QL CLUB
INTERNATIONAL
JANUARY 1998
MIKE KENNEALLY
E-MAIL.MIKEKENNEALLY1@COMPUSERVE.COM
HI EVERYONE,
YES I AM BACK,THANK GOD SAY'S GRAHAM!
I REALLY DO OWE GRAHAM A BIG THANK YOU FROM ME FOR ONCE AGAIN
PULLING ME OUT OF THE S**T.THANKS GRAHAM.
I HAVE NOT YET HAD TIME TO READ AND INWARDLY DIGEST QL106,DUE
TO THE FACT THAT I HAVE ONLY BEEN TOGETHER WITH MY QXL FOR JUST
OVER 2 DAYS.AGAIN I MUST THANK GRAHAM FOR COMING OVER AND
RE-INSTALLING EVERYTHING SO IT WORKS PROPERLY.TO BE PERFECTLY
HONEST,WITHOUT HIS HELP I WOULD HAVE BEEN TOTALLY FLUMMOXED!
THIS IS WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU LOT,IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE
PROBLEM IS,THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE TO HELP.
AS SOME OF YOU ARE NO DOUBT AWARE,OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF
MONTHS I HAVE GONE THROUGH 3 HARD-DRIVES AND AS YOU CAN IMAGINE I
HAVE BEEN VERY WARY ABOUT RE-INSTALLING ALL MY SOFTWARE BOTH PC
AND QL.THE PC STUFF IS ALL ON CD'S ANYWAY,BUT ALL MY QL STUFF IS
LOVINGLY INSTALLED FROM DISC,AND AS MOST OF YOU KNOW I HAVE A
FAIRLY EXTENSIVE COLLECTION(EVEN WHEN ITS ZIPPED UP)GOING BACK
MANY YEARS,AND IT TAKES A WHILE TO LOAD IT BACK ONTO THE
HARD-DRIVE.IF THIS ONE GOES DOWN ON ME AGAIN,SOMEONE IS GOING TO
DIE!
IT APPEARS FROM SOME OF THE E-MAIL AND LETTERS I HAVE
RECIEVED THAT THERE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A SLIGHT PROBLEM WITH THE
NEWSLETTER LAST MONTH,YOU WILL HAVE TO BEAR WITH US ON THAT.IT WAS
THE FIRST TIME GRAHAM HAD ACTUALLY E-MAILED IT OUT.HE DID A
STIRLING JOB NONE THE LESS.IF ANY OF YOU HAD ANY PROBLEMS OR HAD
ANY PART OF IT MISSING,LET ME KNOW AND I CAN RECTIFY IT.
DENNIS HAS ASKED ABOUT PUTTING THE NEWSLETTER ON BULLETIN
BOARDS,THIS IS NOT SOMETHING I HAVE HAD MUCH TO DO WITH.I HAVE
LOGGED ONTO THE NENE VALLEY BOARD,BUT THEN I AM TOTALLY
FLUMMOXED!WITH BBS BEING AROUND FOR SO LONG,THEY HAVE GOT THE
DREADED QL SYNDROME,THEY ASSUME EVERYONE KNOWS HOW TO ACCESS
THEM!CAN SOMEONE PLEASE WRITE DOWN INSTRUCTIONS IN PLAIN,ONE
SYLLABLE INSTRUCTIONS HOW TO ACCESS THEM,WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU GET
THERE.FOR THOSE OF US WHO DON'T KNOW.IT WILL THEN BE WRITTEN DOWN
FOR POSTERITY.
ONCE AGAIN,THANKS TO ANDREW'S MAGNIFICENT WORK ON THE NET,WE
HAVE NEW FRIENDS JOINING US,I WOULD LIKE TO WELCOME THEM TO OUR
MERRY BAND.
SPEAKING OF THE NET,SINCE MY DRIVE WENT DOWN I LOST ALL MY
E-MAIL ADDRESSES,SO MY APOLOGIES TO THOSE OF YOU WHO DID NOT
RECEIVE THE NEWSLETTER AS I COULD ONLY PASS ON TO GRAHAM THOSE I
HAD WRITTEN DOWN ON PAPER.I KNOW THERE ARE STILL ABOUT 2 MISSING
AND WITH ANY LUCK THEY WILL CONTACT ME TO ASK WHERE THEIR
NEWSLETTERS ARE.
NOT ONLY THAT BUT,I HAVE NO IDEA WHO WANTS WHAT.SOME OF YOU
WANT JUST THE NEWSLETTER AND SOME OF YOU WANT BOTH THE NEWSLETTER
AND PROGS,SO THIS ISSUE I AM SENDING OUT BOTH(THATS IF THERE ARE
ANY PROGS)THE NEWSLETTER AS A .TXT FILE WITH THE PROGS AS AN
ATTACHMENT.
DILWYN HAS ASKED IF HE CAN BECOME THE CLUBS LIBRARIAN,IF
THERE ARE NO OBJECTIONS I INTEND TO LET HIM DO THIS,LET ME KNOW.
I THINK THATS ABOUT IT FROM ME,BUT IF I THINK OF ANYTHING
ELSE.........I'LL BE BACK!
DUE TO THE FACT OF MY DRIVE GOING WEST,WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE
FOR EVERYONE TO SEND ME THEIR FULL ADDRESS,PHONE NUMBERS,FAX
NUMBERS,E-MAIL ADDRESSES ETC.SO I CAN UPDATE MY FILES,PLUS THEN
EVERYONE WILL HAVE A COPY AND IF IT HAPPENS AGAIN,I KNOW WHO TO
TURN TO.
IN THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTH'S WE SEEM TO HAVE ATTRACTED ONE
OR TWO NEW FRIENDS,PETER,PIERRE,BOB,DEREK TO NAME BUT A FEW,I AM
SURE EVERYONE HERE WOULD WELCOME THEM WITH THE SAME WARMTH AS THE
MANY OTHERS WHO HAVE JOINED US OVER THE YEARS.
IT WOULD BE USEFUL TO US ALL,IF OUR NEW FRIENDS COULD GIVE US
A RUNDOWN ON WHAT THEIR AREAS OF 'EXPERTISE'ARE,THEIR
INTERESTS,WHAT THEY USE THE QL FOR ETC.BOB FROM THE SOUNDS OF IT
IS ONE OF THE QL'LOST',AS HE SAYS"SELF TAUGHT ON A NEED TO KNOW
BASIS".I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH AS I HAVE OVER THE YEARS,WE ARE HERE
TO HELP YOU GET THE BEST OUT OF YOUR QL,IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION
THEN LET US KNOW.IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW TRIVIAL IT SEEMS,OR HOW
STUPID IT MAKES YOU FEEL FOR ASKING IT.I KNOW HOW THAT FEELS,I
HAVE ASKED SOME CORKERS OVER THE YEARS.MOST QL USERS WOULD LOOK
DOWN THEIR COLLECTIVE NOSES AT YOU,BUT BELIEVE ME WE WON'T.
WE ARE HERE TO HELP!!!!!
AS YOU CAN SEE FROM OUR LAYOUT,AS A HEADER WE WRITE DOWN THE
SET-UP WE USE,ALONG WITH ANY AND ALL QL EQUIPMENT WE HAVE.THAT WAY
IF THERE IS A PROBLEM WE CAN HELP WITH,WE KNOW WHAT SET-UP YOU ARE
USING.
THOSE OF YOU WHO MAIL THE NEWSLETTER TO ME WILL KNOW ABOUT
THE POSTAGE,ONE(1)FIRST CLASS STAMP USUALLY COVERS IT AND TO USE
THE SAME JIFFY BAG UNTIL IT DIES,WHY BUY MORE THAN ONE?MARTIN
BURKES JIFFIES MUST BE GETTING ON FOR 3 YEARS OLD NOW!
