*************************
QL CLUB INTERNATIONAL
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Issue 106
January 1998
HI ALL.
I'VE BEEN SECONDED ONCE MORE TO PUT TOGETHER QLCI, SINCE MIKE IS AT
ODDS WITH HIS PC AGAIN. I THINK HE'S CURRENTLY ON HIS SIXTH HARD DRIVE
AFTER IT SEEMS CONTRACTING A VIRUS FROM AN E-MAIL.
I THINK I SHOULD ADD AT THIS POINT, THAT NO ONE IS IN DANGER OF
CATCHING A VIRUS ON THEIR PC FROM AN E-MAIL. BUT... IT IS POSSIBLE TO
INFECT THE SYSTEM FROM AN ATTACHMENT WHICH IS PART OF AN E-MAIL. IF YOU
RECEIVE AN E-MAIL WITH AN ATTACHMENT FROM PERSON OR PERSONS UNKNOWN
DELETE IT STRAIGHT AWAY. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED....
ON THE QL SIDE OF THINGS, WE WELCOME TWO NEW CONTRIBUTORS THIS MONTH.
WELCOME TO PETER GRAF (OF QL40 FAME) AND PIERRE THONNE. MIKE HAS ALSO
BEEN CONTACTED BY A QL USER FROM HONG KONG, NOT ALL THINGS PC ARE BAD
AFTER ALL (ARE THEY ??).
WELL, ENOUGH BLURB, ENJOY THE NEWSLETTER AND HEAR YOU ALL NEXT MONTH.
GRAHAM
*!
Martin Wheatley
martinw@ndirect.co.uk
QL, SuperQboard, Twin Disc Drives, Green Screen Monitor
Mersey Mouse, PC running Xchange
Hi everyone,
Nice to hear about Bill Johns again. As newcomers may not
know he was the original inspiration behind ClubQL
Mike writes
----------------------------
'IS THIS WHERE WE START THE QXL/QPC WARS?'
----------------------------
Its a subject that does interest me. It would be good if those
who have use either or both could give us some idea of the
relative strengths and weaknesses.
The hardware option is I suppose solider but the software one
is more easily upgraded and may therefore pull ahead technologically
THIS ALSO INTERESTS ME MARTIN, AS I HAVE YET TO DECIDE WHICH WAY TO GO.
I QUICKLY NEED TO GET MY PC EQUIPPED WITH AN EMULATOR, AS MY QL IS NOW
IN THE SPARE ROOM AND GETS LESS USE THAN IT SHOULD.
On this subject there was a recent post to the QL Users list which
is relevant. Davide Santachiara, the writer of it has given me
permission to include it in ClubQL
--------------------------------------
'I made some speed comparison tests on the following platforms:
1. QPC v1.40 - AMD 200 MHz - 32 Mb - Matrox Mistique 220 - VESA driver
operating system SMSQ/E 2.84a
2. QXL 68040 20 MHz - Pentium 100 MHz - 40 Mb ram - Matrox Impression
Lite
operating system SMSQ/E 2.85
3. SGC 68020 24 MHz - Aurora graphic card - 4 Mb
operating system SMSQ/E 2.85
4. QemuLator running on AMD 200 MHz (like QPC)
operating system Minerva + Lightning (640 Kb memory)
I did two tests
Test 1: QSI speed index (it mainly measures CPU speed)
Test 2: LIST of a 640 line SuperBasic program (mainly measures graphic
speed)
Here are the results
Machine Test 1 Test 2 Graphic factor
QSI Listing time list time*QSI
1 200 7s 1400
2 410 5.5s 2255
3 270 23s 6210
4 180 16s 2880
The QSI speed index measures the relative speed compared to a Gold Card
QL: QSI 100 is the speed of a Gold Card QL.
The QSI test was performed with Archive238 with some QPac 2
buttons.
Here are my comments on the above results:
1. QemuLator, which is a Windows 95 program, compares very well with
QPC rough CPU speed (180 Qemulator, 200 QPC on the same machine).
Instead the graphic speed of QPC is much better.
2. QPC graphical speed is the best of the four system. QPC v1.40
has not only the smoothest graphic but it is also the fastest.
This can be seen in the graphic factor. Greater the number, worst
is the graphic speed compared with the CPU speed.
3. The QXL is still the fastest system as rough CPU speed. It has
also an interesting graphic factor, pity that the graphic
smoothness is realy poor (screen is refreshed slowly - this is the
usual QXL limitation of poor i/o)
4. QemuLator graphic speed is in the medium range. Anyway I consider
very good both its CPU and graphic speed because QemuLator is a
native W95/NT C compiled program and it compares very well with
"competitors" in both fields. Please note that QemuLator used
Minerva + Lightning while other systems use SMSQ/E.
5. SuperGoldCard(+Aurora) graphic speed is really poor. Maybe NASTA
will explain better why. I suppose this has something to do with
the old QL bus conception. I remember that Nasta said that with
the Coldfire+ Aurora combination the graphic speed will be
improved a lot.
Bye to all
Davide Santachiara'
---------------------------------------------------
Mike D writes
'As my video machine jumps from 28 Feb to 1 March,
but if I put up a calander or set my clock on the QL to
the same dates. I can get 29/2/2000 .'
----------------------------------------------------
I think this is one instance where the QL has slipped. There
is no 29th February 2000
----------------------------------
Darren B writing about Panasonic's new LS-120 disks
'The drive units cost around `85, while the disks are `10+-ish, so
would be a load cheaper than EZ, ZIP or QubIDE setups.'
