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Category Archives: Hardware

FM-Pac English translation built-in

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In the 90’s I used to have a FM-Pac, to add great sound to my MSX. The built-in menu was Japanese, and since there was no Google Translate, it was pretty useless to me.

FMPAC Japanese Menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to MSX Translations there is a patch available to patch the ROM to English. This patch can be applied at runtime, but I used it to patch the original ROM and burn the patched ROM on a new Eprom and place it inside the original FM-Pac.

To accomplish this I removed IC2 from the original FM-Pac and replaced it with a 27C512 Eprom (150nS), with the English Patched Rom.

FMPAC PCB with Original ROM

FMPAC PCB with Patched ROM

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have dumped the original ROM and patched it with the English patch, they are available as download on msxinfo.net:

Icon
Download

FM Pana Amusement Cartridge ROMs (Japanese - English) 49.78 KB 10 downloads

This archive contains the original Japanese ROM and the translated English ROM Japanese...

 

After replacing the ROM, this is the result:

FMPAC with English Menu

MSX Info organizing a Keyboard Membrane Group Buy

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Group Buy Keyboard Membranes

 

Crystal Clear Cartridge Case Use Cases ;-)

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A couple of months ago msxinfo.net started a ‘Inkoopaktie’ (Collective Buy) of Crystal Clear Cartridge Cases, from Paulo Maluf.

Here are some examples of use cases for these nice Cartridge Cases:

MSX Info Network starts ‘Inkoop Aktie’ Cartridge Cases

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MSX Info Network starts ‘Inkoop Aktie’ Cartridge Cases for Dutch MSX enthusiasts:

Inkoopaktie Crystal Clear Cartridge Cases

 

Philips Music Module Upgrade and Capacitor Replacement

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Last MSX Fair in Tilburg I’ve bought the MSX Audio Extension Expander from Bas Kornalijnslijper.

This extension comes with an online build-in instruction that can be downloaded from Supersoniqs Website
The instruction starts with a little background:

Back in 2005 Brazilian MSX users Fábio Ricardo Schmidlin (FRS) and Luciano Sturaro
(MSXPró) released an expander PCB for the Philips Music Module. This board came with
and adjusted Panasonic MSX Audio ROM and with 256KB sample memory. A while ago
FRS published his schematics so other MSX users could recreate his upgrade PCB.
Because nobody took this challenge while there was still demand SuperSoniqs jumped in.
It took us some months to gather all the necessary parts, order the PCB’s and then find a
partner to assemble the upgrade boards. After some setbacks we finally succeeded. We
would like to thank FRS and MSXPró for their great work. They can be reached through
www.MSXpro.com. Please check our site for news and information about our products.
Our place on the web can be found at supersoniqs.com. We hope you have great fun with
this upgrade!

The upgrade can be done in some easy steps, but since I had to open up my Music Module I decided to also replace all electrolytic capacitors with high-grade audio electrolytic capacitors.
So I started to identify all capacitor values to order them. The following electrolytic capacitors ar used in the Music Module:

Part.nr.ValueVolt
C410.47uF50V
C13100uF16V
C16100uF16V
C29100uF16V
C30100uF16V
C2510uF16V
C3810uF16V
C3910uF16V
C4010uF16V
C211uF50V
C331uF50V

I removed all electrolytic capacitors by cutting them out and then cleaned all holes using a desoldering pump.

Then I’ve put all new electrolytic capacitors.

After replacing all electrolytic capacitors I’ve tested the music module to see if it’s still functioning and to listen to the result. The result was not stunning, but the sound was somehow more ‘bright’.

 

 

I also replaced R41 with a 20KΩ potentiometer, so the sound output to the slotconnector can be adjusted.

After these modifications I started to build in the MSX Audio Extension Expander using the guide supplied by Supersoniqs.

 

The result:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Because I have multiple Music Modules with different ROM’s I have dumped them all using my Wellon VP-280 Eprom programmer and added them to the downloads section: https://www.msxinfo.net/downloads/?did=229