I just got my hands on a fully functional Panasonic MSX2+ FS-A1WX, after years of using MSX emulators. So now it's time to look for accessories.

The MSX2+ didn't come with anything at all, and I'm not quite up to date on the latest advances in the amateur MSX scene. So perhaps you can advise me on what to look for.

The first need I intend to address is a lack of memory. This model comes with 64kB of RAM, which is not enough for some of the software I'd like to run. As I understand, it is possible to find internal memory expansion kits for this model, but I frankly have no idea where to look for such things. I looked on Ebay in the US, Spain and the Netherlands, and even sent email to Panasonic, but I've had no luck so far. The alternative is to get an external memory mapper, I suppose, but I'm concerned about compatibility and I'd rather not use up a cartridge slot if I can avoid it.

Has anyone been in the same situation and resolved it adequately?

The second thing I need is a pair of joysticks. Is it true that Atari 2600 and Spectrum joysticks will work with an MSX? There are some MSX joysticks on the various Ebays, but not a terribly wide selection.

The third thing, of course, is an IDE interface for HDD or CF. I looked over the Sunrise website and it looked like they had cartridges that allowed both types of media to be connected. They also had pretty reasonable prices. What they didn't have was a newbie's guide where they explained how it all worked. Once a disk is installed and partitioned, will the MSX boot from IDE and not from the floppy, or does one need a floppy to bootstrap the system on each boot? Can one generally run most "cracked" games from IDE? Is there a way to simulate floppy images for games that use floppies explicitly?

Thanks in advance for any insight.

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The first need I intend to address is a lack of memory. This model comes with 64kB of RAM, which is not enough for some of the software I'd like to run. As I understand, it is possible to find internal memory expansion kits for this model, but I frankly have no idea where to look for such things.

You can expand the internal memory of your Panasonic, but it requires some hardware knowledge and involves some risks. You could try and mail Hans Oranje (msx -at- hansoranje.demon.nl), I think he can tell you HOW to expand the memory, then it'll be up to you to do it or not.

Another solution is getting a slotexpander so that you do not have to worry about cartridge slots that much anymore. I don't know how expensive or cheap ordering from Brazil is from where you are, but I have the slotexpander that is sold here and I like it a lot!

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Is it true that Atari 2600 and Spectrum joysticks will work with an MSX? There are some MSX joysticks on the various Ebays, but not a terribly wide selection.

Uhm.. I'm not sure. Many of the home-computer used the same connections for joysticks. IIRC Atari was compatible, and Commodore wasn't. But it might just be the other way around. Is there anyone else around who knows this?

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The third thing, of course, is an IDE interface for HDD or CF. I looked over the Sunrise website and it looked like they had cartridges that allowed both types of media to be connected.

This is true and not true at the same time. You can buy an IDE interface or a CF interface. However, it is possible to get an adaptor which allows you to use CF on an IDE interface. If you decide to do this, you don't only need an external PSU to connect a harddisk and/or a CD-ROM, but also a PSU for the CF card you are going to connect. The CF interface doesn't need an external PSU, which is - in combination with an USB CF-reader for PC - an ideal setup for fast, silent and cool MSXing

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Once a disk is installed and partitioned, will the MSX boot from IDE and not from the floppy, or does one need a floppy to bootstrap the system on each boot?

The MSX is cool. Once the IDE is partitioned, the first partition on the harddisk will be drive A, and your MSX will boot from drive A. (or the boot partition you selected during partitioning). No bootdisk required, sir. If you like you can even setup a dualboot for Uzix/MSX-DOS.

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Can one generally run most "cracked" games from IDE? Is there a way to simulate floppy images for games that use floppies explicitly?

Yes, it's possible. With both FDE (not sure if this one is turboR only or not) and START.COM you can run quite some sector-based DSK games from harddisk. You might experience some memory mapper problems, but if you use MAP.COM those problems will be over as well. If you ever get your hands on a turboR, HDDEMU is the way to go.

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The alternative is to get an external memory mapper, I suppose, but I'm concerned about compatibility and I'd rather not use up a cartridge slot if I can avoid it.

Compatibility is 99.9999999% of the time no issue with external memory mappers. This is MSX afterall
Getting a slotexpander will solve an eventual shortage of cartridgeslots, but if you're not already short on them I wouldn't worry about it too much.

As far as memory mappers concerned.
External mapper is available from Padial , however not so good working on turbo-r.
Also expensive. Sunrise plans a new memory mapper as part of our ethernetcard.
This mapper will be half the price of that from Leonardo's and we gonna use a 16MB chip of Samsung. At least 4MB can be used. We will take a look if more is possible to use.
See the frontpage of our site
As far as i KNOW FDE does not work with our ide , i am not sure if it is question of IDE , only suitable for Turbor because I believe it was MARTIN Westerhof who asked earlier this question. He says with Novaxis scsi it works but I am sure he has a Turbo-r
The CF cartridge is maybe the best option to choose , but if you want to use HD ,zip etc, than your better off with a normal interface that you can extend later on
Besides there are simply games you can directly load from msx-2 dos.
Most of our games works properly in that way, eg. Realms, lost world , pentaro-2 etc

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As far as i KNOW FDE does not work with our ide , i am not sure if it is question of IDE , only suitable for Turbor because I believe it was MARTIN Westerhof who asked earlier this question.