--------------------------------------------
Actually this is around the current price of a Zip Drive and discs
As one who has a Zip Drive on his PC I can tell you with one
permanently attached the lack of floppy drive compatibility is not
really an issue as you tend to only use floppies in emergencies. With
the new versions of the PC BIOS it is possible to boot from an internal
Zip drive (not a parallel port one)
-------------------------------------------------------
Martin Burke writes :
'But I may have to exclude Uncle Clive from that: I sent for
one of his radios, they took the money but so far no radio. '
-----------------------------------------------------
When the laughter dies down welcome to the world of Uncle Clive!
That's how he has always operated. Makes an announcement and takes
orders. He then uses the money to make the things, building to the
price with any short cuts that may entail the second part is that he
doesn't bother about testing for any bugs or problems. He lets you do
that and then issues an improved version.
This is not the way you can currently operate in the computer
world but then he is not currently in the computer world is he!
Martin Wheatley
WELCOME TO PETER GRAF (OF Q40 FAME). PETER E-MAILED MIKE LAST WEEK AND
HAS SENT FOR INCLUSION A USER PROFILE. THANKS PETER.
Dear Mike,
I am 29 years old and live near Marburg, that is in the middle of
Germany. I have always been a Sinclair fan and used the ZX81 and the
Spectrum for a long time. I own two QLs in the black case and have
access to my brothers Minitower-QL with Goldcard. Other hardware: Epson
Stylus Color II, 14kBaud Modem.
My hobby for the last years was to work on a mainboard for a modern QL
style computer, named the "Q40". It has a 68040 running at 33 or 40
MHz, up to 32 MB RAM, fast 32 bit graphics (QL modes and 64K colours at
512x256 and 1024x512) etc. Jochen Merz published some details in QL
Today Issue 3 so I do not want to bore you with a long list here. The
prototype is running and I am waiting for the redesigned multilayer
board now. The adaption of SMSQ/E has not started yet. A 68060 version
of the board is under construction.
Greetings, Peter
KEEP US ALL AT QLCI POSTED ON DEVELOPMENTS PETER. FROM WHAT I'VE READ
SO FAR Q40 SOUNDS IMPRESSIVE.
--------------------------------------------
Dipl.-Ing. Peter Graf
Email: pgrafq@t-online.de
WELCOME TO ANOTHER QL USER, THIS TIME FROM BRUSSELS (WHERE THE BEERS
ARE GREAT, BELIEVE ME, ESPECIALLY THE TRAPPISTE BREWS !!).
Hi Mike,
I'm a Ql user from Brussels on Gold Card QL and QPC.
I'll be glad to receive your newsletters by e-mail. Can you put my
email address in your database?
NO PROBLEM PIERRE.
My E-mail Address is Pierre.Thonne@RocketMail.com
Thanks.
Best regards,
Pierre Thonne.
Greetings from:
Ian Pizer
e-mail 100675.632@compuserve.com
-----------------------------------------------------------
My Gear: AURORA, SGC v2.49, Minerva v1.97, SuperHermes v1.05, QPAC2
v1.38 Prowess, SMSQ_GOLD v2.85. 2-key mouse via QIMI. 2 DD/HD/ED drives
QUBIDE v1.53, 2 Hard Disks (Connors 420MB, Seagate500?MB). All in a
Mini-Tower. EPSON Stylus 800 BW Printer. ZyXEL U-1496E modem. Sony
monitor Multiscan 200sf.
I was in Ireland with my wife for the QL meeting - it was a pretty
thin meeting but we have good memories, staying chez Darren
as well as being tourists.
I nearly tried Darren's idea of modifying DD disks to become ED
but worried about bits of plastic getting inside the casing
so decided instead to buy EDs from EEC.
I was interested in the sort program in QLToday by Steve Poole.
I made some errors copying it because of 1 (one) and an l (little
L) looking similar but Steve straightened me out. I then modified the program so I could sort any unsorted
list in a file (e.g. open_new#3,ram1_x:extras#3:close#3 which I
used as an example). Steve has made a really smart sorting
program.
I would have liked to go to Eindhoven (already been twice) but
decided to await a meeting in UK which hopefully will be well
attended by programmers and hardware people. With no QL group
nearby I find it very worthwhile to attend QL meetings. I keep
dithering about buying a PC and QPC. Am I alone in having only
one computer at home? I can surf the net elsewhere and even use
WWW from home using LYNX (a browser without images) via a modem
connection to my old institute. It would be nice if this was
possible directly with AURORA and with images.
I had a curious "defect" with my monitor. At 10pm the image began
to wobble badly, coinciding with the time when the electric
hot-water system turned on. I called an electrician to inspect the
house wiring and he found that there was a missing wire for the
neutral for the mains feeding the boiler heating element. When he
fixed it, no more wobble. Before I realised the source of the
trouble I of course suspected AURORA (sorry, Nasta/Ron) or the
Monitor, to be faulty.
Jonathan Hudson's QASCADE is an amusing "Start menu" (QLToday
Nov/Dec '97 page 31) but you must download some programs or get
them elsewhere.
Regards, Ian
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
21 Sep 1997
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Editor,
I read with interest Adrian Vickers' report on QLAY in the September
issue. I am in the process of purchasing a PC but concerned about all
my QL files. I have accumulated a lot of data, some of which needs to
be kept for tax purposes etc., although I have hard copy of the most
important stuff. I don't think I'll have much room to keep the QL
readily available, it will probably be consigned to the attic. The
article on QLAY was interesting, therefore. Could I keep my data &
dispose of the QL?
