That would be awesome but did you know the more powerful FM Towns can run Windows 98? Yes, see my FM Towns special. That white unit I use can run Windows 98.
FM Towns is a really neat looking machine, I like the fact that its not beige like alot of PCs at the time, so yellowing should be less of an issue. Also shows what the 386 could do when paired with the right kind of graphics hardware (something most normal PCs at the time lacked)
8-Bit Guy is watching this going "Dude's muscling in on my territory!" X3 There is very something fascinating about these "Sort of, but not really IBM Compatible PCs", my first Desktop system was a Tandy-1000, a sort of off-shoot of the IBM PC Jr. architecture. It had a 16-color display when most people were still using 4 colors, and it had the same sound processor that Master System used. So PC games looked and sounded pretty great for the time. And...I had a hard drive. A whopping 20 Megabyte monster! Disk swapping? No thank you, I'll just install that game.
Hehe, I watch the 8bit guy too and his other channel, 8bit keys. I know the Tandy system very well. It was also available in the UK were Radio Shack was actually called Tandy :) it was a great little system for its time. One of the few clones that could be considered better than the original.
Really cool teardown, cleaning and showing us some hardware. You have so much awesome hardware in Japan we don't have in Europe. Do this more often .. :D
The FM Towns and Sharp X68000 are stuff of legend for us living in England. You've done a great job of cleaning that up and I'm quite jealous of the final piece.
I'm actually surprised at how well it cleaned up myself. I didn't really think I'd get all of the gunk off of it either but that deSolveit worked wonders. Best of all, it doesn't discolour the plastics.
Congrats Mark for rescuing this beauty out of its misery. After the clean-up, it really shows what designers of that era were capable of. I would have liked to watch it full spec and running the very best it can offer, but hey, i understand that you can't have everything in one go. Maybe there's a follow-up video to the restoration? Or maybe a an full-blown FM Towns video in the good ole' Retro Core way? If so, I'm looking forward for it. Nice video as usual, Mark. Keep your great job!
It's coming. I'm just getting the games ready for it. Also, I may do a short helpful guide on getting it to run on a modern TV. There's only one video on UA-cam explaining how but it's in Japanese. It was that video where I got my info from.
A 386 has 24bit address bits so it can effectively address up to 16 megabytes of RAM. Perhaps you should have tried removing the SIMM that was in there and use just the two you had.
@@RetroCore Speaking from experience of having built computer since the early 90's try only using 2 matched pairs of RAM running at the same speed, and you might have to go through a few different brands before you find a pair that your board likes.
They are not to rare in Japan but most have issues with them such as a dead CD drive or other problems. So far I'm quite lucky with this one. I think the biggest problem is the shipping cost overseas. These things are heavy.
The magic eraser does work but you have to be careful as it can sand through,but I usually add a bit of rubbing alcohol as I don't like using the eraser dry. Also awesome video as always.
Not sure if you can get them in Japan, but Mr. Clean Magic Erasers will take care of that hard to clean grime no problem. It's great for the really tricky stuff and is sometimes the only thing that will work.
Ah yes, I know of the magic Eraser. We have them here but I don't have any in the house. I'll pick some up and see how it works on the little marks that are still stuck on the case.
The intro really got my back up. I have no idea if you're being sponsored or if you're just trying to advertise your affiliate account. Paused the video as the advert ended and made this comment so maybe you explain it better later but even so. Difficult to know what you're showing me when I don't know what sort of deal you have with them. Ideally you could do with a "sponsored by" before you start recommending them like Censored gaming does with it's Nord VPN advert or alternatively the first words out of your mouth post-advert should be "This was sent to me by..." or "This video was sponsored by..."
Fair comment. I'll do that should Buyee want to have another mention in the future. To be clear though, that FM Towns was a system I bought with my own money a few months ago.
I understood. Proxy services rarely sponsor people. BUYEE is a Proxy site that allows people to buy from Japan auction sites in other countries. I use a different proxy but they all work the same. I spent over $12K last year buying stuff from japan.
You know what I wanna do Everytime I see Old computer case try to make sleeper build, keep the beauty look outside but change everything inside with more newer hardware, and this FM town unit look promising for few hardware upgrade but the tricky part probably to find DVD/Blu-ray player to fit in these case.
The casing on the inside of an FM Towns is like a maze of plastic. You'd never fit a real modern PC in there. A compact board would fint but then there's the issue of expansion cards. It is a lovely looking system though. The vertical mounted CD drive is very good looking.
@@RetroCore hmm well we can use PCI-e extension for the GPU and other, while Mini ITX motherboard can fit this beauty just fine same as power supply, but the main problem is the CD drive.
