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More seriously, just compare the international characters with the hangul characters : 80 per line for the first category, 40 per line for the second category So, it means that each hangul character needs 2 columns ....

Each hangul character could be composed of two screen characters - two patterns.

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Finally, a special screen 0 that combines simultaneously width40 and width80.

I don't think it's a screen 0 look-a-like. The characters are higher than in screen 0.

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I don't think that it's only BIOS work. A different VDP was required !

Not neccessarily. I think it's entirely possible to realise the above screen shot and apparent behaviour in screen 6

Ah well, enough speculation adn guessing. If openMSX supports screen 9 it's just a matter of browsing the source code to find out how it all works

.... or the blueMSX source code (I've made the screenshot with this emulator)

Btw, you could be right, we don't have found the 'trick' to make the distinction between screen6 and screen 9 in the displaying infos of the statusbar

In this case, it should mean that the V9948 is a little 'tricky' :wink

Note that screen 9 is interlaced. I think it's very similar to kanji modes. It doesn't need a V9948, though. It works fine in openMSX (and also blueMSX) without doing anything special for it.

If I'm correct the VDP registers tell me it's screen 6 indeed, but interlaced. Very similar to some Kanji modes, isn't it?
So, it's a pure software mode.

question remains: What's so special about the 9948?

And another question is also without answer :

why "screen 9" and not "call hangul" (by analogy with "call kanji" )???

If we can believe this Japanese page :

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:RiFyifHxMGgJ:bubble2.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/i4004/1081342111/97-196+V9948&hl=fr

V9948 (+ Z280 and MSX-AUDIO !) should have been in the MSX3 that have never been released (in stead, we have MSX2+ and Turbo-R)

So, presence of V9948 in Korean MSX2 machines was maybe a test :?

Japanese text :

MSX MAGAZINE永久保存版２によると西氏のMSX3構想はこう書かれている。

MSX3
CPU:Z280
VIDEO:V9948
AUDIO:Y8950
SYSTEM:S 1987
ROM:256KB

turboR
CPU:R800
VIDEO:V9958
AUDIO:YM2413
SYSTEM:S 1990
ROM:256/512KB

turboRはスペックだけは構想より進化しているようだ。
永久保存版２は案外読まれていないのかな。一応ネタ振りと言うことで。


Excite translation :

The western Mr. MSX3 plan is being written so according to MSX MAGAZINE
permanence preservation version 2.

MSX3
CPU:Z280
VIDEO:V9948
AUDIO:Y8950
SYSTEM:S 1987
ROM:256KB

turboR
CPU:R800
VIDEO:V9958
AUDIO:YM2413
SYSTEM:S 1990
ROM:256/512KB

As for turboR, only specs seem to have evolved more than plans.
Is not permanent preservation version 2 unexpectedly read?Tentatively
in saying the material appearance.

Hmm... I still like the 'Konami' version of the story better That japanese article sounds 'not very credible' at best though...

Should V9948 be the last unsolved mystery of the MSX world ?

I really don't understand why Konami should have been interested by only a screen 9 (a variant of screen 6) .... So, if the Konami story is fiable, it should mean that the V9948 has other very hidden features ....

From the TNI Pages:

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Q: Where did screen 9 / r#24 go? A: ASCII's official MSX Magazine says about this: 『SCREEN9は、韓国のMSX2にのみ搭載されたハングル表示専用モードで、国内のMSXと同様にMSXPLAYerでは搭載していません。』. For the ones among us who can't read Japanese *cough*, it translates to something like this: "SCREEN 9 is not available, it is a Hangul (Korean character set) display mode only equipped on Korean MSX2 computers, while the MSXPLAYer is like the domestic (Japanese) MSX." So, the screenmode is supposed to be a textmode only available in the v9948 videochip, a Korean version of the v9938. In the v9958, this mode was excluded, so screen 9 isn't available there, nor is r#24 which is used to control the mode (although this is not for sure). Bit 2 of r#8 also seems to be used by the v9948 (unused in the v9938 and v9958). The v9958 continues with modes 10-12 and registers 25-27.

and more:

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Status register access Aside from the normal registers there are also the status registers. Those can only be read, although in some cases status bits get reset when they're read. The status registers are usually referred to as s#number, for example s#0 (being the default status register), and they contain information about interrupts, sprite status, and also the VDP ID number with which you can identify what type of VDP it is (the v9938 has ID 0, the v9958 has ID 2, and the mysterious v9948 probably had ID 1).

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r#24 which is used to control the mode (although this is not for sure)

Well, if register 24 is used for another very secret feature (and interesting for Konami ) that would have been exploited in the non-released MSX3, we can suppose that the V9958 would have not been "mutilated" if the MSX3 would have been released before the Turbo-R. Even more, in this case, the Turbo-R that has been released is only a limited edition of the real planned machine ....

any idea on how to get the V9948 application manual? :\

Maybe by sending a gentlle letter to Konami

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Maybe by sending a gentlle letter to Konami

I think you will have a better chance writing to Yamaha.

The Konami story was just pure nonsense: speculation and nothing more.

That info you pasted, tfh, is probably just not correct, except for the quote. It draws the wrong conclusion, I think. The quote in MSX Magazine doesn't mention the V9948 at all, it just says screen 9 is not available. Well, that's true, because it is implemented in teh BIOS of the Korean machines only.

again: screen 9 isn't a special screen mode. It's just a software name for a certain mode of the V9938 (as I said: screen 6 with interlacing).