DARREN,THERE MAY BE A SMALL PROBLEM WITH ONE OF THE FILES I
THINK IT'S QLAYT082,THE DISC WAS VIBRATING LIKE HELL WHEN I TRIED
TO COPY IT.ITS ON THE NEWSLETTER AND I HOPE ITS OK BUT YOU NEVER
KNOW.I HAVE GOT THE PRINTOUTS YOU SENT ME,THANKS VERY MUCH.WHEN I
GET TIME I SHALL PERUSE THEM AT LEISURE(HA,HA LEISURE WHATS
THAT?)I AM THINKING OF WRITING TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,THEY ARE
CHANGING EVERYTHING ELSE,MAYBE THEY CAN GIVE US AN EXTRA FEW HOURS
A DAY!
MIKE.
*!
Martin Wheatley martinw@ndirect.co.uk
QL, SuperQboard, Twin Disc Drives, Green Screen Monitor
Mersey Mouse, PC running Xchange
Hi everyone,
I wrote
I think this is one instance where the QL has slipped. There
is no 29th February 2000,no doubt everyone has written in this
issue this is incorrect - there is a 29 th February 2000
Dennis S wrote
Mike : Have you ever considered putting 2 zips on the Fidonet
BBS.
This is mostly an accident of history. It happens that not
many people involved with ClubQL have also done much on the BBSs
and most of us wouldn't have the first idea how to put a file up
there. No doubt if someone volunteered to do it .........
----------------------------------------------------------
Martin B wrote
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 don't think I agree with this. Firstly the naming of the
drives is just practical. In a setup with more than one drive you
have to specify the drive quite often. Having to write 31/2 Disc
Drive rather than A: would get very irritating very quickly! And
what happens if you have more than one of the same type? I also
think the number of people who have more than 26 drives on their
machine is probably fairly limited! I imagine that this is not
in main chips but in the BIOS which could be changed if anyone
wanted to but I doubt if anyone would since the present system
seems to work perfectly well!
WHY DIDNT THEY USE THE SAME SYSTEM WE USE,WE HAVE BEEN
WRITING FLP1_ FOR YEARS OR FLP2 ETC.?
The 8 + 3 limitation is similar to a lot of those in QL
software - it's just that not enough bytes were allocated in the
file header for anything else. Windows95 now allows much longer
file names. It was done a long time ago when there was little
memory and machines had little or no hard disc and no-one could
conceive of the need to have the large number of files that people
do nowadays. This is one of those things thats easy in hindsight
but its probably a little hard to blame them for not seeing at the
time. It was common practice on all sorts of computers to
minimise the number of bytes used for things in those days - thats
why the Year 2000 problem exists and why there are file size
limitations in the Psion suite.
Andy Halliwell wrote
--------------------------------------- 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.
----------------------------------------
This is not true. The latest runs in a DOS window under
Windows rather than just DOS but it still uses the Microdrive
emulation as its basis As I understand it from the documentation
the writer has done it this way not because he can't base it on
disc drives but because he chooses not to. He wanted to emulate
the classic QL. Emulating other sorts of drives is something he
has on the list of things to do at some future point. You can't
criticise it though since it is freeware and he's doing for his
own entertainment so he can do it how he likes
Andy Halliwell wrote regarding Darren suggestion of using
Syquest disc drives with the QL
--------------------------------- 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? ---------------------------------------
There has recently been a very interesting (and voluminous)
discussion on the QLUSer list on the Internet on the future of QL
hardware and its development involving many of the people involved
in the work For those interested a summary of this discussion it
is likely to appear in QL Today soon (sorry Colin - I couldn't get
it for Quanta as several of the people involved had QL Today
connections - I did suggest it)
Device drivers are something that came up several times. The
problem is they are difficult and boring to write and no-one wants
to do it. Most of the people who can do them want to be paid for
it and the small number of potential customers are likely to make
it cost more than people are prepared to pay for something to the
user looks trivial (so trivial that most people don't even
remember they are neccesary!)
The availablility of emulators has lead to one or two people
from other computers to want to try it and delve back a little
into computer history. This was always Stuarts plan with the QXL -
that it would sell to a non QL audience - well it's taken the
Internet for it to happen at all and it's only one or two. The
first reaction you get is always the same - shock at QL prices
when compared to Amiga and PC ones for things like emulators.
This is not to say that Ql stuff is overpriced - it's as cheap as
it can be for the size of the market but we do have to remember
that we don't have the advantages of scale other machines do.
There have been plenty of bright suggestions for new hardware on
the QL Users list but almost always met with a straight question
'And how much are you prepared to pay for this?'. Mostly thats
the end of the suggestion because what people expect to pay and
the actual cost of preparation and production are rarely close to
one another. People like Nasta and Ron run a terrible risk of
losing money on projects like Goldfire. Stuart has just about run
out of projects that are economically viable (in fact some suspect
he may have done that a while ago!) If Nasta was being paid for
the huge amount of work he is putting into Goldfire rather than
doing it for fun there is no way the project could be viable. How
many are they going to sell at the end of it? Not a lot! These
are things that have to be faced up to
Talking of the Internet we seem to be getting a steady
trickle of people coming to ClubQL from all over the world due to
the ClubQL Web page Well done Andy!
Martin Wheatley
FROM:INTERNET:DStew10301@aol.com, INTERNET:DStew10301@aol.com
TO:(unknown), mikekenneally1 DATE:01/02/98 16:23
Hi Mike
I have been looking at issue 104, downloaded from Thierry
Godfrey in France... I am very interested in all things QL.
I have a BBS on tel. 01773-741335, which runs on a Supergold
card, Aurora, Qubide all boxed in a home built tower case. It runs
on SMSQ/E with Pbox v1.19, rather like Phil Borman's at Nene
Valley. But I have used ansi screens from my other BBS that I used
to use on a PC. But now it is a QL BBS for QL people.
I would be interested in receiving your newsletter and any
back issues you have. Also if you do not mind, maybe they could be
put up on the BBS for people to download. If you like I could
designate a special area for people at QL Club International. I
have download issues 99-106 from your web site.
I THINK YOU MAY HAVE TO CONTACT DILWYN OVER THIS AS HE HAS
VOLUNTEERED TO BE THE CLUB LIBRARIAN.
I see my old friend Dennis Smith is mentioned in issue 104,
who has designed a back cover plate called MC Panel, for tower
cases with all the slots for connectors in. And Graham Underwood
has made an interface called Molink for connecting two modems
together so that comms can be practised or high datatransfer can
be done. Also you can connect the modem via Molink to a Fax
machine and fax things to yourself. Well really it scanning at 300
dpi which on the face of it is a way of using a scanner on the QL
with Molink.
DENNIS HAS BEEN WITH US FOR QUITE A WHILE NOW,AND A BETTER
'WIND-UP'MERCHANT HAS YET TO APPEAR!
All this can be seen at the user group SeQueL which meets
very 4th Saturday in Codnor Church, Mill Lane, Codnor, Derbyshire.
The hours are 1pm-5pm and the cover charge is only 1.50 pounds,
tea, coffee and nice things to eat are available. Plus lots of
interesting QL specific topics.
I AM HOPING TO ATTEND AT LEAST ONE OF THESE MEETINGS IN THE
NEAR FUTURE,WORK ALLOWING!
On 28/2/98, Tony Firshman is coming to the meeting to show
his Romdisq and talk about comms in general. So if you have
nothing to do, come along and have a nice QL time with us.
In April the SeQueL group will be hosting the QUANTA AGM
which will be a one day affair. With all major QL traders present.
Also lectures, QL problems with a panel of experts from the QL
traders/experts. Also planned is a buffet after the AGM, and the
oppertunity to eat, drink, talk about QLs and even buy more QL
things till midnight.
