The One chip MSX, or 1chipMSX as the D4 Enterprise distributional name for the ESE MSX System 3, is a re-implementation of an

MSX-2 MSX-2 is a selective adenosine A2A receptor antagonist used in scientific research. It is a xanthine and a derivative of the non-selective adenosine receptor antagonist caffeine. The affinities (Ki) of MSX-2 for the human adenosine recepto ...

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

that uses a single

FPGA A field-programmable gate array (FPGA) is a type of configurable integrated circuit that can be repeatedly programmed after manufacturing. FPGAs are a subset of logic devices referred to as programmable logic devices (PLDs). They consist of a ...

to implement all the electronics (except the RAM) of an MSX-2, including the MSX-MUSIC and SCC+ audio extensions. The system is housed in a transparent blue plastic box, and can be used with a standard monitor (or TV) and a PC keyboard. Original MSX cartridges can be inserted, as well as SD and MMC memory cards as an external storage medium. Even though it lacks a 3.5" disk drive, disks are supported through emulation on a memory card, including support for booting MSX-DOS. Due to its

VHDL VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Program, VHSIC Hardware Description Language) is a hardware description language that can model the behavior and structure of Digital electronics, digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ran ...

programmable hardware, it's possible to give the device new hardware extensions by simply running a reconfiguration program under MSX-DOS. The "one chip-MSX" is equipped with two

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...

connectors, that can be used after adding some supporting VHDL code.

Availability

The ESE MSX System 3 is designed by ESE Artists' Factory and distributed as 1chipMSX by

D4 Enterprise is a Japanese video game publisher currently specializing in content delivery services like Project EGG, EGGY and PicoPico over the Internet. The company has also collaborated with Nintendo to re-release Neo Geo, MSX and arcade titles for t ...

and was supposed to be distributed outside Japan by Bazix. However, due to

RoHS The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1), short for Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, was adopted in February 2003 by the European Uni ...

regulations in Europe, it was claimed it could not be distributed to Europe in its original form and the European market had to wait for an adapted version which would be produced through Bazix and distributed to Europe by Bazix. However, no violation of RoHS has ever been proven, with all identifiable components of the PCB and power supply being RoHS-compliant. Bazix stopped being the representative of MSX Association and thus did not bring the 1chipMSX to the Western market. In the end, MSX Association was dissolved due to a dispute with other parties involved, resulting in a shift of all intellectual property rights concerning MSX to MSX Licensing Corporation. Bazix also dissolved because this dispute made an end to their efforts and ambitions to bring the 1chipMSX to the Western market (along with other projects that were also dependent on the Japanese partners).

Hardware specifications

Altera Altera Corporation is a manufacturer of programmable logic devices (PLDs) headquartered in San Jose, California. It was founded in 1983 and acquired by Intel in 2015 before becoming independent once again in 2025 as a company focused on developm ...

Cyclone EP1C12Q240C8N FPGA chip *32 MB

SDRAM Synchronous dynamic random-access memory (synchronous dynamic RAM or SDRAM) is any DRAM where the operation of its external pin interface is coordinated by an externally supplied clock signal. DRAM integrated circuits (ICs) produced from the ...

*SD/MMC card slot *2 MSX Cartridge slots *2 audio outputs (for future stereo support) *

S-Video S-Video (also known as separate video, Y/C, and erroneously Super-Video) is an analog video signal format that carries standard-definition video, typically at 525 lines or 625 lines. It encodes video luma and chrominance on two separate chann ...

video output *

Composite video Composite video, also known as CVBS (composite video baseband signal or color, video, blanking and sync), is an analog video format that combines image information—such as brightness (luminance), color (chrominance), and synchronization, int ...

output *

VGA Video Graphics Array (VGA) is a video display controller and accompanying de facto graphics standard, first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, which became ubiquitous in the IBM PC compatible industry within three years. T ...

video output *

PS/2 The Personal System/2 or PS/2 is IBM's second generation of personal computers. Released in 1987, it officially replaced the IBM PC, XT, AT, and PC Convertible in IBM's lineup. Many of the PS/2's innovations, such as the 16550 UART (serial por ...

keyboard connector *2 USB connector *2 MSX Joystick ports *FPGA I/O pin (40 pins and 10 pins) Also included: *English-language instruction manual, which includes an introduction to VHDL *Full VHDL code used to achieve MSX2 compatibility (default configuration) *

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

with VHDL code examples and the following software: **

Altera Quartus Quartus Prime is programmable logic device design software produced by Altera; prior to Intel's separation of Altera, the software was called Intel Quartus Prime, and prior to the acquisition of Altera by Intel, it was called Altera Quartus Prime, ...

2 Web Edition - VHDL development environment **PLDLOAD and PLDSAVE - Software to read and program the FPGA chip **EP, FDLOAD and FDSAVE - Software to create, load and play

disk image A disk image is a snapshot of a storage device's content typically stored in a file on another storage device. Traditionally, a disk image was relatively large because it was a bit-by-bit copy of every storage location of a device (i.e. every ...

s *220 V adapter or 110 V converter plug *Schematics to the One Chip MSX

PCB PCB may refer to: Science and technology * Polychlorinated biphenyl, an organic chlorine compound, now recognized as an environmental toxin and classified as a persistent organic pollutant * Printed circuit board, a board used in electronics * P ...

*Blueprint of the One Chip MSX casing

Specifications

Default specifications of the implemented MSX system: *MSX 2 computer system *1 MB RAM *128 kB

VRAM Video random-access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor. It often uses a different technology than other computer memory, in order to ...

Kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

-ROM *MSX-MUSIC *MSX-DOS2 with

FAT16 File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers and was the default file system for the MS-DOS and Windows 9x operating systems. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on Ha ...

support *MEGA-

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives. SCSI was introduced ...

compatible support for SD card as primary drive

References

External links

{{commons category
1chipMSX wiki (in Japanese)
— English technical overview with tutorials and tools.
KdL Index!
— Official firmware updates for MSX++ machines since July 21, 2022.
MSX Resource Center
Home computer remakes MSX2 microcomputer

Availability

Hardware specifications

Specifications

See also

References

External links