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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 5, 2015 23:33:20 GMT -5
So I'm not sure I'm actually ready to buy an MSX yet, but I've decided that... eventually, I want one. Probably sometime this year.
I've looked into it a bit, and it sounds like my best bet is to find at least a working MSX2+ system, as they're common enough to not run me an arm and a leg, and support the vast majority of MSX games. But if I'm to buy one, I need to know specifics -- what sorts of things should I be looking for in the auction text (other than "tested, works" or its Japanese equivalent)? Any RAM recommendations, extra sound chips, etc. I should be sure to watch out for?
Also, a few nitty-gritty questions:
* The voltage difference between the U.S. and Japan is minimal, but it's enough that I'd worry about it frying older electronics like this. Is there a solution you might suggest, or has anyone else confirmed whether or not there's an issue here?
* What kind of CRT is required?
* What kind of controller would you recommend I look for?
I'm trying not to spend a whole butt-ton of money on this, but am willing to shell out a sizable one-time payment of $200 or so for the system itself, and up to $50 or $60 per component/game for everything else I'd need, so I think I'm within reasonable budget here. But I'm SO clueless about all of this stuff, so I thought it might behoove me to ask around on here and on HG101 to see if anyone had any suggestions for me.
I also noted in the subject line that I have a trade offer -- basically, in an effort to subsidize the frivolous purchasing of an old Japanese computer system, I looked through my game collection for anything I owned that might be valuable, and I found something: Rule of Rose. The American PS2 release, opened but in absolutely pristine condition (I barely played it, and I take really good care of my games, so it's basically mint). Seems to go for up to $200 on eBay in this condition, so I figured I'd offer to trade it to someone for just the base MSX2+ or higher system, provided (1) it's in working order, (2) it has both cartridge and disk slots, and (3) its specs aren't crap.
(And hey, as long as you're selling me your MSX2+, you might as well throw in your games too, right? Hee hee...)
I also own Haunting Ground on PS2 in a similarly pristine condition, but that's worth less than Rule of Rose and I'm much more hesitant to give it up. But if the right offer comes along, I might consider it!
...So, any info or takers? Please drop me a PM if you want to trade, or reply to this topic if you have info -- and thanks, very much, if you do either!
-Tom
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 6, 2015 12:16:56 GMT -5
Hi Tom, I'd be happy to help give you some pointers about buying an MSX. I've actually needed to come up with a bit of a guide anyway for the USAMSX site since really the goal of that site was to try and offer advice on how to get started with MSX in both hardware and in emulation. Wow, I never thought that Rule of Rose would go that high on eBay. I own that game in pretty good condition as well, but as I really liked it, I'm not sure I'd want to sell it quite yet from my collection. I just did a check and depending on the condition, Rule of Rose has been trending actual sale numbers between $150.00 to $175 depending on used condition, and over $220+ for a new/flawless (victory?) copy. Still... As cool as Rule of Rose was, I'd be real surprised if you had any takers to trade a full working MSX2+ for a rare PS2 game, unless they are one serious collector of PS2 games. You see, MSX machines in general are expensive, but sometimes you can get some pretty good deals for them depending on where you look (outside of eBay, because everything MSX related on eBay is usually price-jacked). But since you mentioned that you are interested in going after an MSX2+ or higher, you have to take in account that those machines are more desirable and there were fewer of them made. I mean historically speaking, You had roughly 24+manufacturers of MSX to start out with. When MSX2 was released, you had about 16. Then MSX started becoming less popular compared to other computers at the time, and while Nishi was doing his best to come out with an MSX3, the best they could release a new standard of was some slight improvements over the MSX2 Standard (such as with a better Video Chip that offered improved scrolling) and the MSX2+ standard was born. However, most manufacturers stopped making MSX at this time and there were only 4 manufacturers left that were making MSX2+ machines: Sony, Panasonic, Sanyo and Daewoo, and out of all these, only 9 MSX2+ machine models were released only in Japan/Korea. Then if you go above that, the only machine type left is what Nishi hoped would have been the MSX3 which was to have a new, more powerful processor called the