[HN Gopher] Msxbook OneChipMSX MSX2 Computer
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Msxbook OneChipMSX MSX2 Computer
Author : rbanffy
Score : 63 points
Date : 2025-02-15 00:08 UTC (22 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.tindie.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.tindie.com)
| jsheard wrote:
| I thought this concept looked familiar and indeed it's by the
| same company which makes those portable 386 and 8086 machines.
| LGR covered them a while ago: https://youtu.be/6bODiZ5bP84
| teruakohatu wrote:
| With the thickness it is, it is a pity they didn't just use 18650
| cells for the battery which could be user-replaceable when they
| start to die.
| numpad0 wrote:
| You can replace pouch cells like-for-like, IIUC, the only real
| parameter is charging current... just don't tell your fire
| insurance that I told you so(or that you buy 18650 online,
| either)
| tombert wrote:
| Genuine question: is this actually useful without a cartridge
| slot?
|
| I thought that the MSX kind of depended on cartridges.
| mikepavone wrote:
| > is this actually useful without a cartridge slot?
|
| It has 2 of them actually. One standard one on the back and an
| internal one that I think doesn't use the standard connector
| that is intended for hardware expansion. Despite what the
| product page says, the internal slot is mapped to slot 2 and
| not slot 1 in the MSX mapping system, so it doesn't conflict
| with the external cartridge slot.
|
| That said, most computers of this era including the MSX had a
| fair bit of software released on cassette tape as well. There
| were also disk drives and software released on disk as well.
|
| Looking at some of the more famous games for the system: Metal
| Gear was released on cartridge, but Snatcher was released on
| floppy disk with an expansion cartridge that contained extra
| RAM and a sound chip. It seems this system has support for that
| expansion builtin though.
| f1shy wrote:
| It has slots. But anyway you do bot need slots at all. MSX was
| mostly tapes at that time. I'm sure there is either a
| simulator, or you can generate the sound from binary files.
| rbanffy wrote:
| All MSX games I had came in cartridges. Only the erm...
| "alternative" ones came in tapes. Or floppies later.
|
| Most MSX2 machines had built-in floppies and the software
| made for them tended to depend on them.
| nhggfu wrote:
| mmm. nostalgia. my first ever computer. "sky jaguar" and "chuckie
| egg" - what an amazing time to be alive
| christkv wrote:
| Wonder if it can run https://www.symbos.org/
| robinsonb5 wrote:
| It should be able to - this is running the OneChipMSX FPGA
| core, and I've had SymbOS running on the MiST port of that core
| in the past.
| rbanffy wrote:
| Unless the FPGA is smaller than the 1ChipMSX, it could load
| the uMSX and go up to MSX2+. Certainly enough for a SymbOS
| environment.
|
| I'm curious, however, how it manages disks. MSX-DOS didn't
| have support for subdirectories, so I'm assuming a lot of
| different hard disk and floppy images would end up being
| visible.
|
| My MP/M emulated Altair Docker image has 8 1MB floppies and 2
| 5MB hard disks. And, of course, no subdirectories (unless you
| count USER areas).
| penganz wrote:
| yes, I just tried SymbOS 4.0 today:
| https://x.com/pengan/status/1890829089524642215
| XorNot wrote:
| This looks delightful. Is it possible to get it to boot to BASIC?
|
| I really want to get my son something which looks like daddy's
| laptop but recreates some of the early joys of that level of
| computing.
| f1shy wrote:
| If it is msx it boots to basic. By definition.
| reidrac wrote:
| You need to provide the firmware, because they aren't free to
| distribute. There's an open source one, but it doesn't boot
| to BASIC and can only be used to run cartridges.
|
| And it is because is not an MSX, it emulates one with an
| FPGA.
| f1shy wrote:
| Thats a boomer. So no real MSX, but sorta kinda MSX
| inspired...
| anonzzzies wrote:
| You can find all roms easily though and then indeed boot
| into basic.
| rbanffy wrote:
| Unless it boots from a floppy image - then it goes into MSX-
| DOS.
|
| I think. It's been a very long time.
| f1shy wrote:
| My question is: why we have to be stuck in nostalgia?
|
| Why isn't there today a computer with modern processors and GPU
| which can boot to a REPL, where you can easily interface with all
| the HW, for example audio and video?
