--- title: GRADIENTE Expert XP-800 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - Brazil years: - '1985' cpus: - Zilog Z80A params: name: Expert XP-800 image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_system_s1.jpg company: /companies/gradiente company_name: GRADIENTE specs: - label: NAME value: Expert XP-800 - label: MANUFACTURER value: Gradiente - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: Brazil - label: YEAR value: December 1985 - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Microsoft Extended Basic (MSX Basic V1.0) - label: KEYBOARD value: Full-stroke keyboard with numeric keypad, 5 function keys and 4 arrow keys. 89 keys. - label: CPU value: Zilog Z80A - label: SPEED value: 3.58 MHz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: TMS-9128NL video processor - label: RAM value: 64 KB - label: VRAM value: 16 KB - label: ROM value: 32 KB BASIC/BIOS ( MSX BASIC V1.0) - label: TEXT MODES value: |- Mode 0 : 40 x 24\ Mode 1 : 32 x 24 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: |- Mode 2 : 256 x 192 with 16 colors (Hires mode)\ Mode 3 : 64 x 48 with 16 colors (Multi colour mode)\ 32 sprites - label: COLORS value: '16' - label: SOUND value: |- General Instruments AY-3-8910 Programmable Sound Generator\ 3 channels, 8 octaves - label: SIZE / WEIGHT value: |- 420 x 110 x 280 mm / 4,7 Kg\ Keyboard : 420 x 47 x 170mm / 1 Kg - label: I/O PORTS value: BUS Expansion port, Keyboard connector, 2 controller ports, 2 cardridge slots, Tape interface (1200/2400 bauds), RGB video output, Composite video output (PAL-M), Parallel port, Audio output, Two power out connector (Max 100W) - label: OS value: MSX DOS - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Built-in PSU - AC 120/220V 50/60 Hz - label: PRICE value: Unknown tabs: - photos - hardware - software - emulators - links forum_thread: 813 photos: - title: XP-800 1.1 subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_system_s2.jpg - title: FRONT PANEL subtitle: '' text: Notice the two cartridge slots and the two joystick connectors at the bottom-left side. image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_keyboard_s1.jpg - title: 'FRONT PANEL #2' subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_frontpanel_s1.jpg - title: IN USE subtitle: '' text: Here with a monochrome composite monitor. image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_running_s1.jpg - title: BOOT-UP SCREEN subtitle: '' text: Some of the MSX BASIC messages were translated into Brazilian language. The Character generator was also modified. image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_bootscreen_s1.jpg - title: REAR PANEL subtitle: '' text: |- Probably the most complete MSX 1 I/O panel.\ **(1)** Ground terminal\ **(2)** Bus expansion connector\ **(3)** Keyboard connector\ **(4)** Parallel printer connector\ **(5)** Switched AC outlets\ **(6)** TV channel selector\ **(7)** RF modulator output\ **(8)** Colour composite video output\ **(9)** 6V DC output used to supply the tape recorder\ **(10)** RGB video output DIN socket\ **(11)** Tape recorder DIN socket\ **(12)** Monochrome composite video and sound output jacks\ **(13)** Speaker level knob. image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_rearside_s1.jpg - title: MAIN BOARD subtitle: '' text: |- A very classical MSX 1 main board.\ **(1)** 64 KB RAM bank (8 x 4164 chips)\ **(2)** G.I. AY-8910 sound generator\ **(3)** NEC 8255 I/O chip\ **(4)** Zilog Z80 processor\ **(5)** MSX-BASIC ROM chip\ **(6)** T.I. TMS 9128 video chip. image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_mainboard_s1.jpg - title: INSIDE subtitle: '' text: Below the main board, the left card **(1)** holds the RF modulator, the right one **(2)** is in charge of the tape recorder, RGB, composite and sound interfaces. image: /media/museum/photos/gradiente_xp800_inside_s1.jpg hardware: - title: NATIONAL CF-2131 subtitle: 16 KB RAM expansion text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/national_cf2131_16k-cart.jpg - title: CASIO OR-216 - 16 KB RAM EXPANSION subtitle: Box text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/casio_or216_16kbramexpansion_box.jpg - title: PHILIPS RAM EXPANSION subtitle: '' text: |- RAM expansion and LOGO language cartridges. Thanks to Daniele from Italy image: /media/museum/hardware/philips_vg8020_cartridges_s1.jpg - title: MEGA RAM DISK 256 subtitle: