The Epson MGA Card: A Retro Gaming Treasure Trove

I recently had the opportunity to try out the 16-color Plantronics mode on my trusty old gaming rig, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it features compatibility with the Epson MGA card. This may not be a well-known fact among retro gaming enthusiasts, but it's definitely worth noting. The Epson MGA card is a relatively rare and overlooked component in the world of vintage computing, but its 16-color capabilities make it an attractive option for those looking to upgrade their gaming experience.

The display itself is also noteworthy, with bright phosphors and notable scanlines that give it a retro charm. It almost looks artificially sharpened, with 80 column text clearly legible, while still showing faint artifacting that gives everything a warm glow. I don't have any dot pitch specs for this thing, but the look of it is close to the Tandy CM-11 in my opinion. The machine itself runs at a respectable 10 megahertz Turbo XT speed, which is faster than a stock XT but still doesn't hold a candle to a 286.

The Apex was intentionally designed by Epsom to use older, lower-specced components, which puts it in the same league as other discount brands like Packard Bell. However, at least the Apex 100 has its 10 megahertz mode, which gives it a bit of a leg up with games like Lemmings that would otherwise be appallingly slow to play. It also has all the RAM you need on a system of this speed, so playing games that require an active mouse driver or some other kind of TSR is doable.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, you can also run games like AtariSoft's Defender that require a true 4.77 megahertz CPU. If you leave it at full speed, you'll die in half a second, so the ability to crank it down to XT speed is exactly what you need for games like this. And I also want to mention the sound, or lack thereof. The machine has a built-in PC speaker, but for whatever reason, it's incredibly quiet. In some games, you can hardly hear anything at all, which is especially true in games with RealSound effects like World Class Leaderboard.

But don't worry, setting the speed to full doesn't make gameplay downright painful. Instead, it's still not quick to load in the artwork, but by comparison, this is blazing fast. Much as I enjoy watching each tree being drawn, I'd rather not wait 30 seconds every time the view changes, so I'm glad that faster speed is here. And finally, I had to give a racing game a shot, and Accolade's Test Drive is always a fine choice on a slightly faster 8088 like this.

I also took it as an excuse to try out the joystick port, and yes, it works fine, plugging in right beneath the monitor! Ah, the 80s! Joysticks plugging into the graphics card? Why not, we've only got so many expansion slots, better make the most of them. And that's the Epson Apex 100!

A Neat Little Machine

The Apex was intentionally designed by Epsom to use older, lower-specced components, which puts it in the same league as other discount brands like Packard Bell. However, at least the Apex 100 has its 10 megahertz mode, which gives it a bit of a leg up with games like Lemmings that would otherwise be appallingly slow to play. It also has all the RAM you need on a system of this speed, so playing games that require an active mouse driver or some other kind of TSR is doable.

But regardless, the Apex 100 appeals to me for its use of surprisingly thoughtful design elements while also being built on the cheap. The way the keyboard plugs in behind a tiny door amuses me, I enjoy those odd options on the graphics card and the monitor itself, and I love the clean look of this whole setup. I don't know what else to say, I just really dig the Apex despite its manufactured mediocrity!

A Collector's Gem?

The Apex was not intended to be a high-end gaming machine, but it still has its charms. It's not the most collectible piece of vintage computing hardware, especially compared to Epson's earlier systems. These days, you can assemble your own Turbo XT using more modern components, like I did with my NuXT build.

But regardless, the Apex 100 appeals to me for its use of surprisingly thoughtful design elements while also being built on the cheap. It's a neat little machine that may not be as flashy or collectible as some other vintage computers, but it still has its own unique charm. And I hope that you enjoyed seeing it in action here on LGR.

