website/content/museum/msx-2.md

title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params

title	categories	types	origins	years	cpus	params
MSX 2	Computers	Home Computer	Japan	1985	Zilog Z80A	name company company_name specs tabs forum_thread emulators links related oc_id source MSX 2 /companies/msx MSX label value NAME MSX 2 label value MANUFACTURER MSX label value TYPE Home Computer label value ORIGIN Japan label value YEAR 1985 label value CPU Zilog Z80A or equivalent label value SPEED 3.58 MHz label value CO-PROCESSOR Video Display Processor : V9938 (MSX-VIDEO) label value RAM at least 64 KB label value VRAM at least 64 KB label value ROM 48 KB label value TEXT MODES 40 x 24 / 32 x 24 label value GRAPHIC MODES 64 x 48 / 256 x 192 / 256 x 212 / 512 x 212 label value COLORS 512 label value SOUND 3 channels, 8 octaves label value I/O PORTS Joystick(1 or 2), Cartridge(2), Tape(1200/2400 baud), RGB, Composite Video, Centronics, External Audio label value OS MSX DOS 2.0 (available on a optional cartridge) emulators links 298 title url platform text fMSX for MS DOS Homepage http://www.komkon.org/~dekogel/fmsx.html MS DOS title url platform text BlueMSX http://www.bluemsx.com/ Windows Excellent free MSX emulator title url platform text BrMSX http://www.lsi.usp.br/~ricardo/brmsx.htm Windows A Bresilian MSX Emulator written in 100% assembler title url platform text CompuJunk's MSX Emulator http://ftp.castel.nl/msx/ Windows A MSX1 and MSX2 Emulator title url platform text RuMSX http://members.ping.at/lexlechz/msx.html Windows A MSX Emulator for Win95 and Win NT + Direct X title url platform text Virtual MSX http://www.msxnet.org/vmsx/ Windows An other MSX 1 emulator for Win 95 / Win NT title url platform text fMSX for MAC OS Homepage http://www.emulation.net/msx/index.html Apple title url platform text fMSX official Homepage http://www.komkon.org/fms/fMSX Other platform 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 url platform text fMSX32 HTTP://WWW.RETRODEV.INFO/ Other platform The excellent fMSX, but ported onto the GamePark GP32 handheld console. title url platform text openMSX - The MSX emulator that aims for perfection. http://openmsx.sourceforge.net/ Multiplatform 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. title url text MSX Faq http://www.faq.msxnet.org Here, you can find near all hardware pieces related to MSX. /museum/canon-v-25 /museum/jvc-hc-95 /museum/kawai-kmc-5000 /museum/panasonic-fs-a1 /museum/panasonic-fs-a1f /museum/sony-hit-bit-f1xd /museum/sony-hit-bit-f500 /museum/sony-hit-bit-f700 /museum/sony-hit-bit-f9 /museum/sony-hit-bit-g900f 288 url date https://web.archive.org/web/20230529175859/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=288 2023-05-29

After the (relative) success of the MSX 1 computer (in Japan, Europe and South America), Microsoft and ASCII presented its successor. The main new feature was the very enhanced graphic modes, no other computers were able to display such graphics! The 128 KB VRAM was very impressive! It had a battery-backed clock and a new MMU (to handle more than the Z80 64KB limit). The MSX 2 standard, like the MSX 1, was designed by ASCII, the new operating system MSX DOS 2.0 was designed by Microsoft (it's almost a copy of MS-DOS 3.3). A while after launching the MSX 2 standard, Microsoft abandoned the project, but several manufacturers took it over.

John van Poelgeest adds:
As the MSX2 and MSX2+ computers were very alike, it did not take long to have a MSX2 computer rebuilt with the MSX2+ VDP (V9958 from Yamaha) and the BIOS chips from the MSX2+, making the MSX2 computer a fully compatible MSX2+. The one thing lacking was the MSX-Music (FM-Pac), but this could be added by using a cartridge.

Toby comments:
Note that MSX-DOS 2 did not ship with any MSX2 by default. It was developed later and sold as an external cartridge (with the kernel) and 3.5" diskette (containing the OS files). The only computer to ship with MSX-DOS 2 was the MSX turboR (both the ST and the GT) which had MSX-DOS version 2.3x built in.