¶ Technical data
- Manufacturer: Philips
- Year of release: 1984
- OS: Microsoft BASIC
- CPU: Zilog Z80 @ 4 MHz
- RAM: 24KB RAM (8KB for video) (16KB of system memory up to 48KB)
- ROM: 18KB
- GPU: SGS Thomson EF9345 (25 lines x 40 characters)
- Sound chip: 1 voice over 5 octaves
- Resolution: 320x250 (8 colours)
¶ Presentation
The VG5000μ is a computer created by Philips in 1984. It was manufactured in Le Mans by Radiotechnique (RTS) and marketed under the Philips, Radiola and Schneider brands.
Not compatible with any other machines, it offered VG5000 BASIC (derived from Microsoft BASIC-80) as the operating system upon boot. Graphic ability was limited to a semigraphic symbol display, with the equivalent resolution of 320 x 250 in 8 colors. There are about forty games available for the system.
300 000 units were sold in 1984, according to an internal Philips report, with 500 000 predicted for 1985.
Aimed at schools, it was unsuccessful and production ended in 1986. As of 2022, enthusiasts remain active in developing new homebrew software and emulators for the system.
¶ Emulators
New in Recalbox 10.1: the Libretro RB5000 core, the libretro version of the RB5000 emulator developed by Recalbox.
Emulator availability per board:
| Emulator | RPI3/RPI02W | RPI4/400 | RPI5/500 | OGA/OGS/RG351 | PC | RG353 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RB5000 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Libretro RB5000 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
A keyboard is required on this system, with a pad recommended as a complement. Netplay is not available.
¶ BIOS
No BIOS is required for this system.
¶ Roms
Put your games (tapes) in:
/recalbox/share/roms/vg5000/
Supported extensions: .k7