Description

Hardware

Japanese MSX-Write is a cartridge released in 1986 by ASCII and is built in the Sanyo PHC-77 computer, released in 1987.

It was also sold

• by the educational NHK Gakuen school corporation
• by the Kansai Denki company in the KS-24M package, bundled with the rare Star TR-24m printer

It's actually the first version of the MSX-JE input system allowing to convert several kanas into a Kanji inside a Word Processor. The cartridge includes the Kanji-ROM level 1 and MSX-JE, but does not have a SRAM. Savings need to be done on disk, tape or (temporary) memory disk.

A switch on the cartridge allows to disable the Kanji-ROM, so you are able to use the Word Processor also on a machine that has a built-in Kanji-ROM.

There have been 2 versions for the PCB of this cartridge.

Official price: ￥19,800 for the cartridge alone

Software

This Word Processor seems to have been created by Yamaha, as the indication "YAMAHA-MSX-JWP-SYSTEM" appears at three different locations of the rom.

The software menu has 3 options:

• Access to the Word Processor
• Settings - you can choose to work in MSX(1) mode -15 characters- or MSX2 mode -30 characters- and 3 different layouts are available
• Access to MSX-BASIC

Gallery

Hardware

ASCII MSX-Write

ASCII MSX-Write back

ASCII MSX-Write switch

ASCII MSX-Write box

MSX-Write PCB v.1

MSX-Write PCB v.1 underside

MSX-Write PCB v.2

MSX-Write PCB v.2 underside

Software

MSX-Write Intro screen

MSX-Write Menu

MSX-Write Settings

MSX-Write Word Processor MSX2 mode layout 1

MSX-Write Word Processor MSX2 mode layout 2

MSX-Write Word Processor MSX2 mode layout 3

MSX-Write Work screen after pressing on ESC

MSX-Write Word Processor MSX1 mode