********************
QL
CLUB
INTERNATIONAL
********************
ISSUE 108
FEBRUARY 1998
MIKE KENNEALLY
E-MAIL MIKEKENNEALLY1@COMPUSERVE.COM
DEAR ALL,
WELL AFTER ANOTHER EXCITING MONTH ON THE PC FRONT(WHAT A HEAP
OF JUNK THESE MACHINES ARE!)AS YOU MAY HAVE GATHERED FROM MY
DIATRIBE ABOVE,YES I'VE HAD PROBLEMS AGAIN!
APPARENTLY AND ACCORDING TO DOCTOR JOHN SOUTHERN.IT ALL
STARTED WHEN I LOADED A FONT IN TO WRITE A LETTER,INSTEAD OF
LOSING THE FONT IT LOADED ANOTHER ON TOP EVERY TIME I STARTED THE
MACHINE UNTIL EVENTUALLY IT SAID ENOUGH IS ENOUGH AND STOPPED
WORKING.
THIS OF COURSE JUST AFTER RELOADING ALL MY QL STUFF FOR THE
UMPTEENTH TIME.I WOULD SET UP MY QL AGAIN,BUT WHERE TO PUT IT?
THIS MACHINE HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT TROUBLE FROM THE DAY I GOT
IT,IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THE LIKES OF GRAHAM AND JOHN I WOULD HAVE
BEEN IN DEEP S**T.THANKS TO JOHN,WHO HAD A SPARE HARD DRIVE TO
DOWNLOAD ALL THE QL STUFF WHICH SAVED ME THE AGRO OF HAVING TO
LOAD IT ALL AGAIN,AND TO GRAHAM WHO ONCE AGAIN CAME TO MY RESCUE
IN SETTING THE QXL UP,NOT BAD FOR SOMEONE WHO HASN'T EVEN GOT A
QXL!
ANYWAY,HOPEFULLY,FINGERS CROSSED,AGAIN!I AM NOW FULLY
FUNCTIONAL AND APOLOGISE FOR THE LATENESS OF THIS ISSUE.I CAN NOW
GET BACK TO SOME SERIOUS QL WORK.
WELCOME TO BOB MURDOCH,WRITE TO US AND LET US KNOW SOMETHING
ABOUT YOURSELF BOB,AND LET US KNOW IF YOU REQUIRE ANY HELP OR
ASSISTANCE.
WELL THIS IS THE END,I AM NOW HAVING PROBLEMS WITH MY
KEYBOARD.I HAVE JUST TRIED TO SAVE,USING 'SAVE AS'ON THE PC,THE
LETTERS SENT TO ME BY E-MAIL.WHEN I DO THIS I SAVE THEM BY NAME ie
SAVE AS MARTIN.TXT,BUT WHENEVER I TRIED TO TYPE IN MARTIN,IT
IGNORED THE 'M' AND LOADED THE 'MY COMPUTER'SCREEN ON THE 'A'.WHAT
THE HELL IS GOING ON?
NOT ONLY THAT BUT WHEN I THEN LOADED THE QXL AGAIN,FOR SOME
UNKNOWN REASON IT LOADED INTO 'OVERWRITE'MODE,WHICH IS 'F9'AND I
DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS THERE!SO HOW I LOADED IT GOD ALONE KNOWS.
ONCE AGAIN MY APOLOGIES FOR THE LATENESS OF THE
NEWSLETTER,BACK TO NORMAL THIS MONTH.DON'T FORGET THE 28th.
THERE ARE NO PROGS THIS MONTH,SO DON'T LOOK FOR
THEM.HOPEFULLY WE SHOULD HAVE SOME FOR NEXT TIME.
I AM STILL SOME ISSUES MISSING FROM WHEN THE PC CRASHED SO IF
ANYONE CAN HELP ME OUT LET ME KNOW.
MIKE.
Michael kite
25th Feburary 1998
Equipment: Gold Card; QL Minerva 1.97 mk.1; Hermes; Two 3.5" Disc
drives; One 5.25 Disc Drive; Philips colour Monitor; SERMouse; Seikosha
SP-1000AS 9 pin printer Epson RX 80F/T+ 9 pin printer with parallel
port and added serial port. 486 PC with 540 meg hard drive and C.D.:
The PC is only used for things which are compatible with the computers
done at work.
