is dutch only
SysOp: Wiebe Weikamp

- UMF BBS #1: +31 235848741
Speed 28800bps V34
Lots of MSX files!
Multi language support (English, Dutch etc....) SysOp: Roald Andersen

France:
-Genesis the 8bit generation (2:320/220) : +33 1 39 50 54 11 Speed 28800VFC
Multi language support (English, German and French) SysOp: Emmanuel Roussin.

2.4) How to use the programs with the emulators? 

2.4.1) ROM files

These files are images of a cartridge games they are only for use with the fMSX emulator.



2.4.2) COM files

MSX-DOS command files, you will have to boot your MSX with MSX-DOS in order to run the files (just like MS-DOS command files). 

2.4.3) BIN, OBJ files

Binary files you can run from BASIC with bload"filename",r 

2.4.4) Other files

BAS/CRC/GMB files can be loaded with Run"filename or load"filename",r
TXT/ASM/PAS etc.. files need the proper program in order to run as they are a part of it. Most TXT files can also be read from MSX-DOS by using the TYPE command e.g. type readme.txt 



3.1) How can I transfer programs from MSX to PC? The MSX disk are compatible with MS-DOS (PC), single sided MSX disks can be used by changing the byte info on the disk from F8 to F9. There are also programs that will do that for you. 

3.2) How to transfer programs from MSX to Amiga? Use cross-dos to read the disks. All MSX formatted disks can then be used without problems.

3.3) How to transfer programs from MSX to Atari? The Atari ST is compatible with MSX disk, there are no problems reading MSX files on an Atari.

4) What are PMA files
They are packed files! They have been packed with PMARC and to extract them use PMEXT.



5) How can I help the MSX world?
If you know anything I don't please let me know and I'll spread the message!



You could also send me your latest production, whatever it is, here is my address:

Benny-Roger Gunderen
Korpsveien 23b
N-3033 Drammen
Norway
Tel: +47 90063754



I will then put it on my BBS, and try to spread it to FTP sites all over the planet :-)
I will of course send you back your disks. I can read 3"; 3,5" and 5,25"single and double sided, QIC 80, Travan TR-1, CD-ROM