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[JoyNet - Main] [JoyNet-cable] [Alternative cable] [JoyNet to PC cable] [Software] [News]
[Protocols] [Suggestions] [Opinions]

Thanks go to Maarten ter Huurne, Alex Wulms, Sean Young, Werner Augusto Roder Kai, Patrick Lina, Maico Arts, Jeroen Smael, Laurens Holst (me) and all other people who contributed to the development of this new standard.

Discussions about JoyNet are mainly being held on the MSX Mailinglist. More information about the MSX Mailinglist. If you have any additions, modifications, questions or replies concerning the information on this page, then mail me at laurensh1@yahoo.com.

!!! Important note !!! - Some people said the send-part of the cable should be larger than the recieve-part. This is BULLSHIT. It can only work confusing, for the cables can't be connected wrong anyway, because the send-side of the cable hasn't got the same connector as the recieve-part. You can ofcourse still make the send-side longer but that is on your own risk (well there isn't really a risk, but it might be that your cable can't be connected well to other cables for the difference in length doesn't comply to eachother... (source: Patrick Lina)

!!! Another important note !!! - There still isn't an prescription for the size of the cable. A good size is 2m per cable (=4m total length). Maarten ter Huurne tested this by continuously sending 16k-blocks using his protocol and only after 2500 times sending an error occurred. Read below at opinions and suggestions for more detailed info.

MSX (DB9 /f) --> SEND (DIN5 180 /m) RECV (DIN5 180 /f)

MSX (DB9 /f) pin layout:
1 - RECV pin 1 2 - RECV pin 2 3 - SEND pin 3 4 - nc 5 - nc 6 - SEND pin 1 7 - SEND pin 2 8 - RECV pin 3 9 - SEND / RECV pin 5

SEND (DIN5 180 /m) pin layout:
1 - MSX pin 6 2 - MSX pin 7 3 - MSX pin 3 4 - nc 5 - MSX pin 9

RECV (DIN5 180 /f) pin layout:
1 - MSX pin 1 2 - MSX pin 2 3 - MSX pin 8 4 - nc 5 - MSX pin 9

An explaining diagram:

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An alternative cable

When just connecting 2 MSX-computers, this cable, which is compatible with the cable of F1-spirit (but not with the one of Blokslag, Zeeslag etc.), can be used too (although the one discribed above is preferred):

MSX1 (DS9 /f) --> MSX2 (DS9 /f)

MSX1 (DB9 /f) pin layout:
1 - MSX2 pin 6 2 - MSX2 pin 7 3 - MSX2 pin 8 4 - nc 5 - nc 6 - MSX2 pin 1 7 - MSX2 pin 2 8 - MSX2 pin 3 9 - MSX2 pin 9

MSX2 (DB9 /f) pin layout:
vice versa

An explaining diagram:

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JoyNet to PC cable

This cable can be used for many things, for example for JoyNet emulation on emulators, or for transferring data between a MSX and a PC.

PC (DB25 /m) --> SEND (DIN5 180 /m) RECV (DIN5 180 /f)

PC (DB25 /m) pin layout:
2 - SEND pin 1 3 - SEND pin 2 4 - RECV pin 3 xxx - nc 10 - SEND pin 3 11 - nc 12 - RECV pin 2 13 - RECV pin 1 xxx - nc 18-25 - SEND / RECV pin 5

SEND (DIN5 180 /m) pin layout:
1 - PC pin 2 2 - PC pin 3 3 - PC pin 10 4 - nc 5 - PC pin 18-25

RECV (DIN5 180 /f) pin layout:
1 - PC pin 13 2 - PC pin 12 3 - PC pin 4 4 - nc 5 - PC pin 18-25

An explaining diagram:

A JoyNet test-program (to test the cable) can be found at Maarten ter Huurne's page. Source and instructions how-to-use can also be found there.

Also, Maarten ter Huurne published the first beta of the JoyNet Tetris-clone he is making... It can once again be found at his homepage.

Also, at the homepage of the MSX Core Club, a small game using JoyNet can be found. It's laserbikes!!! You can download it at their English JoyNet pages, or go to their official homepage: http://www.msxcoreclub.cjb.net/.