MSX hardware
MSX ICs
- i8255 description, the PPI in every MSX
- 82C55A
- MSX-2 clockchip RP5C01
- MSX engine S3527 japanese, english(all Philips MSX 2, Sony) see also Sony service manuals
- MSX Engine S1985 (Sony) see also Sony service manuals
- S1985 MSX System II , Application Manual
- TMS9918 MSX-1 VDP
- VDP Programmers Guide Texas Instruments
- Texas Instruments TMS9918 manual
- See also the Technical Summary Yamaha computers: for a good description of TMS9929A (PAL) and TMS9918 (NTSC)
- See also the documents from Karl Guttag on the TMS9918 design.
- V9938 MSX-2 VDP
- MSX-2 VDP specs
- MSX-2 VDP specs (DUTCH)
- MSX 2+ schermen: dutch article about V9958 by Alex Wulms
- 2793 Floppy drive controller (many MSX-2s)
- Datasheet FDC controller 1793 as found in e.g. Spectravideo
- Datasheet FDC controller MB8877A (plugin replacement with faster logic for 1793) as found in many japanese MSX computers (e.g. National)
- TC8566AF – disk controller used in Panasonic MSX computers, including MSX turbo R (Sean Young)
- YM2413 OPL1 OPL1. (FM-PAC)
- YM2413 OPL1 (FM-PAC) application note
- FM-PAC programming
- FM-PAC more information on programming
- Dutch userguide of Panasonic FM-PAC
- AY-3 8910 psg music chip
- AY8950 MSX Audio music chip
- SCC(+) chips, on the msxnet site maintained by Sean Young
- Build a switch in a Konami SCC cartridge to use it as a music cartridge or as the original game
- MegaROM mappers, SCC mappers, MSX-DOS 2 mapper by Sean Young
- AY-3-8910 , AY-3-8912 , AY-3-8913 (PSG)
- V9990 (E-VDP-III , Application Manual) (Sunrise Graphics9000)
- YAC513 (2-Channel Floating D/A Converter) (Sunrise Moonsound)
- YMF278B (OPL 4 , Application Manual) (Sunrise Moonsound)
- YMF278B (OPL4 , FM + Wave table Synthesizer LSI ) (Sunrise Moonsound)
- SCC (Konami’s soundchip) documentation (DUTCH)
- Datasheet of the Fujitsu MB89352 the SCSI controller of MegaSCSI
To see how these ICs are used in MSX see the following I/O port usage documents:
- The io poort document by Compjoetania
- See also the MSXPro page for IC datasheets like the T7937A engine in many MSX2+ computers
Z80
- Z80 (Z88400)
- Z800 (Dutch/English)
- More Z800 specs
- Even more Z800 specs
- About the Z80H
- Lance Levental on the Z80 assembly language programming part 1
- Lance Levental on the Z80 assembly language programming part 2
- Lance Levental on the Z80 assembly language programming part 3
Sound ICs
- FM-PAC Panacart description
- FM-PAC user guide
- FM-PAC programming
- FM-PAC more information on programming
- The General Instruments AY-3-8910 Programmable Sound Generator is part of every MSX computer, either as a separate IC (40 pin DIL) or as builtin part part of a MSX engine IC version. The YM2149 is a Yamaha clone of the GI IC.
- AY-3-8910 datasheet
- YM2149 datasheet
- The Yamaha YM2151 OPM (FM-Operator Type M) is used in the Yamaha SFG-01 FM Sound Synthesizer Unit for MSX computers.
- The Yamaha Y8950 MSX-AUDIO is used in the MSX Audio and in the Music Module.
- The YM2413 OPLL (FM-Operator Type LL) is the heart of the FM-PAC, many MSX2+ and the turboR.
MSX Connectors
The MSX faq has a very good overview of the (non-standard) connector description on MSX
The Books and Magazines and the Manuals will lead to even more hardware related infomation.
Various MSX technical documentation files
- RS232C Extended BIOS Call specification
- MSX RS232C interface hardware specification
- All MSX basic tokens
- BDOS routines + addresses
- Programming of clockchip (DUTCH)
- MSX-DOS 2 users manual
- CRC routines for 8080/Z80
- Diskrom routines + addresses
- The MSX disk structures, from Albert Siersema
- MSX-dos 2.xx technical documentation
- All diskrom variabeles (DUTCH) Version 1.0
- All diskrom variabeles (DUTCH) Version 1.1
- Disk I/O fouten afvangen onder MSX DOS 1 (DUTCH)
- MSX-DOS 2 users manual (DUTCH)
- MSX-DOS 2 variables/entries
- Unofficial Z80-instructions (DUTCH)
- Unofficial Z80-instructions (english)
- The FCB-structure: layout + short description
- Programming the FM-PAC/MSX-MUSIC (DUTCH)
- Programming the FM-PAC/MSX-MUSIC (DUTCH)
- MSX-DOS Version 2 technical specifications (BDOS functions)
- Hitachi HD64180, Summary of Features , Revision 2
- Hoe MSX-DOS op harde schijf weer te herstellen (DUTCH)
- The use of hooks
- Summary of all used I/O ports (DUTCH)
- Key-matrix table
- Very short MEMMAN specification
- Music module (NMS 1205) registers (DUTCH)
- MemMan MSX-2 memory manager introduction (DUTCH)
- MemMan MSX-2 memory manager specification (DUTCH)
- Music Module programming (DUTCH)
- MathPack: BIOS math routines (DUTCH)
- MSX-1 BIOS calls (DUTCH)
- MSX-2 BIOS calls (DUTCH)
- MSX-2 BIOS calls and variables (DUTCH)
- MSXDOS 2.33 specs (DUTCH)
- How to program/read the MSX mouse (DUTCH)
- Music Module programming (DUTCH)
- What are partitions (DUTCH)
- portar: various MSX technical documentation
- MSX-DOS2 programming documentation
- PSG programming documentation (AY-3-8910) (DUTCH)
- R800 specifictations (DUTCH)
- SCART pin assignments (DUTCH)
- About SCREEN 10-12 (MSX2+) video modes
- Screen 12 colors
- SCSI BIOS routines
- BIOS system variables
- turbo R docs
- Message about turbo R
MSX Datapack documents
- MSX Datapack document part 1
- MSX Datapack document part 2
- MSX Datapack document part 3
- MSX Datapack disks
