The Philips NMS 8245 is a

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

released by

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

in 1987 as part of its

MSX2 MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Cor ...

line of computers. The NMS 8245, being compatible with the MSX2 standard, benefitted from the improvements introduced over the original MSX system, which include better graphical performance, more memory, and support for hardware sprites and smooth scrolling, which made it a popular choice for video games. However, like other MSX systems, it faced competition from other home computers such as the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

, and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

Description

The NMS (New Media Systems) branding reflected Philips' efforts to market the machine with a focus on multimedia, contrary to the previous VG (Video Game) series machines . This was reinforced by offering the machine with three software discs: ''MSX-DOS 1'', ''Ease'' (a multilingual office suite) and ''Designer Plus'' (a drawing program). The Philips NMS 8245 features a black and silver plastic casing with an integrated keyboard, similar to the VG-8235. A double sided 3.5-inch disk drive was mounted on the right side of the computer, with no external connection for drives. Three versions were produced: * NMS 8245/00 for the Dutch and Belgian markets, with

QWERTY keyboard QWERTY ( ) is a keyboard layout for Latin-script alphabets. The name comes from the order of the first six keys on the top letter row of the keyboard: . The QWERTY design is based on a layout included in the Sholes and Glidden typewriter ...

; * NMS 8245/16 for the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

market, with QWERTY keyboard with a ñ key; * NMS 8245/19 for the French market, with AZERTY keyboard. It was also sold in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

as the Phonola NMS 8245. There is a version adapted for

home banking Online banking, also known as internet banking, virtual banking, web banking or home banking, is a system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial institut ...

, used by Italian banks and at the

Milan Stock Exchange Borsa Italiana () or Borsa di Milano (), based in Milan at Mezzanotte Palace, is the Italian stock exchange. It manages and organises domestic market, regulating procedures for admission and listing of companies and intermediaries and supervi ...

Specifications

The NMS 8245 has the following technical specifications: *

CPU A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes instructions of a computer program, such as arithmetic, log ...

Zilog Z80A The Zilog Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by Zilog that played an important role in the evolution of early personal computing. Launched in 1976, it was designed to be software-compatible with the Intel 8080, offering a compelling altern ...

running at 3.58 MHz *

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

: 128 KB *

VRAM Video random-access memory (VRAM) is dedicated computer memory used to store the pixels and other graphics data as a framebuffer to be rendered on a computer monitor. It often uses a different technology than other computer memory, in order to ...

: 128 KB * Storage: internal a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive (720 KB) * Ports: Printer port, two joystick ports, DIN-8 cassette port, DIN-8

composite monitor A composite monitor or composite video monitor is any analog video display that receives input in the form of an analog composite video signal to a defined specification. A composite video signal encodes all information on a single conductor; a ...

out,

SCART SCART (also known as or , especially in France, 21-pin EuroSCART in marketing by Sharp Corporation, Sharp in Asia, Euroconector in Spain, EuroAV or EXT, or EIA Multiport in the United States, as an EIA interface) is a French-originated standard ...

RGB monitor out, RF TV out and cartridge connector * Graphics:

Yamaha V9938 The Yamaha V9938 is a video display processor (VDP) used on the MSX2 home computer, as well as on the Geneve 9640 enhanced TI-99/4A clone and the Tatung Einstein 256. It was also used in a few MSX1 computers, in a configuration with 16kB VRA ...

(graphics modes with resolutions up to 512x212 pixels and up to 16 colors displayed simultaneously from a palette of 512 colors) * Sound: Yamaha S3527, capable of producing 3 channels of sound. *

Operating System An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

MSX-DOS MSX-DOS is a discontinued disk operating system developed by Microsoft's Japan subsidiary for the 8-bit home computer standard MSX, and is a cross between MS-DOS v1.25 and CP/M-80 v2.2. MSX-DOS MSX-DOS and the extended BASIC with 3½-in ...

v 1.0,

MSX BASIC MSX BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language. It is an extended version of Microsoft's MBASIC Version 4.5, adding support for graphic, music, and various peripherals attached to MSX microcomputers. Generally, MSX BASIC is designed to f ...

v 2.1 and MSX Disk BASIC v 1.0

References

{{Philips MSX2 microcomputer NMS 8245 Z80-based home computers