R800, a better video chip and sound chip that would likely have taken the standard into the realm of 16-bit home computers (which were already coming out at the time), yet it didn't work out and he had to release what he had as the MSX Turbo R which pretty much is an MSX2+ with the extra R800 processor that could put some compatible games into Turbo mode when used and run as many Turbo R exclusive software titles that you could literally count on one hand. There was only one manufacturer that made the Turbo R, and that was Panasonic, and they made two models, the ST and the GT. So... history lesson aside, the point is that MSX2+ and Turbo R machines are generally rarer and more expensive. $200 would likely get you a nice MSX2 machine and probably not cover all of the shipping if you are buying it from a previous seller that is into MSX, but it is in the neighborhood and price range for a good MSX2 machine I think. If you go the Yahoo Auction route that I did and several others here have for other machines, you can likely get one considerably cheaper for the cost of the actual system, but then you have to factor in middle-man fees and international shipping and the general risk of "will the machine work once it arrives?" which is always a risk when dealing with Yahoo Auctions. Yahoo Auctions is where I got my MSX Turbo R GT and when everything was said and done, I think it cost me about $300 for everything including shipping from Japan. If I were to put a price tag of selling that with the MSX community, it would be closer to $600, maybe even $700 depending on the condition. I don't really do Yahoo Auctions anymore, but I have heard that prices in general for old retro machines have started to go up more over the years, so I'm not quite sure what kind of price they would be today. So if you really want to get an MSX2+, I'd first start out with searching for the models listed in the MSX2+ category in the link below and see what kind of prices you are seeing. I'd be happy to answer or give opinions on anything that you want to shoot over to me via PM as well. List of MSX Compatible Computers There are four other options as well to consider: 1. Though I've never done this process before, one option could be to get a nice MSX2 computer, have some fun with it and then later see if you can purchase a MSX2 to MSX2+ upgrade0 kit. They do exist and new ones are being released and worked on all the time. There's even one exciting project over at the MSX Resource Center called the MSX ARM which can even turn any MSX2+ into an MSX Turbo R... so... again all types and manners of projects exist for MSX. 2. You can look at the ads for sale or post a willing-to-buy post with your budget range at the MSX Resource Center's Trading and Collecting Forum. And I just noticed that Banjo Guy Ollie has an account there too now. Interesting... 3. There is one MSX hardware seller by the name Daniel who frequently posts in the forum I mentioned above and comes to the US on business often enough to make an announcement there each time he does. If he can bring your MSX that you would like to buy to the U.S. it will definitely save you on shipping costs since shipping from Europe and Japan is expensive. You can also email him and he'll get in touch with you. Here's the last posting he had before coming to the U.S. His prices are not too bad from the perspective that he is a reputable seller within the MSX community and will make sure that you get a working MSX in good condition. My friend who lives where I live bought the Panasonic MSX2+ called the A1WSX from Daniel for 250 Euros. Originally was my first choice in MSX hardware because... well, look at that... It's so sexy! It's like Darth Vader transformed into an MSX computer.4. You could wait until one of these other MSX projects finish such as the WORP3 or Technobyes MSX, or anything that this one Korean developer named MyGodess is making (Zemmix Neo / MiniIQ 3000) that are all new MSX machines based around the 1-Chip MSX that was released by Ascii / Nishi in 2006. They'll likely be under $250 - 300 when they are released and can usually play all MSX Rom carts and emulate MSX Disks via an SD Card. ---- As for your other questions, yes, you do want to be careful with voltage. I use one of these PowerBright VC-100J Step-Down Convertors to step down the voltage from 120 to 100 volts whenever I play my MSX or PC-98 machines. As for Video output, you'd have to look at the specific machine really. Some offer composite video/cinch connectors out, and some offer S-Video out. For a controller I use a Joy Card pad, but there are all types and they all use Atari style joystick connectors. There's even a few guides over at the MSX Resource Center that show how to take an existing Genesis controller and turn it into a MSX ready controller as well. MSX Games, especially some of the great ones can be extremely price jacked and