On Thu, 29 Nov 2001, Richard Kilpatrick wrote: > I'm everywhere ;) But I have to admit it's a recent development, I > missed my old CX5M but now I've spent a /lot/ on two CX5MII/128 models, > I've started to use it properly!
Do you have the SFG-05 FM Synthesizer II with either of those? If so, could you confirm that the FM chip inside the cartridge is a YM2164 and not a YM2151? See: http://student.cusu.cam.ac.uk/~rga24/computer/music/index.html > Sooo... there's not actually a space on the CX7 MB for the chip, then? I > have the technical manual, but didn't see anything regarding the clock > (as it's not installed in CX5M models), merely a reference to the > battery cover which is on the base of the machine. Battery cover? There's a space for a small ROM cartridge, but I've not noticed a battery compartment. I'll have another look tonight. As regards the CX7, I've never seen one. There are MSX2 machines using the S3527 and a seperate RP5C01 RTC - for example the Philips NMS8245. I had a look at the service manual for that computer and noticed a dedicated gate array, with some lines for the RTC: http://www.msxhans.msx2.com/pdfshw/nms8245sm.pdf > So presumably the CX7 would have a later MSX-ENGINE and the battery pack > in the base? At a guess. Yamaha developed most of the MSX-specific chips, so I'd imagine they'd use their own MSX-ENGINE for MSX2s in their MSX2. This is all complete speculation, of course. > So all I need to do is upgrade my VRAM board? I've got the directions > from that from Hans' site, but my soldering is decidedly strange! If I recall correctly, the V9938 can take 41416 DRAMs (unlike the TMS9918 in the CX5M, which had to use 8 4116 DRAMs). If so, then upgrading is simply a matter of desoldering the old chips, putting in four 41464s in piggy-back fashion and messing a bit with address multiplexors and the CAS signals. > Okay, that I was unsure about. I thought the CX7 had The Painter built > in to the ROMs, or would start up with 'Yamaha' or something similar. I > know it makes little difference! Decide if you want an MSX2 CX5MII or more of the specifics of the CX7, whatever they are. > I use the RCA outs from the SFG, so that's not really an issue. Having > said that MSX2 isn't of great importance anyway, just curiosity value to > me - all I really want is to get one of my CX5MII/128s equipped with a > disk drive! I could always get a cheap MSX2 off eBay - I think I saw a > slightly damaged Philips NMS8250 go for £20-30 recently. Lack of disk drive is my perennial problem too. There's a number of wacky music ports I'd like to do, if I only had a decent development environment! > A separate keyboard is useful just because of the layout of my studio... > however, Yamaha YIS-805s aren't exactly common :( (and I don't know if > they have space for the SFG. If they did I'd pay good money for one). I don't know the particular machine you cite. Richard -- For info, see http://www.stack.nl/~wynke/MSX/listinfo.html