from DDX (Brazil) text: This is the famous Megaram cartridge made in Brzail, used to play all Konami cracked Megarom games.6401999243 image: /media/museum/hardware/msx_megaram256-ddx_1.jpg - title: PANASONIC FS-IFA1 & FW-RSU1W subtitle: Scanner/Printer interface text: The FS-IFA1 is the printer/scanner interface (left on the picture) and the FW-RSU1W is the handheld scanner (right on the picture). These expansions are for MSX2 systems. image: /media/museum/hardware/msx_fs-ifa1_fw-rsu1w.jpg - title: SONY HBI-232 subtitle: RS232c cartridge text: Used to connect serial printers. image: /media/museum/hardware/sony_msx_rs232c-cartridge.jpg - title: 'YAMAHA MOUSE #1' subtitle: '' text: |- This mouse was compatible with all MSX systems. It connects to the first Joystick port. Thanks to **www.zonadepruebas.com** image: /media/museum/hardware/yamaha_mouse_s2.jpg - title: 'YAMAHA MOUSE #2' subtitle: '' text: |- Brand new! Thanks to **www.zonadepruebas.com** image: /media/museum/hardware/yamaha_mouse_s1.jpg - title: PHILIPS VW0020 subtitle: 80-col dot-matrix printer text: |- This printer was a rebadged version of the Seikosha GP-500.\ It was a 80-column, 50 CPS model with a 7x5 dot matrix head.\ Commodore and Atari used same hardware basis for their MPS-801 and 1029 printers. image: /media/museum/hardware/philips_vg8020_printervw0020_s1.jpg - title: SANYO PHC-DR II subtitle: Side text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/sanyo_phc-drii_side_1.jpg - title: SANYO PHC-DR II subtitle: Front text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/sanyo_phc-drii_front_1.jpg - title: SANYO DR-202 subtitle: '' text: The ADSS system allowed to quickly search a specific program in a cassette tape and load it. Seach time for a C60 cassette was less than 1 minute. image: /media/museum/hardware/sanyo_phc28_dr202tapedrive_s1.jpg - title: NATIONAL RQ-8030 subtitle: tape-recorder text: '' image: /media/museum/hardware/national_tape_rq8030.jpg - title: BIT-CORDER subtitle: '' text: Cassete recorder dedicated to Hit-Bit MSX systems, though it could be used with any home computers. image: /media/museum/hardware/sony_hb201_bitcorder_1.jpg screenshots: - title: TITLE SCREEN subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/gradiente_expert-1_ss_boot1.jpg - title: START SCREEN subtitle: '' text: '' image: /media/museum/software/gradiente_expert-1_ss_boot2.jpg emulators: - title: fMSX for MS DOS Homepage url: http://www.komkon.org/~dekogel/fmsx.html platform: MS DOS text: '' - title: BlueMSX url: http://www.bluemsx.com/ platform: Windows text: Excellent free MSX emulator - title: BrMSX url: http://www.lsi.usp.br/~ricardo/brmsx.htm platform: Windows text: A Bresilian MSX Emulator written in 100% assembler - title: CompuJunk's MSX Emulator url: http://ftp.castel.nl/msx/ platform: Windows text: A MSX1 and MSX2 Emulator - title: RuMSX url: http://members.eunet.at/lexlechz/msx.html platform: Windows text: A MSX Emulator for Win95 and Win NT + Direct X - title: fMSX for MAC OS Homepage url: http://www.emulation.net/msx/index.html platform: Apple text: '' - title: fMSX official Homepage url: http://www.komkon.org/fms/fMSX platform: Multiplatform text: 'fMSX is a portable MSX emulator ported on : Amiga OS, Mac OS, MS DOS, OS/2, Sony Playstation, Risc OS, Towns OS, Unix / X, Win95 / NT, X68K.' - title: openMSX - The MSX emulator that aims for perfection. url: http://openmsx.sourceforge.net/ platform: Multiplatform text: This new MSX emulator can reproduce, among many other MSX, MSX2and MSX2+ machines, both Panasonic Turbo-R models. Be sure to get the catapult frontend and the system roms from FUNET. links: - title: Baboo! url: http://www.baboo.net/baboo.shtml text: MSX dedicated Yahoo clone. Essential ! - title: FILE-HUNTER.COM url: http://www.file-hunter.com/ text: Excellent! All MSX emulators, sources and utilities! - title: FTP da MSXBr-L/MSX.Org.Br url: http://www.caetano.eng.br/msxsoft/ text: Excellent brasilian software archive - title: MOAI TECH url: http://www.moai-tech.com/ text: Spanish/English website with interesting content - title: MSX Hardware List url: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/hardware.html text: An impressive list of MSX hardware. The Bible !!! - title: MSX Ressource Center url: http://www.msx.org/ text: Essential site ! - title: Possi's Konami MSX Page url: http://dynamo.geol.msu.ru/MSX/ text: Nice