Sakhr AX-230: An Arabic MSX

This is the first time I've ever used any MSX computer as they aren't common in North America. This particular unit is from the Middle East and is localized in Arabic. Let's see if I can figure out how to swap in some ROMs from another machine to try to get some games running on it.

--- Video Links

MSX standard:

Sakhr AX-230: (This machine)

Sanyo MPC-2 (Japanese version of this machine)

More info about the ROMs on the Sakhr:

VCF East:

VCF Midwest 18:

VCF SW (Dallas:)

Adrian's Digital Basement Merch store:

Adrian's Digital Basement ][ (Second Channel)

Support the channel on Patreon:

-- Tools

Deoxit D5:

O-Ring Pick Set: (I use these to lift chips off boards)

Elenco Electronics LP-560 Logic Probe:

Hakko FR301 Desoldering Iron:

Rigol DS1054Z Four Channel Oscilloscope:

Head Worn Magnifying Goggles / Dual Lens Flip-In Head Magnifier:

TL866II Plus Chip Tester and EPROM programmer: (The MiniPro)

TS100 Soldering Iron:

EEVBlog 121GW Multimeter:

DSLogic Basic Logic Analyzer:

Magnetic Screw Holder:

Universal ZIP sockets: (clones, used on my ZIF-64 test machine)

RetroTink 2X Upconverter: (to hook up something like a C64 to HDMI)

Plato (Clone) Side Cutters: (order five)

Heat Sinks:

Little squeezy bottles: (available elsewhere too)

--- Links

My GitHub repository:

Commodore Computer Club / Vancouver, WA – Portland, OR – PDX Commodore Users Group

--- Instructional videos

My video on damage-free chip removal:

--- Music

Intro music and other tracks by:
Nathan Divino
@itsnathandivino

[adriansdigitalbasement]

After shooting this video I found a thread talking more specifically about the ROMs on this machine:

Seems that there is some information that is incorrect on the MSX Wiki page for it. From a post by "mars2000you" says:

The Games ROM is in slot 3-1, 3-2 or 3-3, it needs to be checked with saverom. It's probably slot 3-3 if we compare with AX-170, as it is the place of the second cartridge slot, that has been removed on the AX-230.

This 1024kB ROM has the ASCII8 mapper. It can't work without the presence of an Arabic ROM in the MSX computer.

The other dump (128kB) can be divided as follows:
- first 32 KB = BIOS rom
- next 32 KB = Arabic ROM with inversion of the 16kB blocks (AB signature is not at the beginning of this 32kB block)
- next 64 kB = empty

The fact the upper 32k in the EPROM I made needs to be inverted is probably why the games were crashing and not working, but this is just a guess. Ideally I'd like to be able to use the AX-230 BIOS ROM (with the appropriate keyboard map) and then load in some games or a game into that upper 32. A switch could be wired to turn this on or off.

[ulyssesshubeilat]

I grew up in the 80s in Jordan and Sakher's MSX computers were as popular as the PlayStation today! Thanks for covering this amazing machine! Happy memories

[karimk]

Brings back wonderful memories, those machines were all over the Arabic countries and getting hold of parts or cartridges was very easy and we got a huge library of games and software ❤

[teccio]

Being from Kuwait, I remember EVERYONE had a Sakhr MSX at home. Used mainly for education and games.

The significance of Sakhr MSX was that it was the first machine that had Arabic. The Sakhr company were the first to digitize Arabic letters.

Very cool video!

[HelloSwiftful]

Great to see an American youtuber showing more of the MSX! I know they are rare in the US but MSX was successful in Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Netherlands and Japan. In this Arabic machine context, maybe fascinating to know, the Sakhr AX-330 can dual boot a NES, and the Sakhr AX-990 also supports Sega Mega Drive/Genesis games!

[KhalidYousif]

Sakhr AX-170 was the most popular MSX (and home computer) in the Arab world, probably sold by hundreds of thousands... Lots of Egyptian ebay traders have hundreds of them in their stocks.
It was my first computer ever, and the only differences that AX-230 have is that it has just one catridge slot (the other cartridge slot space used for the extra ROM that had 30 games), and the case colour.
Let me know if you have any any questions about Sakhr or any other Arabized computer because I have done lots of research on them in the past few years...

[pederb]

The IC you asked about is a synchronous signal generator for CCD's, but in this instance its used as an ROM mapper for the cartridges to enable them to access more memory than the original 64. The chip can map up to 1024 KB of cartridge memory. :)

[safi]

I am from Pakistan... I actually remember using an Arabic MSX when I was young my neighbors had one. It was well into the 90s and well into the Pentium era they had it hand me down from their relatives in the Middle East. That's was the only MSX machine I have ever used... I remember trying to write BASIC game for it.