More specific details will follow in due course.
Derek
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
Gear:- Supergold card QL with various pointer thingies,
Qubide 1.55 ROM,(or 1.56 if I Lrespr it) 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... It's that time again. The CLubQL homepage has now
been slightly more optimised after a few comments saying it took
an age to load the background. The picture is also darker, and the
text much more visible. Thanks Mike and Martin W for the comments.
(Even with the full sized graphic, it only took a short amount of
time to load here, thanks to the fast transfer rate.)
Other news. After a debate on device drivers and rescue
utilities on QubIDE, Phil Borman has stated that when 1.57 comes
out, one of the things that'll be re-instated is duplication of
filenames in the actual disk blocks as well as the directory. This
will make undeleting files much easier. Also, those nice people at
Qbranch have said that they are working on (or are going to be
working on) a program to do just that, probably something along
the lines of Media Manager or ResQL.
I've recently downloaded uQLx on this 'ere sunstation and
tried to compile it. HeEelp! It keeps coming up with really
irritating warnings like this.... instructions_pz.c: In function
Rts': instructions_pz.c:170: warning: cast from pointer to integer
of different size
There are a LOT of these (and other warnings), and of course,
upon completion it doesn't work...
It does this instead.... [sierra][15:40:56] Spike% qm
ld.so.1: qm: fatal: libXext.so.0: can't open file: errno=2 Killed
So... All you uQLx and unix genii out there (well.. I know
there's one)... Any hints?
BEFORE ANYONE CAN ANSWER THAT,WOULD SOMEONE
PLEASE,PLEASE,PLEASE,TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS HE ON ABOUT?I THINK
ALL THIS ARMY SPEAK HAS GONE TO HIS HEAD!
Can't think of anything else at the moment, so on with the
responses...
Martin W said last time.... "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"
Sorry to burst your bubble Martin, but the year 2000 *is* a
leap year, which means the QL is right (as usual). There is a
29/2/2000. I think the video thing is because it isn't year based.
It just assumes 28 days for February.
DOES THIS MEAN IN THE YEAR 2000 THE ONLY COMPUTERS THAT DON'T
DIE ARE QL'S?
And now, an amendment to last months post by me. I cocked up
on the function key reading thingy. I added the following to the
ClubQL on the ClubQL page, but as the majority aren't internet
active I'll post it here as well...
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!"
For some reason, last months seems to have been rather
shorter than usual, so, I'll sign off...
I'll try to send Mike the QubIDE ROM mentioned last month,
and I'll see if I can find any other curiosities to send as well.
(Last month, the only files I received in the ZIP were QL106_txt
and QL106_doc.)
So.... This is Sig Halliwell... Signing off. --
FROM:Jones,Dilwyn, INTERNET:dilwyn.jones@bbc.co.uk
TO:(unknown), INTERNET:graham.lutz@virgin.net MIKE KENNEALLY,
MIKEKENNEALLY1 DATE:23/01/98 23:39
Should contributions for QL107 go to Mike or Graham, please?
EITHER DILWYN,BUT AS YOU CAN SEE I AM BACK.
Graham, I eventually found the Club QL pages on the Web and
downloaded QL106 from there and the system allowed a file of
that size, but please do still return the disk I belatedly sent
you, so that I can have the other QL106 files on the disk if
possible.
Mike, did you think about the suggestion I made regarding
acting as a back issues librarian for the club? As I have a ZIP
drive, it would make it easy for me to store them without
hundreds of floppies all over the place too! If you are
interested, let me know and I'll work on the best way of
handling this.
Dilwyn Jones
P. McPHERSON,
Fraternal Greetings Everybody,
Current equipment includes: 3xQLs (AH roms), one fitted with a
Gold Card and twin Cumana 3.5" floppy drive, one with a Trump Card
and a single 3.5" and the third is a bare 128K machine, an Amstrad
DMP 3160 printer c/w a Miracle Serial Interface.
Firstly, a big thank you to all those enquiring about my health
which is, stable, if still painful for the time being and then to
Darren Branagh for "Cosmos" after mine decided to throw a wobbley onme.
GLAD TO HAVE YOU UP AND ABOUT AGAIN MATE,AND IN GOOD HEALTH OR
REASONABLY SO.
After a few hickups I have at last got up to date with QLCI
discs that I can actually load which provided me with some very
interesting information and contraversial comments especially from
those who seem to think that we are all made of money, have no other
commitments and should spend all our income on the latest QL harware
and software - I wish, and I am sure many other QL users do too!
One thing has struck me over the last couple of months that I
have been out of action and that is just how many advances are being
made in the world of QL hardware despite the fact that many so called
experts regard the QL as a "dead" or obsolete machine. Why is it not
the same with software, have all the writers moved on to the PC?
FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER,THERE ARE STILL A LOT OF PEOPLE OUT THERE
COMPILING SOFTWARE,BUT THE ACTUAL ACCENT SEEMS TO BE ON UPDATING
'OLDER'PROGRAMS TO MAKE THEM COMPATIBLE WITH THE 'NEWER'QL'S.
And now for the question of the month: Could somebody please
tell me (and other members) in simple terms, exactly what a
"Goldfire" is, what it can do, who is marketing it and how much it
costs. Is it the replacement for the Super Gold Card?
GOOD QUESTION,YES WHAT IS IT EXACTLY?
Best Wishes,
Paul & Bob
#!
Colin Baskett
8 January 1998
EQUIPMENT: QL FITTED WITH SUPERGOLD CARD; MkI MINERVA -
version 1.82;
SUPERHERMES; 170 MB HARD DISK; SINGLE 3.5" HD DISC DRIVE; ED
DRIVES; PHILIPS COLOUR MONITOR; SERIAL MOUSE; PRINTER BJ10sx;
XCHANGE 3.90L, etc..
Dear Mike,
Red-face time !!! Having only just realised that the 27th of
the month (last Month that is) has come and gone. This will,
therefore, be brief. Relief all round.
Mike, a propos a possible mailing to ex-members:
"WHAT ABOUT SOMETHING ALONG THE LINES OF WHAT I SENT OUT TO
YOU,IT GOT YOU INTERESTED AGAIN DIDN'T IT?I SHALL SEE IF I STILL
HAVE IT ON FILE AND LET YOU HAVE A COPY,IT MAY NEED A LITTLE
CHANGING BUT YOU CAN DO THAT. Yes, please !
I will try for the next issue to produce a summary of the QL
pros (& cons). Sorry left it too late now.
Most interested to see Darren's news about the new LS-120
floppy drives from Panasonic which format Panasonic's new LS-120
disks to 120Mb on a LS-120 drive unit. If these could be made to
work with the QL ........... If anyone does have anything on this
how about a brief note to QUANTA?
Many thanks Darren for your review of Thesaurus PE. I really
do appreciaye all the support you are giving me. It's what makes
an editor's job worth doing.
Stupid of me! I should have thought about the possibility of
optical sensors. Incidentally, there will be a note on ED drives
from Gary Norton in the February issue of QUANTA which raises some
intriguing possibilities.
Warnings from various people about the danger of little bits
of plastic waste jiggering the drive let alone the disc (including
non-ClubQLI sources - and I don't mean Bill Richardson !!).
Please keep us posted about mishaps.
Paul mentions the Olympus C4100L as a suitable digital camera
for producing images for a PC or Mac. Is it possible to convert
them to QL format ?, says he ignorantly.
I DON'T SEE WHY NOT.IT MUST BE POSSIBLE TO SAVE THEM IN A
FORMAT THAT IS TRANSFERABLE.
