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

Home computer remakes

A home computer remake is a re-creation or re-implementation of classic home computer hardware, usually using updated technology, such as FPGAs....

 of an MSX-2

MSX

MSX was the name of a standardized home computer architecture in the 1980s conceived by Kazuhiko Nishi, then Vice-president at Microsoft Japan and Director at ASCII Corporation...

 home computer

Home computer

Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly 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 single nontechnical user...

 that uses a single FPGA to implement all the electronics (except the RAM) of an MSX-2, including the MSX-MUSIC

Yamaha YM2413

The YM2413, aka OPLL, is a cost-reduced FM synthesis sound chip manufactured by Yamaha Corporation and based on their YM3812 . To make the chip cheaper to manufacture, many of the internal registers were removed...

 and SCC+

Konami Sound Cartridge

The Konami Sound Cartridge is supplied with the MSXvideo games Snatcher and SD Snatcher. Sometimes it is known as the SCC+. It includes a slightly improved Konami SCC sound chip and 64kB of volatile RAM...

 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

Secure Digital card

Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The SD technology is used by more than 400 brands across dozens of product categories and more than 8,000 models, and is considered the de-facto industry standard.Secure Digital...

 and MMC

MultiMediaCard

The MultiMediaCard is a flash memory memory card standard. Unveiled in 1997 by Siemens AG and SanDisk, it is based on Toshiba's NAND-based flash memory, and is therefore much smaller than earlier systems based on Intel NOR-based memory such as CompactFlash. MMC is about the size of a postage...

 memory cards as an external storage medium. Even though it lacks a 3.5" disk drive

Floppy disk

A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...

, disks are supported through emulation on a memory card, including support for booting MSX-DOS. Due to its VHDL 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 connectors, that can be used after adding some supporting VHDL code.

The ESE MSX System 3 is designed by ESE Artists' Factory and distributed as 1chipMSX by D4 Enterprise

D4 Enterprise

D4 Enterprise is a Japanese video game publisher currently specializing in content delivery services like Project EGG over the Internet. The company has also provided Neo Geo and MSX titles to the Virtual Console for the Nintendo Wii.-See also:...

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

Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive

The Directive on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment 2002/95/EC was adopted in February 2003 by the European Union. The RoHS directive took effect on 1 July 2006, and is required to be enforced and become law in each member state...

 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
  Altera Corporation is a Silicon Valley manufacturer of PLDs . The company offered its first programmable logic device in 1984. PLDs can be reprogrammed during the design cycle as well as in the field to perform multiple functions, and they support a fairly fast design process...
  
   Cyclone EP1C12Q240C8N FPGA chip
• 32 MB SDRAM
  SDRAM
  Synchronous dynamic random access memory is dynamic random access memory that is synchronized with the system bus. Classic DRAM has an asynchronous interface, which means that it responds as quickly as possible to changes in control inputs...
  
  
• SD/MMC card slot
• 2 MSX Cartridge slots
• 2 audio outputs (for future stereo support)
• S-Video
  S-Video
  Separate Video, more commonly known as S-Video and Y/C, is often referred to by JVC as both an S-VHS connector and as Super Video. It is an analog video transmission scheme, in which video information is encoded on two channels: luma and chroma...
  
   video output
• Composite video
  Composite video
  Composite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...
  
   output
• VGA
  Video Graphics Array
  Video Graphics Array refers specifically to the display hardware first introduced with the IBM PS/2 line of computers in 1987, but through its widespread adoption has also come to mean either an analog computer display standard, the 15-pin D-subminiature VGA connector or the 640×480 resolution...
  
   video output
• PS/2
  PS/2 connector
  The PS/2 connector is a 6-pin Mini-DIN connector used for connecting some keyboards and mice to a PC compatible computer system. Its name comes from the IBM Personal System/2 series of personal computers, with which it was introduced in 1987...
  
   keyboard connector
• 2 USB connector
• 2 MSX Joystick ports
• FPGA I/O pin (40 pins and 10 pins)

Included are also:

• A Short English instruction manual, including a short introduction to VHDL
• Full VHDL code used to achieve MSX2 compatibility (default configuration)
• A CD-ROM with VHDL code examples and the following software:
  • Altera Quartus
    Altera Quartus
    Altera Quartus is a programmable logic device design software from Altera. Its features include:* An implementation of VHDL and Verilog for hardware description.* Visual edition of logic circuits.* Vector waveform simulation.-Quartus II:...
    
     2 Web Edition - VHDL development environment
  • PLDLOAD and PLDSAVE - Softare to read and program the FPGA chip
  • EP, FDLOAD and FDSAVE - Software to create, load and play disk images
• 220 V adapter or 110 V converter plug
• Schematics to the One Chip MSX PCB
  Printed circuit board
  A printed circuit board, or PCB, is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or signal traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive substrate. It is also referred to as printed wiring board or etched wiring...
  
  
• Blueprint of the One Chip MSX casing

Default specifications of the implemented MSX system

• MSX 2 computer system
• 1 MB RAM
• 128 kB VRAM
• Kanji-ROM
• MSX-MUSIC
• MSX-DOS2 with FAT16 support
• MEGA-SCSI compatible support for SD card as primary drive

See also

• List of MSX compatible computers
• Minimig
  Minimig
  Minimig is an open source re-implementation of an Amiga 500 using a field-programmable gate array .Minimig started in secrecy around January 2005 as a proof of concept by Dutch electrical engineer Dennis van Weeren...
  
  is a similar FPGA project emulating a different home computer.

External links

• 1chipMSX wiki (in Japanese)
• ESE MSX System 3 information — English technical overview with tutorials and tools.
• KdL Index! — Unofficial firmware updates.
• MSX Resource Center