Hello all
Mike Thank you for sending last months mag to me. Please send me
the QL108 mag.
Mike glad to here you are better now and sorry that you have had
so much trouble with your hard ware.
I am very busy doing some modifications to my house at present and
have been very busy at work as well. So tonight I have just very
quickly read through Ql 105,106 & 107. Things are changing very quickly
now adays so I will need to read these mags again to take it in.
I will try and make a better effort towards the mag later in the
year.
Mike Kite.
HI MIKE,GLAD TO SEE YOU CAN STILL USE THE KEYBOARD.WE DON'T HEAR
ENOUGH FROM A FEW OF YOU SO MUCH THESE DAYS AND WE DO REALLY MISS YOUR
INSIGHTS INTO WHAT WE ARE UP TO.DON'T LEAVE IT SO LONG NEXT TIME.
#!
Colin Baskett
4 March 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,
February always was a bad month. Before you know where you are its
March. Sorry - I know this is getting repititious. As usual too much
is happening. The Hove Show was great. Many Thanks to Sussex Group and
all the Traders who were there. A very full programme of talks. We
seemed to run out of time at the end of the day. My only problem was
that I found very little time to look around the stalls. Q40 sounds and
looks very exciting. I am hoping some one from the local Group will
provide a write up for Quanta.
TO LATE,PETER GRAF HAS DONE ONE FOR US LAST MONTH,I KNOW HE MADE IT BUT
HE SHOULD KNOW WHAT IT WILL AND WON'T DO.
Bought for daughter an updated version of Q-ROUTE. Rich has certainly
done a good job on this. Also adnired his QL Reference Manual on Roy
Woods stall - all 1025 A4 pages of it. Inevitbly this will be
expensive. One idea is that some local groups might consider buying one
(`35 or so I believe) and keep it for reference at their meetings or to
lend out to members. It must have taken Rich ages to compile it and it
would be a dreadful shame if it is not made good use of (excuse the
terminal preposition!).
Will have to be quick now:
QL plus points.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Martin Burke: Thank you for your point about restrictions on MSDOS
file-names and drive-names.
------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew Halliwell wrote : (QL pluses), " 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."
TELL ME ABOUT IT,WHY DON'T YOU!
Good point I think thank you Andrew. By the way Just What Is
"SPAMMING" the net ? Would someone please explain.
BASICALLY SENDING A LETTER TO EVERYONE WHO HAS AN E-MAIL
ADDRESS,DEFINITELY A NO-NO,AS I HAVE BEEN TOLD ON NUMEROUS
OCCASIONS,ESPECIALLY AFTER SUGGESTING WE DO IT!
Thank you also for your info about the Minerva system variables
address and associated suggestion:
"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..."
And thank you for the program to insert into my boot.
------------------------------------------------------
J.C.Marcus wrote about Quanta's SGCs: : {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!!!}
Perhaps as someone who was not a member of the QUANTA committee at the
time in question may I just say that it seems to me that the idea of
QUANTA ensuring the continued availability of the SGC was basically a
very good one. It was just unfortunate that it worked out financially
the way it did. But then I guess that is the way of business.
It is certainly aggravating to buy something and then find the price
drops immediately afterwards. I paid Dixons `399 for a shop soiled QL
- I had no option as my original machine had that day blown a chip and
I needed it for my business. About a week later the price was halved.
Did I feel sick? However, since then I have benefitted by being able to
buy two other machines for far less again.
It is a bit like seeing the value of houses fall. However, if you are
about to move upmarket it actually works in your favour. Uncomfortable
but in the long run good for us. All right - in the long run we are all
dead. Cheerful!
Thank you for your idea about targetting siblings of past members. We
need to work on that one. And also for your "plus 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."
OK. I am convinced especially about the merits of the Psion package!!
------------------------------------------------------------
Time to finish
Best wishes
Colin B
#!