If I did an updated FM Towns, would it be based on a modified Windows 10 Pro? Also, what specs would be good enough in theory to make an FM Towns style PC based on an Intel 10/11th gen CPU and be backwards compatible with FM Towns/FM Towns II?
Hello, I have just acquired the same machine, it works well but I would also like to increase the Simm memory, do you have the reference of the memory modules that you have added? Thank you in advance (sorry for my English I use Google Translate because I speak English very badly
FM Towns can be expanded with a 72-pin SIMM sticks. The earlier FM Towns models will only support 1MB or 2MB sticks but a cheap 4MB PC stick can be installed as well (will not be fully used). Note: FM Towns use the detection pins on RAM sticks to tell how much memory is installed. That usually means a typical PC SIMM will require some solder jumpers (migh also use 0ohm resistors or just short pieces of wire) configured properly to be detected and used. I didn't have this problem with my Samsung Simm
Nice video. I was really hoping you were doing a complete tear down. I have to repair the PSU in mine and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get it apart!
Getting these things apart is a real pain in the arse. There are so many hidden plastic tabs. I need to access the power button on mine but can't get to it thanks to some mysterious force keeping the case stuck to the metal frame.
I did. That was even more strange. One 16mb sim came up as 4mb while two resulted in 6mb when the total should have been 32. Could be that the FM Towns needs a certain make of sim? Or some configuration needs to be done. I will look in to that once my FM Towns Keyboard arrives.
I think you are right. I didn't notice that while filming. I have some contact cleaner so I'll be giving that a going over and checking for any other rust.
I have the FM TOWNS II HR version desktop, but its PSU automatically shuts down after a few minutes when turned on. One local repairman said "Get a working PSU.", but closed down sometime later and became one Mexican restaurant, then another. Another repairman was able to replace all of its capacitors, but even with a voltage converter, auto shut downs are still there. Same repairman said he needs schematics, but I couldn't find them. Any advice?
What so special about this classic machine that made you bought it? Is it for certain specific retro gaming project related? Or is it just gonna be another classic item for display in your personal collection?
I don't have any display items as such since I use every system I own. The reason for buying this is because I've always loved the look of if with it's front vertical CD tray and games which mostly have fully remade remixed soundtracks. It's also home to many excellent Japanese games and even a few enhanced PC games.
I will agree. The TOWNS was ahead of it's time. It was the First PC with a CD DRIVE built into it and offered as a standard peripheral. The CD Peak Meter on the FM TOWNS is really special and neat. The System was made during the golden age of Japanese gaming and has some amazing arcade ports. The Towns is a really fantastic system.
I recently got myself an FM-Towns model 1 in a working condition, but with just one pre-installed 1MB RAM module, which pretty much subtrcts t least half of the games I could potentially play on it. From what I was able to gather, it supports two more modules, 2MB max each. But I couldn't find RAM for FM-Towns anywhere on YAJ and other places (I'm not living in Japan, so - yeah, it's Buyee for me indeed). I did find some mentions that it supports a standard 72-pin non-EDO SIMM RAM, but 2MB modules are rare and costs a lot. And no guarantee they'll work at all. Since you were able to get some modules, perhaps you could point to a correct direction where to look for them? Thanks in advance!
Yeah, the 16MB modules I'm using are standard PC 72-pin non-EDO SIMM RAM (Samsung and Toshiba brands) however the FM Towns only reads 1MB from each simm. The simm module installed on the system when I got it is 10MB. So now I have a total of 12MB. I bought my modules from the PC Recycle bin at Hard Off. They were only 105 yen each. So I may not be able to use all 32MB or the two 16MB modules but for a grand total of 210 yen I can't complain. I suggest looking on Yahoo Auctions for PC memory. It should be really cheap.
@@RetroCore thank you very much for your answer! I will try do like you suggested, hope it'll work. I like this little machine - even the box and internals design is so handy and convenient, nothing can compare even today.
Pity that cricketer Mark 'Tubby' Taylor didn't do ads for the FM Towns in Australia. It would have been 'Australia's favorite PC' and would have allowed a normally Japanese only computer to break into the Australian/New Zealand market.
I see. Thanks for the info. I did buy this RAM from the Junk Bin in Hard Off so there is a strong possibility that it is bad. It's very cheap though, less than a can of drink. So I'll grab a few more and try those out.
