The Ultimate MSX FAQ
By The Red Devil & Manuel Bilderbeek
version 0.891 (beta)
(Skip the crap, go straight to the index!)
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Last updated at the 8th of August 1999
Since June 11th 1998, you can view the FAQ's
log!
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Introduction
This FAQ contains information about the MSX system, it's expansions and several
other stuff. If you have some texts you would like to add to this FAQ, feel free
to mail me or use the feedback form! Please mail me with corrections if you
discover any bugs. This FAQ is in development so please try to help me with
making it as good as possible.
Note that this FAQ was started by The Red Devil, but is now maintained by
Manuel Bilderbeek.
(Gabriel D. &) Manuel B.
There are ofcourse other MSX-FAQs. You can find them at:
<
http://www.komkon.org/fms/ > by Marat Fayzullin - fMSX emulator related.
<
http://www.sci.fi/~tonisra/msxfaq.html > by Benny Roger Gundersen - Allround.
<
http://www.komkon.org/fms/MSX/Docs/EasyGuide.txt > by
Hans Guijt - fMSX Amiga related.
Thanx & Credits
Thanx to all guys from the #MSX channel who helped us with their comments, suggestions, ideas, remarks for this FAQ. I hope this FAQ will be
received well by both MSX and MSX EMULATOR users :-).
If you contibute to this FAQ, your name will be listed here.
- The interlace digitize program for HBI-V1 Video Digitizer - Trunks
- Beta FAQ reading, comments, pictures for the Hardware List, etc. - Manuel Bilderbeek
- Info about TR's LEDs etc. - NYYRIKKI
- Lot of info about whole MSX system, during last 7 years. - HACKER GROG
(from here on, the names are added by Manuel Bilderbeek...)
- The Red Devil himself, for starting this FAQ!
- Bastiaan Hubers, for info on some fileformats and conversion
programs and for suggestions regarding the setup
- Marat Fayzullin for giving permission to use texts of his FAQ
- Konami Man for his comment on the DOS2 section
- Laurens Holst for several comments and additions (I need this!)
- Patriek Lesparre for letting me use the pictures from MSX-Banzai!
- Giovanni R. Nunes and Erik de Boer for sending me some connector-schemes!
- Marcel Delorme for info about OPL1/MSX Audio (and other comments)!
- Sean Young for making the existance of the FAQ on MSXNET possible!
- Alwin Henseler for several comments, additions and improvements
- Joeh Cheung (sorry if I misspelled your name!) for Kanji-mode
info!
- Maarten ter Huurne for nice animated gifs and pics (SCC section)
- Frank Salomon for giving permission to use his MSX pics
Give me feedback!
If you would (also)like to give me feedback, then go to the
feedback section at the bottom of this page. Feedback is really wanted and
appreciated! More info is there!
Sign the guestbook!
Please sign the guestbook!
Contents (index):
- The interview with
Kay Nishi (The Japanese guy behind whole MSX project)
- What is MSX?
- MSX on the Internet:
- Are there still MSX
fairs?
- For a lot of general (and technical) info about several MSX
hardware, check out the following resources:
- The documentation of the RuMSX emulator (See
section 17 (Emulators), topics: Moonsound, BDOS,
BIOS, etc.)
- Maurizio's hardware
page (partly a mirror of the previous resource)
- Tech info at
MSXNet, about Z80, MSX1 VDP, SCC and ROM Mappers
- Various
documentation on MSX on Marat's MSX page
- FTP site of
the "Hogeschool Rotterdam & Omstreken": Lots of
technical info in Dutch and English (BIOS, DiskROM, DOS1/2, Memman, Music
Module, RS232, SCSI, VDP, Z80, Drivecontroller, etc.)
- MiLC,
which is partly in Dutch
- The MSX Red Book, which can be downloaded from my MSX page
- For more info about the Novaxis SCSI interface, also download the
file from my MSX page
(look for scsi.zip! ;-)
- Mayer's
I/O Map (topics: I/O ports, connectors, useful tables)
- MSX2 Technical
Handbook digitized by Nestor
Soriano (or see his homepage)
- Various MSX
technical documentation on BNC's CJS MSX Emulator Download page...
(pfew!)
- MSX Tech Doc
page by Alwin Henseler. Topics: diskROM disassembly, expanding MSX Audio
sampleRAM, MSX Super Turbo, datasheets, etc.
