What is MSX?
(mainly written by Marat Fayzullin [fms@cs.umd.edu])MSX is an old Z80-based family of home computers which appeared in 1982 as an attempt to establish a single standard in home computing similar to VHS in video. They were popular in Asian (Korea, Japan) and South American (Brazil, Chile) countries as well as in Europe (Netherlands, France, Spain) and former Soviet Union, but they are virtually unknown in USA. Although MSX standard quietly died to year 1988, the world got to see MSX2, MSX2+ and TurboR extensions of it.
The MSX standard has been designed by a company called ASCII in Cooperation with Microsoft which provided a firmware version of its BASIC for the machine. Because this BASIC version was an extended version of MicroSoft Basic, it was called "MicroSoft eXtended BASIC". This explains the name "MSX". The system thanks his name to the built-in BASIC. The MSX machines were produced by such giants as Sony, Yamaha, Panasonic, Toshiba, Daewoo, and Philips. The only MSX model ever sold in USA appears to be an early SpectraVideo machine.
In spite of its sad history, MSX is a very nice computer, especially useful for educational purposes which is clearly indicated by example of the Soviet Union. Russian Ministry of Education bought hundreds of MSXes (and later MSX2s) grouped into "computerized classroom systems" of 10-16 machines connected into a simple network. Entire generation of programmers has grown up using these computers.
Hardware-wise, MSX represents a hybride of a videogame console and a generic CP/M-80 machine. Its heart is a Z80 CPU working at 3.58MHz in the base model. The clock frequency has been doubled in the TurboR. The video subsystem is built around a TMS9918 or TMS9928 VDP chip also used in Texas Instruments' TI-99/4 computers, ColecoVision, and Coleco Adam. In the later MSX models this chip has been upgraded to V9938 (MSX2) and V9958 (MSX2+ and TurboR). The latest version of it is V9990. The audio system is handled by AY-3-8910 chip by General Instruments, same as the one used in Sinclair ZXSpectrum128 audio. AY-3-8910 provides 3 channels of synthesized sound, noise generation, and two general purpose parallel IO ports which are used for joysticks and some other things in the MSX design. Due to their hardware structure, MSX machines were perfectly suitable for games and there is a lot of good games either written or ported to them.
Nowadays, there exist a lot of expansions on the MSX system, such as the Moonsound card, based on OPL4, the GFX9000 card, SCSI interfaces, etc.
What is COMP.SYS.MSX?
(written by Marat Fayzullin [fms@cs.umd.edu])Comp.sys.msx is a USENET newsgroup dedicated to MSX computers. Anything can be discussed in it, as long as it has any relation to MSX or its derivatives. We have a simple rules which your are asked to follow when you post into COMP.SYS.MSX:
Where can I find MSX WWW-pages and FTP sites?
Well, you have found at least one by reaching this page! ;-) But, you can find more MSX WWW pages (and FTP sites) in my bookmarks: http://www.sci.kun.nl/marie/home/manuelbi/bookmarks.html. Another common way to find URL's is looking on The MSX Resource Center. The only difference is the layout, I guess. The MRC is much more graphical and has frames. On the mentioned pages you can find more link-lists for MSX pages.
On these pages youcan also find FTP sites, as mentioned above. Some info on FUNet, one of the most important MSX FTP sites, can be found on Omega's pages, FUNet section. It also contains a FAQ about FUNet.
Are there any MSX people on IRC?
Yes, there are. The most official MSX IRC channel (as far as I know) is the channel #msx on Undernet. Examples of Undernet servers are:Is there an MSX Mailinglist?
Yes, there is! You can get subscribed by sending a mail with "subscribe msx" in the body to: majordomo@stack.nl. Mails to the list itself can be sent to msx@stack.nl. For more info on the MSX Mailinglist, see the page: MSX MAILINGLIST INFO by Wiebe Weikamp, the lists maintainer. This is the International MSX list. There are others too, see below. On the International MSX Mailinglist, it is forbidden to post in any other language than English.There's also such a thing as The MSX Mailinglist Archive, by Sean Young. See if you missed something!
There are also some non-International MSX Mailinglists, like the MSX Brazillian
Mailinglist (MSXBR-L). This one is meant for users who speak Portuguese. To
subscribe:
Send a mail to majordomo@scifi-br.nu
or majordomo@msxnet.org, without subject. In the body of
the message, write: subscribe msxbr-l [your name]
If you only want to send a mail to the list, send a mail to
msxbr-l@scifi-br.nu or msxbr-l@msxnet.org. But you need to be
subscribed to post messages.
Then there's the Italian MSX list (MSXIT-l). It accepts messages in Italian (ofcourse), Portuguese (because the people of MSXBR-L helped them setting it up) and English. To subscribe, mail to: tresoldi@inter-rotas.com.br without subject and in the body of message: subscribe msxit-l [your e-mail address]
Are there still MSX fairs?
Sure there are! Get information at your local MSX Club! A complete overview of MSX fairs can be found here: The MSX Fairlist by Raymond Hoogerdijk.