Steps to reactivate my Philips VG8020 MSX

Supporter (11)

23-01-2021, 15:27

Dear all,

I decided to reactivate my old Philips VG8020 MSX, and of course there is a few things I need to do

1. Connection to modern TV. I have several flat-screen TVs at home, equipped with HDMI, VGA, Scart and Air (antenna) connectors. As you may know, the VG8020 has 2 possibilities:
- Spetial connector for CRT monochrom monitor
- "Normal" Antenna connector for TV

The question is: would it be possible to just plug it onto the normal air antenna connection using an ordinary coaxial TV antenna cable? That's the way I did it back in the 80s, before buying a CRT ambar monochrom monitor (unfortunatley, I lost the monitor it already). I tried to do that connecting an antenna coax cable to my BluSens H307B22BA TV, and selecting TV-A input (not TDT), but no success. Have you tried to so something similar?

2. Getting a data recorder I have most of my old cassettes with games and programs. I tried to buy again a data recorder + cable (again, the original one is lost). Is there any place to get one?

3. Printing using a brand-new USB printer Recently I got a laser-based printer (HP Laserjet Pro M15w). Is there any way to connect it to this printer? I also need the cable MSX-printer-to-USB.

Thanks for your replies, and sorry for the very-basic questions from a big-MSX fan!

By Pentarou

Hero (523)

23-01-2021, 19:11

1) Did you tune the TV to the correct Analogue channel?
2) Do you have something un-replaceable/super rare/extremely uncommon that you ABSOLUTELY need on those cassettes?
If not, just forget about using cassettes and buy a cartridge with SD/CF media.
There are other options, but you would be just throwing away money.
3) Check this thread: USB printing on MSX !

By Briqunullus

Hero (665)

23-01-2021, 19:19

If you just want a quick check if everything works, you could try MSX2Cas on an Android phone to act as your data recorder. You still would need a cable though. After that, I highly recommend a Carnivore2 or MegaFlashRom, these make life so much easier.

By Pentarou

Hero (523)

23-01-2021, 19:32

Briqunullus wrote:

an Android phone to act as your data recorder. You still would need a cable though.

And a phone with an audio output socket... They are becoming rare.

By CASDuino

Champion (340)

23-01-2021, 19:55

There is also the CASDuino or TZXDuino to act as a replacement for a cassette player. It will not record and you will need the cassette player lead (easily available on FleaBay or other such sites) but the baud rate is adjustable and you can play either CAS ot TSX files using the motor control which is essential for some games and something that phones do not have.

By Pentarou

Hero (523)

23-01-2021, 20:38

So he will only have to buy:
1) Cassette cable + 2) Cassette player + 3) Casduino
To use his old tapes, which could have developed mold and became useless.

By CASDuino

Champion (340)

23-01-2021, 20:49

Pentarou wrote:

So he will only have to buy:
1) Cassette cable + 2) Cassette player + 3) Casduino
To use his old tapes, which could have developed mold and became useless.

1) Yes.
Then it's 2 or 3.

His old tapes may have already been archived as CAS or TSX format so he could use the digital files on CASDuino or TZXDuino rather than risking damaging his tapes. Or he could get a tape player preferably with REM and use his old tapes.

Depending on his budget he could buy a carnivore or similar but as he has an 8020 IMHO they are not worth the expense on an MSX but are worth it for MSX2/2+/Turbo R.

Of course he doesn't HAVE to buy anything, it's up to him.

By jgamo

Supporter (11)

28-01-2021, 15:18

Wow!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all of you!

After reading all your messages, I think I will go for some of the "non-cassette" solutions you are proposing.

As for the printer, I will also look at the USB printing on MSX post

Thaks again!

By jgamo

Supporter (11)

11-01-2023, 12:58

Hi again!

After a while I just got a cable to connect my MSX to a modern TV using video input. The device is now up and running!

Next step would be to connect the Auna RQ-132 Tape Recorder I also got (alternatively, I will try the "non-cassette" solution provided by some of you).

But first, I need to need to clean it internally, since some keys are not working.

Any help on this would be most welcome!

Thanks and best!

By jgamo

Supporter (11)

12-01-2023, 15:10

Look what I found!

How to clean a MSX keyboard from a Philips VG8020 MSX Computer

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. I will try to follow step by step to repair the keyboard!

By AndreV

Master (232)

12-01-2023, 21:14

I use a old phone with my vg 8020 like this, made a cable of a old din plug and a mini jack
https://msx.org/forum/msx-talk/general-discussion/load-games...