FRANK MERRISON,
28-2-1998
GEAR includes 2 x JM QL's: Gold Card: DMP: Epson Stylus 800 printer:
2 x HD disc drives. 486 DX33 & Knee deep in paper & problems!
Mike!
Sorry that I had nothing to contribute to the last two newsletters but
I hope this one goes some way to make up for the blank months!
THAT'S OK FRANK,I KNOW HOW BUSY YOU 'RETIRED'PEOPLE ARE,JUST ASK ANY OF
THEM!
I have a suggestion to make that I believe will be of great use to many
members - not only the readers of the newsletter but members of Quanta
as well!
The idea came to me when I read of the policy put in place by Graham
Underwood (and others) of the SeQuel sub-group that covers the Notts/
Derby area. They try to be an active group with projects to contribute
either soft or hardware of interest to all QL users. I read about this
in the February issue of QUANTA just as I was thinking of trying to
sort out the mysteries of Qpac2 - AGAIN - !!!!!!!!!!
It is my belief that Ql users fall into two groups. Those who use Qpac2
with their eyes shut and as naturally as an experienced driver uses
his/her car and the other half who are completely baffled by this
mystery. What a feather in the cap of ClubQL International if we could
let everyone into the answer and show them what it does and how it
works. If this can be done I believe it would be an example showing the
way to opening up the clouds of mystery that hang over most of the
recently issued software such as ProWess & SMSQ/E.
THIS IS TRUE FRANK,AND HOPEFULLY SOMEONE WILL TAKE UP THE TORCH AND RUN
WITH IT,ANY VOLUNTEERS?DON'T FORGET IT HAS TO BE IN EASY TO UNDERSTAND
TERMINOLOGY.
When I first got Qpac2 I must have spent hours reading the so-called
manual in a vain endeavour to set up my machine to use it with no luck
at all. Jeremy gave me a copy of QPacker that lets me do a kind of
install of Qpac2. Not knowing what I am supposed to do then I find
buttons dis-appearing and re-appearing but I cannot get a 'dir' of my
discs to appear. I think I know that a colorway is nothing to do with
the M25!
THAT'S STRANGE I THOUGHT IT DID TO!
I go to the London sub-group and see others using this facility and it
looks good - if only I knew what the hell was going on! When I ask they
try to explain in the usual way of the expert that leaves me more
baffled than before. A screen comes up and before I can see what is
there a few keys are pressed and "there you are - that is what it is
for - you can also do this and this - see? " as a few more keys are
pressed and screens fly past. The trouble with those who know what is
going on is - what I see as - a complete inability to explain things
in a manner simple enough for me to both grasp and remember. I am also
convinced that Qpac is impossible to explain to someone who doesn't
know what it is for and what it does and - how! The manual is a
standing joke right throughout the QL world. ClubQL was started for
the benefit of beginners and if we could produce a manual for Qpac2
that beginners can understand ?????
THE ONLY PERSON I CAN THINK OF WHO COULD DO IT IS,YES YOU'VE GUESSED IT
GRAHAM,HOW ABOUT IT MATE?
What idiot could not think of a better term for some item within Qpac
than to call it a "Thing" Everything can be called a "Thing" so why not
give it a name that means something and gives a rough idea of what it
might be or do?
Again why Hot_do - Hot_go - Hot_key - Hot_list etc? - As for a stuffer
buffet are the drinks hot as well? Is it similar to the local Chinese
resturant that offers "as much as you can eat for `6.95?" or a
different kind of stuffer?
At least I can understand what a cold start is on my car - certainly if
the battery is flat one cold and frosty mornning. Why should a list be
hot? A drunken welder in the middle of summer?
So! My suggestion is that anyone who can understand what and how this
lot does should write to me (on paper, disc or the newsletter) with
explanations that this thick idiot can follow and understand and I will
compile all the information into a manual that each and every QL user
can follow and so use the (thing?)
If suggestions and contributions to this scheme can be written as
though to my seven year old grand-daughter - who knows - I may not
have to phone back for an explanation. If members just cover a single
part, covering it completely (leaving nothing out), and it is clear to
me, that will be more valuable than a long winded book, on the whole
subject, that I cannot follow.
