Let's test the Philips VG-5000 that I bought on eBay? The seller said it is working. In addition to the vintage computer, in the purchased lot there is also the French manual, the box and ... the Philips Vu-0022 power supply, which can also be useful for me for the Philips VG-8010.
This computer was manufactured by Philips from 1984 to 1986. It was intended for the French market, so it has an AZERTY keyboard and not QWERTY, as we are used to seeing them. It is equipped with 24 KB of RAM, although in reality only 16 are intended for the program and 8 for video memory. In addition, it has 18 KB ROM.
The Philips VG5000, sometimes also called VG5K, is not an MSX-compatible computer, so it needs specific software. However, you can find, on the internet, emulators and software in abundance!
In this video, I had made unboxing.
Power supply Philips VU0022
As I said before, together with the computer, I also bought a Philips VG-0022 power supply that allows me to power both the VG5000 and the VG8010, an MSX computer that I own in collection. When it comes to vintage computers, the first thing I do is check the power supply voltages, because, if a power supply were damaged and gave a wrong voltage, it could damage the computer electronics.
The footing of the power supply connector is reported below and is seen on the side of the connector welds, or from the back of the computer. To test the tensions on the side of the contacts of the DIN connector, the arrangement of the mirror feet must be considered.
Fortunately, the power supply tensions are correct.
Test of the Philips VG-5000
Once the power voltages have been verified, I connected the VG5000 to the monitor to see if it works. Fortunately, the seller, on Ebay, had declared the truth: the computer is tested and working. To connect the Philips VG-5000 you need a Video Din to Scart cable. I can't use that of the Philips VG8010, because that model has a composite video output, while the VG5000 has an RGB exit.
I was not satisfied with just turning on the computer: I also tried the keyboard keys and I wrote a simple program in BASIC.
Philips Power Supply VU0022 for MSX Computer Philips VG8010
Finally, I connected the Vu 0022 power supply also to the Philips VG8010. Finally, even that computer I have in the collection has obtained its power supply!
To connect the Philips VG8010 you use a Composite video cable.
The first test with the black LG TV did not go well ... the TV is not perfectly compatible and, occasionally, shows distorted screens. For this, I connected a second TV, Sharp LC20, which shows a perfect screen.
In short, not all LCD TVs are compatible with our vintage computers!
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