Yamaha CX5 and Philips NMS8280

Supporter (7)

08-07-2008, 18:13

Hi to all MSX freaks
I buyed those MSX machines in eBay, mainly coz I think they fit better to my needs as modern overpowered systems. Altough I have some problems to find several informations and good programs.
For the Philips I'd like to find 'Office' programs, like Wordprocessing, Spreadsheet, Database and Paint/Draw software. (Not cp/m WordStar, Multiplan and dBaseII).
Also some nice c- or pascal compiler for MSX-DOS would be nice. Anybody know where i can find such stuff??

For the Yamaha I have some problems: first it is a spanish machine, which ist not so big problem, but i have no manuals @ all, neither for the computer, nor for the keyboard and the midi part as well as for the FM Composer cartridge. I'd apreciate any availlable info.
My first test with FM Composer looks like that babe can't play polyphon. I also don't know if this computer uses extra FM-Chip, or does it use only the build in AY?? What for is the additional module named 'FM voices' which is inserted under the computer keyboard??

Also additional question for the NMS8280:
As far as I found out, it seems this computer can be upgraded up to 4MB ram. Is this internaly, or do I need some cartridge??

Many thanx in advance
Fusin
8bit rulez

By Manuel

Ascended (19677)

08-07-2008, 23:59

1) Office programs: look for "Home Office", "Ease", "Dynamic Publisher". But they are not good compared to modern standards. Paint: "DD-Graph/AGE", "GraphSaurus 2", and many more.
2) There is a free version of Turbo Pascal 3 available on retro8bits.com, I think. And there is Hi-Tech C for CP/M.
3) Google for CX5M and you'll find some useful info, I'm sure
4) FM Composer is for the FM synth, which is 8 voice polyphonic. But maybe the mode was set to 'single voice' or something?
5) FM Voicing Program II is another program. Try CALL FMV in basic to access it.
6) The 8280 can be expanded internally but also with a cartridge. Question is what the use of it is. Most software only uses 128kB, some 256kB and a few 512kB. A handful more.

By Fusin

Supporter (7)

12-07-2008, 00:26

Thanx for the answer, I'll Google for the mentioned programs.
Hopefully I will be able to use this Yamaha Babe for my music (polyphonic)
As for the 8280 expantion: I plan to use mainly the SymbOS OS, and I know it handles 1MB. That's why I asked, of course sooner or later i'll need also a hard disk (afaik 32MB are suported by MSX-DOS) and a serial card or the like. Oh,yes about serial: does MSX use the 2 8bit ports from the AY chip, like Atari did in their ST? (one for serial/midi and one for centronics). If so, why did they not include by default at least 1 serial port?
Best Regards
Fusin

By Geniclé

Supporter (14)

12-07-2008, 22:16

Hi Fusin,
If you dare to hand the soldering gun yourself, try this: http://www.hansoranje.demon.nl/downloads/4mbnms8280.pdf
(leave the /downloads... for more info)

I came across this when I was wondering how much my NMS8280 was worth :)

By Fusin

Supporter (7)

13-07-2008, 14:10

Hi Geniclé,
already seen that one, but I'm not sure if my skills are good enough to do it. And I surely dont wanna kill the NMS :-D

By mohai

Paragon (1031)

07-08-2008, 16:06

Hi Fusin,
you can of course buy a ready-made ram cart (maybe from Padial or a second hand one).

The extra 8 bit ports in AY chip are used to manage joysticks. By default, there is no serial port in the MSX, but instead, some bidireccional signals are added to the joystick ports, to manage mice, paddles, etc. (and, of course, joynet).