I HAVE JUST THIS MINUTE GOT OFF THE PHONE TO GRAHAM AND HE IS WILLING
TO DO AN IDIOTS GUIDE TO QPACII,I HAVE SUGGESTED HE USES JERRY'S
QPACER,BUT I AM LEAVING IT IN HIS CAPABLE HANDS.THE FIRST INSTALMENT
WILL BE IN NEXT MONTHS NEWSLETTER AS A SEPERATE _DOC,SO IT CAN BE BUILT
UP FROM THERE.
Suggested sections:
1) What it is.
2) What it does - and why
3) New names for "things" etc that mean something (or a simple
explanation of the old ones)
4) How it can be "set-up" or (if you must use posh terms) configured
5) How it is used
6) What can go wrong - why - and how to put things back to normal
Anymore suggestions to add to the list? Contributions on items NOT on
the list welcomed!
As an aside I got a book out of my library today called "Programming in
C for Dummies" hoping it might follow on to the articles in Quanta.
When I got home and was able to read it more carefully I find that it
is a follow in from book one - same title and actually starts at page
550 odd. Never seen anything like this before. If you buy the book,
and then find you have to buy the previous part one, I imagine you
would not be best pleased!
Look forward to your ideas on my suggested project! Frank Merrison.
I HOPE YOU ARE NOW FEELING BETTER FRANK AND RENE AS WELL.AS YOU CAN SEE
WE HAVE TAKEN YOUR SUGGESTION AND ARE RUNNING WITH IT!MAYBE QUANTA
WOULD LIKE TO RUN IT AS WELL,COURTESY OF CLUBQL!
#! 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.
Hi ya!
Mike and Martin Wheatley : Putting QLCI onto the fidonet.
You asked how to do it? How to upload a file onto a BBS
(bulletin board system)? This has been dealt with in great depth
time and time again in Quanta. That is where you will find out how
to do it, explained in depth with pictures. However, here is a
brief outline (from memory).
1. Make a zip of the file you want to send.
2. Start QTPI.
3. 'Hit' or 'do' the telephone icon.
4. 'Do' the name of the BBS.
5. You will be connected and eventually be presented with the
main menu.
6. Select 'files' from the menu.
7. You are presented with the files menu.
8. Select change area. Enter '?' at the prompt.
9. You will shown a list of file areas, pick 'private'
10. Select 'upload file'.
11. You are prompted to (maybe) give a description.
12. You are asked for your zip filename to send.
13. Your zip will be sent.
14. You can go to the message area, pick 'private' and leave
a private message to who you would like to receive your zip.
15. Logoff or Goodbye.
16. you are asked "Leave a message to the sysop Y/N". It is
polite to thank the sysop for allowing you to use his system for
'dropping your file' for someone else to 'pick up'.
17. You are logged off. (phone line dropped)
18. Wonder what all the fuss was about.
When whoever it was you sent the private message to 'logs on'
to the BBS he will presented with your private message to him
telling him to go and 'pick up' the zip you have posted for him.
Important; do actually tell him the filename of your zip or he or
she will not know which file to request.
The above will take about 2 minutes to do depending. There is
no charge apart from the 10 pence for the phone call. This is the
long private 'one off' method of doing it. There are more
automatic methods of using a BBS which cut the time taken in half,
where you can gather all various conferences, personal files and
the latest software completely automatically. Set the software off
go and brush your teeth and by the time you've come back its all
done. All QL folk should be on the Fidonet, a network that QL BBSs
use.
With regards to a 'volunteer' to post the QLCI onto a BBS.
This is a bit pointless. Mike must prepare the Quill doc as usual
zip it, lets say he sends it to me and I send it to the BBS. He
might as well just send it to the BBS!.
A good point of the BBS is that a special area can be
generated on the fidonet exclusively for QLCI. So, log on take
QLCI automatically and log off. Simple, quick and cheaper than
post. You would be a bit of a boring sod for not exploring the BBS
more fully but there you go.
Derek Stewart : This bit naturally tags on to the above.
Derek, what are you doing here? I didn't tell you about this,
I suppose you had to find out sooner or later. Derek has offered
to create an exclusive area on his BBS (the BBS name is Holborn
View) for QLCI whereupon Mike could post (electronic post, modem)
the QLCI text zip to the BBS. One zip per month job done, easy!.
