Overview

MSX Kanji Driver a 16/32kB ROM that provides following functions. It requires an MSX2 or later. Kanji driver was optional up to MSX2+.

When two Kanji Driver ROMs are present, the newer version is installed. MSX Kanji Driver ROM is also called Kanji BASIC ROM.

Functions

• Kanji input and display
• Kanji BASIC
• Single Kanji Conversion (it is replaced by MSX-JE when present)
• JIS Level 1 Kanji-ROM required

Optional functions

• JIS Level 2 Kanji-ROM support
• MSX-JE support
• If there are multiple Kanji drivers, the first slot has priority (except for MSX-DOS 2 cartridges after 2+)

Hardware with Kanji Driver

ASCII Japanese MSX-DOS 2 (1988)

Only Single Kanji Conversion using the JIS index. (No MSX-JE)

Sony HBI-J1 (1988)

MSX-JE is used.

MSX2+ (1988~)

Provided by Single Kanji Conversion dictionaries JIS1 and JIS2 on Sanyo MSX2+, MSX-JE on Panasonic and Sony MSX2+.

The Kanji Driver supports especially

• YJK screen mode (SCREEN 10-12) on MSX2+ and higher
• a few extra BASIC instructions on MSX2+ and higher
• Matsushita specification for 12-dot Kanji display in 80-digit mode, available on following hardware:
  • FS-4600F MSX2 computer
  • FS-A1FM MSX2 computer
  • FS-PW1 cartridge + printer
  • FS-CM1 modem

The MSX2+ startup logo routine and data are stored in free space due to exhaustion of Sub-ROM capacity.

Notes about MSX Turbo R:

• To support the DRAM mode, the first 16kB part of the Kanji driver is copied to the last segment of the primary mapper in the Sub-ROM at startup.
• In FS-A1ST, part of the MSX Turbo R startup logo program has moved to the free space of MSX-MUSIC in slot 0-2 due to the exhaustion of Kanji driver capacity.
• In FS-A1GT, part of the MSX Turbo R startup logo program has moved to the dedicated area of ​​slot 0-3 due to the exhaustion of MSX-MUSIC capacity with the addition of MSX-MIDI support