I read up on the Fujitsu FM Towns a couple of years ago, and it sounded like an interesting computer. This one is quite beautiful indeed. By the way, in addition to playing Red Book audio from CDs, the FM Towns also has a Yamaha YM2612 chip, which was also used in the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive, and a Ricoh RF5c68 chip, an 8-channel PCM chip which was also used in some Sega arcade boards.
That it does. Most FM Towns games also have fully arranged soundtracks exclusive to the FM Towns system. Games that do use chip generated music can also sound very good.
One of my friends told me about Buyee. I used it to get one of the second-generation (read: good) Virtua Sticks for the Saturn, and I also got a copy of DoDonPachi for good measure. Stick was in good shape, just needed some WD-40 to loosen up the lever and buttons bit, and it was good to go. Said friend also used it to get a RealArcade VF for the Saturn, which he now uses at our weekly Virtua Fighter meetups. Got it for precisely one yen. ^_^
@@RetroCore think the marty can play FM towns games not the other way around, maybe worth you trying a copied marty game on it, i call try truxton 2 ..
Oh, I didn't know that. I do have a complete FM Towns ISO set which does include Tatsujin 2 (Turxton 2). I've yet to burn it to a disc so I should try that. I would imagine it would work since a Marty can play some FM Towns discs as you mentiined and they are both basically the same machine.
Thanks, Perkinson78 . I'm off to the local used computer store this weekend but if I can't find a bay cover there I may just take you up on your offer.
Cool machine, but I don't see how one could consider simple washing a restoration. Or an item with major scratches and peels 'almost as good as new'. You had so much better and interesting videos before, this one seems to be just an excuse for embedded advertising.
Restoration does not mean a full on cap replacement as many do these days. A restoration can be something as simple as a cleaning if it's restoring the machine. In this case I restored the original light grey colour and removed the gunk stuck on it. I also added more memory, cleaned the disc drives and checked the drive belts (not shown on the video. Seems I didn't record that.) but all was good. As mentioned, this system wasn't used much. As for the good as new statement, that was a little humor. After saying that I also said, maybe not as there are still a few marks and such. One thing I will make clear is that this video was NOT made just to plug Buyee. They just got in contact with me at the right time. Way back when I got this system I did mention I'd be making a video of it being cleaned up.
@@RetroCore Magic Erasers are good on getting stuff off as well. Be careful not to scrub to much on textured surfaces it'll make them smooth.Great video thanks.😉
FM - Fujitsu Micro TOWNS - is the last name of a famous PHd computer engineer MR. TOWNES. But the Japanese do not pronounce the E the same way so they dropped it to TOWNS so they say it Phonetically correct.
Haha, I can believe that. I've only bought used stuff in the UK once and it was disgusting. Also uses games have writing on the discs, cartridge or manual. They're often dirty and scratches too. That's one thing I love about Japan. Used stuff often looks new. The FM Towns in this video was sold as junk however which explains why it was filthy for Japanese standards.
Buyee is way too expensive, it has too many fees, might aswell use ZENMARKET, the only fee you'll ever have to pay is a 300¥ fee and you're done, pay shipping inside and outside japan and that's it! Way cheaper and more reliable, it even has a more "foreigner friendly" UI, so you don't get lost!
That is a nice looking machine but you got away with one there! You should remove all the panels and clean them separately to begin with. You are lucky that you only got liquid on the speaker and not the motherboard. Also a compressed air canister is the way to go when you want to remove dust from inside a computer. FM towns are too expensive to be taking those risks. I was praying for you and I don't even believe in God. LoL.
The 20F machine you using can not take that much ram. FM TOWNS20F0F Separate type 80386 DX (16 MHz) 2MB 2MB 8MB 8MB 8MB - 26MB 100 ns or less2mode 2 groups By default you only get 2MB of ram and you can only do 8MB on each slot for a total of 26MB of ram. If you need a Cover for the back slot.. there are 3 for sale. But If you decide to buy them.. and you want to sell one once you get them let me know. I can use one as well. page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w239520779
So I'm guessing that with the installed sim my system has it's loading 8MB from that plus the 2MB (on the board?) which is why it says 10MB with just the 1 sim in it? Thanks for the link. I've put a bid on them. Should I win I'd be happy to sell you the remaining two or one if that's all you need. Call it 500 yen plus shipping. With tax added these will cost me around 1280 yen shipped.
So, I did actually win those 3 back covers. I'll only be keeping one so if you need to buy the others they are yours for 500 yen plus p&p. Shoot me a mail if you'd like them. Mes1975jp (at Mark) Gmail. com
Man, this is disappointing. It's very sad to see you shilling an incredibly sub-par proxy service that poorly packages items to almost guarantee they sustain damage in transit, while at the same time performing an effortless "restoration". You can do better.
