On Tue, 04 Jul 2000, Rieks W. Torringa wrote:
> >"straight" is actually Frontline -> Ikeda -> Rieks -> mailinglist
>
> In other words, straight. Besides, as you might still remember, the
> Japanese came to the Tilburg-fair. Sander met them there and they told
> something about this new MSX project back then. And about Frontline>
> Mailinglist etc., if it's an article that is translated, there is
> completely no loss of information.
There is always some loss of information, an exact 1-on-1 translation is
impossible between natural languages. You wrote yourself that the Japanese
version was "quite unclear".
The most important step is Frontline -> Ikeda, this is a real
transformation of information. But, since Ikeda seems quite close to
Frontline, information loss may not be severe.
> >Besides, is a rumour more reliable if it comes from Japan?
>
> Please try to understand that things like this can't be simply done away
> as 'rumours'. Like I wrote in what you could almost call an essay before,
> it's somewhat insulting towards the Japanese.
I was repeating Sander's words:
"This is the first new-MSX-rumour I heard that came straight from Japan,
and ASCII is involved! Again: The Japanese are very serious."
In my own text, I used the word "announcement", which I believe is correct.
> >As for ASCII's involvement: Frontline has contacts with Kay Nishi. He is
> >surely a very influential man, but it's not the same as the entire ASCII
> >corporation backing this project. Note that it's Frontline making the
> >announcements, not ASCII.
>
> Was it? Have you been to Japan? Have you read MSX Magazine (which is,
> after all, a publication of ASCII)?
I haven't read MSX Magazine. Is there an announcement from ASCII in it?
What is strange in my view, is that although there is much activity
(announcements, ASCII-sponored MSX fair, MSX Magazine), there is still a
lot of uncertainty about the part of the project that is most important:
the machine itself.
The availability of the VDP (clone) is still uncertain and it will be for
some time: making V9958 in a DSP is not an easy job. Creating the
specification is probably the largest part of the work: when writing code
for an MSX emulator, finding out exactly how a real MSX does it often takes
more time than implementing it.
And there must also be a manufacturer that is willing to produce MSX
machines. That company must be willing invest in an assembly line. I don't
think ASCII will pay for everything, after all, they are a publishing
company, not a computer manufacturer.
Also, it's not clear what is exactly the goal of this project. Maybe this
information is available only in Japanese, if so, please tell me.
For example, Leonardo Padial's Z380 is intended to use as much of the
Z380's features as possible. But to make that possible, only new programs
can take advantage of the Z380, old programs don't run any faster.
In contrast, the Z180 project of Ademir Carchano focuses on making existing
programs run as fast as possible. That's why he chose Z180 instead of Z380.
So I would be interested to know what is the main goal of the
Frontline/ASCII project. Will it be new features, compatibility, low price
or something else?
And what is the intended audience? I don't think the existing MSX public
will buy enough machines on its own (unless the new machine would be far
superior to the turbo R). Do they aim at children who want to learn how to
program? Do they aim at gamers who prefer 80's games to today's 3D stuff?
Do they aim at hardware enthousiasts, who want to connect their home-made
devices to their computer?
These are important issues, which will influence both the design and the
chances of finding a manufacturer.
Bye,
Maarten
****
MSX Mailinglist. To unsubscribe, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
and put "unsubscribe msx [EMAIL PROTECTED]" (without the quotes) in
the body (not the subject) of the message.
Problems? contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
More information on MSX can be found in the following places:
The MSX faq: http://www.faq.msxnet.org/
The MSX newsgroup: comp.sys.msx
The MSX IRC channel: #MSX on Undernet
****
