Maker and classic computing fanatic Augusto Baffa has unveiled a brand new set of board designs which construct on his earlier Baffa-X microcomputer system to supply full ASCII MSX2+ compatibility: the Baffa-X2.
“Baffa-X2 venture is an replace to the Baffa-X MSX1 Laptop venture that turns it into an MSX2+,” Baffa explains. “It may be used to straight create an MSX2+ on the Baffa-2 platform or to replace the earlier venture. The brand new set brings Dawn Suitable IDE, Serial Wi-Fi Modem, 1MB Ram, RTC, MSX Music (OPLL — FMPAK) and V9958 boards and is suitable [with] Nextor and MSXDOS2 [Disk Operating Systems].”
The Baffa-X2 builds on Baffa’s earlier Baffa-2, a multi-board microcomputer primarily based on Grant Searle’s breadboard CP/M venture and closely impressed by the favored RC2014. The Baffa-X board set connect with the Baffa-2 to make it suitable with Microsoft and ASCII’s MSX normal, launched in 1983 for the Japanese market and boasting gross sales of as much as 9 million worldwide previous to its discontinuation in 1993.
“Now, it is potential to improve the Baffa-X from MSX1 to MSX2+,” Baffa says of the brand new boards, which carry the venture as much as the second technology model of the usual launched in 1985. “It replaces the VDP v9958 (suitable with different Baffa-2 initiatives), reminiscence of 64kB by [a] 1MB RAM Board (MegaRAM), and provides ROM/Slot Enlargement and RTC [Real-Time Clock] Boards.”
The venture makes use of a mixture of boards from the unique Baffa-2 and new designs. (📷: Augusto Baffa)
Along with the above, the upgraded board set contains an Espressif ESP32-based Wi-Fi modem. “It is much like the unique Baffa-2 SIO board,” Baffa explains, “and suitable [with the] BadCat Card software program/terminal. The venture additionally makes use of the unique Z80 CPU, 64kB RAM, clock, and TMS9918 Boards from Baffa-2.”
A full write-up on the venture is offered on Baffa’s Hackaday.io web page.