I used them for a little under a year and every single package I received from them had at least one flaw (something like 20 or 30 packages). The most extreme case was that of an incredibly rare IBM Multistation CRT monitor which looked as though it had self-combusted during shipment; it was in hundreds of pieces. The staff at buyee decided that all the monitor needed was a piece of foam on the bottom, some cardboard on the front glass, and some thin bubblewrap around the sides. Not a single part of it was salvageable and because of buyee, to this day there isn't a single known fully functional IBM Multistation set anywhere in the world. I also bought many big box PC games through them and they always arrived squished compared to the auction's photos. And I knew for a fact that this was buyee's shoddy packaging and not the Yahoo seller's, because I was buying from people who I had bought from previously whilst living in Japan, and they packaged things immaculately. I've heard from others that buyee is now packaging their shipments properly, but it's impossible for me to go back OR recommend them to anybody after the horrible experiences I had with them.
That classic piece of hardware needed a good restoration. Thumps up for the video Mark and greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
YO se de donde sos!
Imagine, building an windows 98 gaming PC with this case, how badass it would be
That would be awesome but did you know the more powerful FM Towns can run Windows 98? Yes, see my FM Towns special. That white unit I use can run Windows 98.
No, this one could of it was upgraded but as stock it couldn't.
Mark this was a great video! The restoration really took me to "FUNKY TOWNS"!!!!.......I will see myself out now...
FM Towns is a really neat looking machine, I like the fact that its not beige like alot of PCs at the time, so yellowing should be less of an issue.
Also shows what the 386 could do when paired with the right kind of graphics hardware (something most normal PCs at the time lacked)
Indeed. I was very surprised to find it had a 386 at its core.
I have wondered ever since I started using SCUMMVM what the heck FM Towns was. Good to know.
Something new for me - again.
Thanks for this video !
You're welcome, KISSbestfan
8-Bit Guy is watching this going "Dude's muscling in on my territory!" X3 There is very something fascinating about these "Sort of, but not really IBM Compatible PCs", my first Desktop system was a Tandy-1000, a sort of off-shoot of the IBM PC Jr. architecture. It had a 16-color display when most people were still using 4 colors, and it had the same sound processor that Master System used. So PC games looked and sounded pretty great for the time. And...I had a hard drive. A whopping 20 Megabyte monster! Disk swapping? No thank you, I'll just install that game.
Hehe, I watch the 8bit guy too and his other channel, 8bit keys.
I know the Tandy system very well. It was also available in the UK were Radio Shack was actually called Tandy :) it was a great little system for its time. One of the few clones that could be considered better than the original.
@@RetroCore I loved mine. I got it second hand from an uncle, who had tricked it out a bit. He also gave me several Shareware floppies. Good times.
@5:28 you mean they "really went to Towns on this thing"
I try to avoid direct puns 👍
Really cool teardown, cleaning and showing us some hardware.
You have so much awesome hardware in Japan we don't have in Europe.
Do this more often .. :D
I'd love to but it's expensive buying hardware.
It looks so much better after you cleaned it!
Thanks, Mauz.
What an awesome machine. That CD drive on the front is gorgeous.
That's one of the main features that drew me towards the system.
The FM Towns and Sharp X68000 are stuff of legend for us living in England. You've done a great job of cleaning that up and I'm quite jealous of the final piece.
I'm actually surprised at how well it cleaned up myself. I didn't really think I'd get all of the gunk off of it either but that deSolveit worked wonders. Best of all, it doesn't discolour the plastics.
Yes!! 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻 Great video and work!
Thank you! Cheers!
Restoration = make it like new or near. That is what i see here. So it's a good video thanks for sharing !
Congrats Mark for rescuing this beauty out of its misery. After the clean-up, it really shows what designers of that era were capable of. I would have liked to watch it full spec and running the very best it can offer, but hey, i understand that you can't have everything in one go. Maybe there's a follow-up video to the restoration? Or maybe a an full-blown FM Towns video in the good ole' Retro Core way? If so, I'm looking forward for it. Nice video as usual, Mark. Keep your great job!
Oh yes, there will be a full blown Retro Core special on the FM Towns. I plan to have it out by mid March.
Can't wait for a retro core episode about that pc!
It's coming. I'm just getting the games ready for it. Also, I may do a short helpful guide on getting it to run on a modern TV. There's only one video on UA-cam explaining how but it's in Japanese. It was that video where I got my info from.
Very nice looking piece of hardware
Great video
Thanks, AUSTIN PEYTON
I would totally build a modern computer in that case
The case is so vintage for an modern pc
Good job Mark! That's a beauty. I plan to own a FM Towns one day.
