MSX

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This article is about the computer standard MSX. For other uses, see MSX (disambiguation).
MSX
Image:Msx.png
TypeHome computer
Released1983 (MSX1)
Discontinued1995 (MSX turbo R)
ProcessorZilog Z80
Memory16 KB ~ 512 KB
Operating systemMSX-DOS / MSX BASIC
Image:Sony hitbit 10p.jpg
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[dubious – discuss]. 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 (KiB) of dedicated VRAM, the sound was provided by the AY-3-8910 chip manufactured by General Instrument (GI), and an Intel 8255 Programmable Peripheral Interface chip was used for the parallel I/O such as the keyboard (and partly by the I/O ports provided by the AY-3-8910). This was a choice of components that was shared by many other home computers and games consoles of the period, such as the ColecoVision home computer (an emulator was later available with which MSX 1 systems could run some of its software), and the Sega SG-1000 video game system. Most MSX systems soon starting to integrate not only the common "glue logic" components but also the Z80 CPU, the sound chip, the 8255 PIO and the Video Display Processor into a single chip, called an MSX-Engine chip. The result was that one only needed a MSX-Engine chip and some ROM and RAM chips to build a basic system, which greatly reduced production costs. However, almost all MSX systems used a professional keyboard, not a chiclet keyboard, which drove the price up again. So these components alongside Microsoft's MSX BASIC made the MSX a competitive, though somewhat expensive, home computer package.

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 in fact 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 1) 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 a system, the SV-728, which did completely adhere to the MSX standard.

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 series was originally written for MSX hardware.

Contents

[edit] History

Image:Canon V-20 MSX computer.jpg
The Canon V-20 had 64K of RAM while its little brother, the V-10, had 16K.

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]

The MSX was formally announced during a press-conference in June 27, 1983 (a date that is considered the birthday of the MSX standard) and a slew of big Japanese firms declared their plans to introduce machines. This 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.

During the 1980s Europe became the largest computer games (as opposed to console games) market in the world, and the extremely popular Commodore 64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum computers dominated. By the time the MSX launched in Europe several more popular 8-bit home computers had also arrived, and it was far too late to capture the extremely crowded European 8-bit computer market. Also, the method by which MSX computers address their video ram ( to draw on screen ) involves first outputting the low then hi bytes to the address $99, then the 8-bit data to port $98 ( with an auto-advance, so consecutive addresses could be written to with repeated OUT instructions to $98, however the screen layout ( top-down for each character of 8 lines, then advancing to the next character ) didn't give much opportunity for benefiting from this, other than for screen clearing) - this method of indirect-access was far slower than in other 8-bit computers whose CPUs could usually access their screen memory directly, like any other piece of RAM. This method of display access is semi-analagous to painting a room from the other side of a door by sticking your brush through the keyhole. Consequently the MSX was incapable of ( for instance ) doing decent scrolling games, other than by moving the entire background in 8-pixel steps, which looked primitive in comparison to the 1 or 2 pixel scrolling steps available to the ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64 machines ( although the Commodore 64 also used 8-pixel steps it had a fine-scroll register which could compensate for this, the MSX did not ). The MSX did attempt to make up for this shortfall by having 32 hardware sprites, however in their highest resolution they were only 16x16 pixels, and single-colour ( with transparency ). The biggest drawback though was that in reality there were only 4 sprites available on any one line ( since it multiplexed those 4 sprites 8 times to achieve a count of 32 ) and attempting to have even a single pixel line of a 5th sprite would result in flickering or missing pixel lines. Japanese consumers didn't seem to mind the flickering and clunky scrolling present in games like Konami's Nemesis, but to European and US consumers it looked primitive. Because of this, the cartridges ( one of the systems' few genuine advantages ), though highly playable, tended to sell only to hardcore enthusiasts once outside Japan.

There were also some minor compatibility issues, such as the Toshiba HX-10 machine being unable to read certain key combinations ( usually revolving around the Spectrum-'standard' of Q,A,O,P steering when doing platform-ports ) at the same time, whereas machines by other manufacturers worked fine. Later games tended to offer redefinable keys which pretty much eliminated this though. A larger problem was that some MSX machines only came with 32K of RAM. In general, games developers largely specified 64K RAM on their products and ignored these lower spec variations.

Consequently, MSX never became the worldwide standard that its makers had envisioned, mainly because it never took off in the United States or most of Europe. 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, where classes of networked Yamaha MSX 2 were used for teaching informatics in school.

Image:Sharp HotBit MSX computer.jpg
The Hotbit, developed by Sharp and marketed by Epcom, was a hit in Brazil.

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, which made it relatively popular but not the global standard it was intended to be. For a comparison with rival 8-bit computers, the Commodore 64 sold 17 million units worldwide in its lifetime, the Apple II sold 6 million units[1], the Amstrad CPC sold 3 million units, and the Tandy TRS-80 sold 250,000 units.

In the 80's, Sakhr Computers (a Kuwaiti company), started the production line of the first Arabized version of MSX computers. One of the most popular and affordable models was Sakhr MSX AX170.

[edit] MSX Revival

This article or section documents a current event in video gaming.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.
Image:OCM 007.jpg
1chipMSX
  • In 2001, Kazuhiko Nishi initiated an 'MSX Revival' around an official MSX emulator called MSXPLAYer. 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. In February 2007, it was confirmed again and announced that the games would cost 800 Wii Points and will become available in Summer 2007 (for Japan only, at least initially).

[edit] Franchises established on the MSX

Image:Mgear.png
Konami's Metal Gear made its debut for MSX2 before the release of its reworked counterpart for the NES.