- And it might be useful to check out Manuel
Bilderbeek's Bookmarks, which contain also about all MSX links, so you can
find some useful sites yourself
General info on MSX systems:
FAQ about several MSX Hardware (music expansions):
- What's an SCC?
- What are the specs of an SCC?
- What's the purpose of getting a Konami cartridge with an SCC?
- Can I use my SCC sound cartridge for other purposes than playing Konami games?
- What's an SCC+?
- Are there any MSX emulators which support the SCC?
- What is MSX-Music?
- What is an FM-PAC?
- What are the specs. of an FM-PAC?
- Which MSX computers have the FM-PAC built in?
- Which music programs are the most used?
- Which editor is the newest one?
- Where can I buy this wonderful music source?
- Are there other music composers?
- Which software does use the FM-PAC cartridge?
- Are any of available MSX emulators supporting the FM-PAC?
- What's an MSX-Audio?
- Are there different kinds of MSX-Audio modules?
- What are the specs. of Philips NMS 1205 MSX-Audio MODULE?
- Which software does support the MSX-Audio (Philips NMS 1205)?
- Are there any MSX emulators which support MSX-Audio?
- Where can I buy the MSX-Audio cartridge?
- What is a Moonsound?
- What are the specs of the Moonsound card?
- Is there any software supplied with it?
- Where can I find the newest MBWAVE and MBFM editors?
- Is Moonsound able to replay [.MID] files?
- Are there any [.MWM] or [.MFM] replayers?
- Where can I find technical (programming) info about it?
- Where can I buy it?
FAQ about several MSX hardware (video expansions):
- What is GFX9000?
- What resolutions, colours and other specs does it have?
- What is supported by PowerBASIC?
- What software is made for GFX9000?
- What is the Video9000?
- What can I do with a Video9000?
- What are the Video9000's main features?
- Where can I buy this wonderful hardware?
- (some general info can be read in the file [V9990.TXT] - [V9990.ZIP],
written by Stefan Boer. Briefly: it's an MSX 15-bit graphiccard)
- What is a Video Digitizer?
- What is included in the Video Digitizer package?
- Which screen modes does the HBI-V1 Video Digitizer support?
- How can I digitize pictures in the 256*424 (interlaced) resolution?
- How can I load the interlaced pictures in MSX-BASIC?
- How can I export my MSX pictures to (PC/MAC etc.)?
FAQ about several MSX hardware (disk/os expansions):
- What is MSX-DOS 2?
- Can I use MSX-DOS 2 in MSX-BASIC too?
- Can I run MSX-DOS 1 software under DOS2?
- Does it support directories?
- What about the compatibility with MS-DOS disks?
- What will I get if I buy DOS2?
- When is DOS2 needed?
- Can I use DOS2 on MSX2 emulator?
- Can other MSX emulators than CJS' MSX2, run DOS2?
- How much RAM can DOS2 use?
- What do I need to run DOS2?
- Is there other way to get DOS2 in my MSX, than buying the cartridge?
- What's the newest version of COMMAND2.COM file?
- Where can I buy the DOS2 cartridge?
- Is there other way to access directories on MSX?
- Where can I find technical info on DOS2?
12 SCSI-HD interfaces (1987?)
(new!)
- What is the use of an IDE interface?
- Where can I find such IDE interface?
(following part of the IDE section is related to the IDE interface
from Sunrise!)
- My IDE interface has never worked properly. What can I do?
- Where can I find technical data concerning the IDE I/O system?
- Where can I find IDE software?
- What kind of devices can I connect to the interface?
- I installed a new bios version and my computer doesn't boot
anymore. What now?
- How should I configure the jumpers on my IDE devices?
- I can't figure out what jumperposition is 'MASTER' or 'SLAVE'.
Help?
- My IDE Iomega ZIP drive has a lot of jumpersettings. Which should I use?
- How can I format my harddisk?
- Can I connect my MSX formatted harddisk to a PC?
- What other things should I be aware of?
14 Slot expanders (198?)
General info on several MSX (related) hardware:
by The
Red Devil (new layout, new items), Manuel Bilderbeek (newer layout, maintenance)
and Alex Wulms (original concept, see there)
Miscellaneous general info and FAQ:
- Which emulators exist?
- Is it possible to make a fMSX [.CAS] tape-image of a [.WAV] file
(with data from the tape)?
- Is it legal to spread ROMs?
