Memory upgrade for NMS 8280

Paladin (744)

02-04-2007, 01:15

I bought an Philips NMS 8280 from ebay.I have not received the computer yet however i have some questions.As i know it has 128kb of video ram and 128 of ram.Now how could i upgrade the ram?With only 128 it is not much.Is it possible to upgrade this to 4mbyte?Also i am considering the Sunrise expansion for it as i would want to have a hd or cd,is this possible?

Do you have any website to tell me where i could buy ram for that msx?

My second question has to do with scc.I have a cartridge that has scc (f1 spirit),is it possible somehow to use it for other games?What i mean is this:I have disk versions of many megaroms from konami (kings valley 2,metal gear 2, etc) and i would like to know if it is possible to insert the scc cartridge without the game starting and then loading my own game so that game could benefit from the presence of scc.

Thanks!

By SaebaMSX

Hero (533)

02-04-2007, 08:38

If you want to upgrade the internal memory of your 8280 just check Hans Otten MSX website: www.hansotten.com Go for the DIY enhancements in the MSX section.

You can do with SCC by inserting your cartridge while your computer is on, BUT that is dangerous. You have 2 better options: buy an external slotexpander which has a switch then it can/cannot start the cartridge or just install a switch in your F1Spirit cart to just do that. You'll find easy info about that in webs (I hope) or visiting fairs.

Good luck!

By nikodr

Paladin (744)

14-04-2007, 18:59

I found an external megaram cartridge 1mbyte that i will buy,my question now is,about the disk drive.In the nms8280 i bought the first disk drive works fine,the second seems to be dead and gives offline errors.
Can i change the drive belt like i did on my vg8235 ? Is it possible to connect a pc drive there?Do you know if any modifications are needed?

If i add the megaram cartridge in the first slot and buy the sunrise expansion to add memory cards as hd drives for my msx will the sunrise understand the external memory mapper?

By Manuel

Ascended (17280)

15-04-2007, 10:37

Note that a MegaRAM cannot be used as a normal memory mapper. It can only be used to run games with it with programs like e.g. ExecROM.

By AuroraMSX

Paragon (1901)

15-04-2007, 11:14

Is it possible to connect a pc drive there?Read The Ultimate MSX FAQ and be enlightened ;)

By nikodr

Paladin (744)

27-04-2007, 01:50

Hello!I ordered a 4mbyte memory mapper with the help of the forum (thanks to all those who told me what to look out).

Now i also have a megaflash scc rom by manuel (manuel the hardware is excellent and i reflash all the time and playing my favorite konami games with scc sounds!it is one of the best msx purchases by the way).

I would like to order a sunrise cartridge expansion to use the memory cards as hard disks.However i am confused,is this 2 items or one?In the page of sunrise i cannot understand wether i have to buy the sunrise cartridge and then get the memory card add on too.Can someone help me with this?Is this one or 2 items?

And my next problem is with the slots,I cant have both Megaflash scc,the 4mbyte memory mapper,and the sunrise for the cards,so i probably have to buy a slot expander right?

How much should i pay for such an item?Do you think it is worth it?
Best

By Manuel

Ascended (17280)

27-04-2007, 09:36

There used to be a Sunrise IDE interface, which later came with an optional CF add on (an adapter). Nowadays you can just buy a CF-version of the IDE interface, with only CF slots. That's one item.

By nikodr

Paladin (744)

07-06-2007, 14:23

I want to further upgrade my nms 8280,i found on ebay a v9958 chip.If i get it,can i simply remove the old 9938 and place 9958 on top of it?Would i then have an msx2+ ?Are there instructions how to do this?Would it need further upgrades (example diskbios or such?).Has anyone of you done something like this before?Is it worth the risk?
Best regards

By Etaoin

Rookie (32)

07-06-2007, 14:29

I want to further upgrade my nms 8280,i found on ebay a v9958 chip.If i get it,can i simply remove the old 9938 and place 9958 on top of it?

I have a 8230 that was converted. I didn't do it myself, but by the looks of it, it also requires a number of other parts to be changed.

Would i then have an msx2+?

No, you would have an MSX2 with a V9958 chip. MSX2+ also has different ROMs.

By nikodr

Paladin (744)

07-06-2007, 14:54

So my other question is this:Is it possible to change the roms and make my msx2 a complete msx2+ ?What roms need to be changed?
Thank you

By AuroraMSX

Paragon (1901)

07-06-2007, 15:16

I do remember that in ye olde days several MSX clubs throughout the Netherlands provided upgrade services for MSX2 to MSX2+, including a new set of BIOS ROMs. So the answer is: yes it is possible. Only question is - where to get those ROMs. Maybe RepairBas still has some...