QPAC2
Malcolm White mentions problems with QPAC2. I don't have
Taskmaster and so I am still using QPAC2 and still learning (and
forgetting what I have previously learnt). What is it about QPAC2
that makes it apparently so difficult to document clearly. Why,
when I HOT_LOAD a program (e.g. Xchange) do I get a wake sign on
the button which doesn't seem to work either when I initially load
the programme or when I try to re-awake it? I have Xchange
HOT_RES'ed as well on a button called and the wake symbol
here works as expected but when I am working on the magazine I use
HOT_LOAD (to save memory when not using it) on a button called
to load Xchange with a command string that sets the
directory required and gives Quill a task name which calls the
appropriate printer driver. All this works well except that if I
switch out of this version of Xchange I cannot get back into it
via the button. I can, of course, get back via the 'pick'
menu, and in other ways including 'doing' the wake sign on the
button. Although in this last case I may have to cycle
through several copies of Xchange (if these have been loaded)
before getting back to the 'mag' version.
The BUFFER STUFFER. Should I be able to use this to capture
the odd piece of text and pass it to the keyboard buffer or is its
use as limited as it seems to be.
My copy of QPAC2 is older than I care to think. Should I be
getting an update.
XCHANGE
Malcolm also talks of having a go with Xchange. It really is
super, especially version 'L' (is there a later version?). But do
get the documentation disc. I am still finding new (to me)
facilities such as a program (view_dat) for viewing your
'printer_dat' files (called of course by different names in
Xchange) or a facility for printing out alternate page numbers,
odd first then even or vice versa (especially useful for printing
out all those readme files).
I can even write additional HELP pages. Now, why would I
want to do that? To remind myself what all those fifty translates
on my several printer drivers do. No I don't actually have fifty
translates but I still forget what different printer drivers do.
'Extract' to BUFFER, 'Append'. As others have pointed out
this makes the ClubQL contribution a simple task.
ITS OK COLIN,EVEN AFTER ALL THIS TIME I AM STILL FINDING
THINGS IN IT I DIDN'T KNOW WERE THERE!
MOTOROLA VERSUS INTEL
If Mike will allow me a PLUG. Look out for an article by
Simon Goodwin in the January Quanta. Amongst other things it
includes a benchmark program by the author of QLAY. I tried it out
with SMSQ/E and with QDOS. Now, at last, I know why I have SMSQ/E
even if it doesn't work with all my software!
Q-ROUTE
Finally, Q-ROUTE. Great fun. I don't have Auto-Route (no
PC) so I cannot make a comparison. But I have wasted more hours
playing with Q-Route in the last fortnight than I care to
remember. Try filling in extra detail on the map (or perhaps
making a new map) but do save frequently !! Very frequently !!!!
Colin B.
#!
Colin Baskett
01491 614293
28#9 January 1998
EQUIPMENT: QL FITTED WITH SUPERGOLD CARD; MkI MINERVA -
version 1.82;
SUPERHERMES; 170 MB HARD DISK; SINGLE 3.5" HD DISC DRIVE; ED
DRIVES; PHILIPS COLOUR MONITOR; SERIAL MOUSE; PRINTER BJ10sx;
XCHANGE 3.90L, etc..
Dear Mike,
I imagine my disk arrived too late for last month's issue.
Apologies. If it arrived could you send it back with QL106 on it?
I only hope this one is in time. Late again! I was going to do it
two days ago but suddenly I was deluged with 'phone calls.
YES IT DID MATE BUT NO PROBLEM,IF THERE IS A LETTER ON YOUR
DISC I WILL INCLUDE IT THIS MONTH.
Those of you who are members of Quanta will have read Mike
Hammond's contribution in the January issue. Mike seems to have
gone a long way towards wrapping up the "Future of the QL" debate.
In a nut shell he sees a missing ingredient in what we have
to offer and
His breakdown of the QL community has helped to identify two
potential markets where we might hope to attract new users -
people who want to do their own thing, both amateurs and
professionals, and people who for one reason or another are
unhappy about the PC. But, there is a problem, he says, what we
have to offer is confusion not clarity. We need a package with
clear guidance about the available upgrade routes. We also need a
touch of magic - "The Sinclair Factor".
Not everyone will agree with all his arguments and fewer
still with my presentation of these above. One fact, however, I
feel is incontrovertible; there is confusion and we need to have
available a clear description of what is available, what is in the
pipeline and the distinguishing characteristics of each piece of
hard- or soft-ware. Well not perhaps every piece but the key
pieces.
I have held back on the question of approaching old members
for a variety of reasons, the most important of which is the
feeling that we should have a much better spiel to set before such
people later this year when Goldfire etc have materialised. And
when, I hope we may have achieved some of Mike Hammond's
"clarity".
MORE POWER TO YOUR ELBOW COLIN,GO FOR IT ALL THE WAY.AS I
HAVE SAID BEFORE ABOUT APPROACHING THE 'OLD' MEMBERS,MANY OF THEM
WILL STILL HAVE THEIR OLD QL PROGS LYING ABOUT GATHERING DUST.SEND
THEM A COPY OF THE PD DISC BASED EMULATOR,WITH EASY TO UNDERSTAND
INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO LOAD AND USE IT.AS A MATTER OF FACT SEND A
COPY TO GRAHAM LUTZ AND ASK HIM NICELY AND I AM SURE HE WILL
ACCOMODATE YOU WITH EASY TO FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS.
Re-Darren's news about the new LS-120 floppy drives from
Panasonic. Ron Dunnett has pointed out to me that he has already
covered these in the September 1997 issue. They would need a new
driver to be written as they are not true (E)IDE devices, whatever
that means. Sorry Darren!
THE USUAL PLEAS
Everyone:-
Please keep us all posted about your printers and about your
favourite software. Or dodges that will help others use it better.
Also, I am keen to put news about sub-groups in QUANTA. Where
you meet, when and what you get up to !!
JUST DON'T FALL INTO THE SAME TRAP AS YOUR PREDECESSORS AND
IGNORE OTHER QL BASED MAGAZINES AND DISCZINES.I KNOW YOU WON'T
BECAUSE WE HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR QUITE A WHILE NOW,BUT OTHERS
DO.
Also experiences with QLAY and articles on almost any QL
related subject or Z88 of course. Quanta needs your contributions.
That's all for now. Cheers!
Colin B.
!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#
J.C.Marcus
EUSKADI
{not Spain}
14-1-98
GEAR: Aurora + SGC, Minerva 1.97/SMSQ/E, Hermes, Qubide/170M HDD, 2xHD,
CUB 653, Epson LQ500; JS QL with GC & 2xDD
J.C.,MY APOLOGIES,YOU ALSO MISSED THE DEADLINE BUT NO PROBLEM YOU WILL
GET 2 THIS TIME.I AM AFRAID I HAVE TO PUT 'SPAIN'ON YOUR
ADDRESS,OTHERWISE THE POSTMAN GETS CONFUSED.
Hello All,
Well, the X-mas silly season has now finally passed, & I hope this
finds you all well {& not too broke!}
FLAT,STONEY AND ANY OTHER WORDS THAT EXPRESS IT!
Mike: thanks for all the back issues; a very interesting read, & helps
in putting everything into some sort of perspective. I wonder if
you've followed Geoff Wicks' bit, "Are you sitting comfortably?" in the
last 2 issues of QL Today? Well, given the no. of hours I've just
spent reading through the old CQLIs, & the amount of "forefinger
tapping" it all involved, does this make CQLI a health risk?? I think
we need to be told! :-)))
ONLY IF YOU TRY TO DIGEST IT IN ONE SITTING!
Talking of QLT, as you may have noticed above, I've finally succumbed &
treated myself to an Aurora + SMSQ/E; well, I had a pretty good summer
over here, work-wise, & Roy Woods' wonderful & somewhat
emotionally-charged appeal in the last QLT {"Christmas Cajole"} just
had me in tears; so I had to do it. Sorry. I'm now busy fitting
everything into a {ubiquious} mini-tower case. I noticed some comments
in previous issues, & other QL mags about problems with plates for
connectors etc. so was careful over this. I managed to find one with
plenty of pre-pressed slots for connectors; future-proofing, I suppose.