Although I am an experienced computer 'user' I am far from being
'computer literate'. I've spent many happy hours on Abacus, Archive,
Quill and even Easel occasionally but still at a loss when it comes to
operating systems, peripherals & the like. I am confused by the article
on QLAY, therefore. I have never used an Emulator so I'm looking for
some guidance. Adrian says 'here I am, typing away in Quill on an IBM
PC'. This sounds excellent, but how? He then goes on to talk about
microdrive emulation but says that there is no emulation for 'flp'
devices. This is where my ignorance sets in. It sounds fine to have a
virtual microdrive device on the PC. I assume that you can save QDOS
files (quill_doc & _aba files etc) to this device but what device did
Adrian load Quill from in the first place? Does QLAY contain the Psion
programs pre-loaded? If not, how are QDOS files loaded/downloaded on to
a PC? Is there a clue in the reference to 'QLTools'? I had always
thought that QDOS & MSDOS files were incompatible.
Adrian says 'I will try to store this document on a QDOS disk'
(presumably the document he was typing in Quill on his PC). If he had
no flp emulation then how was this done (I assume that it was
successful or the document would not have been reproduced by the
Editor) and can the same procedure work in reverse, i.e. load QDOS
files?
As Adrian's QL had a busted membrane I assume that QLTools is a piece
of software for use on the PC. If so, what does it do & where can I
get a copy? If this has been reviewed in Quanta can someone tell me
which issue to look at?
Malcolm Roberts
I DOWNLOADED QLAY A FEW WEEKS AGO, AND AS YET HAVE NOT GOT IT TO WORK
PROPERLY, ALTHOUGH TO BE FAIR, I HAVE NOT HAD MUCH TIME OT PLAY AROUND
WITH IT. I MIGHT HAVE ANOTHER BASH AND PASS ON THE RESULTS THROUGH
QLCI.
#! Dennis Smith.
NET1(downstairs) = (installed in a mini tower) Aurora, Super Gold card,
SuperHermes, Qubide, 420Mb hard disk, EZ135 removeable hard disk, 2 ED
drives, (SER3)Pace 33.6 modem, (SER6)3 button serial mouse, Printers:
(SER1)Star LC10, (PAR)HP 540 Deskjet, 15 inch SVGA monitor.
Operating system = Minerva 1.97, SMSQ/E.
NET3(upstairs) = (installed in a mini tower) Gold card, Hermes, Qubide,
540Mb hard disk, 1 HD drive, 2 DD drives. Printer: (SER1)Brother HR5
thermal with fax roll paper.
Operating system = SMSQ/E.
Hello '98 Clubbers,
How would you like some 1998 QL related news? O.K. well I'll give you
some anyway. SeQueL - our Derby/Nottingham group - have produced this
new product, here is our prototype advert.
Announcing a new and very useful piece of hardware from SeQueL -
M-C Panel (Multi-Connector Panel)
SeQueL - the Derby/Nottingham sub group - have produced what we believe
to be a very quick and useful method of attaching all of your
connectors easily when you build your QL into a tower casing. This
panel fits in place of the slotted panel, at the rear, that already
exists on a mini tower for example, although the size of tower is
irrelevant.
To give you an idea of what connections are catered for, here are a few
suggestions.
(6) 9 pin 'D'
(6) 25 pin 'D'
(2) DIN
(2) Network
These could be used for 9 and 25 pin 'D' for ser1, yes both. 9 and 25
pin 'D' for ser2. If you have superHermes a 25 pin 'D' for ser3,
whatever you like for ser4 and ser5 and a 9 pin 'D' for ser6 (the
mouse). For a standard QL motherboard you would use one of the DIN
mounting holes for your RGB monitor connector. If you had an Aurora
motherboard you could use one of the 9 pin 'D' slots for the SVGA
monitor connection and one of the DIN mounting holes for an RGB
connection, switching between the two as required. The other DIN
connector hole would be used for a keyboard connector such as
superHermes, DI-REN interfaces or any other that you may think of. 2
holes are provided for the network jack sockets. The parallel printer
port of Gold card and Super Gold card should be mounted in any of the
spare 25 pin 'D' slots. After all that there are more spare slots that
can be taken up by any weird and wonderful things that come along in
the future.
There's more. After taking care of all your connections M-C Panel has
another facility. M-C Panel allows you to also mount Qplane (from
Qubbesoft). As you probably know Qplane is the mounting board (PCB)
that Gold card, Super Gold card, Qubide (hard disk interface) and
eventually Goldfire all plug into. Thus giving you a complete modular
sub-assembly (of the above expansion cards) that can be withdrawn from
the rear of the tower case and replaced in seconds using quick
fasteners. The M-C Panel is exclusively produced by SeQueL and sold
through QL traders (Qubbesoft and Q Branch so far) or by phoning Dennis
Smith on 01773-748470 and ordering direct. Any questions or comments
may be directed to the BBS areas International QL, Quanta or direct to
our local BBS Derek Stewart's Holborn_View 01773-741335.
The SeQueL M-C Panel is available in two forms. Firstly the plate on
its own purely for attaching your connectors to and secondly with a
mounting kit for Qplane, Aurora, Super Gold card etc. The price is 5
pounds for the M-C Panel on its own, plus 50 pence for p&p (UK). The
price for the full Qplane plus kit has yet to be arrived at. We will
release this price in a few weeks time when satisfied with development.
