I recently had a successful auction for a Philips VG8235 MSX2 computer on eBay. It will arrive in a few days time from the Netherlands. This particular 8235 has already been refurbished and upgraded. The spec is now 256K RAM, 256K VRAM, and a double sided disk drive. It also has 64K ROM, which I'm not sure is an upgrade. I thought this model may come with Philips Designer on ROM. The seller has now told me this program isn't on ROM, but they may send me a copy if they can find it.
I have never owned an MSX2 computer before, because they weren't released in the UK where I lived and still do live. I had a Yamaha CX5M Music Computer. Before as well as after getting the Yamaha MSX computer, I regularly read the British magazines "MSX User" and "MSX Computing". I have recently been reading the Dutch "MSX Computer Magazine", because I learnt Dutch years ago and studied some more Dutch recently using the software XBMC. I have recently used openmsx on my Raspberry Pi, as well as on a desktop PC, though. I wonder what I should buy to help me get more from this particular MSX2 computer. I'm interested in creating graphic art, as well as programming and playing games.
I obviously need a way of transferring files across to my VG8235 from a PC. I want the cheapest way of doing this at the moment. I own a very old desktop PC which originally came with Windows Me and has a floppy drive built in, but this PC isn't working properly at the moment. The USB ports don't work, but the PS/2 ports do work, and the CD R/W drive which I fitted myself can no longer open or close itself. I'm not sure what else is wrong with it. I also own a more recent second hand desktop PC with Windows XP pre installed. I think the cheapest and easiest way to get MSX software onto floppy disks would be to use a USB floppy drive such as http://www.amazon.co.uk/Proxima-Direct%C2%AE-External-Portab... . I hope people on here can tell me whether or not that drive is suitable. AFAIK the disks should be formatted on the MSX computer itself, because of the book sectors. These will probably be HD disks, so they may need to have some tape put over one hole. It seems I need a cartridge holder to use the rear cartridge port, but I don't think this is included. There seems to be just the computer, the PSU, and a SCART cable.
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