expensive, even for Yahoo Japan. Fortunately, the MSX scene has a flash cart which is incredible that just about everyone actively in the MSX scene currently uses called the MegaFlashRom SCC+ , or the more recent version, MegaFlashRom SCC+ SD. That can be purchased at the MSX Cartridge ShopIt will basically flash any rom to a stored writable Flash Rom memory area that will remain on the cartridge until you give it a command to erase/reflash the cart and it will act as though you have the original cart inserted in the machine. The newer version actually uses an micro-SD card as a mini HDD and will allow you to boot straight into the NEXTOR operating system which in a nutshell is the evolution of MSX-Dos, which you would normally need to load either on disk or on a rom cart anyway in order to run anything outside of MSX BASIC. It's very useful since it take you right into a gui menu allowing you to see what is on your card and select what to flash next, or simply head straight into MSX Dos. You can even flash Disk games to Rom as well and even set them up so that you can switch disks virtually. I'm not sure if it's ready yet, but I think the guys working on Nextor were even creating a method of saving your game to a virtual userdisk on the SD card as well which would eliminate the need for a disk drive altogether, which used rubber belts and would need to be replaced by cutting your own or asking Repair Bas for a belt replacement. I'd link to his site, but at the moment it's down and we're trying to figure out what happened at MRC. -Thomas |
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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 16, 2015 2:58:13 GMT -5
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 16, 2015 9:54:06 GMT -5
I think for eBay, it's a great deal, especially since the shipping costs alone typically for a machine that size would be easily $50+ up to $70-$75 if they are being fair about the shipping. It's U.S. Based seller too, so less likely something bad will happen to it during transport. Machine-wise, it's quite great actually. I really like the Panasonic MSX2+ / Turbo R machine model/body overall. They are all very similar in that they were created late in the MSX's life. There is an interesting entry here that explains the main differences between the WX and WSX models. The main difference between them, is they removed the Tape port (Audio) port that you could play .wave file based cassette games/or CAS files converted to WAV format streamed from an audio playing device such as a CD-Player or even the iPhone on the WSX version to allow for an S-Video port. The same setup is with my Turbo R machine in that I have S-Video out / Along with RGB out, but absolutely no method of playing Tape / Wave based games, which can be fun to mess around with. Something I didn't know was that while the other MSX 2+ machines used the Z80A processor, these two machines used a upgraded Z80B processor which they say can go up to speed of 6 Mhz. The Turbo R's unique processor, the R800 ran at 7 Mhz, as a comparison. This MSX Machine also has an FM-Sound chip (a good one too) built directly into the machine. Without that, all you would get would be PSG sound. All of the later MSX2 / MSX2+ machines had a stock ram of 64 KB. You could upgrade that ram to be higher, such as 128 KB, or you could purchase an external RAM mapper to increase the overall System RAM higher than 64 KB. These went all the way up to 2048 KB, but depending on what you were doing on the MSX, I think the most you ever really could take full advantage of was 512KB. I think that Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake required 256 KB up to 512 KB for certain features. I would think that if you went with the MegaFlashRom SCC+ SD with the 512 KB upgrade external memory mapper built in, you can't go wrong with that and you'd be able to play pretty much any MSX game you ever wanted aside from like 5-6 Turbo R exclusive games. Regarding your European MSX 2+ question, I don't think there are any, and even if there were, you'd have to worry about the 50 Hz PAL video not being able to be displayed on a standard 60 Hz NTSC monitor. Japan is NTSC-J, so their machines would have absolutely no problem being used here, only you would want to step-down the voltage for them since they use 100v in Japan, and we use up to 120v in the states. Overall it seems like a pretty good deal. I also see that the seller has a Make Offer option, so you can always try bargaining a little more. Just keep in mind that if you do too low of an offer, he might reject it out right and not do other offers with you. I think say $200 would be far too low, but maybe $250 might be good and then he'll likely counter it with $295, but yeah you get the idea. : ) It's nice that it comes with a new FDD drive belt installed and that it is tested working, so you may not have to do that for awhile. He didn't say it came with a controller, so you'd still have to get one of those or make your own. The WX is a nice machine. I'd be interested in knowing which video cable he'll supply you with. It might be worth asking him if it can hook up to an American television via Composite / Red/White Audio / Yellow Video Cinch connectors. Even if it doesn't you can get a different cable or one can be made pretty easily. The pin outs are all over the internet for this, and there's even some MSX guys who make custom cables for whatever you need. It wouldn't be a deal breaker. -Thomas |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 16, 2015 10:59:11 GMT -5
