Description

Computer

The HB-F1XV is the final MSX manufactured and marketed by Sony. It was aimed at the Japanese market.

The hardware PAUSE button, the Speed-Controller (slow-motion) and the REN-SHA-TURBO (autofire for both joysticks and spacebar) are nice features for playing games.

Brand	Sony
Model	HB-F1XV
Year	1989-10-21
Region	Japan
Launch price	¥69,800
RAM	64kB in slot 3-0 + 16kB SRAM
VRAM	128kB
Media	MSX cartridges, 720kB 3.5" floppy disks
Video	Yamaha V9958
Audio	PSG (YM2149 integrated in MSX-Engine), MSX-MUSIC (YM2413)
Chipset	Yamaha S1985
Keyboard layout	QWERTY/JIS + numeric keypad
Extras	720kB 3,5" floppy disk drive, reset button, pause button, speed controller, Ren-Sha Turbo (autofire), Kanji-ROM level 1 & 2, Kanji BASIC, MSX-MUSIC BASIC, MSX-JE, software on disks: F1 Synth, Halos + programming tools including SonyVoice BASIC, Japanese Word Processor + MSX-DOS 1, (only with a few exemplars) Story disk
Emulation	ROMs dumped and emulated

Firmware

MSX-JE with 16kB SRAM is built-in, the third provided floppy disk containing a Japanese Word Processor uses it.

Software

Three or four floppy disks were provided with this computer:

The standard set of 3 disks is called Creative Tool I / II / III Exclusively for HB-F1XV, disks 2 and 3 corresponding to a product also available apart but with a different label:
- F1 Synth, a special version of the MSX-MUSIC utiity Synth Saurus created by Bit²
- F1 Tool Disk II with the graphics editor Halos created by HAL Laboratory and game programming tools
- Japanese Word Processor - Document Writer, created by Brøderbund Japan + MSX-DOS 1

Some exemplars came with a 4th disk, XV Story Disk.

Note: It is recommended to press the CTRL key while booting the computer if you want to use the second disk, it will help you to avoid memory issues with some of its applications.

F1 Synth

It is actually Synth Saurus 2.0 with support for keyboard and joystick in addition to the original mouse support, but without the conversion of the music into a BASIC file.

Files created by this tool: .FMS (sound data), .MS* (music scores - one for each track) and .RTM (rhythms). The user disk is not provided in this package.

Halos

The graphics editor is the same as the one created for the HB-F900 / HBI-F900 system as HBS-H022D, but lacks some features. Files created by this tool: .SCR.

Contrary to the professional version, which always requires a mouse, you can use the keyboard, a joystick in port B or a mouse in port A with this version.

This version uses a golden border (instead of blue) and supports screens 5 to 8. The fonts screen is different from the previous versions.

Tools

It starts with a demo presenting the standard set of 3 floppy disks coming with this computer. To leave the demo, just press the spacebar.

Then comes the main menu, with 4 options (some tools use Kanji BASIC and/or MemoryDisk BASIC):

BASIC

Raku Raku Anime, an easy Animation tool for screen 5, 8, 10 to 12, with a submenu:
- Animation Play (loads an example)
- Animation Edit (loads the editor with save/load option - .PDT files)
- Make Animation Disk (you need to use a blank disk)

This tool can integrate .VCD files created by MSX Voice Recorder. You can leave each part with the ESC key.

MSX Voice Recorder, an utility created by HAL Laboratory, it uses the keyclick to save and replay 1-bit PCM samples of voices or musics (.VCD files), and adds a MSX-BASIC extension - see SonyVoice BASIC

BASIC Filer with its own submenu which displays the names of all available BASIC files. You can run them or load them and most of them can be interrupted by using CTRL + STOP. You can generally go back to this sub-menu with RUN"FILER.BAS". There are 7 options:
- AUTOEXEC (go back to the opening demo)
- SP-PROG - Sprite Editor with save/load option (.SP1 and .SP2 files)
- MSXVOICE - MSX Voice Recorder with save/load option (.VCD files)
- FILER (go back to this submenu)
- COLPRINT - Print Program for pictures in Screen 5, 8, 10 to 12
- KY-PROG - Keyboard Trainer
- BACKUP - New version of the DISKCOPY tool available on F1 Tool Disk

Files not displayed in the menus or hidden:

FILER.SYS to use the F1 Tool Disk style menu for .BAS files (back to this menu with F3)
SPIC12.BBB to show 2 Screen 12 pictures
a secret File Manager (the name is not displayed with the FILES instruction, you need first to rename the file with an external tool)
6 Playball files for F1 Synth + a musical driver

Japanese Word Processor

Document Writer is a Japanese Word Processor that uses the built-in MSX-JE. The second disk of the original product, containing a collection of about 100 illustrations, is not provided in this package.

For more info, see Sony HBS-B012D.

MSX-DOS

To run MSX-DOS, you need to press CTRL+STOP when booting with the 3rd disk in drive A, this to avoid the launching of the Word Processor.

From the Word Processor, you can access MSX-DOS by pressing F5, then choosing the Quit option. If you want to go back to the Word Processor, just enter TITLE or MSXWP on the command line.

XV Story Disk

It is an extra disk with PSG effects and use of SonyVoice BASIC, that is complementary to the standard disks 1 and 2.

It starts with an animation that leads to the menu with 4 options:

Proof Game
Janken (game)
Raku Raku Anime Parts Editing Tool (utility)
H2O Image (animation)

The disk also contains song data for the F1 Synth utility.

Pictures

Computer

Sony HB-F1XV box

Sony HB-F1XV

Sony HB-F1XV underside

Sony HB-F1XV main PCB

Sony HB-F1XV main PCB back

Sony HB-F1XV floppy disks

Sony HB-F1XV Story Disk

Sony HB-F1XV right side

Sony HB-F1XV manuals

Sony HB-F1XV back

Sony HB-F1XV label