The most popular and famous MSX games were written by Japanese software-house Konami and 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 reworked versions of games on other formats:

[edit] Manufacturers of MSX computers

[edit] System specs

[edit] MSX 1

Image:MSX Philips VG8020.jpg
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 or V2.1 (16 KB)
    • DiskROM (16 KB) (optional, common)
    • MSX-Audio BIOS (32 KB) (optional, no machines are known with this BIOS built in)
  • RAM: 64 KB minimum, commonly 128 KB in Europe, 64 KB on Japanese computers, machines with up to 512 KB were made
Image:MSX Computer Color Limit.gif
The effect of attribute clash when using the 256x192 Highres mode of MSX 1
  • Video Display Processor: Yamaha V9938 (a.k.a. MSX-Video) Supports all MSX 1 video modes plus:
    • Increased video RAM: 128 KB (sometimes 64 KB or 192 KB)
    • New text mode: 80×24
    • New video modes without the Attribute clash of MSX 1
    • New resolutions: 512×212 (16 colours out of 512) and 256×212 (256 colours)
    • More and more advanced sprites: 32, 16 colours, max 8 per horizontal line
    • Hardware acceleration for copy, line, fill, etc.
    • Interlacing to double vertical resolution
    • A vertical scroll register
  • Sound chip: Yamaha YM2149 (PSG)
  • Clock chip RP5C01
  • 3.5" Floppy disk drive is common

[edit] MSX 2+

Image:Msx2+.jpg
MSX2+ computer: a Panasonic FS-A1WSX.
  • 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) (optional, very common)
    • 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) All of MSX 2's specifications plus:
    • The video RAM now always is 128 KB
    • a new 256×212 video mode with 19268 colors
    • a horizontal scroll register
  • Sound chip: Yamaha YM2149 (PSG)
  • Optional sound chip: Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL) (MSX-Music)
  • Clock chip RP5C01
  • 3.5" Floppy disk drive is very common

[edit] MSX turbo R

  • Only released in Japan
  • Processor: R800 and Zilog Z80A compatible
    • R800 running at 7.16 MHz (instructions use about 4x less clock ticks than the Z80, so often quoted as 28.6 MHz when comparing with the Z80)
    • Zilog Z80A compatible (embedded in the T9769C MSX-Engine) running at 3.58 MHz for backwards compatibility
  • 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) so the same possibilities as MSX 2+
  • Sound chip: Yamaha YM2149 (PSG)
  • Sound chip: Yamaha YM2413 (OPLL) (MSX-Music)
  • 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
  • 3.5" Floppy disk drive

[edit] Peripherals

[edit] Floppy disk drives

MSX1 systems generally did not have a built-in disk drive, so games were published mainly on cartridge and cassette tape. Floppy disk drives were available for MSX1 however, 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 5¼" floppy disk drives, but in Europe, mostly the 3.5" drives were popular.

Later in the 1980s the MSX2 was released, which systems often (but not always) included a built-in 3.5" disk drive, and consequently the popular media for games and other software shifted to floppy disks.

The MSX 3.5" floppy disks are directly compatible with MS-DOS (although some details like file undeletion and boot sector code were different). Like MS-DOS 1, MSX disks (formatted) under MSX-DOS 1 have no support for subdirectories. [1]

[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] Emulation

Main article: List of MSX emulators

MSX computers are one of the most emulated platforms today[citation needed], with versions for almost any platform, including mobile phones. Most MSX emulators are or were based on the code of the pioneer fMSX, (homepage) a portable MSX emulator by Marat Fayzullin. fMSX source code license isn't free and many emulators removed Fayzullin's Z80 emulation code entirely in later versions to avoid legal problems.

The official MSX emulator is MSXPLAYer (Homepage) (Japanese site) produced by the MSX Association (Japanese site) of which MSX standard inventor, Kazuhiko Nishi, is the president.

MSX is also emulated in the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console, with games available for download officially (in Japan only, until officially announced for North America and Europe).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mac Daily News 5 to 6 million Apple IIs sold
  2. ^ Kojima Productions History

[edit] External links

Image:Commons-logo.svg
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
MSX
  • MSX Association (Japanese) — Current owner of the MSX trademark, Japanese distributor of MSXPlayer and the 1chipMSX.
  • D4 Enterprise (Japanese) — Japanese distributor of rereleased MSX games.
  • Bazix — Partner of MSX Association and D4 Enterprise for business outside Japan.
  • MSX-ALL — A server exclusively dedicated to MSX. Many important MSX Web Sites are freely hosted on the MSX-ALL Web Servers, such as MSX-Pró and MSX-TOP. The MSX-ALL Team has restated the design of the MSX-ALL Web Site in November of 2007, promising exciting surprises for the 1st semester of 2008.
  • Generation MSX — An online MSX software database as its main feature.
  • MSX Assembly Page — MSX assembly programmer resources.
  • MSX Resource Center — An MSX news website.
  • Sunrise Foundation — A hardware producer and software distributor for MSX, creator of Moonsound, CompactFlash, and Graphics9000 hardware.
  • The Ultimate MSX FAQ — Information about MSX.
  • The MSX Files - General news site, with new games developed for MSX.
  • MSX.Bas - Collection of Programs and Games written in BASIC language for MSX. Hosted by MSX-ALL.
  • History MSX - A time-travel on the most famous games labels created for the MSX computer, manually redesigned by Marcelo Tini. Freely hosted by MSX-ALL.ca:MSX

de:MSX es:MSX fr:MSX ko:MSX id:MSX ia:MSX it:Standard MSX nl:MSX ja:MSX no:MSX pl:MSX pt:MSX ru:MSX fi:MSX sv:MSX

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