I don't know about you guys but I am a big fan of the MSXVR. It is a solidly build machine with an injection moulded case and mechanical keys in a retro wedge-shaped design.
But can you run OpenMSX on it? Can you create your own software for it using modern tools and programming languages? Can you run a modern GUI on it and integrate all things MSX with it? Now you can!
After a lot of research I was able to tap into the special MSXVR hardware and create an hardware abstraction layer or API for it. This API I then used to create a command-line-interface that can interact with the cartridges, joysticks, leds, switches, power relais, etc. For example dumping a ROM from a cartridge from the command-line is now a piece of cake. Or create a simple shell script that plays a melody on the SCC or FMPAC.
And last, but not least, I am creating a special build of OpenMSX that runs on the VR as well. This allows us to emulate what we want to emulate and do the rest on real hardware. A kind of hybrid emulator. The machine-config.xml, menu and console allow you to switch this at runtime.
For now, I am first sharing a video of the VR in action. In a future post I will explain a little bit more about the library, the CLI and the OpenMSX build. All of this, plus a story how I reverse-engineered the hardware, will be on my Github soon.
What would you do with this library?
My wishlist looks like this:
- Get the cartridge sound working.
- Investigate some timing issues around I/O.
- Finish the OpenMSX integration with real joystick and cassette support.
- Create a Python wrapper for the CLI.
- Run a Pyxel or PICO-8 game from a cartridge.
We would be glad to share our findings with you if you like.