Do I have a basic MSX computer?

[kobayashimaru]

A few months ago I picked up an old video arcade machine off the side of the road. It was a Dodge City video poker machine from the early 90s made by Merit Industries. The cabinet was water damaged and I couldn't really use it for anything nor could I find anyone who wanted it, so I scrapped it and saved the interesting bits like the boards and the monitor. One thing that I think is interesting about the main board is it seems to be set up with all the basic ICs for an MSX system. The main processor is a z80 with two PIO's, an Intel 8255, two Yamaha v9938 video processors and a Yamaha ym2149f audio chip. I think it has 64k of RAM based on the 8 IN41464P ICs, plus spots for four more chips. It's got three PROMS in place with room for 5 more. Now I have no idea of what the pin out for the 65-pin connector is so I don't know if it would be possible to interface things like mass storage or a keyboard. Might I be able to pop in a monitor for BASIC ROM and go somewhere? I don't know if I could find a schematic for an anywhere. I'm just wondering if this is something to play with or something to save for components. Thoughts?

 

[inotarobot]

could you post photos of the pcb please ?

Also did you happen to take photos of the Cabinet it was from before you disposed of it?

I generally take pics at least to show the provenance of where an item came from, especially more nowadays with Digital Cameras being the norm.

 

[2icebitn]

It's possible to graft an extra rom into a system and alternately boot into it. It all depends. It all depends. That's what a cartridge is (Atari, Commodore, IBM PCjr, etc).

I have a Yamaha "music computer" here. I haven't gotten it to work. Never tried real hard either.

 

[rittwage]

Anything is possible, but it could just be that they made the machine from the same off-the-shelf parts as they did with MSX computers...

Take pics and try to see what happens when you boot it up. If it was in a Poker cabinet, then you'll probably need to figure out the edge connector pinout to get power to it and video back out. It's essentially an arcade board.

If it's a Merit Riviera-type game, it's not "MSX". Those things were very popular down here in South Carolina before it was outlawed and there were dozens of variants of it. The landfill is full of them, since they are now illegal to own.

https://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detail.php?game_id=9330

This was essentially the platform they used before MegaTouch.