Thanks. This machine needed a good clean up. I'm happy it came out as good as it did.
Good job on the cleaning. Looks great!
Thanks!
A 386 has 24bit address bits so it can effectively address up to 16 megabytes of RAM. Perhaps you should have tried removing the SIMM that was in there and use just the two you had.
Yep, I did that but that gave even more strange results of less memory. I need to look in to this once my keyboard arrives.
@@RetroCore Speaking from experience of having built computer since the early 90's try only using 2 matched pairs of RAM running at the same speed, and you might have to go through a few different brands before you find a pair that your board likes.
Yeah I really enjoy these type of videos when you add music to it. I also love the joke at the end, lol.
Joke? I'm trying to remember what I said now :)
Glad to see Marks kills in action to make old units come alive to look and perform better. Really glad you got the skills to do so bro. 8^)
Anthony..
such a good looking machine
Would love to get one of these or a X68000!!
And nice clean up.
The X68000 would be very cool to have.
Lovely stuff
A very interesting unique machine. I love Japanese kit. Great video :)
Thanks for watching.
I'm so jealous, I've wanted one for a long time.
They are not to rare in Japan but most have issues with them such as a dead CD drive or other problems. So far I'm quite lucky with this one.
I think the biggest problem is the shipping cost overseas. These things are heavy.
A pencil eraser is great for removing sticker residue , you can also try using a magic eraser ( avoid decals ) . Great video as always.
Ah yes, the magic eraser is a good item to use. I'll try one of those on a few light scratched which I couldn't remove.
The magic eraser does work but you have to be careful as it can sand through,but I usually add a bit of rubbing alcohol as I don't like using the eraser dry.
Also awesome video as always.
Thanks for the advice.
Not sure if you can get them in Japan, but Mr. Clean Magic Erasers will take care of that hard to clean grime no problem. It's great for the really tricky stuff and is sometimes the only thing that will work.
Ah yes, I know of the magic Eraser. We have them here but I don't have any in the house. I'll pick some up and see how it works on the little marks that are still stuck on the case.
That case is beefy to say the least heh. Looks great and thanks for the tour inside. :D
Thanks for watching. I just need to get a few more issues sorted out regarding video capture options then i can do a full on feature.
wow amazing video
ah, the fm towns...pure tech porn for me...love that system...
Really nice job, I love clean up videos.
Thanks. The unit is now much better than it once was.
Looking really nice now! great work. A shame it was never properly taken care of before, though.
Sadly some systems are just left to rot. This one was caught in time.
The intro really got my back up. I have no idea if you're being sponsored or if you're just trying to advertise your affiliate account. Paused the video as the advert ended and made this comment so maybe you explain it better later but even so. Difficult to know what you're showing me when I don't know what sort of deal you have with them. Ideally you could do with a "sponsored by" before you start recommending them like Censored gaming does with it's Nord VPN advert or alternatively the first words out of your mouth post-advert should be "This was sent to me by..." or "This video was sponsored by..."
Fair comment. I'll do that should Buyee want to have another mention in the future.
To be clear though, that FM Towns was a system I bought with my own money a few months ago.
I understood. Proxy services rarely sponsor people.
BUYEE is a Proxy site that allows people to buy from Japan auction sites in other countries.
I use a different proxy but they all work the same.
I spent over $12K last year buying stuff from japan.
'The Fujitsu manufacturers really went to TOWN'
I see what you did there.
You know what I wanna do Everytime I see Old computer case try to make sleeper build, keep the beauty look outside but change everything inside with more newer hardware, and this FM town unit look promising for few hardware upgrade but the tricky part probably to find DVD/Blu-ray player to fit in these case.
The casing on the inside of an FM Towns is like a maze of plastic. You'd never fit a real modern PC in there. A compact board would fint but then there's the issue of expansion cards. It is a lovely looking system though. The vertical mounted CD drive is very good looking.
@@RetroCore hmm well we can use PCI-e extension for the GPU and other, while Mini ITX motherboard can fit this beauty just fine same as power supply, but the main problem is the CD drive.
If I did an updated FM Towns, would it be based on a modified Windows 10 Pro? Also, what specs would be good enough in theory to make an FM Towns style PC based on an Intel 10/11th gen CPU and be backwards compatible with FM Towns/FM Towns II?
Hello, I have just acquired the same machine, it works well but I would also like to increase the Simm memory, do you have the reference of the memory modules that you have added? Thank you in advance (sorry for my English I use Google Translate because I speak English very badly
FM Towns can be expanded with a 72-pin SIMM sticks. The earlier FM Towns models will only support 1MB or 2MB sticks but a cheap 4MB PC stick can be installed as well (will not be fully used).