M-C Panel is available now.
Graham, Derek and Dennis. - SeQueL
There you go thats another project sorted. We have something like 3
more outstanding projects to be looked at/completed. We don't stand
still.
SeQueL has been offered the Quanta AGM on the 25th. April 1998, which
is on Saturday. Details next time.
Mike : Have you ever considered putting 2 zips on the Fidonet BBS. One
zip with the QLCI Quill_doc and the other zip with all the bits on. If
you set up an off line reader (PD) it will zip your files for you and
drop them in the right area and at the same time you could pick up all
the text sent in for the next one which is also zipped for you and you
collect it. It's all quite automatic, I bet you don't press more than 6
keys online. Your off line reader unzips it and presents it to you,
off line. A couple of minutes job done. It does not cost anything apart
from a local cheap rate call (no I don't know who your local BBS is but
that is easy to find out). It was just a thought. As I've said before
'I don't like Internet, I don't do Internet', that's why I don't go
that way.
See ya later,
Dennis.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Darren Branagh,
Rep. Of Ireland.
17th December, 1997.
QL & COMPUTER GEAR INCLUDES: One Gateway 2000 Pentium PC running QPC
(demo) and PC Xchange, A Philips Pro-286 PC running an 8 Meg QXL 2
card, 2 QL's one JS and one Running MINERVA v1.97 (also JM Roms),
Miracle Trumpcard, Ferguson Monitor, Twin NEC 3.5" DS/DD Drives & Twin
Miracle DS/HD Drives both joined by a Miracle Disk Adaptor (flp1_ to
flp4_), 280+ Disks of Software, 3 Epson EPL4100 Laser Printers, Serial
8056 Thermal Printer, Joysticks, DIY SERmouse, Tandata 3 stack Modem,
Zenith Minisport 286 Laptop PC, Cambridge Z88 Laptop, Sinclair ZX
Spectrum 128K +2a, Sinclair ZX81.........
...........and a Partridge in a very heavy pear tree !!!
Dear Mike and Qlers, Aurora users, QPC'ers, QXL'ers, QLAY'ers, and
dabblers in SMSQ/E......(hope I left nobody out!!)
Another Festive season lurks upon us, and anther great year in the long
lasting life of the QL passes by. It amazes me how much life there
still is in the old girl...
Anyway, with all the Xmas cards etc, I got a nice letter from a man I
made contact with in the summer when trying to drum up some attendance
for the Irish QL show I planned. His name is Jim McCleery, an I got his
name from Dilwyns old DJC database of customers (Ta, Dilwyn).
Seems that he hardly ever uses the QL, in favour of his new 486 Gateway
be had bought a year or so ago. However, I sent him a copy of the QPC
DEMO to use, along with the latest version of QLAY and QL TOOLS, etc.
and he wrote back in his card saying his first purchase of the new year
is for a fully working copy of QPC. I must say I felt rather prould of
myself in the fact that I had "saved" another QL'er from going in Bill
Gates direction fully, and gave myself a bit of a pat on the back.
I also said that he should join the ranks of QLCI, too. Jim McCleery is
unfortunately confined to a wheelchair now, so computing is now a great
part of his life, and communication too. I gave him your address Mike
so I'm sure you'll hear from him, probably after Xmas - I think a few
mates in the QL world is all he needs and he seldom gets to go to the
northern QL meeting now as a result of his condition, not that there
are many of those now either - the hall they used to meet in was bombed
a few years ago....
Anyway, there you go. I got some wonderful hard drive utilities for the
QXL from Dilwyn too. Seems Tony Tebby wrote these to help repair
cock-ups in the directory and map of the hard drive, so I'll give them
a try on my QXL as I've been experiencing a few problems of late. I'll
report my finding next month as they may appeal to you, mike.
Glad everyone is jumping on the bandwagon (or should that be
bandwidth?) and buying Sir Clives latest, the mini-radio. I thought it
would be a good idea to send Mike the original PhotoStat of the Ad from
the SKY TV Guide (November 1997, Page 171 if anyones interested). I've
already promised Dilwyn I'll do a brief review of one when mine
arrives, for QL today, so I'll keep you all posted. I hope it arrives
before Xmas, although the post is terrible here at present. Knowing my
luck, Santa has probably stolen mine so he can listen to the Xmas
Carols on Radio 4 while delivering the pressies....
FRANK MERRISON:- Frank, I have been looking for a cheap ED drive for
over a year now. If you can get me the set of ED's you mentioned last
month for only `10, Its a deal. I'll send you the dough plus whatever
postage Is needed. Just let me know if they're still available, and how
much postage is....
COLIN BASKETT:- Yes, I have tried DDtoED, but on older DD disks, and it
isn't as successful as the HDtoED bodge, anyhow, getting brand new DDdisks unformatted is virtually impossible here in Ireland (or ask
Jochen Merz - he gets Roy Wood to bring him some everytime Roy visits
Germany, virtually impossible to get DD disks in mainland Europe too!!)
If you hae some unformatted DD disks, then try it and let me know how
you got on....
Colin, I loved your comments on the QL, and the synopsis of comments
from Dilwyn, yourself, and Mike. Personally I think Mikes idea of
sticking all the available QL/PC emulators such as QPC DEMO, QLAY, etc
onto a disk with progs like QL TOOLS by J,Hudson for the PC, or SHOWQS
( a utility to display QL screens(_SCR) on a VGA PC screen) by
C.Delhez, or QLREADER by Utility room Software - all great programs for
the PC, and FREE too. I managed to fit all these mentioned progs onto
one HD disk, which is what I sent to Jim McCleery - and you've just
seen at the top of this letter how successful an outing that was, as
Jim is now a QL user again, via his 486 PC !!
