MSX

The PICO9918 is compatible with a wide range of MSX computers. The original MSX standard uses either a TMS9918A (NTSC regions) or TMS9928A (international/PAL regions) VDP.

The following MSX computers have been tested and confirmed working:

• Casio MX-10 - see also Casio MX-10
• Casio PV-7
• Casio PV-16
• Gradiente Expert XP-800
• JFF (by Skoti)
• National CF-2700
• Sharp HB-8000
• Spectravideo SVI-728 - see also Spectravideo SVI-728
• Sony HB-75
• Toshiba HX-10
• Toshiba HX-21
• Yamaha CX5M
• Yamaha YIS-503

Other MSX1 computers using a TMS9918A or TMS9928A in a standard 40-pin DIP socket should also be compatible.

1. Power off and open the MSX computer
2. Locate the TMS9918A/TMS9928A VDP (40-pin DIP package)
3. Carefully remove the existing VDP from its socket
4. Insert the PICO9918 in the same orientation (pin 1 aligned)
5. Connect the VGA dongle, Digital AV Dongle, or SCART cable
6. Close the computer and power on

The MSX has full configurator support (.rom, 16KB banks), including firmware updates. Two mapper variants are available:

• ASCII16: The most widely compatible mapper. Use this if unsure.
• Konami: Some flash carts or cartridge solutions may prefer the Konami mapper format.

Both provide the same functionality. Pre-built ROMs for both mappers are available from the Releases page. See Configurator for details.

• MSX addresses the VDP at I/O ports $98 (data read/write) and $99 (register/status)
• The MSX1 BIOS initializes and uses the VDP directly - the PICO9918 is transparent to the BIOS
• MSX computers use a Z80 CPU with its own clock source; the CPUCLK output from the PICO9918 is not used
• The GROMCLK output is not used by MSX systems (GROMs are TI-specific)

The PICO9918 replaces the MSX1 VDP only. MSX2 and later systems use the V9938/V9958 which have a different (and incompatible) pinout. The MDE1 pin on the PICO9918 v1.x is reserved for future V9938 support - see MDE1 Pin.

• Casio MX-10: soldered TMS9118, needs TMS9118 device mode
• Spectravideo SVI-728: TMS9129, needs TMS912x device mode
• Device mode configuration: matching the clock pins of the VDP you are replacing
• Hardware Setup: FFC cable, CPU and GRM jumpers
• Configurator: the ASCII16 and Konami ROMs and the web configurator