Note: FM Towns use the detection pins on RAM sticks to tell how much memory is installed. That usually means a typical PC SIMM will require some solder jumpers (migh also use 0ohm resistors or just short pieces of wire) configured properly to be detected and used.
I didn't have this problem with my Samsung Simm
@@RetroCore thanks you so much ! Have a nice day.
Nice video. I was really hoping you were doing a complete tear down. I have to repair the PSU in mine and for the life of me I can't figure out how to get it apart!
Getting these things apart is a real pain in the arse. There are so many hidden plastic tabs. I need to access the power button on mine but can't get to it thanks to some mysterious force keeping the case stuck to the metal frame.
You might try booting the system with just the 2 16MB SIMMS. Might be some odd quirks in mixing capacities.
I did. That was even more strange. One 16mb sim came up as 4mb while two resulted in 6mb when the total should have been 32. Could be that the FM Towns needs a certain make of sim? Or some configuration needs to be done. I will look in to that once my FM Towns Keyboard arrives.
@@RetroCore Read my stand alone comment.
I thought it was going to be a video about fixing a lot of the internal components of this computer but i did enjoy the video nonetheless.
Turns out the electronics were fine. Lucky I guess.
good video! do more stuff like this...!
btw at 7:15 the pin looks like need contact cleaner. it's a little bit rusty
I think you are right. I didn't notice that while filming. I have some contact cleaner so I'll be giving that a going over and checking for any other rust.
I got lucky with my second FM Towns at Hard Off. Cyrix 5x86 and I upgraded it to 128mb ram. Also boot from MD drive.
Did you have to configure the ram in the system settings? I haven't got a keyboard for my system yet so I can't access anything.
What's a MD Drive?
@@RetroCore Yeah I just do a couple settings. Whoops type-o. I meant MO drive. Sorry.
I have the FM TOWNS II HR version desktop, but its PSU automatically shuts down after a few minutes when turned on.
One local repairman said "Get a working PSU.", but closed down sometime later and became one Mexican restaurant, then another.
Another repairman was able to replace all of its capacitors, but even with a voltage converter, auto shut downs are still there. Same repairman said he needs schematics, but I couldn't find them.
Any advice?
Sorry, I can't advise anything except change the PSU. That seems to be the issue.
@@RetroCore An expert from Italy name Caius knows. He installed an external power switch.
ua-cam.com/video/87RLYVn58A4/v-deo.html
RECAP the PSU....
"
If that does not work - let me know I can give you a Tutorial on how to use a modern PSU to power the Towns but it is not pretty.
@@demoandcustomerservicevide4223 Not sure about recapping🤔
What does your modern PSU tutorial work like?
@@1983parrothead
it's not my tutorial.. but I can make one if you need,.
A recap is best... before you attempt a PC PSU.
It is not that hard.
What so special about this classic machine that made you bought it? Is it for certain specific retro gaming project related? Or is it just gonna be another classic item for display in your personal collection?
I don't have any display items as such since I use every system I own. The reason for buying this is because I've always loved the look of if with it's front vertical CD tray and games which mostly have fully remade remixed soundtracks. It's also home to many excellent Japanese games and even a few enhanced PC games.
I will agree. The TOWNS was ahead of it's time. It was the First PC with a CD DRIVE built into it and offered as a standard peripheral.
The CD Peak Meter on the FM TOWNS is really special and neat.
The System was made during the golden age of Japanese gaming and has some amazing arcade ports.
The Towns is a really fantastic system.
Just asking where abouts did you get the analog RGB adapter from
That was bought from a seller on Yahoo Auctions. I'm afraid I don't remember the seller's name now. It was a a few years ago when I bought it.
I recently got myself an FM-Towns model 1 in a working condition, but with just one pre-installed 1MB RAM module, which pretty much subtrcts t least half of the games I could potentially play on it. From what I was able to gather, it supports two more modules, 2MB max each. But I couldn't find RAM for FM-Towns anywhere on YAJ and other places (I'm not living in Japan, so - yeah, it's Buyee for me indeed). I did find some mentions that it supports a standard 72-pin non-EDO SIMM RAM, but 2MB modules are rare and costs a lot. And no guarantee they'll work at all. Since you were able to get some modules, perhaps you could point to a correct direction where to look for them? Thanks in advance!