DILWYN:- Thanks for the Clipart, mate. (The amount of things I owe this
bloke is not ordinary; I honestly feel that a handful of people like
Dilwyn are what has kept it alive for a decade and a half!!) Also, I
can sympathise with Jochen wondering who the Stranger on the emd of his
Modem was; to hear Dilwyn Jones saying a PC is "fun" or "useful" is
like hearing Barbara Cartland say she hates wearing pink!!!
PAUL McPHERSON:- Glad you got my disk of PD Giff/Tiff programs for the
QL, I had thought It got lost in the post. Sorry to hear of your
ailments (That goes for Mike K too, I missed your comments in my
Letter, last month Mike - due to your bout of sickness, no doubt).
Also Paul, to answer your query, a scanner CAN be connected to the QL.
ordinarily its a catagorical NO, but I know that Phil Borman for one
uses a VICTOR flatbed scanner with a QL with some degree of success,
how or why I have no idea.
And another of your Queries was the question of the month - Yes, you
can get a version of Pascal for the QL - it was produced by Computer
One Software back in the dawning of time when mdv's were all the rage
(RAGE being the operative word there!!) I have a copy of it on MDV, but
unfortunately the manual is missing, but If you want it anyway, Its
yours, just let me know and I'll post it to you. No Problem. Aren't I
nice?
Well as another year draws to a close, I bid you Farewell until 1998.
All the Best,
Darren Branagh.
*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_
#!
Hilary O'Kelly,
18th December, 1997.
Dear Club QL,
I am being threatened at mouse-point (instead of gun-point or
knife-point) by Darren Branagh to write something for QLCI.
I must apologise for not writing regularly but I'm a lazy bugger at
times and being secretary of the local Neighbourhood watch scheme
(called Community Alert here in Ireland) takes up a fair bit of time
too; OK, OK, Its no excuse!!
TRUE !!!
Just thought I'd wish you all a happy new year, and a peaceful Xmas
too; if this will reach you before then!!
I bought a SuperHermes LITE at the Irish QL show, and It has
revolutionised my QL; I now seldom make typing errors, and it looks
much more professional too, with a shiny new PC keyboard. The LITE is
Just a Hermes with better serial ports and a IBM keyboard interface - a
bit better than a hermes, but not as good as a full superhermes, if you
know what I mean!!
I also got a Z88 at the show from Bill Richardson (who, being a keen
sailor too, meant we got on like a house on fire!!) I am still unsure
of the little beast - sometimes I love it, other times I hate it. I'm
still waiting on it to grow on me. I got it as I'm writing book on the
mining history of Glendalough and the surrounding areas, so thought it
would be useful for making notes on the move.
Darren is currently writing a demo copy of a new Z88 magazine, called
Z88 INTERNATIONAL. Its being distributed by BIll Richardson, and the
first edition should be out by mid-January 1998. Darren will act as
Editor, and has asked me to write a bit on my experiences from a
beginners point of view. (bugger!!)
Enough rambling; enjoy the Xmas and keep safe,
Regards,
Hilary P. O'Kelly.
__________________________________________________________________
#! Martin Burke,
20th December, 1997.
Dear Mike and Friends,
JM version + Trump 768 + twin 3.5" disks, Philips CM8833
colour monitor (under repair) and its Tandy twin, 8056 printer,
Epson RX80 F/T, and Brother HR10 daisy-wheel printer; PSION3a,
Z88.
Hope you're fully recovered Mike. I haven't had my annual
bug yet - it sometimes waits till January. Thought I had something
a few weeks back - after I had hit three vehicles in the course of
one hour! (When I say hit, this means anything from slamming the
bike into the side of a vehicle to merely brushing mirrors or
handlebar muffs, which is all I did. I went home to wait for
something to develop. Nothing did. It was a couple of days before
I realised that my eyesight had deteriorated by a small but
dramatic amount. New Year, New Specs.
Colin Baskett: what's a cock-shy, when it's out? Is it
related to a cockonut-shy?
QL Plus Points: I don't really know enough to make much of a
contribution but I think the original restriction of MSDOS names to
8 + 3 characters was absurd, as was the naming of drives with
letters of the alphabet rather than a drive name. Shorter perhaps
but less natural. What happens if they ever reach Z plus 1? Are
chips hard wired to only accept a single alphabetic capital or will
any (sequence of) character(s) be permissible? These niggles may
hardly matter to users now but they should have been avoided much
earlier. I suppose most have heard that Bill Gates had to delay
moving into his new house because of problems with the joinery.
The door-frames are okay but they keep having to reinstall windows.
Just goes to show that people who live in Gates' house shouldn't
throw stones. (Oh! Yes! They should! Oh! No! They shouldn't!
Oh! Yes! They .... Well, it is Christmas. Oh! No! it isn't ....)
Glad to see Paul McPherson back in harness. Railguns may
sink warships but it would obviously take more than that to sink
Paul.
Yours,
Martin Burke.
#!
Malcolm Roberts
Mike, I was unable to read QL105 on my QL but with some help
from Martin Wheatly I have managed to read it on the PC. My QL
is disconnected again at the moment so I am sending this in as a
text file which I hope you can do something with. It is some
time now since I have been able to get a readable disk to you
and I am out of touch with QL matters.
