RARE Sony MSX 2+ Computer from Japan!

Thanks to Aaron for loaning TheRetroRecall this amazing piece of retro tech! This Sony HB-F1XV Personal Computer from Japan is a RARE piece of computing history. In this video we will go over the system, see if we can get it working and explore the interesting cartridges it came with!

#retropc #sony #nostalgia #retro #retrocomputing #retrogaming #vintage #konomi #japan #rare #msx #msx2

[maxtornogood]

I find myself watching your clips on a Sunday morning while still in bed. Nice overview of this retro tech, it looks & works pretty well.

[SebastianLambinon]

Your video made me realize that MSX is a pretty complex home computer ( NOT A CONSOLE! 😅 ) if you never used one before. I was screaming at the screen the whole time, but then again, it's easy to understand why someone would struggle with a system that's quickly going towards 40 years old.

Here's some random quick tips:

* MSX games often use 2 fire buttons when using a joystick. For nemesis you can use the N key as the second fire.
* That REN-SHA TURBO is for autofire ( it also affects the space bar, so turn it off when typing )
* SOFARUN ( on the SD cartridge ) would be the easiest way to get your games started
* The nice music in the Bombaman game is called MSX-MUSIC. The little musical note logo, next to the HITBIT MSX2+ on the case, is what tells you this MSX has that music chip.
* Floppy drive should be mostly compatible with regular floppy drives indeed. But look it up to be sure.

MSX is great. Go get your own! Enjoy!

[danielkawano]

I am amazed by the fact that you have almost 10k subscribers and still answer EVERY comment in your videos. I hope your channel continues to grow, so you can get as much recognition as Adrian from the Digital Basement or the 8 bit guy, as you indeed deserve. Thank you for the all content and warm regards from Brazil.

[HeadsetGuy]

The MSX has a very interesting history; if you've never seen LGR's review of another MSX, you should definitely check it out. The short version is that it was a collaboration between Microsoft and ASCII Corporation to attempt to bring a standard to PCs in Japan, since most computers in Japan weren't compatible with each other, much less with the IBM PC compatible "standard" that sort of formed by accident in North America. They reportedly took cues from the VHS standard; much like how any machine with the VHS logo could play VHS tapes, any machine with the MSX logo could run MSX software (and since Microsoft was involved, MSX-DOS was MS-DOS for the MSX).
Also, the character you had to type out instead of a backslash is the Yen symbol.

[Jorito]

Was fun to see somebody discover the MSX platform without prior knowledge and stumble through things! Also great to see a bit of Bombaman (I did the music for it and general producer work) :)

[chevygmc]

Nice review! My Brazilian MSX1 had floppy drive because some locals made a cartridge adapting 5 1/4 (180kb each side) and 3 1/2 (360kb each side). It was a nice upgrade from cassette tapes.
Maybe I should expend some time repairing, recapping and bringing it back to life again.

[VypRau]

Reminds me of my first "computer", a SEGA SC-3000. Very similar to this, but came out in 1983. SEGA also named theirs a 'Personal Computer', but it was a mash up of their gaming console SG-1000 with a keyboard. BASIC and Pascal carts were available for programming. Even a Music cart for composing. Also a docking station with floppy drive and more memory/storage. There was even a colour printer too.

[cjh]

We never really got the MSX machines back in the UK. I always love the SONY design. They look so futuristic compared to our contemporary computers back in the day. Like EEVBlog always says "All the best stuff is made in Japan". Great video.

[demos]

That's a really neat computer. Like it was stated in at least one comment, the かな button should enable the uses of kana characters. From what I see, you should be able to write all 46 hiragana + the modified versions using the two keys between "P" and "Return". From early in the video you also show that there's Kanji Rom, so I assume there's some way to tell the computer to replace a hiragana selection with its Kanji counterpart. On modern devices, you would write はな(ha-na), then press "Space" so it replaces it with the 花 (flower) kanji.

Also, here's a bit of trivia that you might have put together during the video: In Japanese, there's nothing that translates the "er" sound from "Bomberman" directly. Instead, they make the "ah" sound longer, which kinda simulates it. I'm curious about that Gladius cartridge as well. The music was a bit underwhelming compared to the insane soundtrack from the bomberman game, but I wonder if that was a game that got released early in this computer's lifespan. Anyway, it still hits the nostalgia button for me lol.

They are all computers the MSX systems, consoles are just for gaming, and no such exist. The MSX (many makers and models) and The C64 home/personal computers were the most popular in Europe, before the Amiga.

[jayhollowayii]

Love the old retro technically amazing video mate

[jimjay]

that's an interesting piece of equipment, Almost like the Tandy Color computer 3

[AndrewSimpson-zr]

My first computer in the late 80's was a Toshiba MSX HX-10, I really loved a game called River Raid. I'm in the UK, not sure how popular they were...and I still have it!

[jasmijndekkers]

Nice computer system to work on. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands

[OffstagePfaffa]

The FDD is just a Standard Shugart (Not IBM PC) 720k drive, IBM deviated from the standard in a few places. Some 720k drives have jumpers (or solder points) to switch to shugart standard. You need to be able to change the Drive ID to 0 or A, PC drives are all set to 1 or B and then use a twisted drive cable to select drive number (before the twist is B, after is A). You also need a straight floppy data cable without the PC twist. Some MSX machines might also require the Disk Change signal that the PCs ignore. The reason these drives are so expensive is that Amigas Atari ST, Early Macs and Misc hardware needs the same type of drives. Note that you can use a Floppy Emu in a MSX with one of the Open Firmwares

Also
1) The chips you are looking for on the motherboard are not there, starting with later MSX 2 they started using a chip called a MSX Engine, basically a MSX1 SOC minus CPU and VDP (Video Display Processor). This cut the cost of the computers which was important because budget computers.

2) The cartridge slots are similar to ISA or PCI slot, lots of hardware add-ons plugin there.

3) Ren Sha Turbo is a auto fire function for use in games

[randomexcessmemories]

Surprised you hadn't heard of the MSX standard before, considering your retro computer interests. It was extremely popular in Japan and other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and South America. They were computers first, consoles second, much in the way systems like the C64 behaved. I have been on the lookout for a certain model by Yamaha which was specially geared towards music production, as it has a number of cool features, such as MIDI and FM synthesis!

[Voyager_]

MSX, not my favorite architecture, but I still collect the Sony ones because they just look cool as hell. The HB-101 and the F1XD are my favorites.

[liamthompson]

❤that's beautiful, today it's little black blocks or laboratory white towers. I wish went back to creative design❤

[yousefslimani]

I was wondering, does this model support stereo sound mode?

[isamuominae]

Every MSX2 made by Sony came with FDD included attached, he bought used and probably the FDD was damaged and removed. You can connect a external FDD using a flat cable connected to the FDD using a special cartridge.