Yeah, the 16MB modules I'm using are standard PC 72-pin non-EDO SIMM RAM (Samsung and Toshiba brands) however the FM Towns only reads 1MB from each simm. The simm module installed on the system when I got it is 10MB. So now I have a total of 12MB.
I bought my modules from the PC Recycle bin at Hard Off. They were only 105 yen each. So I may not be able to use all 32MB or the two 16MB modules but for a grand total of 210 yen I can't complain.
I suggest looking on Yahoo Auctions for PC memory. It should be really cheap.
@@RetroCore thank you very much for your answer! I will try do like you suggested, hope it'll work. I like this little machine - even the box and internals design is so handy and convenient, nothing can compare even today.
Wow, I didn't know these machines used a standard Intel 386 CPU. That was the same CPU that my very first PC had as a kid. How about that....
Yep, they can also be upgraded to a 486 as well.
@@RetroCore And 586.. if you really push it.
Hi Retro Core! I have a FM Towns 2 HR. When i switch it on, it switches off in a split second :( Would you know what could be wrong?
Deffinety a power transformer issue. See if you can source another. Before you do it would be good idea to check the power button just to be safe.
Pity that cricketer Mark 'Tubby' Taylor didn't do ads for the FM Towns in Australia. It would have been 'Australia's favorite PC' and would have allowed a normally Japanese only computer to break into the Australian/New Zealand market.
? www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cricketer
That is a shame. You could have have the X68000 over there too if the FM Towns took off.
@@RetroCore So, would it be possible to make a Australian fan advertisement for the X68000 as a kind of what if scenario?
Now your playing with power
Yeah that ram maybe just bad you dont configure memory like you do on the x68k, I have 68 MB in my towns maybe its an overkill
I see. Thanks for the info. I did buy this RAM from the Junk Bin in Hard Off so there is a strong possibility that it is bad. It's very cheap though, less than a can of drink. So I'll grab a few more and try those out.
This will help....
Check my other comments.
ibb.co/6N2cfS9
I read up on the Fujitsu FM Towns a couple of years ago, and it sounded like an interesting computer. This one is quite beautiful indeed. By the way, in addition to playing Red Book audio from CDs, the FM Towns also has a Yamaha YM2612 chip, which was also used in the Sega Genesis/MegaDrive, and a Ricoh RF5c68 chip, an 8-channel PCM chip which was also used in some Sega arcade boards.
That it does. Most FM Towns games also have fully arranged soundtracks exclusive to the FM Towns system. Games that do use chip generated music can also sound very good.
Can you buy an adapter that lets you use a PS2 or USB keyboard?
Yes, I bought one but they're really expensive. Cost me 10,000 yen.
@@RetroCore wow probably cheaper than buying a Towns keyboard do you have a link please?
Here you go. Bought mine from Amazon Japan www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B00I7SZYQW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@@RetroCore Thank you will need one for the FM Towns II HR ive just picked up.
One of my friends told me about Buyee. I used it to get one of the second-generation (read: good) Virtua Sticks for the Saturn, and I also got a copy of DoDonPachi for good measure. Stick was in good shape, just needed some WD-40 to loosen up the lever and buttons bit, and it was good to go.
Said friend also used it to get a RealArcade VF for the Saturn, which he now uses at our weekly Virtua Fighter meetups. Got it for precisely one yen. ^_^
is it my idea or that's a lot of bodge wiring in the motherboard?
Does it play Marty games ? and does it play copied games ill assume it does as there will have been no cd protection at the time..
Marty games are FM Towns games :) the Marty is basically an FM Towns with less memory.
Copied games will work fine in this system.
@@RetroCore think the marty can play FM towns games not the other way around, maybe worth you trying a copied marty game on it, i call try truxton 2 ..
Oh, I didn't know that. I do have a complete FM Towns ISO set which does include Tatsujin 2 (Turxton 2). I've yet to burn it to a disc so I should try that. I would imagine it would work since a Marty can play some FM Towns discs as you mentiined and they are both basically the same machine.
If you really cant find bay covers i have plenty but im in the states.
Thanks, Perkinson78 . I'm off to the local used computer store this weekend but if I can't find a bay cover there I may just take you up on your offer.
Cool machine, but I don't see how one could consider simple washing a restoration. Or an item with major scratches and peels 'almost as good as new'. You had so much better and interesting videos before, this one seems to be just an excuse for embedded advertising.
Come on it's a good video to discover this machine and share us more content... not agree with you
Completely agree.
Restoration does not mean a full on cap replacement as many do these days. A restoration can be something as simple as a cleaning if it's restoring the machine. In this case I restored the original light grey colour and removed the gunk stuck on it. I also added more memory, cleaned the disc drives and checked the drive belts (not shown on the video. Seems I didn't record that.) but all was good. As mentioned, this system wasn't used much.