AS YOU CAN SEE, IT ALL LOADED IN FINE.
It is a bit difficult getting the QL set up so I have only had
about 2 hours of QL time in the last 4 months. My only contact
has been via Quanta magazine. It was there that I read about
QLAY which revived my interest in the QL. I had been looking for
a way to access my QL files on the PC & this looked like a
possible solution. My niece (who has a modem, I don't) managed
to download the QLAY files for me but unfortunately I couldn't
get it going & despite some help from Adrian Vickers who wrote
the original article in Quanta I am still having difficulties
with this & have decided that it is too complicated for me at
the present time. Adrian is planning to write a user-friendly
Windows program to transfer files between QL Disks/Qlay. Until
he is able to do this I shall probably leave it alone. However,
Martin has suggested an alternative prog, QDOS.EXE which enables
text files to be read on the PC. However, although I have got
this to work I have hit a snag. This prog refuses to read any
disks that have been formatted on my QL. It seems to work fine
on files that have been formatted on other people's QL's. For
example, supplier's master copy disks read OK but my working
copy disks will not. The QL105 disk that you sent me also worked
OK, so I have been able to read it in Lotus WordPro. Although my
QL diskdrive is quite old I haven't had too many problems with
it so I don't know what the problem is. Can anyone help?
WHAT DENSITY IS YOUR DISK DRIVE MALCOLM ? I ASSUME WHEN YOU SAY ITS
QUITE OLD THAT ITS A DD TYPE. THE ONE ON YOUR PC WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY
BE HD. ALTHOUGH HD DRIVES ARE USUALLY COMPATIBLE WITH DD DISKS, THEY
ARE NOT BOUND TO READ THEM WHEN FORMATTED AND WRITTEN TO FROM ANOTHER
DD DRIVE.
Although I am not using the QL at the moment I am in 2 minds
about it. I bought a PC because I wanted an up-to-date
spreadsheet (I chose Lotus Smartsuite) & in order to justify the
cost to Hazel I told her that I would recoup some of the cost by
selling the QL, but I am a bit reluctant to finally part with
it now.
When I originally bought my QL some 9 years ago, apart from the
obvious benefits of Word processing & Spreadsheets I had hoped
that I could learn some basics of programming or at least get
some understanding of the IT environment. Although I achieved
quite a lot with Archive, my attempts with Superbasic were
amateurish & when I got hold of a compiler I failed to achieve
anything at all. I am still therefore a software user rather
than a computer operator & don't feel that I've achieved my
original aim of computer literacy. However, the help I have had
from ClubQL members has been immense & I am reluctant to lose
touch with that. The problem is that I don't have enough space
to have the QL & my PC set up together & the QL is currently
boxed away so I'm hoping you can do something with this text
file for me. Many ClubQLers are also PC owners so I want to keep
a link.
I am retired now so have a little more time on my hands
(although it doesn't seem like it, the hours just seem to
disappear).
As I've been out of touch with ClubQL for a while I don't know
if things have ever been formalised in relation to financial
contributions. Can you let me know so that I can do something.
Best wishes
Malcolm
Andrew Halliwell,
e-mail:- u5a77@teach.cs.keele.ac.uk
u5a77@elfs1.elec.keele.ac.uk
u5a77@uga.keele.ac.uk
spike1@cyberspace.org
clubql@geocities.com
>*phew*<
Gear:- Supergold card QL with various pointer thingies,
Qubide 1.55 ROM, TKII (of course), 40 Meg Hard Drive (Still not
full), twin floppies (one currently disabled) Minerva 1.97, 24 Pin Dot
Matrix Printer... And loads of little toys I download off the
internet...
Well... I'm back. Looks like it's time to say....
HALLIWELL, SIGNALMAN!, 24966924 reporting for duty, SIR!
I successfully managed to survive the 2 week army camp at Blandford in
Dorset at the end of november/2weeks of december. and am now no
longer, in any way, shape or form, a recruit. Yippeeee....
On friday night I start my trade training, and from there, who knows?
Anyway, back to the show. I've now beautified the ClubQL site slightly.
If it's too slow, please tell me. I'm on a university server, not a
modem, so it's hard to judge.
H HMM. SLOW!!! I'VE STILL TO SEE THIS FANTASTIC IMAGE ANDREW. I GAVE
UP AFTER 20 MINUTES (33.6K MODEM ON A PENTIUM 200MMX).
At the moment, there's a nice little (actually rather large, which was
why I'm asking about speed) background picture. It's of a crystal ball
on a chessboard floor, and is one of the pictures I mentioned when I
was talking about POV the other month. It's not in its original form
though. I had to tweak the colour settings slightly to reduce the
contrast and make the writing on the page more readable. I decided to
opt for a nce sepia colour, and the letters are all in various shades
of gold/orange/yellowy, because most of the cards for the QL are GOLD
based. (SuperGold, UltraGold,Goldfire, etc). Anyway, those of you
who're internet active and graphically up to date... Comments please?
If the picture is too large, I'll reduce the size of it. Just say the
word.
Following the suggestion by Martin Wheatley, I have registered ClubQL
with a few search engines. I tried it last night and didn't get any
results though, so it looks like it's taking its time to filter
through.
(Some of them say it'll take a week or two to be added. Probably
vetting procedures and so-on to prevent over registration and stuff)
A little more news. While I was working on the page, looking for links
to the various emulators for the QL (Now all linked to the ClubQL
page), I popped into Phil Bormans site. The QubIDE 1.56 ROM is now
available, and I'll include it with this letter, or slightly after I
send it anyway.
