--- title: General Paxon PCT-50 categories: - Computers types: - Home Computer origins: - Japan years: - '1983' cpus: - Z80A params: name: Paxon PCT-50 image: /media/museum/photos/paxon_pck50_2.jpg company: /companies/general company_name: General specs: - label: NAME value: Paxon PCT-50 - label: MANUFACTURER value: General - label: TYPE value: Home Computer - label: ORIGIN value: Japan - label: YEAR value: '1983' - label: BUILT IN LANGUAGE value: Microsoft Extended Basic - label: KEYBOARD value: QWERTY mechanical - label: CPU value: Z80A - label: SPEED value: 3,6 Mhz - label: CO-PROCESSOR value: Texas Instruments TMS9928A (video chip), Yamaha AY-3-8910A (sound chip) - label: RAM value: 16 or 32 KB, up to 64 KB - label: VRAM value: 16 KB - label: ROM value: 32 KB - label: TEXT MODES value: 40 x 24 - label: GRAPHIC MODES value: 256 x 192, 32 sprites - label: COLORS value: '16' - label: SOUND value: |- General Instrument AY-2-8910 sound generator\ 3 voices, 8 octaves - label: I/O PORTS value: |- Tape recorder\ Parallel Centronics port\ Cartridge slot\ 2 controller ports (joystick, mouse, paddle, etc.), headphone jack, RF input - label: POWER SUPPLY value: built-in PSU - label: PRICE value: ¥128,000 (Japan, 1983) tabs: - photos - adverts - hardware - emulators - links photos: - title: THE RED MODEL subtitle: '' text: A great picture of the red model image: /media/museum/photos/general_paxon_pck50_3.jpg - title: THE RED MONITOR subtitle: '' text: This is a zoom on the monitor of the red model. Yes, the CPU is built in the monitor case ! Notice the cart slot on the left side, just under the volume control. And below that are the 2 joystick plugs... image: /media/museum/photos/general_paxon_pck50_redscreen.jpg adverts: - title: JAPANESE ADVERT (1984) subtitle: '' text: from Japanese MSX magazine dated July 1984 image: null - title: PROMOTIONAL FLYER (COVER) subtitle: '' text: '' image: null - title: PROMOTIONAL FLYER (INSIDE) subtitle: '' text: '' 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: 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 Banzaï url: http://www.tni.nl/msxbanzai/ text: Cool site with some very interesting pictures - 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/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-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: 422 source: url: https://web.archive.org/web/20230604040129/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=422 date: '2023-06-04' --- The PCT-50 is the combination of a television and a MSX1 computer in one unit. It was released by the Japanese company General in the very beginning of the MSX history and was available in two colors : silver and red. The MSX computers produced by General are called 'Paxon', PCT meaning 'Paxon Computer TV'. This machine has only one cartridge slot integrated in the left side of the monitor. Joysticks can be connected directly to the display/main unit. The PCK-50 keyboard is thus optional as the computer can be used as a gaming console with built-in display. The MSX is internally connected to the monitor via a "high quality" RGB interface. This was appreciated by the Japanese users who wanted to make quality screendumps of their favorite games. The official price is ¥128,000 for the main unit, ¥3,500 for a PCJ-50 joystick and ¥18,500 for the keyboard. --- Thanks to MSX.org for most of the info.