You never know which way your computer-related interests will lead, &
what wonderful new expansion our "hardware boys" are going to dream up
next! Also, just to be different, I've decided to stick with the
original QL keyboard - yes curious I know, but:
(1) I'm used to the lay-out, & just "get lost" when using a PC 'board;
(2) my QL is a (German) Samsung build, with a very much better 'board
than the "original" original.
Anyway, I'm just about ready to do the final change-overs, but thought
I'd get this off first, just in case!!
On the subject, was it Frank who asked about the Aurora? Well, yes it
can be placed in the QL case, as it's much smaller than the original QL
motherboard (see below), which you have to remove. The microdrives
also go, as the Aurora does not support them - {no real loss??}. If
you want to use the QL keyboard, {like me}, as opposed to a S-Hermes,
Di-Ren, Falkenburg etc. interface + PC style 'board, you need a simple
interface between the 2 {circuit diagram provided, but I imagine that
Ron Dunnett COULD be persuaded to build it for you...}. You also need
to think about the power supply to the board, but this is all very well
covered in the Aurora manual. OK, enough "plugging" for today. Oh
yeh, the size, the Aurora measures 100mm x 165mm {I trust that our QLub
is now fully metresized...:-)}
I see I missed a quiet "discussion" about musical tastes. Pity. Well,
all I have to say {& start it all off again ;-))} is: Never mind all
that bollocks, give me the Sex Pistols anytime: now there was a
group.....
JOHNNY ROTTEN RULES OK,EH?
OK, other points {before I get lynched}:
Could I add my thanks to all the others for Colin B., for stepping into
the breach, taking over the editorship of Quanta, & doing a real good
job at it too! That whole period, with all the bickering going on was
a real low-point for ALL QL users, as Quanta is an important part of
the QL world. Let's also hope that the "niggle" that there seems to
be/has been between it & CQLI also disappears now. {My niggle is that
I bought one of the "disputed" SGCs, only to see the price suddenly
drop by `100+ overnight. Talk about being miffed!!!}
HOPEFULLY,WITH COLIN AT THE WHEEL THIS IS NOW A THING OF THE PAST.
My idea for gaining {some} new members: try targeting the "siblings" of
past members who may have "moved on" {down} & left their QLs for the
kids to play with. There could be a whole {de}generation out there
waiting to be recruited. The PD emulators, especially for the Amiga &
Ataris {is there one for the Atari, by the way} should also be "flogged
about" as much as possible, to atract those who have A or A's as "game"
machines, but would like to do something more with them.
Some positive points for the QL/QDOS et. al.: Entry level still is very
cheap, & upgrades can be made in small, managable steps {if you so
wish}. The PE will happily run on a Trumpcard system. Try running
Windozze on a 1985/6 PC.... You get 2 powerfull programming languages
with the system {don't forget Archive!!}, as well as the other Psion
stuff, which may not be Office, Lotus etc., but is simple to learn, &
works. There is also, of course, a huge PD source out there as well.
OK, if you're STILL not convinced, forget it.
YOU'VE CONVINCED ME!WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
In CQLI102 Graham B. mentions that often problems appear in Quanta, but
the solutions never get into print. This is true, but obviously relies
on one or both parties sending in the solution. Maybe a question of
laziness? I know that I've been guilty of this in the past! Maybe the
solution is to direct all queries to the Helpline, where the "experts"
can then have a go. I suppose that the real problem is with the silly
little hassles we often have, that may be seen as "below" the level of
these experts to answer {NO insult intended, please!}; the answer then,
must be these "pages"! From what I've seen, there always seems to be
someone ready with an answer {even a silly one}.
WHAT PUT ME OFF WRITING TO ANY MAGAZINES WAS AFTER THE FIRST TIME I DID
IT,WITH A PROBLEM,WHICH AT THE TIME SEEMED TO ME TO BE
INSURMOUNTABLE,AND I WAS TOLD BY AN'EXPERT'THAT IF I COULDN'T
UNDERSTAND IT,I SHOULDN'T BE USING A COMPUTER!THIS IS WHY I AM HERE AND
SHALL REMAIN HERE FOR AS LONG AS WE ARE NEEDED.I APOLOGISE AND GET DOWN
OFF MY SOAPBOX NOW,BUT THIS POMPOUS PRAT STILL ANNOYS ME EVEN AFTER ALL
THIS TIME.
So, on the subject:
Darren B.: yes, great photo of you; are you trying to hide your
chewed-off fingernails, or what? Also, please don't buy anymore
computer gear, as there soon won't be any room left for the letters
each month!! How many systems do you actually have up & running? And
just how big is your house to fit it all???
WELL,HE DOES LIVE IN A FALCONRY,MAYBE HE HAS KICKED THE BIRDS OUT!
You ask about EXecuting Basic progs - very simple, install FileInfoII
on your system. A bit of a hassle to configure at first, but easy to
experiment with, {& it's FREE, as you'd say!}. OR of course, you could
get yourself some SMSQ/E....{;-))}
Someone also asked about help/instructions with ACP - like FileInfoII
above, ACP has Help facilities accessible from the program - the "?"
icon, or check out the relevent "_help" file that comes with the
program/s.
THIS IS A PROGRAM AFTER MY OWN HEART,EASY TO USE.ON SCREEN IT IS EASY
TO FOLLOW,BUT USE VERSION 3 AND ABOVE,BUT DON'T FORGET YOU NEED TO BE
ABLE TO ACCESS ZIP/UNZIP AS ACP USES THESE PROGS.FILEINFO IS ANOTHER
STORY,I HAVE SEEN IT WORKING AND I WISH I COULD USE IT.I SUPPOSE IT IS
LIKE ANYTHING ELSE,EASY WHEN YOU KNOW HOW!
Dilwyn asks about a volume control for his Aurora tower system. Well,
as a sound engineer, the solution is simple. Run the wires from the
speaker in the tower to a jack socket you stick on the back, & from
there to a spare input on your stereo, stick the volume up, AND ENJOY.
SLFN {So Long For Now}
JC
!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#
#! Martin Burke,
Bucks,
25th January, 1998.
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.
Welcome to Peter Graf and Pierre Thonne: another few thousand
years at this rate of recruitment, we might even outnumber PC
users. And pigs may fly: but I doubt if MS-DOS/WINDOWS pc's will.
I still have no joy with my SGC problems. The mains supply
checks out, I've tried the "Briggs" PSU but it is exactly the same:
"twill" screen down about 1/6th then it freezes. One "electronics"
person suggested a "dirty earth". Another pointed out that there
was no earth lead to the psu/system.
Darren: I don't think I've noticed before: why 3 laser
printers: do you run thim in serial or in parallel?
MAYBE NOW WE HAVE TONY ON BOARD,PERHAPS HE CAN HELP?
Yours,
Martin Burke.
#!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Darren Branagh,
25th, January, 1998.
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 (25Mhz version), 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 Gang,
Short and sweet (hopefully) from me this month, as I only received
QL106 on Friday evening, and only got around to reading it a few
minutes ago....................
First, a plea for some help - particularly anyone out there that
knows about monitors. I just bought a second hand PHILIPS CM8833
Colour Monitor for use with my Trump Card Backup QL (with a view
to networking it with my QXL, so I have access to the hard drive
from both machines). However, despite the fact that I managed to
get the thing working perfectly as a T.V. via the AUDIO and VIDEO
IN sockets connected to my VCR, (you can actually watch stuff in
green screen mode via the video, or full colour!!) I haven't been
able to find the correct pin-outs to the TTL/RGB connector for use
with the QL. The RGB connector is an 8 pin Din socket, exactly the
same as the one on the back of a QL, I noticed a few of the
members of QLCI have a Philips CM 8833 Monitor with their QL - can
anyone provide the much needed wiring info for a lead?? Or, better
still, provide me with a lead which I can buy?? HELP!!