As for the good as new statement, that was a little humor. After saying that I also said, maybe not as there are still a few marks and such.
One thing I will make clear is that this video was NOT made just to plug Buyee. They just got in contact with me at the right time. Way back when I got this system I did mention I'd be making a video of it being cleaned up.
@@RetroCore Magic Erasers are good on getting stuff off as well. Be careful not to scrub to much on textured surfaces it'll make them smooth.Great video thanks.😉
Hm....my current computer is way dirtier than that thing was. I don`t clean it.
Fm towns a very japanese naming for a pc
And family computer disk system (aka, famicom) is not?
There's actually an interesting story behind the naming of that system. A Google search should bring it up.
FM - Fujitsu Micro
TOWNS - is the last name of a famous PHd computer engineer MR. TOWNES.
But the Japanese do not pronounce the E the same way so they dropped it to TOWNS so they say it Phonetically correct.
Still not as dirty as a used PS4 or Xbox One from Gamestop.
Haha, I can believe that. I've only bought used stuff in the UK once and it was disgusting. Also uses games have writing on the discs, cartridge or manual. They're often dirty and scratches too. That's one thing I love about Japan. Used stuff often looks new. The FM Towns in this video was sold as junk however which explains why it was filthy for Japanese standards.
Buyee is way too expensive, it has too many fees, might aswell use ZENMARKET, the only fee you'll ever have to pay is a 300¥ fee and you're done, pay shipping inside and outside japan and that's it! Way cheaper and more reliable, it even has a more "foreigner friendly" UI, so you don't get lost!
That is a nice looking machine but you got away with one there! You should remove all the panels and clean them separately to begin with. You are lucky that you only got liquid on the speaker and not the motherboard. Also a compressed air canister is the way to go when you want to remove dust from inside a computer. FM towns are too expensive to be taking those risks. I was praying for you and I don't even believe in God. LoL.
Ah, compresed air would have never removed the dust inside of the case. That stiff was really thick. I would use compresses air on a PCB mind you.
The 20F machine you using can not take that much ram.
FM TOWNS20F0F Separate type 80386 DX (16 MHz) 2MB 2MB 8MB 8MB 8MB - 26MB 100 ns or less2mode 2 groups
By default you only get 2MB of ram and you can only do 8MB on each slot for a total of 26MB of ram.
If you need a Cover for the back slot.. there are 3 for sale.
But If you decide to buy them.. and you want to sell one once you get them let me know. I can use one as well.
page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w239520779
So I'm guessing that with the installed sim my system has it's loading 8MB from that plus the 2MB (on the board?) which is why it says 10MB with just the 1 sim in it?
Thanks for the link. I've put a bid on them. Should I win I'd be happy to sell you the remaining two or one if that's all you need. Call it 500 yen plus shipping. With tax added these will cost me around 1280 yen shipped.
So, I did actually win those 3 back covers. I'll only be keeping one so if you need to buy the others they are yours for 500 yen plus p&p. Shoot me a mail if you'd like them. Mes1975jp (at Mark) Gmail. com
WIll shoot you a message over the weekend. Thanks!
Man, this is disappointing. It's very sad to see you shilling an incredibly sub-par proxy service that poorly packages items to almost guarantee they sustain damage in transit, while at the same time performing an effortless "restoration". You can do better.
I never had package issues with Buyee or Noppin. And I receive a package off them almost monthly.
I used them for a little under a year and every single package I received from them had at least one flaw (something like 20 or 30 packages). The most extreme case was that of an incredibly rare IBM Multistation CRT monitor which looked as though it had self-combusted during shipment; it was in hundreds of pieces. The staff at buyee decided that all the monitor needed was a piece of foam on the bottom, some cardboard on the front glass, and some thin bubblewrap around the sides. Not a single part of it was salvageable and because of buyee, to this day there isn't a single known fully functional IBM Multistation set anywhere in the world.
I also bought many big box PC games through them and they always arrived squished compared to the auction's photos. And I knew for a fact that this was buyee's shoddy packaging and not the Yahoo seller's, because I was buying from people who I had bought from previously whilst living in Japan, and they packaged things immaculately.
I've heard from others that buyee is now packaging their shipments properly, but it's impossible for me to go back OR recommend them to anybody after the horrible experiences I had with them.
I use J Subculture. They are great.
Disgusting ? Haha try a supermarket computer or a restaurant kitchen printer.
Oh, that's a whole new level of disgusting.