page dedicated to all Konami MSX games (roms, scans, mids, etc.) - title: The MSX Games Box url: http://www.msxgamesbox.com text: All about MSX gaming (games, covers.etc.). More Fun, Less Mhz! - title: The MSX Museum BOX url: http://www.msxmuseumbox.com text: More than 190 different MSX models in pictures. - title: The ultimate MSX Faq url: http://www.faq.msxnet.org text: Here, you can find near all hardware pieces related to MSX. - title: Web Wiz CAPTCHA url: http://www.webwizcaptcha.com text: The MSX home computer system related: - /museum/canon-v-10 - /museum/canon-v-20 - /museum/canon-v-8 - /museum/casio-mx-10-mx-101 - /museum/casio-pv-16 - /museum/casio-pv-7 - /museum/epcom-sharp-hotbit-hb-8000 - /museum/fujitsu-fm-x - /museum/general-paxon-pct-50 - /museum/goldstar-fc-80-fc-200 - /museum/gradiente-expert-plus - /museum/hitachi-ah-200 - /museum/hitachi-h1-h1e - /museum/hitachi-h2 - /museum/mitsubishi-ml-f110-ml-f120 - /museum/mitsubishi-ml-f48-ml-f80 - /museum/mitsubishi-ml-fx1-fx2 - /museum/mitsubishi-ml-g10 - /museum/msx-1 - /museum/national-cf-2000 - /museum/national-cf-2700 - /museum/national-cf-3000 - /museum/national-fs-4000 - /museum/national-fs-4500 - /museum/olympia-phc-2 - /museum/panasonic-cf-2700 - /museum/philips-nms-801 - /museum/philips-vg-8000-8010 - /museum/philips-vg-8020 - /museum/philips-vg-8235 - /museum/pioneer-palcom-px-7 - /museum/sanyo-mpc-100 - /museum/sanyo-phc-28 - /museum/sanyo-phc-30 - /museum/sanyo-phc-33 - /museum/sanyo-wavy-10-mpc-10 - /museum/sanyo-wavy-23 - /museum/sanyo-wavy-3 - /museum/schneider-philips-mc-810 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-10 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-101 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-20 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-201 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-501 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-55 - /museum/sony-hit-bit-75 - /museum/spectravideo-svi-728 - /museum/toshiba-hx-10-pasopia-iq - /museum/toshiba-hx-20-hx-21-pasopia-iq - /museum/toshiba-hx-52 - /museum/victor-hc-6 - /museum/yamaha-cx5 - /museum/yamaha-cx5m-music-computer - /museum/yamaha-sx-100 - /museum/yamaha-yis-303 - /museum/yamaha-yis-503-diabolik - /museum/yashica-yc-64 - /museum/yeno-dpc-64 - /museum/yeno-mx-64 oc_id: 832 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230609190203/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=832 date: '2023-06-09' --- The Gradiente Expert 1 is a Brazilian MSX 1 computer. It is composed of two parts: the main unit and the keyboard. Gradiente is a Brazilian consumer electronic products company. It is not suprising as the unit's design looks like a HI-FI system... Along with the [HotBit](/museum/epcom-sharp-hotbit-hb-8000/), the Experts were the only MSX systems available in Brazil. The Expert XP-800 was in fact a clone of the [National CF-3000](/museum/national-cf-3000/). It is a quite complete [MSX 1](/museum/msx-1/) computer with two cartridge slots placed on the front panel and a numeric keypad. The rear of the system is quite populated with a lot of connectors : BUS Expansion port, Keyboard connector, Tape interface (1200/2400 bauds), RGB video output, Composite video output (monochrome), Parallel port, Audio output, 2 x power out connector (Max 100W)... On later models (v1.1) a few connectors were added: 6v output for DataCorder, RCA Color Video Composite (PAL-M) and RF-Out with channel selector (PAL-M). A speaker level control and an AC Switch (120V-240V) can also be found. Sadly, the cassette interface, RGB connector, keyboard connector, expansion connector and printer connector were not compatible with the MSX standard. Gradiente did this on purpose, trying to set their own proprietary standard in Brazil... Also, a little difference in the ASCII table between the Expert (corrected with the Expert GPC-1) and the Hotbit caused a lot of problems in Brazil... The Expert XP-800 was later followed by the Expert GPC-1 (1986), the [Expert Plus](/museum/gradiente-expert-plus/) (1989) and finally the Expert DD Plus (1989). --- **Djogo Patrao** reports to us:\ MSX2 machines were never launched in Brasil, despite of Gradiente's promisses. Some companies (like DDX and Ademir Carchano, among others) offered then MSX-2 and MSX2+ transformation service (Carchano even developed a MSX2 cartridge!), which were very popular although expansive.