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It does for 'old-fashioned' hardware, but it doesn't -have- to be for FPGA.

tbh I meant more that it sounds a little pointless to me
But, perhaps some people would like a SID player in their MSX....

right...in all honnesty,who else apart from the current msx users is waiting for this?
and NO it's not for kids...kids want flashy fast GTA TEKKEN 6 SOUL CALIBRE GEAR SOLID (copyrights with various companies)
It won't do well in the US...again. And the US is very important in the succes of consoles.
I hope that it will cross tothe US, like ps3,nintendo revolution and X-box 360 (AND YEAAAAAH YOU CAN ADD HARDWARE ON ALL OF THEM...
YEAH THEY HAVE HARDDRIVES YEAH THEY CAN RUN EMULATORS YEAH YOU CAN QUITE PROBABLY PROGRAM ON THEM TOO)
All I'm saying is,competition is major,and technology advances,and it seems people follow that. And if it's expensive,people won't buy it.
The majority that is.

poke: ASCII/MSXA aim to sell 5.000 - 10.000 first generation One Chip MSX computers. I think they are aware that, with this product, they won't reach the masses yet. The plans for the future do look suitable for quite a large audience tho

@Poke; FPGA development is indeed not something for the kids. But there actually is a large group of FPGA fanatics out there. I think new FPGA hardware with capabilities like the OCM will interest them... So a search on Google for FPGA developers or something.

Interesting a group of hobbyist developers can be very good for us, the MSX'ers who have probably less knowledge of FPGA programming. Might come in handy to have some hardcore FPGA fans looking at the OCM...

I see...yeah it takes a first wave of users for every innovation...cd, dvd....untill it becomes common.
You're right...the computer market is tricky though,fast,and always strifing for faster better slicker...
Hope msx can regain a place in it...the ideology of the msx might be the key for succes

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Quote: I don't really care that one could make new extentions that many MSX users won't be able to use anyway - however, implementations of exisiting HW in the 1chip DOES sound interesting. I consider owners of the One Chip MSX to be MSX users as well. In the end, even though it doesn't outperform the turborR (yet?), the One Chip MSX still is a new MSX computer. I expect both existing and new hardware to be implemented in VHDL.

The FPGA is reconfigurable, so a game especially for OCM could contain the extensions needed
in its program code. In that case, the user wouldn't come in direct contact with the new extensions made to the system. One also could imagine, that the FPGA is reconfigurable during runtime. So first, the MSX1 system is loaded, then a game other software is loaded, then, the software loads a new part of configuration into the logic cells not yet used for the system, and, if the software terminates, this previously not used logic cells get idle until reused by the next program. But this is only possible if the FPGA is runtime reconfigurable.

Why shouldn't OCM users be MSX users? FPGA is just a technique for the implementation of
electronical circuits. Formerly, realization of electronical circuits was done e.g. in ASICs, today, it's more and more done in FPGA. They're more flexible, have lower costs. Did anybody care about how the Z80 was implemented 20 years ago?

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The whole charm of the MSX computer has always been pulling the maximum out of limitations ...

That's a key phrase! Maybe it's the charme, but maybe it's the limitation itself which encourages the users to overcome these limitations. I once read a similar opinion concerning ZX81!

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... and, provided a couple of VHDL developers embrace the One Chip MSX, I expect quite some nifty extensions and improvements to the MSX standard on the first One Chip MSX already.

Can we still talk about standard if we alter the MSX system by altering the VHDL code of the system?

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And perhaps some people would like to implement some (elements of a) completely different computer system, such as the C64. (MSX with SID anyone?).

In fact, with FPGA, we also could implement a C64 in the OCM, I think. Some years ago, there were a practical course where some students implemented a C64 in an FPGA. They got the VHDL code of the 6510 form the internet.

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@Poke; FPGA development is indeed not something for the kids. But there actually is a large group of FPGA fanatics out there. I think new FPGA hardware with capabilities like the OCM will interest them... So a search on Google for FPGA developers or something.

About 25 years ago, most people -- if asked -- would have said, that programming isn't something for children. (You at least need 10 semesters of studying mathmatics!) But facts have prooven them wrong! Even children (and people who just were a little older) were interested in computers like ZX81, Commodore, MSX etc. and learnt to code. The learning process was very fast. These children impressed the adults with their programming skills. (The famous american computer scientist Josef Weizenbaum stated in one of his books, why this is quite normal: Children have more time to learn about it than adults, who must go to work.)

Hardware design is a little more difficult than just coding software. But using FPGA as target architecture makes it a little easier. So, if a child is interested in hardware design, why not using an FPGA to learn about. I think that's what Mr. Nishi want! Time goes on. Now it's hardware design with FPGA. Soon, it'll be system design with platform FPGA. And MSX is involved in that development. We, as MSX enthousiasts, should be very glad about that our system is part of that development. Thank's Mr. Nishi!

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Interesting a group of hobbyist developers can be very good for us, the MSX'ers who have probably less knowledge of FPGA programming. Might come in handy to have some hardcore FPGA fans looking at the OCM...

The group of hobbyist developers could be some of us, as conclusion of what I said above!
It' not a question of FPGA programming. These is done by the synthesis software! You need not bother about the target architecture! You just select the architecture desired and the syntheses tool makes the bitstream for configurating the FPGA selected. In VHDL, you typically write an algorithmic description of the system. You need not think about the logic cells in almost all cases.

Japan is the ultimate country to test new products if it fails in japan it will be a change of 95% that it would not sell good outside japan eighter.

btw achieving 50000 1chip msx'es is a big order if it was a PSP it was achieved the same day

Could be MSX one chip is a great system for industrial processes. It's small and easy to program.
What I want to point out is that not only the game market is interesting for this kind of systems.

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Could be MSX one chip is a great system for industrial processes. It's small and easy to program. What I want to point out is that not only the game market is interesting for this kind of systems.

Not really: it is expensive when compared to microcontrollers, slow, unreliable, without standarised input/output ports (RS232, USB, Ethernet). And try to convince someone that assembler is easy! There are much more convenient, compact, standarised, cost-effective embebbed systems.
1CM is just a pure nostagia-product with a *PERHAPS* interesting niche market. This is the main reason for its high price. Has anyone talked about the price margin of the product? I´d like to know it... guess it is going to be above the 50% margin. Just for freaks, collects and nostalgics (this is it: us).

Video-game industry is now a huge monster: there is no room for small-scale projects, just corporations operating on a global basis. Try to calculate the following "efficiency ratio": prize/MHz or prize/MIPS. 1CM is far more expensive then than ANY system around. It is cool, but "just for MSXers". I doubt if the overall quality would be better that, let's say, than a PS2(or PS3 or PSP) running an openMSX port.

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Has anyone talked about the price margin of the product? I´d like to know it... guess it is going to be above the 50% margin. Just for freaks, collects and nostalgics (this is it: us).

Well, I guess it would be 50%, if they can place a big order to the dactory that will make it for them, and if you don't take the costs of development in to account.
My guess is that with 4K or 5K of 1CM, they probably break even or make a few bucks.
Don't worry... I don't think they will get rich of this

Keep in mind that the cost of a final product is a lot higher then just the material used!

I mean neat margin, including all costs, not only the components. I guess that the 5,000 units minimum order is to make sure that they make some money out of it. "Break even" and japanese business culture don't go together.

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... Just for freaks, collects and nostalgics (this is it: us).

Within a few days, I saw two people wearing a C=-coat.