[Roboq]

In an alternate universe, Commodore, Atari and Tandy all subscribed to the MSX standard (Apple refused). What a wonderful world that myst be.

[saifal-badri]

I had an MSX 170 which was white which I still own, lots of games and interesting Arabic cartridges such as Quran and Arabic lessons. Basic and paint, Oh man what memories

[GodKitty]

The MSX ASC8 (ASCII) ROM mappers can control up to 1024kB of cartridge memory with chip LZ93A13 (ASC1) or up to 2048kB with chip M60002 (ASC2). The connections will be made from (both) the flash memory to the MSX bus and to the LZ93A13.

1) A0 to A12 of (both) flash memory connected to the MSX address bus
2) A13 to A18 of (both) flash memory connected to B0 to B5 of the LZ93A13 (or M60002)
3) D0 to D7 of (both) flash memory connected to the MSX data bus
4) /WE of (both) flash memory connected to /WR of the MSX address bus
5) /OE of (both) flash memory connected to /OE.00-7F (pin 8) of the LZ93A13 (or M60002)
6) /CE of flash 1 to pin 5 (/Y1) of the LS139
7) Optionally, /CE of flash 2 to pin 7 (/Y3) of the LS139
8) /SLTSL of the MSX address bus to pin 1 of the switch
9) Pin 2 of the switch to pin 1 (/G) of the LS139
10) Resistor of 4.7 kΩ between VCC and pin 1 (/G) of the LS139
11) /RESET of the MSX address bus to pin 2 (A) of the LS139
12) B6 of the LZ93A13 (or M60002) to pin 3 (B) of the LS139

[abdulmoeedraja]

There was another Sakhr AX-170 that was exactly like the mpc-2 with two cartridge slots and the only difference was the Arabic localisation. Also the Company that imported and sold the machines was called العالميه /Al-Alamiah ( trans. Universal)
and the machines itself were called the MSX صخر/Sakhr . These and most other MSX machines that I have seen are built like a tank they have aged well and they tolerate moderate mishandling unlike other 8bit machines were you can easily fry chips and ports. Also these machines mostly are standardised and it is very easy to build cassette cables and other mods. All in all I would say MSX were probably the best of all the 8bit machines and they dont get the recognition and love that they deserve.

[kyorin]

The funniest memory I have of the MSX growing up in the UK back in the 80's, was that there was a weird rivalry between MSX owners. Whereas the rest of us used to argue over which was best, the C64, Spectrum or Amstrad, MSX owners used to argue over the brand of their MSX instead. One of the things said by a Toshiba MSX owner about a Canon one was "If anyone can't, Canon can't", a play on Canon's slogan from back in the day - If anyone can, Canon can". 😁

[peco_de_guile]

You are somehow working through almost all the projects I have sitting in my garage! LOVE the diversity of projects!

[ropersonline]

33:30: What you're seeing there: Those are NOT kanji. Those characters are kana, hiragana to be precise. Remember, kana (hiragana and katakana) are these syllable-alphabets that are basically only 46-letters each, plus some variants, so kana can fit in a 256-character code page (eg. Code Page 911 aka JIS X 0201), but kanji cannot (too many glyphs). By way of comparison, a basic Arabic alphabet can also fit in a 256-character code page, but all the variant glyphs cannot. You can recognise hiragana by their mostly curved look, katakana by their angular look, and kanji because they look like Chinese characters, which is what they are.

[jukpaa]

I had the Spectravideo 728 back in the day and in my book it was the best platform in the mid-80s to learn to write basic. The MSX basic can do sprites, music, graphics, all with an advanced language without any peeks/pokes. Never did any HW mods (beyond building a standard centronics to the 14-pin Centronics adapter for a 9-pin dot matrix printer), though. You just brought back a ton of memories.

[Ahmedhkad]

As Arab, this company was famous in Iraq, I remember 2001 tried some software product from Sakhr company, they made good learning tools and games. but i never tried MSX

[ricardojpinheiro]

MSX is called by its fans as The Most Magical Of All Computers. As an old MSX freak (since 1986!), I can only agree with that saying. 😊

Funny to see that Adrian Black started with a Arabic MSX, the AX-230. It was developed by the Japanese company Sanyo to the Al-Alamiah company, which sell computers (until now) in the Middle East countries.

Cheers from the Brazilian MSX community! Hope to see more MSX related videos in the future.

[computer_toucher]

Spectravideo was a U.S. company making MSX computers. The SVI-328 was even the basis for the MSX standard. My brother and I each had an SVI-738 X'Press from age 8. I think our uncle imported them to Norway back in the day.

[xnonsuchx]

I know Yamaha MSX computers were sold in the US, but mostly in music instrument stores that sold synthesizers because they had a limited (4-voice?) DX synthesizer built into it. I remember seeing it in a few such stores way back then.