THE MSX TURBO R
4.1 MSX Turbo R (Standard) definition and remarks
Due to lack of interest in
marketing of MSX-machines and growing interest in game consoles and
powerful PC alike computers (for word processing purposes mainly),
companies were not so enthusiastic about creating a new MSX-machine.
The biggest software supporters of MSXdeserted to
Nintendo and other computers/game machines. Sony chose to make
their own game console as well ASCII in cooperation with Yamaha and
Panasonic created the 3DO (Three Dimensional Objects) game console,
based on the new Yamaha V9990 Video Display Processor, which
in some peoples opinion was in the beginning meant to be used in an MSX3 computer.
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The PANASONIC 3DO game console with V9990 onboard
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Before the support of MSX system ended, Panasonic released two
excellent MSX2++ machines. They were not the long awaited MSX3
but an extension of the MSX2+ standard.
4.1.1 MSX Turbo R FS-A1ST
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Panasonic MSX TURBO R FS-A1ST
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- 256KB of MAIN RAM (Can be expanded to 512KB or 1MB internally).
- 32KB BASIC/BIOS ROM and 32KB SUBROM (MSX-BASIC V4.0, with extra command
_PAUSE to make delays in BASIC independant of the current CPU and extra commands
for the PCM device (_PCMPLAY, _PCMREC)), 16KB DISK ROM, 16KB FM-BASIC ROM, 16KB KANJI BASIC.
- RISC CPU R800 (DAR800-X0G) 28.63630 MHz internally
(16-bit). (Can be accelerated to 40MHz by changing the crystal.) A cooler is required due to heat development.
- CPU Z80A 3,5 MHz compatible (DAT9769C, 8-bit)
- TC8566AF disk controller
- 720KB disk drive
- S1990 MSX-ENGINE
- 2 expansion ports (cartridge slots)
- 2 joystick connectors
- 2MB ROM with a Japanese text editor, a spread sheat and a sample program
- MSX-MUSIC (YAMAHA YM-2413 OPLL)
- PCM synthesizer 8-bit (Sample rate 16kHz) (Replay up to 22kHz)
- Internal microphone for the PCM unit.
- PAUSE key (software in R800-mode, hardware in Z80-mode)
- MSX-JE ROM with approx. 32000 characters.
- 16KB SRAM for backup (used internally)
- NO tape recorder port (so strictly speaking, it's not an MSX!)
- MSX-DOS V2.30
- Reset button
- RGB/CVBS (NTSC) output
- 110 volt main power (because it's a Japanese machine!)
- Manual (in Japanese)
- A disk with drawing programme
- External microphone connector (input, mono)
- 6 LEDs (Power, Caps-lock, Kana-lock, Pause, CPU mode, FDD in use)
4.1.2 MSX Turbo R FS-A1GT
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Panasonic MSX TURBO R FS-A1GT
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- Mainly same as above. Due to some minor
bugs were discovered, the mainboard is a bit different (e.g.
FM-PAC part is redesigned to decrease influance of the noise from
computer's digital parts).
- MSX-BASIC V4.1
- 512KB of MAIN RAM
- MSX-MIDI interface built in (Not the same as
MIDI-SAUSRUS, thus available as a cartridge from BIT2 for
MSX2/2+/(TURBO_R A1ST with 256KB built in). 8251 (UART) &
8254 (TIMER)
- 16KB MIDI-BASIC ROM (almost same as FM-BASIC which is built in in the
FM-PAC and the MSX2+ machines with MSX-Music)
- MIDI IN/OUT connectors
- MSX-VIEW (MSX-WINDOWS) developed by ASCII & HAL. Software as PAGE EDIT, PAGEVIEW, PAGE LINK, VSHELL, VTED, VPAINT and VDRAW) on 512KB ROM DISK (C: drive).
- MSX-DOS V2.31
- 32KB SRAM for backup (some games can use it)/SRAM disk (D: drive)
- SVHS connector
- Sold with the game Seed of Dragon
Sales of Turbo R machines were nothing to complain about due to the big amount of sold machines in Japan. Despite the interest in such computer, Panasonic closed its doors after launching a 3rd TR machine (FS-A1XT ????) with built in V9990 chip, thus this machine was not fully backward compatible. Due to wrong programming of the V9990 and incompatibility the production was quickly stopped and never resumed.
There was created an expansion or evaluation board with the V9990 chip for MSX/PC and PC98,but it was quite expensive and probably not many were sold. Can someone supply more info about it? As mentioned Panasonic stopped with MSX and went to game console world, thus they used the powerful V9990 Video Display Processor for other purposes than MSX3.
But fortunately Henrik Gilvad from Denmark designed a graphic card
which uses the V9990 video chip so the MSX users worldwide got again
opportunity to upgrade their systems :-D. It's called GFX9000, and is sold by
Stichting Sunrise. Mail to Rob Hiep for
more info!
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