1.55 and 1.56 no longer use the WIN_CSUM command. This has been
replaced with WIN_CTRL. I've been wondering how this works for a while,
and now I know. (It's in the file "manual_txt" in the QubIDE zip file.
It looks like it might make things on screen look slightly tidyer.
ANDREW, I HAD SOME BOTHER DECODING THE FILE. I HAVE A COPY OF UUD_EXE,
BUT I CONSTANTLY GOT AN ERROR. COULD IT NOT BE SENT AS AN ATTACHMENT IN
A ZIP FILE ??
On with the responses bit....
Martin. You mentioned QLAY and it's Microdrive images. I'm pretty sure
the latest version has WIN_ emulation. I don't know, because I can't
test it. I imagine the writer just did it with microdrive sized blocks
because he wanted to emulate a basic QL. Call him a purist, or call him
a prat, but he is Working on it, I think.
It might even be because the only info he had was the basic QL ROM, or
books on the same thing??? Disk interfaces aren't well documented for
the general public if you think about it.
I THINK THAT IS THE CORRECT REASON, I'M SURE I READ THAT SOMEWHERE.
Frank Merrison asked whether the Aurora replacement motherboard could
fit inside the original case. Mike partially confirmed this (But wasn't
too sure). The Aurora card is about 1/3rd the size of the original
motherboard. If you were to plug the aurora into the qubide into the
supergold card, I don't think you'd have anything sticking out of the
expansion slot side of the case. In other words, yes, it will, or at
least SHOULD, fit.
YES IT DOES FIT. I'VE SEEN ONE AT THE NEMQLUG SUBGROUP AND VERY NEAT IT
WAS TOO. THE QL CASE HAD AURORA, SUPERGOLDCARD AND SUPERHERMES INSIDE.
THE ONLY MISSING ITEM WAS A HARD DISK.
Colin Baskett asked...."Any offers? QL pluses, I mean."
Well.... Here are a few.
1> No viruses will work on the QL (Because no-one has written one/it's
more diffictult to even if you tried.)
2> Hard disk failure may wipe out important data/programs, but it
doesn't lock you out of the machine. You can still boot up from ROM
(unless you've got a keyboard in need of a driver, in which case you
need the floppy).
With the PeeCee, EVERYTHING is on Hard Disk. Lose the Hard Disk, lose
your computer until you can get a new one/reload a basic system to
reformat the old one, or in the case of WINDOZE 95, it is entirely
possible that it won't let you do ANYTHING until it's been successfully
re-installed, or the hard disk it was on is replaced.
(This happened to a friend recently).
As for the idea of "SPAMMING" the net. No. It is most certainly NOT OK.
SPAMMERS are the most hated individuals on the internet. But they never
learn. I get quite a lot of SPAM in my personal mailbox, and I've lost
count of how many complaints I've made about SPAM.
(I know it was said last time, but I just wanted to emphasise the
fact.)
He then later said "Sorry, I haven't tried this yet but I don't think
it will work in my case. What I want to do is to read the initial
key-stroke on start-up. Surely, if I put this in my boot programme the
QL will be looking for a subsequent key-stroke?"
You're right, that IS how it would've worked. I'll have a PEEK (pun
intended) at the system variables and get back to you....
*pant* *pant* *pant*
Right....
Now, my original suggestion was to check the system variable related to
screen mode, and as you have minerva, the location of the system
variables themselves. This can be done by useing VER$(-2), which
returns the base address of the system variables.
(In order to fit in the second screen [F3 and F4 activate 2nd screen
mode], the system variables move up in memory by 32K.)
I tested this theory, and it works...
Try this little program [Saved on floppy as BOOT, and inserted into
flp1_]
100 IF NOT (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=163840 THEN PRINT "F1
Pressed!"
100 IF (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=163840 THEN PRINT "F2 Pressed!"
100 IF NOT (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=163840 THEN PRINT "F3
Pressed!"
100 IF (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=163840 THEN PRINT "F4 Pressed!"
>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>
NOTE: This is added by me after the fact, and will also be sent to the
next ClubQL... I cocked up. That'll teach me to cut'n'paste without
remembering to change things (could've sworn I had...)
Anyway. The correct version SHOULD go.....
100 IF NOT (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=163840 THEN PRINT "F1 Pressed!"
110 IF (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=163840 THEN PRINT "F2 Pressed!"
120 IF NOT (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=196608 THEN PRINT "F3 Pressed!"
130 IF (PEEK (VER$(-2)+50) AND VER$(-2)=196608 THEN PRINT "F4 Pressed!"
<<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<< <<<<
This works. I tested it myself before I returned to continue this.
All you'd have to do then is replace the "PRINT" statements with
whatever you wanted the program to do in your boot program...
Darren Brannagh... You mentioned the new wonder drives, saying...
"Seriously!! they are smaller than EZ disks or ZIP disks, and they
hold much more!! Access times are quicker too, and they are still
compatible with all your other DD, HD or ED drives - Not bad Eh?
(as a matter of fact, they will read DD/HD/ED disks over 3 times
faster than a normal drive will too!!) They come pre-configured as
the A: drive for PC's, so I don't yet know if they can be
"jumpered" to work as FLP1_ on a QL, if they could, I think hard
drives would virtually become defunct - if you fill 120Mb, you
just buy another 120Mb disk!! The drive units cost around
while the disks are -ish, so would be a load cheaper than EZ,
ZIP or QubIDE setups."