<DOUBLE POST FISTBUMP!> (In case you missed this as an edit on the previous thread, since you said it was time sensitive). Oh yeah, you had asked me about how MSX-DOS works and the needed RAM. The way it works on an MSX, is that all MSX machines come with a native operating system of MSX-BASIC, which is "basic-ly" an "X-tended" version of the BASIC programming language in general. You can run some basic programs and such, but you'll find that a lot of MSX software for MSX1 used MSX-DOS, which was an "X-tended" version of Dos.  MSX-DOS could be run when the machine was turned on, or called from BASIC using a command such as 'Call System', but generally if you had a disk based game that required MSX-DOS, those files (There were two of them, MSXDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM) were packed in on the same bootable diskette, allowing it to boot in MSX-DOS and then launch the game. So 64 KB would run any MSX game that used MSX-DOS. However, when MSX-DOS2 was released it required 128 KB Ram to use, and most of the MSX2 / 2+ software utilizes MSX-DOS2. So in order to launch that software, you'd have to have a machine with enough RAM to run MSX-DOS2 and for the software that requires it. So again, if you got the MegaFlashRomSCC+ SD + 512 KB Ram Memory Mapper, you'd be set. I'll explain what SCC is in a later post if you don't know what that is. It's a music format exclusive to MSX and Konami. -Thomas |
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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 16, 2015 11:06:10 GMT -5
I definitely don't know, but I get the gist from your basic description there. That flash rom sounds like it'll be expensive all on its own, however! But possibly worth it. I have much to consider. I think it's all going to come down to whether or not I can find any takers for my copy of Rule of Rose anytime soon, since that cash might offset the cost of the system pretty well.  -Tom |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 16, 2015 11:15:38 GMT -5
Yeah, the MegaFlashRom SCC+ SD + 512 KM Memory Mapper + the one SD card slot built-in (which is all you need) will run you 139 Euro + 5% Paypal fee + shipping. It's not going to be cheap, but then all good Flash Carts typically aren't and this is one that does so much more than just load roms... I mean it flashes the rom so that it will stay there even when the MSX is powered off and works just like you had the original cartridge. It has a easy access mini-SD cart slot (which is roughly about 2 years old. We used to have to write to it using disk files and loading up MSX-DOS/MSX-DOS2 and running commands to transfer content over, now it's all on the fly and done with keyboard commands. It can also load and emulate Disk files, and has SCC-I sound built into it, and a Memory Mapper. You wouldn't get all of that out of an EverDrive FlashCart.
Manuel Pazos, the guy who makes this and runs the MSX Cartridge Shop is a pretty cool guy and can probably answer any questions you might have about how much the shipping would be before you order from him. I've ordered from him numerous times in the past.
-Thomas
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Post by leesmapman on Mar 17, 2015 11:15:44 GMT -5
It's always good to have an MSX computer at home :-)
It was my first computer and it's been a huge part of my youth. I remember putting Ys 1 in my drive and playing it, not understanding al the Japanese but it was just so addictive. My favorite versions of Ys 2 and 3 as well as Legend of Heroes are on this system. And then there's SD Snatcher, still one of my favorite games ever.
From my experience, having an MSX2 is really worth it and you're not missing out a lot with a 2+. Some better scrolling effects with Space Manbow or other horizontal scrolling games, but the MSX2+ exclusive games are generally not a big miss. Same goes for the MSX Turbo R, which has two great games: Fray and Illusion City. Fray is also available on MSX2 though.
I suggest the flashrom cartridge too, I think I'm going to get one myself too.
Oh, and if you're into making music: get Moonblaster. It's a great music program I worked on for a little bit (most, if not all, the work was done by my friend, I made the music).
