MSX History Book | MSX Resource Center (Pagina 2/7)

incognito ergo sum (116)

18-05-2012, 17:21

As Maggoo says we should cross check data, collecting as much information as possible. I think every magazine, site, etc have little bit different history about the MSX...

Van Manuel

Ascended (19677)

18-05-2012, 17:58

From what I understood on MSX Den-Yu Land 2000, Mr. Yamashita (of ASCII?) was one of the hardware or spec designers at that time. Not sure if he is the professor you meant.

Van NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6091)

18-05-2012, 21:22

cklayman wrote:

I actually have a question about MSX history. The book I mentioned says that MSX originated when Nishi spoke to the Spectravideo people. Basically Nishi wanted a computer for the masses and Spectravideo already had a design. Then Nishi convinced some Japanese manufacturers to produce a computer following Spectravideo's specifications and the MSX standard was born. On the other hand www.msxpro.com claims that first prototype of an MSX computer was designed by some professor and even shows a photo of the prototype. Which story is correct? Could it be that both are right?

It might very well be that both are right. I think Spectravideo thought that they had a ready MSX way before MSX standard was even ready. Spectravideo advertized that their SVI-318 and SVI-328 computers are MSX compatible, but they got in to huge trouble when they realized that those machines are not actually MSX compatible at all. I think they tried to save their face by releasing SVI-606 game adapter, but that looked more like a bad joke.

(Just speculation, not confirmed history)

Van Maggoo

Paragon (1218)

19-05-2012, 04:01

This is exactly why a book providing an accurate view about the MSX History is needed. There are dozen of stories/rumors about the MSX (how exactly it came to be, the MSX 3, the V9990 development, how Microsoft got out of the project), but the real story coming from the source. I may be difficult to trace back the key people who played a role so many years later, but the longer we wait, the more difficult it will be...

Van SkyeWelse

Champion (471)

19-05-2012, 07:24

Just throwing this out there, but if such a book were to be made. I'd buy it for sure. I'm fascinated by the history of this system and would like to read it all via a nice compendium of information and photos. : 0

-Thomas

Van Maggoo

Paragon (1218)

06-06-2012, 16:17

cklayman wrote:

Which story is correct? Could it be that both are right?

It's not impossible that both versions are correct. One SVI website mentions that Nishi licensed the design of the SVI computer as a base for the MSX Architecture and that in return, SVI receive money which they needed at the time. Looking at the similarities, it would make sense that soneone at ASCII just did a prototype to include a few modifications to the original design and making it the MSX 1 standard but I guess only Nishi could confirm the real story...

Van snout

Ascended (15187)

06-06-2012, 16:50

If the Tilburg lecture of Nishi is anything to go by, both stories are probably correct indeed. The initial ideas for MSX were much closer to MSX2 (and more distant from SVI) than the MSX1 we eventually got.

Van Maggoo

Paragon (1218)

18-06-2012, 19:31

Funny find while looking for information, the original US patent for what became the V9938 is available online, it got Nish's name on it :-)

http://www.google.com/patents?id=Kpw4AAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstr...

Van NYYRIKKI

Enlighted (6091)

18-06-2012, 22:22

Maggoo wrote:

Funny find while looking for information, the original US patent for what became the V9938 is available online, it got Nish's name on it :-)

Hmm... Very interesting paper... BTW did you notice that they mention 640x200 resolution

Van Metalion

Paragon (1628)

19-06-2012, 11:09

cklayman wrote:

I actually have a question about MSX history. The book I mentioned says that MSX originated when Nishi spoke to the Spectravideo people. Basically Nishi wanted a computer for the masses and Spectravideo already had a design. Then Nishi convinced some Japanese manufacturers to produce a computer following Spectravideo's specifications and the MSX standard was born. On the other hand www.msxpro.com claims that first prototype of an MSX computer was designed by some professor and even shows a photo of the prototype. Which story is correct? Could it be that both are right?

Personally, I think that the Spectravideo history is the right one. Because at the time, Nishi was head of ASCII, which participated in the development of the Spectravideo computers, AND he was also the representative of Microsoft in Japan.

Furthermore, the Spectravideo computers were officially presented at the winter CES in Las Vegas in January 1983, a full six months before the official introduction of the MSX standard. It means that they had at least a six months head start on the MSX development. With so much in common between the two machines, Spectravideo being the "oldest" one, it is a logical conclusion that it was indeed the inspiration for the MSX standard.