The quick answer is no. It won't work.
Think about it this way. HD and ED drives can handle DD disks, but you
need a SuperGold card to be able to handle ED drives, or a Gold Card to
handle HD drives.
The problem is that you can't just automatically plug in a new type of
disk drive and expect it to work. You probably need new hardware to
handle it, and you'd DEFINATELY need new device drivers to handle it.
Jumper switches are the least of your worries.
So, if you have a word with the nice poeple at Qubsoft about the
GOLDFIRE, and ask them nicely to make it compatible with these new
drives, it might be possible. Otherwise, are you any good at machine
code?
:)
You also said...
"SPIKE: Opps. Problems with MULTI-DOS and IBMDISK. My fault I
suppose. If you couldn't get IBMDISK to do a directory on a PC
disk then you must have been using a HD or ED disk, unfortunately
the version I had (v.2.00) only works on DD disks (Actually Dennis
pointed this out last month.)
Nope. At the moment, I only have DD disk drives. I Think the main
problem with IBMDISK was that it refused to acknoledge the existence of
WIN1_, which is pretty useless for copying files.
I can't remember the other problems I had with it. It's a couple of
months ago since I tried, and I probably deleted them. I use XOVER,
it's easy enough. I still miss the ATR1_ device from the enhanced
toolkit II I have on my trump card...
*sigh*
Also, you said this....
"Oh, nearly forgot - Private Haliwell (TEN-SHUN!!) also had
a problem with MULTI-DOS. Well, I didn't realise that Outln_rext
was"
Please! I'm not just a common or garden soldier. I'm a SIGNALMAN, not a
PRIVATE.... >*sulk*<
The lack of Outln_rext was an irritation, and I might have it hidden
away somewhere on one of my disks. I just wouldn't know where to look.
I don't have QMENU. Never mind.
As I said before, XOVER's good enough.
Then, you went on to ask a few questions about QPAC2.
"Does anyone know if it is possible to start a BASIC program from
the FILES menu of QPAC2? I mean EXECing a file is dead easy -
click on it, select "execute" from the pop-up commands menu,
window setting, and there you are...... Is something similar
available for BASIC progs? Like an "LRUN" selection or something,
going back to the basic command line seems pointless to me."
Using your basic, unextended, run of the mill QPAC2, there is no way to
launch a BASIC program. However, if you use FILEINFO 2 (The latest
versionwas included with ClubQL a few months ago I think), then as long
as the filename has the extension that you set fileinfo II to pick up,
such as _BAS, it will ask if you wish to launch, view or edit that
file. Simple and effective.
You also asked about starting applications as buttons. Now it's a while
since I looked at my boot program, but if memory serves, it goes
something like this....
600 BT_HOTKEY "Perfection","p"
610 ERT HOT_LOAD "win1_perfection",0,0,1
Or something like that. Anyone who's better at this... HEeEeEelp!...
P. McPhereson...
You asked...
"Which neatly leads me to the questions of the month: Is it
possible to run Pascal on a QL, are there any Pascal programmes
for the QL and where can I get hold of them?"
The answer to this is a most definate yes. The problem is finding one.
I know for a fact (I remember the adverts) that Metacomco produced a
variety of languages for the QL in the early days, including 'Pascal',
'C', 'BCPL', 'LISP' and an Assembler. It's possible that Computer One
also produced one, although I'm not too sure about that....
Dennis Smith.
Nope. I don't have Pointer Toolkit, so that's probably why I'm still
not familiar with the names of all the multitude of extensions you can
load. Remember, I am living on somewhat limited funds (I'm suddenly
suffering from a sense of Deja Vu), and can't afford much in the line
of commercial software. I'm also in the same boat with Hardware.
So, if I did ever manage to get the money together, I'd buy GoldFire
BEFORE Aurora. Remember, you might not like the idea, but it's much
better to buy things in dribs and drabs than all at once. Also remember
that even though my original QL is 15 years old (yes, it is still the
same one I started with all those moons ago), it is VERY reliable,
discounting the few times the ribbon cable's needed a seeing to.
Remember, before the SuperGold card graced me with its presence, I was
using a 968K Trump Card. One wild and wacky fortnight, I left it on,
running POV to generate a ray traced picture, and it ran to completion
with no crashes or hitches whatsoever. That was 15 days, non-stop.
It might be putting a bit of a "lead wieght" around our heads, but not
everyone can afford these luxuries. Maybe now that I've got a means of
keeping my overdraft under control, I might spend some of this years
bounty on the GoldFire or Aurora, or something.
Y'never know... (I'll probably wait for the Colour drivers to come out
before I consider the Aurora though. Remember, you've also got to buy
SMSQ in order to gain much benefit from Aurora. That is even MORE
expense).
Well... That SEEMS to be about it for this month.
Mike asked me to e-mail this to Graham Lutz this month.
Just hope I'm in time....
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|u5a77@teach.cs.keele.ac.uk| Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a |
| | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit |
|Andrew Halliwell | operating system originally coded for a 4 bit |
|Principal Subjects in:- |microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that|
|Comp Sci & Electronics | can't stand 1 bit of competition. |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
|GCv3.1 GCS/EL>$ d---(dpu) s+/- a- C++ U N++ o+ K- w-- M+/++ PS+++ PE- Y t+ |
|5++ X+/++ R+ tv+ b+ D G e>PhD h/h+ !r! !y-|I can't say F**K either now! :( |
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