CAN ANYONE HELP HIM?
Second, a reply to Spike : - sorry Mate, about the misinformation
about the new Panasonic LS-120 drives, but I assumed you would
have read Ron Dunnett's contribution in the Sept 1997 issue of
Quanta - which said he will WRITE a driver for the LS-120 drives
if there is enough demand!! I was well aware that they wouldn't
just work as ordinary drives. I new that jumper settings would be
only part of the problem. Anyone interested is asked to leave your
name with Ron, and when enough names exist to make the venture
viable he will look into doing a driver.
I am definitely going to the Hove show in Sussex on the 22nd Feb -
so I hope to see you all there !! I have arranged the date with my
Boss, and after the fiasco over the Bristol show in November, I'll
be furious if he lets me down again...........
Which reminds me, I may need a lift to the show - I'm unsure as to
how I'll travel (probably fly over) so if anyone can give me a
free lift to the show from any of the major airports, I'd be
delighted. Any volunteers?
ANYONE GOING TO THE HOVE SHOW AND CAN GIVE DARREN A LIFT?
Right. On with the rest, ahh, yeah - nice to hear from Mr.Graf of
Q40 Fame - I'm looking forward to maybe seeing the prototype at
the Hove show, if Peter is there of course. Nice to see new
members - though perhaps Pierre Thonne could provide some more
info next time round, sounds like an interesting chap.
Nice also to hear from Ian Pizer too - a Gentleman if ever there
was one, and as for his wife - a truly charming lady, with
remarkably good english and now also a good friend of my Fathers
too - as they both share a love of Birds. I'm glad you enjoyed
you're stay here Ian - we are currently closed for the winter, but
will re-open again in mid March.
I trust this year will be Busy too, as the Tour De France bicycle
race is taking place here in Ireland for the first time ever - It
passes straight by my house on July 12th, and preparations are
already underway - road re-surfacing, etc. All the Hotels and
Guesthouses are filling up fast, so If anyone is a sports fan and
wants a birds-eye view, call me for details, as I still have a few
rooms left. The 12th should be an eventful day, as the world cup
final is also on in the evening too !!
Did you know the Tour uses 5 fixed wing aircraft, 13 helicopters,
it takes all the bikes almost 90 minutes to pass by, and if you
lined up all the vehicles used to track the tour, they would
stretch for over 3.2 miles?? Quite astounding - no wonder it has
the biggest TV audience of all sports events, over 1 Billion
people. (amazes me the useless info you can pick up on a tourist
flyer!)
LOVED spike's description of Windoze 95 at the end of his letter;
excellent. As for Bill Gates having to re-install windows all the
time in his new house, I also heard he had to call in the
exterminators too - apparently a problem with BUGS..........
Q. WHY IS A CROOKED PSYCHIC LIKE A DUD MICRODRIVE CARTRIDGE ?
A. THEY ARE BOTH "BAD OR CHANGED MEDIUMS"......
Which reminds me, my QL JOKE BOOK should be available from the PD
Libraries by the time you read this. I sent Dilwyn a copy and I
think he said he was sending it into Steve Johnson et al.
Also, I am (as Hilary mentioned last month) working on a Demo copy
of a new Z88 Magazine - a copy will be available at the Hove show,
and hopefully Bi-monthly from then on. The first one will "test
the water" so to speak, to see if its viable or not...
Further details are available from Bill Richardson, who has also
updated his Z88 transfer disk with some new programs and a
Sourcebook that will be useful to all Z88 and QL owners. I have
reviewed this for Colin Baskett, and you'll also find it on the
this months disk, called Z88_Doc.
Also, as QLAY and QPC has been the source of many letters over the
past couple of months, I'm including the latest version of QLAY
for Windows 95 platforms, (QLAYW084.ZIP) and the QLAYT program for
converting files to QLAY format (QLAYT082.ZIP), at least I think
they're the latest. Also, version 1.11 of the demo version of QPC,
which definitely isn't the latest, as its now on version 1.40.
As usual, these need to be transferred to a PC Ms-Dos disk first,
using SMSQ/E or XOVER or whatever. Also included are rom images of
the JS and JM roms - (ROM.ZIP) you need these for QLAY too.
Actually, If anyone has a demo copy of 1.40 (or a greater one than
1.11) could you send it in please, as I believe the speed
increases are unbelieveable in later versions.)
Roy Wood of Q-Branch has also set me an alpha release of a new
program he has written with John Wakefield, which is a
pointer-driven screen Calculator. It allows you to convert window
sizes from the normal 512x256 screens to the larger screen sizes
of Aurora, QXL, QPC, etc. for use to convert your own programs. I
have yet to try it, so more next month on that............
So there ya go... so much for the brief letter !!
Hope to see you all (or at least most of you) at the Hove show...
Now all I need is a lift !!
Regards,
Darren
VERY INFORMATIVE DARREN,ITS A PITY I CANNOT MAKE IT TO HOVE,BUT
HAVING JUST STARTED A NEW BUSINESS VENTURE IT CANNOT BE LEFT JUST
YET.HOPEFULLY SOMEONE WILL COME TO YOUR AID.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
****************************************************************
Hilary O'Kelly,
24/01/1998
Dear Gang,
Somewhat of a world record for me - two consecutive letters in two
months !!
AND THERE WAS ME,GONE AND MISSED IT!
I have managed to get rid of my "job" as secretary of the
Community Alert Group at our January Meeting last week, so I
should have some free time now to play with my QL and all the new
gear I bought.
I am busy contemplating going to the UK for the Hove show, as
Darren has a deal with a couple of very cheap tickets, if he wants
them, maybe I'll go over and meet some of you.
I enjoyed the piece MArtin wrote about the speed comparisions of
QPC et al, I an "inheriting" a 386 PC with 8 Meg RAM next month,
as a close friend is upgrading, so I plan to ask Darren to show me
the ins and outs of QLAY soon.
Anyhow, short and sweet,
see you all next month............
HILARY.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Terry Williams
22/1/98
GEAR: 2 JS QLs, 1JM QL,SGC,GC,TRUMPCARD,TWIN E D DRIVES,TWIN HD
DRIVES,TWIN DD DRIVES,14", QMIMI MOUSE, GOLD STAR COLOUR MONITOR
, 9"SONY TRITRON MONITOR, 12" FERGUSON GREEN MONITOR, SPECTRUM
48K WITH TELETEXT ADAPTOR
Hi Mike & Friends!
Sorry I missed last month but it was school holls so we had our
grandson to look after, and before I knew it the deadline was
way passed!
YOU'RE FORGIVEN MATE,DON'T MAKE IT A HABIT!(JOKE)
HD to ED convertion . I too, was a bit worried about bits from
drilling getting inside so I made the hole in my first trial by
the use of a plier type of multi hole leather punch, carefully
rotating the disk and more or less wearing the hole out and
thereby preventing any bits from entering. It seems to have
worked but then I thought there may be a better way if the Disk
housing was thermoplastic.
I then attacked another one with a piece of hot rod judiciously
heated up on the gas ring and found it was!! The hole was made
with no little bits of dust and raised lumps can be shaved off
with a sharp blade. Another advantage of the hot rod approach is
that the hole can be made square (with a square rod of
course!)and then it may be better for the mechanical interlock
type drives.
My Sinclair radio arrived some two weeks after ordering and
works quite well but the volume could be greater for my use, it
really requires to be magnetically coupled to my ear trumpet,
set to 'T', for comfortable listening. I must try a bit of blue
tack or some sort of clip !(Q rides again!)(:-))
ITS A PITY HIS GENIUS WASN'T BETTER RECOGNISED.
