--- title: Philips VG 8020 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - Netherlands years: - '1984' cpus: - Zilog Z80 params: name: VG 8020 company: /companies/philips company_name: Philips specs: - label: NAME value: VG 8020 - label: MANUFACTURER value: Philips - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: Netherlands - label: YEAR value: '1984' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Microsoft Extended Basic (MSX Basic V1.0) - label: KEYBOARD value: AZERTY / QWERTY, mechanical keyboard - label: CPU value: Zilog Z80 - label: SPEED value: 3.58 MHz - 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: I/O PORTS value: Centronics port, 2 cardridge slots, Tape-recorder connector, RGB video output, 2 joystick sockets (Atari standard), RF lead video output (PAL models) - label: OS value: MSX DOS (with optional floppy drive unit) - label: POWER SUPPLY value: Biult-in switching PSU - label: PRICE value: 455 (France, september 85) tabs: - photos - hardware - emulators - links photos: - title: FRONT subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Odessa2020 for this picture image: null - title: SECAM MODEL subtitle: '' text: This is a french Secam version. The keyboard is AZERTY and the top part of the case is black. image: null - title: CARTRIDGE SLOT subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: LEFT SIDE subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: RIGHT SIDE subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Odessa2020 for this picture image: null - title: JOYSTICK CONNECTORS subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: |- **1** - Power cord\ **2** - Reset button\ **3** - Printer / Centronics interface\ **4** - Tape-Recorder\ **5** - Monitor audio/video output image: null - title: REAR subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Odessa2020 for this picture image: null - title: INSIDE subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: DEEP INSIDE subtitle: '' text: |- **(1)** Video generator chipset.\ **(2)** RGB video out DIN connector.\ **(3)** 2 x ROM cartrige slots.\ **(4)** Cassette recorder DIN connector with remote control.\ **(5)** Parallel Centronics printer connector (MSX standard).\ **(6)** Mains plug.\ **(7)** Power supply transformer.\ **(8)** Power regulation board.\ **(9)** S-3527 MSX dedicated chipset. Provides MSX compatible sound generation, various input / outputs and parallel printer management.\ **(10)** 8 x 4164 chips (64000 cells x 1 bit) holding 64 Kb RAM.\ **(11-12)** Keyboard flat cables.\ **(13)** Z-80 microprocessor.\ **(14-15)** 2 x joystick connectors.\ **(16)** RGB signals generation board. This card may differ, depending on the country where the computer was sold. This one is a french 'Peritel' (scart) version. image: null - title: BOX subtitle: '' text: Thanks to Odessa2020 for this picture image: null 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 emulators: - title: fMSX for MS DOS Homepage url: http://www.komkon.org/~dekogel/fmsx.html platform: MS DOS text: '' - 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: 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: 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: RuMSX url: http://members.ping.at/lexlechz/msx.html platform: Windows text: A MSX Emulator for Win95 and Win NT + Direct X - title: Virtual MSX url: http://www.msxnet.org/vmsx/ platform: Windows text: An other MSX 1 emulator for Win 95 / Win NT - title: fMSX for MAC OS Homepage url: http://www.emulation.net/msx/index.html platform: Apple text: '' - 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: Other platform 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: 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: MPC url: http://msx.fab.free.fr/MSX1/philips/philips.htm text: Nice french page detailing the different versions of the VG-8020 - 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 comments: - author: Folko (Germany) date: Tuesday 6th July 2021 text: 'In regards to the idea mentioned here that they sold a 80k RAM version in Spain to avoid taxes (like the Amstrad CPC 472 by adding unusable 8k to the CPC464 in Spain): The 80k statement was printed on all VG 8020 cases and it is just marketing by adding the 64k system ram with the 16k video ram. It’s still a 64k system ram computer and they did have to pay the Spanish tax. $-)' - author: Thierry (France) date: Monday 29th June 2020 text: |- hello :-)\ Sure the vg 8020-19 (France) has no RF out since...RGB (din to scart) output instead, yeah $-)\ Great feature at this times in early 80ties, also on other old computers sold in France.(ex:ti99)\ Better video quality with this $-) - author: MsxKun date: Monday 18th June 2012 text: |- $$Due to some differences in the chipset, the Philips VG-8020 was not always 100$ compatible with other MSX-computers. Typing ''poke -1,170'' before loading programs usually fixed the bug. That''s not correct. It wasn''t a problem of the comp, but of the software that didn''t follow the standard specs. Well done software never failed. - author: Eric Wolff (Luxemburg) date: Monday 24th October 2011 text: Ok update :) mine has written on the top 80kb ram+ 16kbvideo seems this is a model to avoid the spanish n on keyboard tax. Seeing that i got it from spain it makes sense. Hope it helped a bit :) - author: Wolff Eric (Luxemburg) date: Thursday 13rd October 2011 text: It s a pal model i got from spain but cant say much more about it:( - author: Eric Wolff date: Wednesday 12th October 2011 text: Hi i can say there are 4 models not 3 i have a vg8020/40 no idea what the difference is though. Only wanted to complete the data . - author: noobsaibot73 ((Madrid (Spain))) date: Saturday 6th December 2008 text: |- There''s another difference between the Secam and the Pal models, Pal models come with RF lead which is missing in the Secam models. This is a superb computer, I owned one and I was so happy with it...If you''re looking for a good MSX1, this is your computer. Greetings from Spain. - author: Francisco Martin (Madrid (Spain)) date: Friday 21st March 2008 text: If you look carefully the photographs of the French version (Secam) of the VG8020, and the Pal versions, you'll discover one missing key at the right side of the right shift key. This is another difference between the two models. 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/gradiente-expert-xp-800 - /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-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: 250 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230602191702/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=250 date: '2023-06-02' --- The Philips 8020 belongs to the [MSX 1 family](/museum/msx-1/). In fact, it wasnt't built by Philips, but, as the Yashica MSX, built by Kyocera in Japan. The VG8020 comes in 3 different versions : 8020/00 are first PAL models, 8020/19 Secam models (black case) and 8020/20 PAL models with a more integrated motherboard. There is another difference between the Secam and Pal models, one missing key. The Pal versions have one key at the right side of the right SHIFT key which is missing in the Secam version. It can be easily checked comparing pictures found [here](/museum/philips-vg-8020/). The function of this key is for entering accents; specifically accent acute, accent grave, circumflex and tréma. There's another vital difference between Secam and Pal models, the RF lead, which is missing in the Secam models. Due to some differences in the chipset, the Philips VG-8020 was not always 100% compatible with other MSX-computers. Typing 'poke -1,170' before loading programs usually fixed the bug. --- **Contributors:** Francisco Martin, Martijn