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Vintage Computers Any vintage computer systems, calculators, video games etc., but with an emphasis on 1980s and earlier equipment.

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Old 7th Jul 2019, 5:43 pm   #1
electronicskip
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Default MSX Computers. Anyone else use them?

Had my Yamaha CX5M MSX music computer out today playing on the add on keyboard and music programmer cart.
First time for ages.
Anyone else have an affinity for this forgotten system?
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 12:01 am   #2
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Default Re: MSX Computers. Anyone else use them?

You mean the CX5 specifically or MSX in general?

With a bit more effort the CX5, which was an MSX with MIDI in / out as standard plus an integral synth module, possibly equivalent to the Yamaha FB-01, could have been the go-to MIDI machine which the Atari ST became shortly afterwards. Some friends had a CX5, so I got to play with it a bit - then they bought an Atari ST (I already had one by then).

I was having a little play with an MSX at the Centre For Computing History (Cambridge) today. MSX was a great idea in principle, in theory putting an end to the existing UK situation where there were five or six completely incompatible mainstream computer systems in home use, and instead coming up with a shared / universal spec whose software your machine would be able to run no matter which manufacturer made it.

Unfortunately it didn't really take off, at least not in the UK. Possibly MSX did better in its native Japan, but we didn't really get the 'all computers run same software' situation in the UK until the PC and DOS came along.

Granted, there had been CP/M, the earlier attempt to make a cross machine OS / compatible software library, but that was dogged by there being as many different physical disc formats as there were days in a year (a mild exaggeration: Not much though). Some of the classic early eighties home computers did offer the option of running CP/M, for example, the Amstrad CPC6128, and the Tatung Einstein's disc OS was suspiciously CP/M like, although it didn't call it that.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 5:27 am   #3
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Default Re: MSX Computers. Anyone else use them?

Sorry i meant in general terms not just the Yamaha.
We used to sell the more common Toshiba MSX at the shop but as you say with very little success and also very little software to back it up with ,
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