Philips VG-8020
Philips produced a few of its own computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but later adopted the MSX standard. This VG8020 was manufactured for Philips by Kyocera (in Japan).
Technical specifications of computer Philips VG-8020
Manufactured by: Philips
Launched: 1983
Price: 99900 ESP
Manufactured in 
Netherlands
CPU: Zilog Z80A
@ 3.56MHz
Memory: 640 KB
Hard drive:
Operating system: MSX-DOS
The VG-8020 was Philips' third MSX-1 microcomputer, released after the VG-8000 (which didn't even have a printer port) and the VG-8010.
Unlike its predecessors, this version had a mechanical keyboard and arrow keys.
The 8020 was a notable improvement over its predecessor, the VG8010, which had a calculator-style keyboard and wasn't fully compatible with MSX.
Philips later marketed several MSX-2 models, called the VG82xx or NMS82xx (for example, the VG8230 or NMS8250).
The VG-8020 was released in 1983 and featured a 3.56 MHz Zilog Z80A processor, 64KB of RAM, and 16KB of RAM. VRAM and had two cartridge slots.
There are different versions of this model:
- Philips VG 8020/00, with a QWERTY keyboard and PAL video.
- Philips VG 8020/19, with an Azerty keyboard and RGB video, for the French market. Its revised board included the S3257 IC (MSX Engine), which replaced two other ICs.
- Phonola VG 8020 (distributed by the Italian subsidiary Phonola).
- Philips VG 8020/29, with a QWERTZ keyboard, sold in Germany.
Two revisions of the VG 8020/00 version were subsequently released:
- Philips VG 8020/20, with a revised motherboard, fewer ICs (from 50 to about ten) and better quality, including the S3257 IC (replacing the 8255 and GI AY 3-8919 ICs), which caused incompatibility with some programs.
- Philips VG 8020/40, with slight modifications compared to the previous one.