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 17, 2015 14:30:08 GMT -5
Alright! Another Aloy MSX user. : )
Just wanted to mention that all of the Falcom titles you mentioned, Ys I, II, III, Legend of Heroes, as well as SD Snatcher / Snatcher, Fray in Magical Adventure, the entire Xak series (minus the third game), two Golvellius games + one Golvellius cooking spin-off, Super Cooks, and many others are all translated into English.
So you were a developer that worked on Moonblaster Leesmapman?
-Thomas
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Post by leesmapman on Mar 18, 2015 8:10:04 GMT -5
So you were a developer that worked on Moonblaster Leesmapman? Not a developer, but I was a member of Moonsoft. Remco did all the coding. I did the alpha and beta testing, making music, asking for additional functionality and wrote the manual. |
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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 22, 2015 14:39:19 GMT -5
Man, I'm still waffling on this. I'd made up my mind to use the money I would've spent on the MSX2+ to instead purchase a PS4, and was happy with that decision... until I started thinking about it, and realized that I honestly just DON'T WANT a PS4 right now. What I want is an MSX, dammit! I was about to finally pull the trigger, when I found that the Megaflashrom is apparently out of stock, and there won't be any more in for at least a couple of months. So I'd have to rely on cartridges for the time being. A couple games I want to play seem relatively cheap online, though -- Goonies and King Kong II in particular -- so I might still do it, and just buy a Megaflashrom somewhere down the line, enjoying a handful of cartridge games in the meantime. But before I go through with it, I wanted to check in again and see if you guys think I'd have any problems here. I'm not very tech savvy, but I should just be able to plug the cartridges in and play them without any trouble like I would on any other game system, right? And the only extras I'd need to invest in would be a controller and a step-up converter, both of which I've been able to find for decent prices as well. Any assistance you guys can provide would be appreciated! -Tom |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 22, 2015 17:25:45 GMT -5
I still need to finish King Kong 2. It's a nice early Konami game. I wasn't aware that the MegaFlashRom SCC+ SD was out of stock, but I guess it might take Manuel more time to create a new batch. Usually he'll indicate if something is out of stock on the actual order page and I didn't see them showing as "Sold Out" when I looked just now. Are you certain he's saying they are out of stock?
The cartridges will work fine on any MSX that they are designed for, so Goonies being an MSX 1 title will work on any MSX1. King Kong 2 being an MSX2 game will work on any MSX2, and of course the MSX2 will support MSX1 games as it is backwards compatible. You'll be getting an MSX2+, so you'll be able to play just about everything out there except for Turbo R games and including cassette tape games (or the cas files sent over to the MSX as a wave file using some other audio playing device). I'm not 100 percent certain about what is required for Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake though, but... I'm sure if you do play that, it'll be on a MegaFlashRom SCC+ SD cart anyway with an extra memory mapper since that game on eBay is extremely expensive.
And what you need is a Step-Down converter, not a Step-Up converter. You want to convert 120 volts US to 100 volts Japan.
Good luck if you decide to go for it.
