Is it possible to check if an MSX computer has a VDP V9958 and the correct MSX2+ BIOS chips ?

- I think V9958 is simple, just go to screen 12 or so ?
- And for the BIOS chips, the basic version could tell me ?

Anyway, are my methods here good methods to check MSX2+ compatibility ?
If not, can anybody tell me how I could check without opening up the computer ?
(I prefer basic routines, I never did any ASM before)

Thanks.
K.

Pure MSX1 BASIC can not detect VDP for sure, but other configurations are easy to detect. This should do the trick:

10 ON ERROR GOTO 30
20 GOTO 40
30 RESUME NEXT
40 A=(VDP(-1)AND62)2+1
50 ON ERROR GOTO 0
60 FOR I=0 TO 3:READ B$(I),V$(I):NEXT I
70 PRINTB$(PEEK(&H2D));" BIOS installed with ";V$(A);" VDP"
80 DATA MSX1,at least TMS9918/TMS9929,MSX2,V9938,MSX2+,V9948,MSX tR,V9958

~NYYRIKKI

Quote:

- I think V9958 is simple, just go to screen 12 or so ?

This is bad idea, as if you have V9938 and MSX2+ BIOS you end up to SCREEN 8 but there is no error generated as BIOS does not check VDP version.

Quote:

- And for the BIOS chips, the basic version could tell me ?

It is better to check MSX version from BIOS as there are more MSX BASIC versions as there is MSX versions.

~NYYRIKKI

Quote:

Pure MSX1 BASIC can not detect VDP for sure, but other configurations are easy to detect. This should do the trick: 10 ON ERROR GOTO 30 20 GOTO 40 30 RESUME NEXT 40 A=(VDP(-1)AND62)2+1 50 ON ERROR GOTO 0 60 FOR I=0 TO 3:READ B$(I),V$(I):NEXT I 70 PRINTB$(PEEK(&H2D));" BIOS installed with ";V$(A);" VDP" 80 DATA MSX1,at least TMS9918/TMS9929,MSX2,V9938,MSX2+,V9948,MSX tR,V9958 ~NYYRIKKI

Thank you very much. I will try it

Greetings.
Kris

I'm no basic expert, but is the code provided here able to detect a V9958 with a MSX2 computer ?

Thank you.
K.

Yes it is... BTW here is a litte bit shorter version:

10 IF PEEK(&H2D)>0 then A=(VDP(-1)AND62)2+1
20 FOR I=0 TO 3:READ B$(I),V$(I):NEXT I
30 PRINTB$(PEEK(&H2D));" BIOS installed with ";V$(A);" VDP"
40 DATA MSX1,at least TMS9918/TMS9929,MSX2,V9938,MSX2+,V9948,MSX tR,V9958

~NYYRIKKI

Thanks again.
I haven't had the time to test it yet, but I will do so later today.

Greetings.

NYYRIKKI, either I read your program wrong, or you seem to say V9948 exists in MSX2+'s? In actuality, V9958 was used in both MSX2+ and MSXturboR.

V9948 was a chip especially designed for the Korean MSX market, the one with the illustrious SCREEN 9. Exactly what's different in regards to the V9938, I don't know, but some people have the technical datasheet. It wouldn't surprise me if just the Kanji-ROM connection was changed to a Korean-ROM or something like that.

You read my program wrong.

I've heard about V9948 used in Korean MSX, but I'm not sure about that. If I'm correct, SCREEN 9 is a special version of SCREEN 0 where two characters are in top of each other forming double height korean characters. This way you get 80 *12 character display.

See the following page : http://web.inter.nl.net/users/A.P.Wulms/Mccm/mccm72/nofrschermen_eng.html

At the end of this page , you can read this :

"Screen 9 is indeed used on a Korean MSX model, to implement the hangul character set. This machine uses the V9948 VDP, from which Ademir Carchano has the complete databook.

Note: this also explains the gap between the V9938, used for MSX 2, and the V9958, used for MSX 2+. And it explains why the version number in the V9958 is 00010b in stead of 0001b. "

Quote:

You read my program wrong.

Seems I did ^^;

Anyway, this gives a syntax error:
10 IF PEEK(&H2D)>0 then A=(VDP(-1)AND62)2+1

It should be:
10 IF PEEK(&H2D)>0 then A=(VDP(-1)AND62)/2+1

Quote:

It should be: 10 IF PEEK(&H2D)>0 then A=(VDP(-1)AND62)/2+1

There should have been backslash (or yen in japanese computers) that is integer divide in BASIC, but this forum does not like all characters. Anyway normal divide works just fine...

snout, fix the forum, damnit!

Ok, I ran the code on my NMS-8250.
Result= MSX2 with at least TMS9918/9928

Shouldn't it say V9938 for MSX2 ?

Greetings.
K.

Oops, my bad, I made a typing error
It works fine, thank you very much.

But about that V9948, is it possible to include that in the test ?
Or is it included ?

Could someone also explain to me line by line what this code example actually does and how it does it

Thank you very much.
K.