- How do I use BAS, BIN or other (MSX-)files in my emulator?
- Why does holding down the CTRL key in fMSX have no effect?
Executables (from MSX-BASIC)
- 18.1 [.BAS]/[.LDR] MSX-BASIC - BASIC file
- What are the [.BAS]/[.LDR] files?
- How do I run them?
- I tried to load a [.BAS] file in my text editor but I got only some garbage!?
- What's the purpose of [.LDR]-basic files?
- 18.2 [.BIN] MSX-BASIC - BINARY file
- What are the [.BIN] files?
- How do I run them?
- 18.3 [.001], [.002], ... , [.00n] Just a
series of MSX-BASIC binary files
- What are the these files and what to do with them?
Executables (from MSX-DOS)
- 18.4 [.COM] MSX-DOS 1.x/2.x executable file
- What are the [.COM] files?
- How can I make a MSX-DOS disk?
- Can MSX run CP/M 2.20 software under MSX-DOS 1.x?
- Where can I find the list of MSX-DOS V1.x commands?
- I can't boot the MSX-DOS, my EMULATOR locks up!?
- Where can I get the MSX-DOS V1.x or MSX-DOS V2.x files?
Archive/Crunched/Packed
- 18.5 [.PMA/LZH/.LHA] Compressed archives
- What is a [.PMA] file?
- Where can I get a [.PMA] file extractor for my PC or my MSX (emulator)?
- Can I decompress [.LZH] & aMIGA [.LHA] files on MSX (emulator)?
- Are there any [.LZH] packers/(unpackers) for MSX (emulator)?
- 18.6 [.AR] Compressed archive
- What's an [.AR] file?
- Where can I get the extractor/packer for my MSX?
- 18.7 [.XSA] Compressed disk
- What is an [.XSA] file?
- How can I restore / make an [.XSA] file on my PC or MSX?
- How can I convert [.XSA] file to [.DSK] file or [.DSK] file to
[.XSA] file on my MSX, PC or Unix station?
Emulator-related (diskimages)
- 18.8 [.DSK] Image of MSX floppy disk used with fMSX emulators
- Which utility creates a [.DSK] floppy-disk image on my PC?
- Can I also convert [.DSK] files from/to a real disk on a Unix/Linux computer?
- How can I put a MSX [.DSK] image back to a floppy disk on a MACINTOSH computer?
- I have a multiple [.DSK] file. Can I split it into [720KB] [.DSK] files on my PC?
- I have 720kB [.DSK] files. How can I make a multi disk image of it to use with fMSX-DOS?
- Can I move files to/from the [.DSK] images on my PC or Unix
system?
- Can I move files to/from the [.DSK] images on my MSX?
- Can I create/restore [.DSK] files on my real MSX?
- 18.9 [.MSX] FloppyDisk-image
- I have a [.MSX] disk-image file. Can I convert it to [.DSK] - MSX emulator compatible disk-image?
- 18.10 [.DDI] DiskDupe FloppyDisk-image (also used with CJSMSX2 emulator)
- I have a [.DDI] disk-image file. Can I convert it to [.DSK] - MSX emulator compatible disk-image?
- 18.11 [.TD0] FloppyDisk-image
- 18.12 [.CP2] FloppyDisk-Image
- 18.13 [.IMG] FloppyDisk-image
Emulator-related (misc)
- 18.14 [.ROM] ROM image extracted from a cartridge
- What are the [.ROM] files and can I use them with my MSX-emulator or real MSX?
- Where can I get the [.ROM] file loaders for real MSX2 machines?
- Where can I find the [.ROM] files?
- What is the universal slot-select-correct POKE?
- My Philips VG-8235 gives strange disk-errors, whatever I try! What is
this?
- I installed the password on my MSX, but I forgot it. What now?
- Where can I get info on JoyNet, the MSX network standard?
- The sound on my Philips NMS 8250/55/80 sounds terrible. How can I fix it?
Give me feedback!
If you have any
Ideas
Suggestions
Texts you would like to add to this FAQ
Corrections
Software (e.g. image converters/packers)
Images of MSX computers/other MSX hardware & descriptions
Other stuff
mail me.
It will be highly appreciated!
Click on the envelope to mail me. You can ofcourse also use the
feedback form:
Another way to give feedback is using Nedstat Rating:
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© The Red Devil & Manuel Bilderbeek 1996-1999