Hi guys.

That's my first attempt to re-join (since i was a child) the msx comunity (hello people!)

I'm looking for a msx computer and the seller gives me the oportunity to choose
original msx floppy drive, or pc adapted floppy drive. are there any compatibility issues?

In addition i can choose an
nms8245 (cheaper) or an nms8250(only 10$ more expensive). According to the
seller the nms8250 is more likely to be modified with extras.

Whats your advice?
Thanks in advance,
Aiken

Hello Aiken,
I went back to msx (since was child like you ) in ~2001.
I first picked a sony msx1 hb75 in order to plug my old cartridges.
then i took cheaps philips 8235 , so I could modifiy them with extra without taking too much financial risk.( around 40 euros )
later i wanted to run newer features of sunrise like moonsound.
it was expensive and realized i was limited by memory.
I finally ended up with sony hb700 , because it has 256kb, and i trust better sony as a brand , but it is a personal point of view.

My advice : it worth to spend more on the main unit, consider extras ( msx2+ VDP , turbo 7MHz ... , ram at least 256kb ).

PS: no problem with pc adapted drive.

Hi Aiken and welcome to the MSX community

Having the original floppy drive in an MSX of course looks better On the other hand, the PC drive is probably less old and will thus probably stay alive a bit longer. The only compatibility issue regarding PC drives is when using 1.44MB disks: the PC drive will recognize these correctly as HD disk but the MSX can't handle that. Solution: tape off the hole in the disk that marks it as HD and use it as if it were a normal DD 720kB floppy.

For a price difference of only $10 I would definitely opt for the '50. I have one myself, and I love the separate keyboard and the (option to have a) 2nd disk drive. Furthermore, I think it is easier to mod/expand a '50 than a '45: the case is bigger and leaves more room for extras

On the other hand, I personally find the keyboard of the 8245 to be more sturdy and nicer to type on. But I guess that's a personal preference. Besides this, the 8245 is far more portable, so it's easier to take with you to fairs, club meetings and whatnot. Also, the 8245 is quite easily expandable, I've seen people have it expanded with the 7MHz upgrade, the MSX2+ video chip and more memory. The only downside, indeed, it lacks space for a 2nd disk drive.
For about all my life I've used either a 8250 or a 8255 (only difference: the '55 has a second disk drive built in from the factory). Nowadays I own an MSX turboR FS-A1ST (it doesn't really get any better than that ) and an NMS8280 underneath my TV set.

Either way, the NMS8250 would probably take up less desk space than the 8245, as you can put the monitor on top of the desktop case. Be sure to leave some space in between (either use the monitor stand or insert two 1cm x 1cm bars in between) so you are actually able to dissipate the heat.
I almost forgot, welcome here! And enjoy your stay

Quote:

Nowadays I own an MSX turboR FS-A1ST (it doesn't really get any better than that )

FS-A1GT has MIDI and more memory by default..

I knew you were going to say that... but hey "it doesn't really get any better than that". I am right. pah!

Hi! Thanks for the welcome!!

the 8245 model is always compact? i mean keyboard-integrated? i'm confused i saw some 8245 with separate keyboard. I read some 8250 has "8245" written in the front label. Could it be?


Aiken

8235/45 are compact
8250/55/80 are with separate keyboards

Haven't ever seen an exception on these rules..

btw, the 8245 has a diskdrive with a bad reputation.. if you can choose a 50/55/80 model: do so!

Skip all philips computers for a nice and affordable Panasonic A1WSX or A1WX (MSX2+ with built-in FM-PAC and soft-TURBO Z80). Rklok sells those for about 75 euros and they really rock!

dhau: they do! But then again, those computers only have 64kB of RAM, while 128kB is really the absolute minimum requirement for a lot of cool games and other software.

MSX2+ are nice , i remember while being kid I expect them to be available in europe ...
But a lot of software require ram >128kb >>> 64kb , and only a few run exclusively on 2+.
Due to the 110/220v power problem of japan import, I think it is better to get a msx2+upgrade
on a old msx2 like nms8250.
unless you are a kind of collectioner (i am a kind of ,my maximum msx count went up to 26x models !!!), it is not to be considered as first msx computer ...

hi everyone,

I've finally opted for the nms8250 with 1 msx original floppy drive.
Thanks for your advice.

In the future i think my first upgrade would be to add a pc-drive. Could i have the original msx drive and
the pc drive working at the same time? I mean if the pc-drive mod implies some modification so the old msx-drive could not work at the same time.

Anyway, now is time to wait for my new MSX coming ... I'll let you know when it arrives!!!
Thanks again!
Aiken

why would you want/need a second drive ?
Get a Compact flash inteface from sunrise!

you are right leo. How much is the ide interface? are they selling them regularly or it is a headache to found one?

Aiken

Send an email to sunrise, and ask for availability, pricing and shipping details!