Conclusion

That's all for today's video, folks! If you liked what you saw here, then please be sure to like and subscribe for more content. And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Until next time, happy gaming!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enGreetings and welcome to an LGR computer thing!And this time we’ve got another system that’s practically brand new,despite being several decades old.This is the Apex 100 by Seiko Epson, a Turbo XT clonethat sold for $899 upon its introduction in the summer of 1989.At least, that was the price for this basemodel with dual 360K floppy disk drives.There was also an $1,199 version called the Apex 100/20,which came with a single floppy drive and a 20 megabyte hard disk.And of course, the monitor cost extra, withthis 13” RGB color monitor priced at $299,or there was a 12” monochrome monitor availablefor half that.And go figure, Epson constantly offered bundlesfeaturing their printers, cuz it’s Epsonand printing is kinda their thing.But yeah, this particular system is here courtesyof an LGR viewer named Nick, who generouslydonated this since it’d been sitting instorage for years, basically unused.These Apex machines were Epson’s line oflow-cost personal computersmeant for distribution through mass retail channels, starting in 1987.Places like Montgomery Ward, Silo, Macy’s,Brendle’s, Kaufmann’s, Boscov’s.Really, anywhere that wanted to sell a cheap IBM PC-compatible,but didn’t have their own in-house brand.What’s interesting to me is that the Apexseries was intentionally made worse by Epson,in terms of build quality and specifications,so as not to compete with their existing Equity PCs.Those had been around since 1985, but Epsononly sold Equitys through specialized computerdealers, you couldn't buy them in a departmentstore.Yet Epson still wanted a piece of that widerretail action, so they introducedthe Apex series with specs that were always a stepdown from the Equity lineup.For instance, the base model Apex only hadan 8MHz CPU and 512 kilobytes of RAM, whilethe base model Equity came with a 10MHz CPUand 640K RAM.And whenever new Equity models came out, theold ones became the new Apex models.So really, this 1989 Apex 100 we have hereis internally the same as the Equity 1+ from 1987.Heh, yeah this strategy of corporately-mandatedsuckage is fascinating.Where a company purposely designs one of itsproducts to be worse in order to make theirother products look better, then names it“Apex”contrary to its position at the bottom of the totem pole.That’s not to say I think the Apex 100 isa piece of crap though, not at all!I actually really like this thing, both technicallyand visually.Sure, it was slow even by 1989’s standards,but nowadays that slowness provides some desirablecharacteristics in a retro PC-compatible.Its 10 megahertz 8088-1 CPU was the de-factochoice on Turbo XT clones for a while, andnaturally there’s a spot for adding an 8087math coprocessor alongside it.Conventional memory is maxed out on-boardat 640K, which is fortunate since actuallyreaching that particular part of the mainboardis an absolute pain.It also has a battery for both real time clockand CMOS settings, one that isn’t solderedin so it can be replaced without much hassle.And like the IBM XT, it features five 8-bitexpansion slots, with only one of them populatedfrom the factory with the graphics card, moreon that in a sec.And overall I find the design of the casehugely appealing, with its dual cream-colored5.25” disk drives, and this grilled sectionalong the bottom that adds a bit of heightto the overall system.This also hides a couple of amusing littledoors on the lower-right.The left one here is where you’ll find theturbo switch,swapping between 4.77 and 9.54 megahertz.And these DIP switches control the keyboardand monitor types, number of disk drives,as well as RAM and coprocessor settings.No need to open up the system and look forswitches inside like most XT clones.And to the right of that is where you plugin the keyboard,reminiscent of Radio Shack’s Tandy 1000 machines.But check out this little detail, this isso cool.The Apex 100 keyboard connector is designedin such a way that it only fits in one direction,guiding the cord through this opening on theright so you can close the door behind it.Now that’s clean.Not only that, but the back of the connectorhas a flip-out handle,so you can easily remove the keyboard cable from its little cradle.Ahh, I love it!The thoughtful design continues on the keyboarditself, which is an 84-key board with a layoutmimicking the IBM AT Model F instead of the XT Model F.It doesn’t feature the capacitive buckling springs of its IBM counterparts,but it does use these white SMK inverse cross mount switchesusing metal leaf contacts, with a tactile bump that’s satisfying in its own right.I also quite likethe way these angle adjustment legs work,where you press down on the back half andpull upwards on the front,loudly clicking them into place.Another useful designelement is found on the right hand side ofthe Apex 100 itself, with these two rubberpillars.These exist so that you can orient the casevertically, standing it up on its side withthose rubber parts acting as feet, eliminatingthe need for a third party standing kit.Around back is quite nice as well, with moldedplastic around everything, reducing sharpedges, and even plastic brackets coveringthe unused expansion slots.As for ports there’s not a whole lot butit has what you need, like standard serialand parallel ports below the power supplyhere.What is impressive though is the graphicscard, featuring a 9-pin video port and a 15-pingameport for joysticks, making for an unusualcombo.Then there’s this toggle switch here, labeledcolor and mono.Epson called this their MGA card, or