-Thomas
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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 22, 2015 17:46:36 GMT -5
Er, yeah, I meant step-down. That was a typo. As for the Megaflashrom being out of stock, I heard about this second-hand from someone on HG101 who says he spoke with the guy directly, though I have no idea how old his info is, so it may actually still be in stock (or be back in stock, I suppose). Thanks very much for the info and all the help, though, both of you! I really appreciate it! -Tom |
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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 22, 2015 19:59:32 GMT -5
Wow. So... I got it. I decided to try putting in a $250 offer, and just see what would happen... and the seller accepted it outright. So I just got an MSX2+ for $250 with $11 shipping, which I think is a pretty damned good deal! I put in a fairly lowball best offer on a controller auction and a King Kong 2 auction as well, since both were from the same seller, and I guess because they could be grouped together and save him on shipping, he accepted both offers as well. ...So, here's hoping my buyer's remorse is minimal, I guess! -Tom |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 22, 2015 20:02:37 GMT -5
Sure, it's no problem. I'm happy to try and get new people into the MSX hobby. If you are not already used to MSX or didn't grow up with one, it can be pretty daunting to get into as a hobby so the more questions you ask the better. As for the MegaFlashRom SCC+SD take a look at the official site here. You'll see on the order page that you can even contact Manuel Pazos directly. I've emailed him before and he speaks fluent English and would be happy to answer your questions. I doubt he's out of stock, but I'd ask him directly and tell him that you are new to MSX, than you plan on getting an MSX2+ with 64KB Memory and what all would you need in order to use the MegaFlashRom SCC+SD. He has different types and as mentioned earlier he has some that offer multiple card slots (which you would likely never have a use for) and some that have additional memory (512 KB). You can ask him about the regular MegaFlashRom SCC+SD as well as I believe after looking at mine tonight pic the new ones that offer the SD card slot should have 64 KB RAM onboard as well, which should boost your total RAM to 128 KB which should allow you to use the card as long as you have 64 KB RAM to begin with. You can confirm that with Manuel though before ordering, or you can not take any chances and order his MFRSCC+SD 1 slot/512KB RAM package option. Edit: The 64 KB is FlashROM and will not expland the RAM memory of the MSX. I just asked Manuel Pazos about this today and he responded with: So to clarify, the best option again would be to go with the MFRSCC+SD 1 slot/512KB RAM option. I was messing around with a new addition to the Nextor OS (think of it as a evolution of MSX-Dos) that now offers Disk Emulation support allowing you to save data to say a userdisk virtually. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out soon enough, but in any case I snapped a picture of my current MSX setup with a few random games thrown in there within my arms reach. I got this cool Laptop charging stand from work that they were throwing out and so I use it as a type of pedestal for the MSX. It works really well for keeping the MSX off the carpet!  That game on the right there is a port of Jawbreaker II (and I) that my friend Maggoo developed that was put onto it's own cartridge and nice plastic casing. Eric from the MSX Scene started up a really nice MSX store called the Repro Factory MSX Shop and was able to make that all happen in a nice packaging for us. My friend got a cool silver / chrome exclusive developer's cartridge. We're working on a port / remix of Fix It Felix, Jr for MSX2+, so when it's finished, we'll probably have Eric print those for us on a nice cartridge / box. -Thomas |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 22, 2015 20:11:02 GMT -5
Wow. So... I got it. I decided to try putting in a $250 offer, and just see what would happen... and the seller accepted it outright. So I just got an MSX2+ for $250 with $11 shipping, which I think is a pretty damned good deal! I put in a fairly lowball best offer on a controller auction and a King Kong 2 auction as well, since both were from the same seller, and I guess because they could be grouped together and save him on shipping, he accepted both offers as well. ...So, here's hoping my buyer's remorse is minimal, I guess! -Tom Hey alright! That's not bad at all that he accepted it for $250! Congratulations Tom! Welcome to the club! : ) -Thomas |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 24, 2015 8:27:39 GMT -5
Hi Tom,
Manuel said you probably would have the best outcome with getting a MegaFlashRomSCC+ SD 1Slot with 512KB external RAM. The main reason is that it will be a way for you to increase your RAM memory on your MSX from 64 to 512 (128 KB total is required for the MFRSCC+SD to be able to run MSX-DOS2 and compatible games without an internal memory upgraded). And then you have the benefit of it all being part of the same cartridge leaving your 2nd cartridge slot open for something else. He is out of stock but will likely be able to produce more units in 5-6 weeks.
By the way, the evolution of MSX-DOS called Nextor received a massive update which allows for one of the coolest features I've always wanted for MSX: True Disk Emulation support.
Now it can allow you to not only tell which disks to emulate, but easily assign them sequential numbers, easy switch between them AND the ability to save back to the Userdisk and all within the MegaFlashRom environment. So take Xak 1 for example which has 3 disks + one optional userdisk for saving games. I can name them Xak1.fd1, Xak1.fd2, Xak1.fd3, Xak1.fd4 (where the fourth is the userdisk) and simply select that first disk "Xak1.fd1" inside the built in MSX-DOS based menu system called Multimente (Installed by default on the MFRSCC+SD) and it will load these disks up to be used virtually after resetting the MSX.