I'm using FDE on the Sunirse IDE and it works fine over here. And indeed FDE works only on turbo R machines.

Thanks to all who replied.

snout:

Presumably you're referring to Sunrise's "ATA-IDE Compact Flash Card (2x Compact Flash Slots)" as the option that doesn't require an external PSU. I happen to have a 340MB Iomega microdrive sitting around, and I think it would make a great MSX storage device. I think I'll get myself one of these adapters, but I'll probably need some more RAM first.

A few more questions about this kind of setup:

- When you boot from A: on the CF card, is your floppy disk still visible as another drive letter? Or
are the two devices mutually exclusive?

- If you exit to BASIC after booting to DOS2, is the DOS2 functionality (directories...) still available, or does one need a DOS2 cartridge for that to work?

- The MSX native filesystem is FAT12, which is limited to 32MB partitions. However, the Sunrise documentation seems to explain how to get FAT16 to work. What I'm wondering is how transparently a FAT16 partition can be used with BASIC and old file-based games. The Sunrise FAT16 document had enough caveats to make me apprehensive. I can live with nine or ten partitions on my microdrive, I suppose, but it would be better to have just one or two.

- How would one go about transferring files from a PC to an MSX-partitioned and formatted flash card? Is interop seamless on this level? Will a PC with a USB reader happily mount and read/write the partitions?

sunrise:

A reasonably-priced memory expansion would be great, especially if it were compatible with the 7MHz mode on my FS-A1WX and with a possible future TurboR upgrade. Do you know when the Sunrise product you mentioned will be available?

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A few more questions about this kind of setup: - When you boot from A: on the CF card, is your floppy disk still visible as another drive letter? Or are the two devices mutually exclusive?

Yes, the disk drives are still visible, they will become drive B: or C: or whatever letter depending on the number of partitions you created on your CF card.

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- If you exit to BASIC after booting to DOS2, is the DOS2 functionality (directories...) still available, or does one need a DOS2 cartridge for that to work?

Yes it is. Note that you can still boot directly on the floppy (in DOS2 mode) by pressing the "Graph" key while booting.

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- The MSX native filesystem is FAT12, which is limited to 32MB partitions. However, the Sunrise documentation seems to explain how to get FAT16 to work. What I'm wondering is how transparently a FAT16 partition can be used with BASIC and old file-based games. The Sunrise FAT16 document had enough caveats to make me apprehensive. I can live with nine or ten partitions on my microdrive, I suppose, but it would be better to have just one or two.

Unless you decide to install ALL the MSX megaroms on your Microdrive, you'll never really need that much disk space on a MSX, that's the beauty of it

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A reasonably-priced memory expansion would be great, especially if it were compatible with the 7MHz mode on my FS-A1WX and with a possible future TurboR upgrade. Do you know when the Sunrise product you mentioned will be available?

You could also concider the 4MB external mapper from Leonardo Padial, I've only tried it on a 3.57 mhz MSX2 but the web page where they are sold says it's also compatible with the Turbo R

Almost all questions are already answererd, but..

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If you exit to BASIC after booting to DOS2, is the DOS2 functionality (directories...) still available, or does one need a DOS2 cartridge for that to work?

_CHDRV("A:" and _CHDIR("DIRECTORY" are your friends in BASIC

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The MSX native filesystem is FAT12, which is limited to 32MB partitions. However, the Sunrise documentation seems to explain how to get FAT16 to work. What I'm wondering is how transparently a FAT16 partition can be used with BASIC and old file-based games. The Sunrise FAT16 document had enough caveats to make me apprehensive. I can live with nine or ten partitions on my microdrive, I suppose, but it would be better to have just one or two.

FAT16 doesnt'work with most/any sector-based programs. Those can really mess up your system (or at least hang it). I advise you to use one large FAT16 partition for storage only, and one or two FAT12 partitions for booting & workspace.

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How would one go about transferring files from a PC to an MSX-partitioned and formatted flash card? Is interop seamless on this level? Will a PC with a USB reader happily mount and read/write the partitions?

A good USB reader should and will do this. One partition a memorycard always work (well.,.. 99,99% )

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FAT16 doesnt'work with most/any sector-based programs. Those can really mess up your system (or at least hang it). I advise you to use one large FAT16 partition for storage only, and one or two FAT12 partitions for booting & workspace.

Given that most (99.9%) BASIC programs don't use DSKI/DSKO commands, using a FAT16 partition in BASIC should cause no problems.