What can I (not) do with my VG-8220?

Champion (400)

16-04-2018, 17:04

I've got this very well-used VG8220 MSX2 (its really beaten-up) for a while now and wish to use it in my livingroom for some gaming since its nice and small, besides that I would love to see how far I can mod this little guy!

My wishlist is:
* put 7mhz in it
* make it a MSX 2+ (with rom)
* expand the memory as big as possible
* any other things I can do?

I know I could just buy a carnivore (if there's one available) to expand the memory but I would like to use what I have
(CF interface, FMpac, Megaflashrom SCC).
I dont mind swapping the SCC and FMpac when needed.
With the amound of memory I'm not able to use the buildin dos2 in the CF interface or run larger roms with sofarun

I've found a guide how to install 7mhz

some questions:
I've also found a guide to expand the memory to 128kb, is this all the 8220 can handle?
I didn't find any guide to make it a MSX2+, is this possible?

let's give this little beast some love!

By Vampier

Prophet (2409)

16-04-2018, 17:14

it sounds like you only need a 7mhz adjustment (why?) and a MFR SCC+ SD with mem mapper (512Kb is enough) or a Carnivore2 and you got everything you want.

Also: didn't you mean the nms8220?

By zett

Hero (608)

16-04-2018, 17:55

vg8220 does not exist.
a vg8020 does and a nms8220 to.

By Moniz

Champion (400)

16-04-2018, 18:07

good, my mistake: its a NMS8220.

@vampier: I just want to use what I have and see how far I can push this little thing.
See it as pimping a car: for the same money you can probably buy something better but that would take away the fun.
I know there are better solutions and probably cheaper ones as well.. but I do this for fun.

By Jipe

Paragon (1603)

16-04-2018, 19:17

help in french 8235/39 = 8220 but only 64k and no drive
expand to 1Mo http://msxvillage.fr/forum/topic.php?id=1883#m42270
MSX2+ http://msxvillage.fr/forum/topic.php?id=1696#m37420

By zett

Hero (608)

16-04-2018, 22:06

7mhz no use 128k realy easy to make in a nms8220

By Moniz

Champion (400)

16-04-2018, 22:12

What do hou men by "no use"?
Do you mean it's not possible or it would be stupid to put 7mhz in a 8220?

@jipe: thanks for the info!

By Grauw

Ascended (10706)

17-04-2018, 00:57

I had some use for 7 MHz back in the day, improves the speed of DOS software, as well as games like Metal Gear 2. It would mess up the sound though, so I would only turn it on if I had to walk a long way. But I can also see why one would say it’s not very useful, definitely not an essential, and I don’t really miss it on my machines that don’t have it. Though on my turboR I do appreciate its speed in DOS.

By meits

Scribe (6533)

17-04-2018, 02:28

7MHz is being switched off too often because too many actions can't be done on 7MHz. The LED that was in the switch on my previous 7MHz equipped MSX was flashing like a lunatic all the time (off was no 3.5MHz/on was 7MHz). Only while doing nothing the LED was burning constant.

This constant switching between 7MHz and 3.5MHz has a very nasty effect on audio. The PSG is the worst. I've got/had MSX-Music/MSX-Audio cartridges with their own crystal so they remained (somewhat) unaffected by the 7MHz mode (parts of notes got skipped occassionally. same as the turbo mode of a Panasonic MSX2+. check the piano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21h4pw0wAxA#t=10m31s ). Moonsound totally ignores any possible frequency tease from the MSX. It remains completely clean. I've never heard (of) SCC going good on 7MHz.

It's good outside the musical world. Great in DOS or while flashing something from mass storage. It really shows its power there. But is all the hassle worth it to wait 5 seconds in stead of 10? As soon as the game is loaded/flashed you really want to go back to 100% 3.5MHz (or switch off the audio).

I expect my only 7MHz equipped computer to come back home quite soon. I could make some 7MHz audio recordings then, or you could check it out live since you're living around the corner.

By zett

Hero (608)

17-04-2018, 16:26

7Mhz is not realy usable just in dos its faster. but most of the time not. 128k is realy easy nice thing to of the 8220 is the place where the paint rom is. you can put nice own made roms in there or other stuff like a 3th cardrige slot.
I used it with a own made darkstone rom that starts with darkstone logo and darkstone font. nice colorfull font for Basic coding.

By user888

Expert (66)

06-11-2019, 20:39

Is there a manual on how to create a 3rd cartridge slot? Is it a matter of removing the paint rom and connect the right pins? My goal is to connect a MegaFlashRom internally.