TERRY,THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR DONATION,IT WILL GO TOWARDS A
BACK-UP SYSTEM TO STORE MY QL STUFF ON,THAT WAY I WON'T LOSE IT
AGAIN.
TTFN
Terry
Email : dilwyn.jones@bbc.co.uk
27.1.98
GEAR: JM/Minerva QL+Gold Card+ED drives; Aurora, Super Gold
Card v2.49, Qubide 1.37, 420MB Conner Hard disk, ED and DD drives,
HP Deskjet 320; Amstrad ALT286+QXL+Zoom modem+Canon BJ10sx; P90
Black PC and QPC;Toshiba T2100 486DX2/66 with QPC.
Dear Mike,
It was interesting to read of the possible QXL/QPC wars in
QL106. As someone who has used both for some time, I thought I'd
offer my views. The main argument of all is that at the time of
writing QBranch had only 10 QXLs left and were unlikely to ever
have any more for sale, as one of the chips is no longer
available.
THAT'S A PITY DILWYN,IT IS IN MY OPINION,ONE OF THE BEST
THINGS EVER MADE FOR THE QL.BUT WHAT THE HELL DO I DO IF MINE
BREAKS?
The QXL, being a hardware emulator, is faster than QPC, but
since QPC is software, it is more easily upgradeable (you need to
buy SMSQ/E to upgrade the QXL, SMSQ/E is part of QPC). You need to
have a free ISA slot for a QXL, so that rules it out for laptops
and many modern PCs which do not have these slots. You can leave
the QXL back to DOS and re-ente rit later; you can't do that with
QPC - to go back to DOS or Windows you have to close down QPC and
it takes a long time to start compared with the QXL.
HOW DO YOU UPGRADE TO SMSQ/E WITH THE QXL?DOES IT COME ON
DISC OR A CHIP OR WHAT?
I said that the QXL is faster than QPC. In fact, I find both
quite adequate for my needs. I have QPC running on two PCs, one a
486 DX2/66 laptop, the other a Pentium 90 machine, and I don't
find either too sluggish for my needs. QPC costs a lot less than a
QXL (especially if you plan to install SMSQ/E on the QXL). The QXL
is only supplied with SMSQ, which does not pointer environment and
some other features of more recent versions of SMSQ/E built in.
With QPC, you get a CD Player program to play Audio CDs from
your CD-ROM drive/Sound Card, which you don't get with a QXL.
NO BUT YOU CAN STILL PLAY YOUR CD'S.
The third option of course is to obtain a copy of the
freeware QL emulator, QLay. It's available in several flavours,
including one for Windows 95 able to switch back and forth between
Windows 95 and QLay with ALT TAB, which is not (yet!) possible
with QPC.
Regarding the 29th February 2000 problem posed by Martin
Wheatley, I'd like to quote from 'Computer Programs That Work' by
J D Lee, G Beech and T D Lee (Sigma, 1980):
"The calendar which we now use was devised by Pope Gregory,
and was calculated from the date of the first Nicene council in
385 A.D. It was established on 15th October 1582, but was adotped
for use in Great Britain, America and the British Colonies in
1752.
"On its introduction, the inhabitants of Shepshed,
Leicestershire, rioted because they believed that the pope had
shortened their lives by 17 days.
"The calendar is based on 365 days a year, with a leap year
every year which is exactly divisible by 4, excluding centuries
except when they are divisible by 400. The calendar thus repeats
itself every 400 years, and contains 97 leap years. Thus 400 years
will have 146,097 days. An astronomical year, which is the time
for one revolution of the earth round the sun is 365 days, 5
hours, 48 minutes and 45.974 seconds.
"Thus 400 years will be 146,096 days, 21 hours, 6 minutes and
29.6 seconds. The Gregorian calendar is remarkably accurate, and
the error will accumulate to one day in 3320 years, and since the
calendar started in 1582, this will not occur until the year
4902."
Gulp, so now we know. From my interpretation of the above, it
actually looks like 2000 will be a leap year after all, so if the
above theory and my interpretation of it is correct, it looks like
every 400 years, we forget about the rule which says centuries are
not leap years?
TYPICAL,JUST THINK WE COULD HAVE HAD A SHORTER WORKING YEAR!
As to ZIP drives, I don't really mind which of these
super-floppies we in the QL scene go for, as long as we all go for
a compatible one. The choice currently seems to be ZIP drives or
one of the EZ-Drives as sold by Qubbesoft (they have discontinued
the 135MB drive, but the double capacity EZ-Flyer is now available
and compatible with the earlier 135MB media). If the LS120 could
just be plugged into the place of a traditional floppy drive on
either a QL or a PC and we could all carry on as we were. As it
is, I'll need more to convince me that it is time for us all to go
for LS120s. As for the price of ZIP disks, the current Software
Warehouse catalogue offers 10 coloured zip disks for `89+VAT or 6
standard disks for `44+VAT, so these are gradually coming down in
price.
Darren, next time I meet you, I'll tell you to your face what
I think of being compared to Barbara Cartland. As for my attitudes
towards PCs, I'm happy to concede that PCs have their place (mine
wedges the door open!), but having taken the time and trouble to
master both computers I'm quite happy with either now. I use a PC
and QPC as my main machine now, though the others get plenty of
use for the jobs they're best at. Having gone through the mill as
regards new technology at work recently, one of the rules I've
made up is that the secret is not always to rigidly use the same
type of technology for everything - the secret is to find the best
medium for the job in hand, and as I work in the audio industry,
if the best medium for a given job is old fashioned reel to reel
tape, I'll use it. Equally, we have PCs and Apple Macs for
recording, editing and playout, and I'll even use Apple Macs if I
have to (even though I know nothing at all about them!). The same
with QLs and PCs, there are some things I can't do with a QL, so
I'm able to use the PC. Equally, I can't program a PC very well,
so any application I need knocked up quickly for my own use will
be done on a QL. There isn't yet a single good reason for
disposing of either computer and plenty of good reasons for using
both. The one thing which still bothers me about PCs is that when
they go wrong, they go wrong in style and cost lots of time,
effort and money to put right, as I've found out to my cost.
AND ME DILWYN AND ME,I SWEAR NEXT TIME IT GOES THROUGH THE
WINDOW,PREFERABLY ONTO THE ENGINEERS HEAD!
Good luck Darren with your Z88 International magazine. Send
us a copy at QL Today when it's ready!
Martin Burke, if you thought hitting 3 vehicles in one hour
was good, let me tell you my little story. Being a bit late for
work one morning recently, I reversed out of my drive, forgot the
wheely bin was there, and knocked it over. As there is a slight
downward gradient on my drive it slid out onto the road, luckily
not hitting anyone or anything. Thinking (in my panic) I'd hit
someone, I put the car in gear and shot forward, nearly hitting my
garage door down. So you're not the only accident prone one!
I think the 8.3 DOS filename restriction was historically to
do with the cost of memory when 64k was seen as absurdly expensive
and more than anyone would need - to have long filenames in those
days must have seemed an absurd waste of memory. Like the Bill
gates joke, by the way.
QBranch were at one stage looking at marketing a utility to
allow the passing of files between a DOS environment and a QXL.WIN
file. I don't know what became of that software, which was to be
called Q-Cruiser.
HAVEN'T YOU ASKED HIM DILWYN,THAT WOULD BE A USEFUL ADDITION.
