Need help with 2 computers from Japan

Guardian (3648)

19-06-2020, 12:25

Guys, I need help with 2 computers that I bought in Japan:

1. Hitachi MSX MB-H25
2. National MSX2 FS-4600F

The MSX2 appears to be very heavy and I can't ship the package by sea. The current courier's shipment price is 150 Euro + there will be 50 Euro import tax. Both computers with local shipment already cost me 10000 Yen (85 Euro). I really only need Hitachi MSX, the other computer can stay in Japan. As I don't want to dump the MSX2, I offer it to anyone who lives in Japan for just 35 Euro and the local shipment cost.

Or if someone from Europe wants this MSX2, I offer to share the shipment costs and the tax.

Information about computers:
https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/p766009848
https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/o397176966

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By raulsantacruz

Hero (604)

19-06-2020, 13:54

Hi Alexey,

Probably the problem is not the weight. The problem can be the dimensions of the package. Probably you select to protect it and seamail dimesions now are very small. You can try to request to Buyee to reduce size of the package....

Good luck

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3648)

21-06-2020, 12:13

Yes, the MSX2 is quite big and thick. If I don't find anyone who would buy it from me for half of its price plus half of the shipping costs (or pay the local shipment within Japan for it), I will have to dump that computer within 25 days.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3648)

04-07-2020, 13:13

In 10 days I will have to invoke plan B if no one from Japan or Korea wants to have the MSX2 for 35 Euro and local shipment cost.

By o.geerdink

Hero (588)

07-07-2020, 21:29

yes i normally combine 4 msx in 1 box with seamail. one time I added too many and it was not an option anymore. cost me a lot of extra money but.... that package arrived without vat, customs, etc. they fucked it up.

take it like a man and pay the fees. msx prices are rising fast so in a year it will be worth it ;-)

By TheClash603

Resident (33)

08-07-2020, 20:23

In the U.S., I used to have to go to the post office and sign for all foreign packages. There they would charge me any duty which was owed.

Now in a COVID-19 world, foreign packages are arriving at my house dropped off, with no signature being requested. This has made it so no duty is being requested either. COVID-19 sucks bad, but at least this is one small win. On the other hand, average package delivery time from Japan has jumped from about 10 days to 100 days...

By uberjack

Champion (328)

09-07-2020, 03:25

I've been buying from EU and Japan for years, and I don't think I've ever had to go and sign for packages - or pay duty. I did have to go pick them up from the USPS office when they attempted delivery and I wasn't around, but not when I was home. I still had to sign in either case, of course.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3648)

09-07-2020, 11:53

I paid the shipment to Germany (155 Euro). At least I will hopefully get the reduced VAT rate when I pay the importing tax (16% now). The problem with buyee.jp was that they didn't realize that the package was too big for sea shipping and they were offering me that shipping option 2 times. And in both times that failed. Luckily I got the refund in both cases.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3648)

29-07-2020, 23:29

The computers finally arrived at the customs, almost 2 weeks after being shipped from Japan. Paid 38 Euro as import tax. The computers have been cleaned up and tested. Both seem to work fine. So, I paid around 270 Euro in total for both computers. Not bad, assuming that those models are quite rare in EU.

The mini-joystick Hitachi MPN-8003H doesn't seem to work with Carnivore2. Does anyone have any experience with this joystick? It's type B, according to MSX Wiki (no idea what these types are as I never used a joystick with MSX).

By sdsnatcher73

Enlighted (4278)

30-07-2020, 06:47

No idea about the joystick but it seems the H2 is not emulated yet so running the reverse engineering tools on it and sending the output to Manuel would be nice! I am awaiting delivery of an H21 with built in tape drive (which is the only difference to the H25 I think, apart from the color scheme) so I will dump that as well.

By Wierzbowsky

Guardian (3648)

30-07-2020, 12:45

Good idea. I will reverse engineer the joystick and dump the ROM. One interesting thing about this computer is that its blue button slows it down in 2 steps. It works for Konami games, but some modern games don't like that and crash.

The case of the H25 has a cover for the tape deck placeholder. Also the power LED is done in a weird way and the thin top part of the LED can be easily broken when closing the case.

The National has some incompatibility with Carnivore2 or with Nextor's IDE driver 0.1.7. After detecting master/slave devices for the first time the computer reboots. Then detection goes without a problem and the computer boots to DOS. I will try with the older driver.