The Spectravideo SVI-738 X'Press is an MSX1 compatible home computer manufactured by

Spectravideo Spectravideo International (SVI) was an American computer manufacturer and software house. It was originally called SpectraVision, a company founded by Harry Fox in 1981. The company produced video games and other software for the VIC-20 home c ...

from 1985. Although compatible with the MSX 1.0 standard, it incorporates several extensions to the standard (80-column display, serial

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard originally introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such a ...

, built-in 3.5"

floppy drive A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

); many are hardware-compatible with the MSX 2.0 standard but the system as a whole is not, leading to it being referred to as an "MSX 1.5" computer. Along with the

Sony HB-101 , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's la ...

, Canon V-8, Casio MX-10 and Hitachi MB-H1, it was a portable computer based on the MSX standard, hence the title "X'Press". It came packaged with its own carrying bag in addition to the manuals, booklets and software (

CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/ 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initial ...

2.2 and

MSX-DOS MSX-DOS is a discontinued disk operating system developed by Microsoft for the 8-bit home computer standard MSX, and is a cross between MS-DOS 1.25 and CP/M-80 2. MSX-DOS MSX-DOS and the extended BASIC with 3½-inch floppy disk support ...

1.0) a disk containing a special demonstration program featuring an astronaut flying about on the screen, demonstrating the computer's graphic capabilities and listing facts about the computer's ROM and RAM sizes. Along with the disk drive and integrated serial port, what stood out the most was the use of the graphics chip specified by the MSX-2 standard, although the use of only 16 KB of VRAM allowed you to add only an 80 column mode. This, together with bugs in the first model's design (Konami SCC-sound based cartridges do not work or have bad sound) are among the reasons for the "MSX 1.5" moniker. It ran Microsoft Disk BASIC 1.0 from ROM when turned on if no disk or a non-autoexecutable disk was inserted.

Marketing

Spectravideo SVI-738 Polish variant BASIC startup

The computer was marketed mainly in Europe, Australasia and the Middle East. In

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, 2000 units were marketed in 1986 by ''Centralna Składnica Harcerska'' at a price of 440 000 PLZ (the average salary for 18 months at that time). This was the only MSX computer to be sold in official network in communist Poland. This version of the SVI-738 was equipped with an altered keyboard and ROM in order to provide Polish-specific characters. It could also be found in schools in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. In Spain, it was initially distributed by Indescomp until the creation of a Spanish subsidiary. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, it was sold for £399.95. The SVI-738 was also sold in the United States.

Technical specifications

;

Microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

Zilog Zilog, Inc. is an American manufacturer of microprocessors and 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers. It is also a supplier of application-specific embedded system-on-chip (SoC) products. Its most famous product is the Z80 series of 8-bit microp ...

Z80 The Z80 is an 8-bit microprocessor introduced by Zilog as the startup company's first product. The Z80 was conceived by Federico Faggin in late 1974 and developed by him and his 11 employees starting in early 1975. The first working samples were ...

A with a clockspeed of 3.58 MHz ;

Memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * R ...

: 56 KB *

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * Ra ...

: 64 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. This is often different technology than other computer memory, to facilitate b ...

: 16 KB ;Video * Graphical processor:

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

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 MSX, MSX1 computers, in a configuration with 16kB VRA ...

(NTSC/PAL) :* Graphical resolution: 256 x 192 pixels :*

text mode Text mode is a computer display mode in which content is internally represented on a computer screen in terms of characters rather than individual pixels. Typically, the screen consists of a uniform rectangular grid of ''character cells'', each ...

s: 80 characters x 24 and 40 characters x 24 lines and 32 characters x 24 lines :*colors: 16 :*sprites: 32 ;Sound *

General Instrument General Instrument (GI) was an American electronics manufacturer based in Horsham, Pennsylvania, specializing in semiconductors and cable television equipment. They formed in New York City in 1923 as an electronics manufacturer. During the 1950s, ...

AY-3-8910 The AY-3-8910 is a 3-voice programmable sound generator (PSG) designed by General Instrument in 1978, initially for use with their 16-bit General Instrument CP1600, CP1610 or one of the PIC1650 series of 8-bit microcomputers. The AY-3-8910 and ...

-soundchip :*3 sound channels :*1 noise channels :*1 envelope controller ;Connectors *1 data recorder/

cassette deck A cassette deck is a type of tape machine for playing and recording audio cassettes that does not have a built-in power amplifier or speakers, and serves primarily as a transport. It can be a part of an automotive entertainment system, a part of a ...

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

s MSX *1

cartridge Cartridge may refer to: Objects * Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition * ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device * Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators Other uses * Cartridge (surname) Ca ...

DE-9 The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smallest connectors used on computer systems. Description, no ...

DB-25 The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smallest connectors used on computer systems. Description, no ...

external disk drive *1 Audio/Video set (two

RCA connector The RCA connector is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals. The name ''RCA'' derives from the company Radio Corporation of America, which introduced the design in the 1930s. The connectors male plug and ...

s) *1

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

modulator TV

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

(USA) /

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

(Europe)

Image gallery

File:SVI-738 PIC 0930.JPG File:SVI-738 PIC 0931.JPG File:SVI-738 PIC 0932.JPG File:SVI-738 PIC 0933.JPG

External links

Roger's Spectravideo page
with a photo of the motherboard.

Upgrading to a MSX2

have two conversion methods, image of disk, manuals and more.

References

{{reflist Home computers MSX

Marketing

Technical specifications

Image gallery

See also

External links

References