Emulators
For an MSX, the disk drive is the most important thing next to cartridges.
You cannot insert a cartridge in a PC, so the disk drive remains.
If the disk drive in my MSX is broken, the MSX is broken.
If an MSX emulator cannot read and use MSX floppies, it is not an MSX emulator.
MSX is one flop after another in the disk drive and playing games.
An MSX emulator that cannot do that is not an MSX emulator.
Games on four, six or even more physical floppy disks is no problem for an MSX and the best emulator should be able to do that too.
RuMSX can do that and I have found no equal.
I have looked and nothing has changed in all these years.
openMSX cannot be used by the common person with windows. openMSX is nothing like MSX.
It can not use MSX floppies and even starting a dsk or rom file is difficult for Windows.
blueMSX reads the entire floppy disk and puts it in its memory and only then will blueMSX work with it.
You can remove the physical diskette, because blueMSX does not work with it, but with what it has put in memory.
Games on more than two floppy disks cannot be played with blueMSX, as RuMSX can.
But blueMSX has a nice interface and for those who never work with physical floppy disks a nice MSX emulator.
Then you are dependent on the dsk files that others have made from physical diskettes.
Playing MSX games on a PC is different from emulating MSX.
You should be able to insert and use MSX floppies in the PC as you would on a real MSX.
That is emulating an MSX.
An MSX cannot do anything with a flop with a rom file on it, or you have to use other programs.
DSK files are close to MSX and ROM files have little to do with MSX.
Only with tricks can an MSX use ROM files.
I read everywhere now in 2020 that openMSX and blueMSX are the best msx emulators.
But I have now tried to boot a msx flop with openMSX in 2020, but it won't. I also cannot use an image of an msx flop, a dsk file. Let alone write dsk to a floppy disk or vice versa create a dsk file. Even booting a rom file cannot be done in a user-friendly way with openMSX under windows. When I click on a rom file or on a dsk file, it does not open in openMSX. To use openMSX you have to read and study a long manual. For openMSX you have to study to use it. It's nothing like MSX.
openMSX is therefore not a good msx emulator
My experiences with openMSX
blueMSX looks a lot better than openMSX and even seems user-friendly.
But blueMSX doesn't understand at all about the diskettes that are so important to MSX.
You cannot use an MSX diskette in the pc with openMSX and not with blueMSX.
But that is possible with RuMSX and the accompanying disk manager.
My experiences with blueMSX
Floppy into the PC floppy drive and play, just like a real MSX.
RuMSX comes with a disk manager and with this you can create dsk files from a real msx flop.
You can also write the contents of a dsk file to a floppy and then use it on a real MSX.
That's an MSX emulator !!!
To the left of this comes the button RuMSX the real MSX emulator.
There you can read and learn all about the use of MSX floppies on the PC.
Using real MSX diskettes on a PC with RuMSX
If you can't put an MSX floppy in a pc's disk drive and a simple MSX command do ... files to see what's on a floppy ... you don't have a real MSX emulator.
If an MSX emulator can only work with rom files and dsk files that don't work on an MSX at all, it is not an MSX emulator.
There are more and more rom files and dsk files that only work on a PC and not on an MSX, not even with all kinds of tricks.
If you put such a dsk file on a real floppy disk, then it should work on an MSX, but don't.
It is then made to work on the PC imitating an MSX and not to work on a real MSX ... that's not MSX emulation.
These emulators increasingly emulate a kind of MSX-like computer that never existed.
The motto is to keep working with physical diskettes that work on MSX computers.
A really good MSX emulator can then use those floppies.
Rom and dsk files that do not work on a real MSX are not MSX
You should be able to make a floppy disk from a dsk file and use it on an MSX.
A rom file on a floppy disk must be playable on an MSX
Otherwise you emulate a computer that never existed.
You cannot insert a cartridge in a PC, so the disk drive remains.
If the disk drive in my MSX is broken, the MSX is broken.
If an MSX emulator cannot read and use MSX floppies, it is not an MSX emulator.
MSX is one flop after another in the disk drive and playing games.
An MSX emulator that cannot do that is not an MSX emulator.
Games on four, six or even more physical floppy disks is no problem for an MSX and the best emulator should be able to do that too.
RuMSX can do that and I have found no equal.
I have looked and nothing has changed in all these years.
openMSX cannot be used by the common person with windows. openMSX is nothing like MSX.
It can not use MSX floppies and even starting a dsk or rom file is difficult for Windows.
blueMSX reads the entire floppy disk and puts it in its memory and only then will blueMSX work with it.
You can remove the physical diskette, because blueMSX does not work with it, but with what it has put in memory.
Games on more than two floppy disks cannot be played with blueMSX, as RuMSX can.
But blueMSX has a nice interface and for those who never work with physical floppy disks a nice MSX emulator.
Then you are dependent on the dsk files that others have made from physical diskettes.
You should be able to insert and use MSX floppies in the PC as you would on a real MSX.
That is emulating an MSX.
An MSX cannot do anything with a flop with a rom file on it, or you have to use other programs.
DSK files are close to MSX and ROM files have little to do with MSX.
Only with tricks can an MSX use ROM files.
I read everywhere now in 2020 that openMSX and blueMSX are the best msx emulators.
But I have now tried to boot a msx flop with openMSX in 2020, but it won't. I also cannot use an image of an msx flop, a dsk file. Let alone write dsk to a floppy disk or vice versa create a dsk file. Even booting a rom file cannot be done in a user-friendly way with openMSX under windows. When I click on a rom file or on a dsk file, it does not open in openMSX. To use openMSX you have to read and study a long manual. For openMSX you have to study to use it. It's nothing like MSX.
openMSX is therefore not a good msx emulator
My experiences with openMSX
blueMSX looks a lot better than openMSX and even seems user-friendly.
But blueMSX doesn't understand at all about the diskettes that are so important to MSX.
You cannot use an MSX diskette in the pc with openMSX and not with blueMSX.
But that is possible with RuMSX and the accompanying disk manager.
My experiences with blueMSX
Floppy into the PC floppy drive and play, just like a real MSX.
RuMSX comes with a disk manager and with this you can create dsk files from a real msx flop.
You can also write the contents of a dsk file to a floppy and then use it on a real MSX.
That's an MSX emulator !!!
To the left of this comes the button RuMSX the real MSX emulator.
There you can read and learn all about the use of MSX floppies on the PC.
Using real MSX diskettes on a PC with RuMSX
If you can't put an MSX floppy in a pc's disk drive and a simple MSX command do ... files to see what's on a floppy ... you don't have a real MSX emulator.
If an MSX emulator can only work with rom files and dsk files that don't work on an MSX at all, it is not an MSX emulator.
There are more and more rom files and dsk files that only work on a PC and not on an MSX, not even with all kinds of tricks.
If you put such a dsk file on a real floppy disk, then it should work on an MSX, but don't.
It is then made to work on the PC imitating an MSX and not to work on a real MSX ... that's not MSX emulation.
These emulators increasingly emulate a kind of MSX-like computer that never existed.
The motto is to keep working with physical diskettes that work on MSX computers.
A really good MSX emulator can then use those floppies.
Rom and dsk files that do not work on a real MSX are not MSX
You should be able to make a floppy disk from a dsk file and use it on an MSX.
A rom file on a floppy disk must be playable on an MSX
Otherwise you emulate a computer that never existed.