Multi-GraphicsAdapter, being that it supports both RGB colorand TTL monochrome monitors, outputting CGAand Hercules graphics respectively.Speaking of which, the RGB monitor itselfis pretty awesome in its own right, with aclean design matching the rest of the systemand an etched screen surface designed to reduce glare.And around back you get some adjustment pots,as well as this switch for color and monochrome, similar to the graphics card.Wait what?This is a color monitor, why’s it have amono switch?Well, lemme power everything on and I’llshow you!Right, so!Being that there’s no hard drive you dohave to insert an MS-DOS boot disk on startup,in this case an Epson OEM version of 3.20that I’ve reproduced myself since the originaldisks are unfortunately long gone.But anyway, about that monitor switch!Here’s what it does.Heh, yeah it straight upmakes everything green,mimicking the look of monitors like the IBM 5151.Except that it’s still CGA running underneath!So you can run a game with 4-color graphics,like Planet X3 here, but it’ll look likeit’s running in monochrome on a green phosphordisplay, kind of.Really it just highlights the brightest colorslike cyan and white.Yeah this feature is a definite first forme, though it was also featured on monitorsfrom Magnavox and Commodore at one point.And while its eye strain reduction uses arelimited, I still think the option is awesomewithout needing additional software or a real monochrome display.The latter is still required though if youwant to take advantage of true Hercules modeusing the card’s toggle switch around back.However, something I didn’t know this thingcould do untilThe 8-Bit Guy recommended I try it out is 16-color Plantronics mode.Yeah, turns out the Epson MGA card featuresPlantronics Colorplus compatibility too, providinga 16-color option for the few programs andgames that support it.Fantastic.On top of all this graphical goodness, thedisplay itself is captivating to look at,with bright phosphors and notable scanlines.It almost looks artificially sharpened, with80 column text clearly legible, while stillshowing faint artifacting giving everythinga glow that oozes retro appeal.I don’t have any dot pitch specs for thisthing,but the look of it is close to the Tandy CM-11 in my opinion.As far as how the machine itself runs though,well it’s a 10 megahertz Turbo XT setup,so it’s faster than a stock XT but doesn’thold a candle to a 286.TopBench gives it a score of 7 at full speedand 4 when switched down for PC-XT compatibility,putting it in the same vicinity as systemsmultiple years olderthan when it came out in 1989.Once again though, the Apex was intentionally designed by Epsonto use older, lower-specced components.It was even lower-end than other discountbrands like Packard Bell, which by then wereselling 286 AT compatibles with EGA graphicsand 60 meg hard disks.But at least the Apex 100 has its 10 megahertzmode, which gives it a bit of a leg up withgames like Lemmings that would otherwise beappallingly slow to play.And it has all the RAM you need on a systemof this speed too, so playing games that requirean active mouse driver or some other kindof TSR is doable.On the opposite side of the spectrum, youcan also run games like Atarisoft’s Defenderthat require a true 4.77 megahertz CPU.If you leave it at full speed you die in likehalf a second, so the ability to crank itdown to XT speed is exactly what you needfor games like this.Oh and I also wanna mention the sound, orlack thereof.It does have a built-in PC speaker, a nicely-sized cone speaker at that,but for whatever reason it’s incredibly quiet.And in some games you can hardly hear anything at all it’s so quiet,like in the case of the RealSound effects in World Class Leaderboard.And this is another speed-sensitive situation, where if you leave it on XT speed gameplayis downright painful, but setting it to fullspeed is... well, it’s still not quickto load in the artwork, but by comparison thisis blazing fast.Much as I enjoy watching each tree being drawn, I’d rather not wait 30 something secondsevery time the view changes so I’m gladthe faster speed is here.Prince of Persia works nicely too, as you’dexpect I suppose.I’ve got no reason to try this except thatI felt like it, and I’m still impressedby these animations in CGA all these yearslater.Can you believe this game is thirty yearsold now? Good grief.And finally, I had to give a racing game ashot, and Accolade’s Test Drive is alwaysa fine choice on a slightly faster 8088 likethis.I also took it as an excuse to try out thejoystick port, and yep.Works fine, plugging in right beneath themonitor!Ah the 80s!Joysticks plugging into the graphics card?Sure why not, we’ve only got so many expansionslots, better make the most of ‘em.And that’s the Epson Apex 100!A neat little machine that, at its core, reallyis just another Turbo XT.They’re not the most collectible piecesof vintage computing hardware, especiallycompared to Epson’s earlier systems.And these days you can assemble your own Turbo XT using more modern components,like I did with my NuXT build.But regardless, the Apex 100 appeals to mefor its use of surprisingly thoughtful designelements while also being built on the cheap.The way the keyboard plugs in behind a tinydoor amuses me, I enjoy those odd optionson the graphics card and the monitor itself,and I love the clean look of this whole setup.I don’t know what else to say, I just reallydig the Apex despite its manufactured mediocrity!And I hope that you enjoyed seeing it in action here on LGR.If you liked what you saw here then do check out my NuXT build videofor another side of the Turbo XT coin.Or stick around for new stuff, I’m alwayspostingcomputery things on the channel, both new and old.And as always, thank you for watching LGR!\n"