Don't you happen to have a Commodore Amiga A1200? Just kidding, offtopic anyway

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MSX-Link works in both directions, am I right ?

Yes, it does.
All the networking is based tensely on request-response schema, like in TCP/IP - you send packet and wait for acknowledge. Heck, I wouldn't be able to create an empty file (TADA!) remotely last night

You mean on CP/M ramdisk ?

Yes, on CP/M's RAM disk. It has almost 48K of free space, that'd be enough to try all .COM games I miss.

Oh, and LADDER.COM, of course!

A picture that speaks for itself

hmm.
The only textual terminal I remember playing on was on DVK-2.
It was RT-11 OS, and there were games like barmen, xonix, robots, hanoi, some pacman clone, pong, snake.

On which computer you were playing LADDER and such ? Name other games please.

It was CM-1800, a 8080-based machine similar to Robotron 1715 if my memory doesn't fail me. Don't remember other games' names, but the LADDER was definitely #1.

I got this one along with couple of other utilities (like DUMPH) from some CP/M archive (have a link in my blog), and they all ran just fine.

BTW, I managed to run Bosconia (BOSC.COM) under CP/M according to the following scenario:

- transferred it from PC onto CP/M's RAM disk using NCOPY utility (can make source code available should somebody need it);
- ran it.

Upon loading it, my MSX seemed frozen - ain't got no messages or title screens, nothing. Gave it a reset, and voila! the game started.

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I'm very impressed by the amount of infos that is now collected about the MSX Network

I think we have to make some order here. It seems that everybody think there was only one Yamaha MSX network - but in fact there were two very different ones !

Both network units look similar and can be connected to the side slot of Yamaha MSX machine.
I think they are interchangeable - you can plug in one instead of another, but I can be wrong.
After seeing special cable that connects Yamaha's SFG (synthesizer) unit into cartridge slot instead of a side slot, I think it may be possible to connect the net unit to any MSX with this cable.

The network unit in Yamaha MSX1 (YIS503IIR) classes is built with the help of 8251/8253 chips, can interconnect on speeds up to 19200, and uses basic operators like CALL COMINI, LOAD"COM:", SAVE"COM:" etc.
When networked Yamaha MSX1 starts, it goes to Basic and waits in RUN"COM:" command until you press CTRL+STOP or until it gets a BASIC program being sent via the net and runs it.

The circuit diagram of this network unit can be found at
http://members.chello.nl/h.otten/fronthw.htm
under the link "MSX-Network Card circuit diagram"

BTW, does the fact it uses the mentioned chips means the owner of such unit (I don't have it) can use Fossil driver as is (I heard it supports 8251) ?

But again, this network unit is very different from the one found in Yamaha MSX2 (YIS503IIIR and YIS805/128R).
The unit from MSX2 is built on YM3802, and that's what me, dhau, Jetze and tnt23 have in our russian MSX2 machines.

Good idea to resume some infos !

The MSX1 network is more 'classical' as you can find RS232 in other computers (Spectravideo SVI-738 for example) or as extern cartridge.

The MSX2 network, used in Russian Yamaha machines, is more complex, as it uses the MIDI communication way.

So, it means that emulation of the Russian MSX2 network will be more difficult (not impossible, but it needs to advance step by step)

Totally unexpected I found some new info, thank you Maggoo (www.msx.org/forumtopicl4780.html)

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ASCII Corporation is a Japanese company which supplied more than 50,000 Yamaha MSX computers to schools in the U.S.S.R. last years.

According to an article: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NEW/is_1991_July_8/ai_10967530

Jazzy, 10x, now we have some proof that the amount of MSX users in USSR was not so small, knowing that each MSX machine was in use by many people in the school or university.

Finally, after 2 weeks of trial and error and with great help of tnt23 (I just had no chance without him) I managed to build myself a working MSX-Link and to port one of sending utilities from Linux to Windows (in fact - to cygwin).

Now it will take time to make order in all this - change scheme diagram to make it more clear, finalize Windows port and check the timing issues in the Linux one,
enhance capabilities of sending utility so it will send small ROMs and lists of BINs,
write some howto document for dummies in electronics like myself, etc., but for now I can say for sure:

almost everybody can build himself MSX-Link if he wants to, even those, who can't solder and don't know what's those ICs, capacitors and diodes are for,
and when I will make a step-by-step making guide, it won't take weeks and lot of consultations anymore.

Thank you again, tnt23 !
MSX-Link can be a big step in MSX revival in ex-USSR.
I heard that in many Yamaha MSX2 classes both disk drives on the teacher's machine broke (so no diskless student MSX can be loaded with software), and MSX-Link together with a cheap PC can become a good solution for this problem, loading the whole class of MSX machines with software.

Cax, you're welcome

I just would like to say that doing things PCB way sometimes simplifies the whole process greatly.

For those who're into DIY, home PCB development is quite easy and requires a laser printer to print out the PCB layout, a piece of material PCB's are made of, and an iron to transfer the layout onto the future PCB's metal surface. And some Fe2O3 for etching.

(Careful with your wife's iron dudes!)

>Now it will take time to make order in all this -
>
>change scheme diagram to make it more clear,
>finalize Windows port and
>check the timing issues in the Linux one,
>enhance capabilities of sending utility so it will send small ROMs and lists of BINs,
>write some howto document for dummies in electronics like myself

Finally I did all the above (it took a lot of sleeping hours), including tools porting to Windows and enhancing them with the ability to send small ROMs, and now I am proud to show you the page "Building MSX-Link for dummies". Sorry, it's in Russian, but with more than 50 images on it it should be still interesting to look at

Maybe I will move it to another hosting, but currently you can see it here:

http://cax.nm.ru/msx/msx-link

I'll be happy to hear feedbacks !