|
| I wanted to do something like that for the RP400. But is more
| difficult that it seems...
| richie_adler wrote:
| People enjoy dealing with simpler software and hardware as a
| hobby. Why does it bother you so much?
| numpad0 wrote:
| Because software complexity is truly out of control. Everything
| needs their own firmware and software and periodic housekeeping
| tasks to prevent the system crashing. No one knows or has
| enough time to account for all of those problems, let alone
| just to build an interpreter environment.
|
| I think Apple and Google both using their phone OS for
| smartwatches is one indication of lack of such capacity in the
| industry: Apple Watches come with ~300mAh batteries, old Nokia
| had 500-700mAh. Watches are rated for 36 hours in normal modes
| or 72 hours in low-power, whereas Nokia would ran for minimum 1
| week, despite ~15 years of improvements in semiconductors.
|
| We'd have to wait for maybe GPT-8y or DeepSeek-R4, probably on
| wheels, each given a cubicle to get it back down to human
| scale.
| anonzzzies wrote:
| I can program this thing fully without access to internet. You
| can understand 100% of the hardware down to transistor level.
| Modern stuff doesn't have that.
| crest wrote:
| Modern hardware is too complex to understand and bootstrap for
| a single person even more so as a hobby project. These known
| unknowns can be a powerful motivation for someone who
| (partially) understands modern hardware to tinker with
| understandable systems. Some go down the retro route while
| others use medium to largish microcontrollers.
| j-wang wrote:
| I miss the entire Maker Movement moment. It isn't actually
| super complex to make a simple circuit board that does some
| basic things for you.
|
| It's cheaper to just outsource making the board, but I even
| made my own simple boards (etched using hobbyist CNC
| machines). I even used a bunch of surface mount parts with
| them.
| K0balt wrote:
| We don't have to be. It's just that people like the nostalgia
| aspect and it gives a de-facto standard with some degree of
| preexisting hardware to coalesce around.
|
| To have a complete grasp of the software stack, complexity has
| to be controlled, of course... so the typical offerings are 32
| bit architectures with a few MB of memory and an SD card for
| storage, and if a "GPU" is included it's usually just another
| MCU or core acting as the graphics processor.
|
| There are a lot of good cyberdeck options built around the
| ESP32 and RP2040, for example. While some of these are used
| primarily as emulators, others run arbitrary code or projects
| like meshtastic.
|
| I would love to see, though, a simple OS that actually provides
| a shell and multitasking ability that is designed to run on
| these platforms, idk if anything like that exists.
|
| It would be super cool to have a python REPL, a text editor,
| file browser, gopher client, MUD client, things like that
| running with alt-t to switch context or something like that.
| reidrac wrote:
| I find frustrating that this type of product (like the MSX VR
| some years ago), don't specify clearly what are they selling. Is
| it an ARM SoC? Does it have a Z80? Is it implemented with a FPGA?
|
| Yes, it says "OneChipMSX" https://www.msx.org/wiki/1chipMS but
| IMHO it could be clearer.
|
| If you go to http://www.8086cpu.com/MSX/103.html there's more
| information, but it definitely puts me off when considering one
| of these devices.
| anonzzzies wrote:
| MSX peeps know what onechipmsx is and who would buy this if not
| a fan of that ancient machine?
| reidrac wrote:
| It seems based on OneChipMSX, that is from 2006. Just with
| that I wouldn't really know what I'm buying.
| rbanffy wrote:
| I'd assume it's an FPGA, as per
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1chipMSX
|
| Unless the FPGA is very limited, at least MSX2+
| compatibility should be available. I would not be surprised
| if it could do Turbo R as well.
|
| BTW, I wonder if there are easily available notebook shells
| for sensible prices that could fit a small ARM board and a
| reasonable screen. An RPi 5 or some of its competitors can
| power a lot of interesting emulators, not only for games,
| but for historical research and preservation.
| anonzzzies wrote:
| I have indeed been looking at that and there are nice 3d
| printable ones and, which is easier but less
| customizable, very cheap old laptops.
| mouse_ wrote:
| Don't sneeze near that keyboard or some keycaps might fly off...
|
| I really wish these niche retro laptops fit an old Thinkpad
| keyboard or something. Even an old Inspiron keyboard or something
| similar would do.
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