I then reset the MSX and it will load the games as though I had them inserted into the system via floppy disk. We could do this before to some regard but the issue of saving your data was a problem.
Now that has been resolved, you can easily switch to the Userdisk (or Disk 4 / Xak1.fd4) by hitting 4 and space on the keyboard, write to it virtually, and then go back easily to the game disk. Then, if you feel like playing something else, load it up, save your game there such as with SD Snatcher without a problem. Feel like going back to Xak? Well follow the same process of selecting the first Xak1.fd1 file and reset, the game will load up and your save from the userdisk is ready to be loaded.
-Thomas
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Post by Wyrdwad on Mar 24, 2015 11:37:10 GMT -5
That's the 139 euros one, right? That's the one I planned to get, and yeah, he told me 6 weeks when I asked him about it on Sunday. I appreciate you checking as well, though, and it's good to know it is indeed the right thing! Sounds pretty useful, too. -Tom |
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Post by schlagwerk on Mar 24, 2015 11:39:18 GMT -5
Wow. So... I got it. I decided to try putting in a $250 offer, and just see what would happen... and the seller accepted it outright. So I just got an MSX2+ for $250 with $11 shipping, which I think is a pretty damned good deal! I put in a fairly lowball best offer on a controller auction and a King Kong 2 auction as well, since both were from the same seller, and I guess because they could be grouped together and save him on shipping, he accepted both offers as well. ...So, here's hoping my buyer's remorse is minimal, I guess! -Tom I came back from a trip to see the original eBay listing post and saw it was purchased already. Glad to hear it was you, Tom, who bought it. The only thing that worried me about the listing is the lack of details. Most items on eBay are stupidly jacked up on the price. Either because of the perception of "rare == expensive" or because of buffering for the 15% you're gonna lose by selling things on eBay w/ PayPal. Then there are sellers who know the real price of an item or just want to recoop what they originally paid for it. Anyhow, hope the thing works as well as advertised because it sounds like you got a great deal on it. |
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Post by SkyeWelse on Mar 24, 2015 14:30:07 GMT -5
Wyrdwad - The MegaFlashRom SCC+ SD is completely worth it in my opinion, especially the model you are getting. It's so much more than a simple "flashcart". I'll explain a little more about what it offers. 1. FlashRom memory that is used for booting directly into MSX-DOS/2 with Nextor (the OS I was telling you about earlier) and filetree system called Multimente along with Recovery Options. Normally, on most MSX machines you would first need to load a MSX-DOS or MSX-DOS2 diskette first before gaining access to using MSX-DOS/2, or load a piece of software that has the MSX-DOS files on the startup disk, and called via an autoexec.bat after MSX-DOS is loaded. 2. Support for a micro-SD card to be used as a harddrive for the MSX, when the MSX was not really designed originally to be able to support a harddrive. This now takes precedence over the scene-only developed MSX cart IDE connectors which would then be connected to a IDE harddrive and usually had their fair share of problems. This is pre-configured so that the SD Card can be written to and read from in FAT (FAT 16) format, which windows computers can read. Most original MSX's could only read an older version of FAT, (FAT 12) which is not something you can view and mess around with on a modern windows machine. 3. The support for true Floppy Disk Emulation (Virtual) including loading multiple disk based games and saving to a userdisk virtually and writing back to the SD card. 4. Support for Konami games that utilize the unqiue onboard SCC and SCC+ soundchips that were put into several Konami games for MSX, via a SCC-I which sounds very close to the real SCC/SCC+ sound. 5. External Memory Mapper (in the case of models equipped with the 512 KB RAM expansion) which will boost your RAM amount so that you can run pretty much anything you like across the entire MSX2+, MSX2, MSX1 library. schlagwerk - You're absolutely correct in that typically MSX stuff on eBay is treated as rare gold and marked up very high. So it's nice that Tom was able to find a seller who was willing to see this likely close to his original costs and not for an astronomical amount. Are you also an MSX user by the way? -Thomas
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