Dilwyn Jones
#! 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 QLCI,
Nice to hear from Peter Graf (Q40). I have been watching this
project develope for some time and find it very interesting. I am
not a great fan of emulating one computer on another, there are
always losses and inefficient operation somewhere. Emulators and
problems are made for each other. I like to run dedicated Hardware
and software when possible. By dedicated software I mean not
ported over. So, is this our future hardware, will we be using Q40
(or Q60?) at the end of the year? I hope so. Peter, when you
compare your specification to Nasta's are there any ideas you may
consider using that you do not have already? List of questions
time. Is the 32meg. a definite upper limit or are there plans for
expansion if we start to write crazy ram consuming code? You have
spoken to Tony Tebby, are there any comments from him you could
pass on to us? One last comment from me, I have always wanted to
run a QL system (now SMSQ/E) on dedicated 68060 hardware. I am
sure Simon Goodwin will take great interest in this, he loves his
68060.
Sir Clive's radio, X1. Martin Burke has no X1 radio? This is
down to the mailing company, nothing to do with Sinclair at all.
They take orders, they take money and when they get time they also
post some of the products that they offer. If you sent a cheque
you could be in the '28 days for delivery' cycle. Meaning not 28
days from when you post it, not 28 days from when they receive it,
not 28 days from when they cash it but 28 days from when they
think it should start! I phoned my order through on the credit
card, received the X1 in 3 or 4 days put in my ear and switched
on, it works fine, what more can I say.
Darren Brannagh and Spike: The 'A' team, sorry I mean the 'A'
drive. 120mb floppy. Spike's right it needs a device driver, it
won't just plug in and go, maybe later?
Bye for now, Dennis.
FROM:Peter Graf, INTERNET:pgrafq@t-online.de TO:MICHAEL
KENNEALLY, MIKEKENNEALLY1 DATE:08/02/98 06:23
Dear QLers at QL Club International,
the first redesign of the Q40 has been completed and I am now
testing the new hardware. Things are looking good. So far the new
prototype runs absolutely stable at 40 MHz Bus Clock (80 MHz CPU
clock). I hope that the adaption of SMSQ/E can start soon.
For those who did not already read about the Q40, let me give
a preliminary description:
The Q40 hardware replaces the Sinclair QL by a modern system
delivering much more speed, graphics, storage and peripheral
capabilities. It uses a new mainboard, designed to run QDOS or
SMSQ/E on a 68040.
Q40 Mainboard
Like the original QL mainboard the Q40 is a complete solution
including graphics, peripherals and sound. It fits directly into
an industry standard case. No parts from an existing QL, no CPU
card, no backplane, no keyboard interface are needed. The Q40
mainboard is equipped with a Motorola M68040 CPU, running at 33 or
40 MHz depending on the version of the board. Here is a list of
features:
RAM
4 MB up to 32 MB of DRAM. EDO or FPM memory modules can be
used. Fast page mode burst access. Two 72 pin PS2-SIMM sockets
simplify upgrading. No jumpering required.
ROM
256 KB, data bus 32 bit wide by using two 16 bit devices. The
sockets support up to 1 MB.
Graphics
High speed graphics chipset and 32 bit dual-ported video RAM.
64 Hz vertical refresh rate, non-interlaced in all modes, dual
scan capability for the low resolutions. Output for multisync
monitors with at least 34 kHz horizontal frequency. 9 pin SubD
connector (PS/2) or 15 pin HD connector with adapter.
Video modes
* QL mode 8 256x256 pixel, 8 colours * QL mode 4
512x256 pixel, 4 colours * High color mode 512x256 pixel, 64K
colours * High color mode 1024x512 pixel, 64K colours
Keyboard Interface
Port for MF-102 or XT keyboards, depending on the board
version. 5 pin DIN connector.
Sound
Stereo digital-analog converters, 10kHz or 20kHz sample rate
selectable. Line and headphone outputs.
Clock and Nonvolatile RAM
* Battery buffered real time clock * 2 KB nonvolatile
static RAM
Disk Interface
* Enhanced IDE Controller for 2 (4) Harddisks (16 bit wide
data transfer) * Floppy Controller for 2 HD floppies
Ports
* 2 serial ports with 115200 Baud * 1 parallel port
* 1 joystick port
Disk interface and ports are on a small IDE / Multi IO card
that belongs to the mainboard.
Extension Slot
The mainboard has two extension slots, one of them is
occupied by the IDE / Multi IO card. There are 16 data lines and
20 address lines, all signals are buffered and have a well defined
timing. Signals and pinout also allow some ISA cards to be used in
the slot.
Power Supply
An industry standard power supply can be directly plugged
into the Q40.
Q40 System
A complete Q40 system is a Q40 Mainboard in combination with
IDE Harddisk and HD Floppy mounted in an industry standard case
with power supply, and a MF-102 keyboard.
QL Compatibility
QL screen modes 4 and 8 are directly hardware compatible,
ignoring mode 8 flashing. The 50/60 Hz frame interrupt is
available. Memory map and interrupt handling are similar, but
ports have changed. Microdrives and the slow QL network are not
supported.
Development Progress
The first hardware redesign has been completed and testing
has started. A 68060 version of the board is under construction.
SMSQ/E has not been adapted yet.
For more information please contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Peter Graf Lahnstrasse 32 D 35239 Steffenberg
Germany
Email: pgrafq@t-online.de
ALL I CAN SAY TO THAT LOT IS BLOODY HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ANY IDEA ON THE EVENTUAL COST PETER OR HASN'T THE LOGISTICS
BEEN WORKED OUT YET?WHY COULDN'T SOMEONE HAVE DONE THIS A FEW
YEARS AGO,WE COULD HAVE GIVEN BILL GATES A RUN FOR HIS MONEY!
FROM:Bill Waugh, INTERNET:bill@waughql.demon.co.uk
TO:(unknown), MikeKenneally1 DATE:08/02/98 11:05
Hi Mike, I am a bit new to all this E Mail stuff so bear with
me please. I came across CQLI wilst browsing that nice Mr
Godefroy's Web site. I would like to be put on your Email list, I
have downloaded QL106 and some of the previous ones and enjoyed
reading through them. Many of your correspondents start with a
description of there system so here is mine. I am one of the few
who paid 400 pounds for a long wait and a QL; after various
transformations I have ended up with a QXL2 running on a 120mhz
406 PC and an Aurora,SuperGold card,Qbide,820Mb H/drive system as
backup.
I THINK MOST OF US HAVE GOT THE T-SHIRT FOR THAT ONE BILL.AND
A HEARTY WELCOME FROM US ALL.
The interesting thing at the moment is the fact that I think
the roles of these two machines will be reversed with the release
of Goldfire and Romdisc, although there is no doubt that at the
present time the QXL2 is about three times faster then the Aurora
system (processing power) the percepction when using them is that
the Aurora is faster, this is because the screen update and disc
usage is so much better than the QXL's also printing (linedesign
in particular) from Aurora is about three time faster than from
the QXL. Now a question about Qxl's for anyone who can shed some
light, why is it that you can switch between Windows (the PC front
end type) and the Qxl if Smsq is configured for Ql,EGA or Vga
resolutions but not if it is in Svga resolutions; other users have
found the same thing also Ron dunnet can use Zip drives with his
Qxl and change discs by switching out of QXl into Windows - change
the disc - switch back to QXL (in Vga mode), I using Svga cannot
do this, if I want to change a zip disc I have to close the QXL
down change disc and restart the QXL.
I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND SIMPLISTIC BILL,BUT WHY NOT RUN IN
VGA,I DO WITH NO ADVERSE EFFECTS.IF YOU THINK THE GOLDFIRE IS
GOOD,READ PETER'S LETTER ABOVE IT'LL BLOW YOUR MIND!
I look forward to reading any replies to this.
Yours sincerely Bill Waugh Email Bill@Waughql.demon.co.uk
-- Bill Waugh
(
geocities.com/siliconvalley/vista/4807) (
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geocities.com/siliconvalley)