Anyone can log on to Derek's BBS and take QLCI when they want.
This is quicker and cheaper than the internet method and a lot
less to go wrong.
Quanta sub-groups : We can all write a million words here but
it is quicker and better to attend a Quanta sub-group and iron out
your problems there and then on the spot. If there is not one near
then create one, it works.
READ FRANK'S LETTER ABOVE AND YOU CAN PERHAPS SEE SOME OF THE
PROBLEMS HE ENCOUNTERS AND I MYSELF IN THE PAST.SOME ARE EXCELLENT
AND SOME NOT SO GOOD!SORRY ABOUT THIS FRANK,BUT THOSE IN THE NORTH
SEEM TO BE BETTER THAN THOSE IN THE SOUTH.
Colin Baskett : The buffer stuffer. Well Colin its the
stuffer buffer not the buffer stuffer, good this QL speak init?
You have an old Qpac2, is it worth updating it, yes. There have
been a lot of hidden internal changes recently. Qpac2 can be
regarded as an extension to the operating system. Our operating
system has been extended or enhanced by SMSQ/E and Qpac2 contains
code to use these extra features. They compliment each other and
are designed to be used together. If you use a new version of one
and an old version of the other you could be making life difficult
for yourself somewhere down the line, it may take 3 months before
you notice a problem, they are not always obvious.
Qpac2 manual out. The Extended Environment section, page 44.
Enter this in SuperBasic or SBasic.
hot_stuff "This is in the stuffer buffer"
Key ALT SPACE and out comes the text provided the window that
you are in at the moment will accept keyboard input.
SHIFT/ALT/SPACE for a history of your stuffer buffers. Qpac2 files
also use the stuffer buffer. If you hit a filename that filename
is placed into the stuffer buffer, so you can drop the filename
where you want it. A few programs make use of the stuffer buffer
for your convenience, QD or SBasic etc. If you want to lift a
large lump of text then you should use scrap, which is part of
menu_rext, which is part of QD. I'm going to write it again,
stuffer buffer, marvellous.
Martin Burke : SGC problems. I've fixed this problem for one
of the SeQueL members. I wish I'd wrote it down but here goes. The
'fault' is the monitor. You have a Philips CM 8833. Is it a mk 1
or mk 2? Anyway, a few 100 ohm resistors and all will be well. Are
you running it from the scart? If so there is plenty of room to
put the resistors in the scart plug. Try 100 ohm one eighth watt.
This is all from memory but it can't be far out. During the ram
test (tweed pattern) the QL needs a pulse to carry on to the next
stage of the test (its all part of the system check) and this
pulse is provided by the vertical sync - on the Super Gold Card,
the pulse (a change in voltage) cannot be detected and resistors
are needed to cure this. The CM 8833 will work ok on standard
QL's, Trump Card and Gold Card but on the SGC the ram check will
fail part way through the tweed screen. Nothing wrong with the SGC
it is the monitor. Where to put the resistors. Possibly there are
differences between mk1 and mk2 of the monitors. Resistors; put
one between the vertical sync lead and the vertical sync pin on
the scart plug, put a resistor in-line in other words. Try it, put
some more on the (R)ed, (G)reen and (B)lue, try it. You will see
it work.
Darren Branagh, Philips CM8833 monitor : See above. I don't
have a wiring diagram, but if you look at the QL RGB output pins
and match them up with the scart socket pins on the monitor (with
the above modification) it will work. Any TV scart diagram will do
for the pinouts.
Peter Graf : Still some more questions Peter. 2 fast serial
ports, very nice. Is there a possibility of having another 2, I
always like to plug all kinds of serial driven things into the QL
I can't stop myself. And another parallel port, one for the
printer and one for the scanner. It is a bi-directional parallel
port, yes? Is the i/o card a standard ISA, I assume it is.
That's it got to go. Bye.
Dennis.
WHAT YOU WROTE TO ME DENNIS IS WORTH THINKING ABOUT,THANKS.
Terry Williams
Hightrees Main Road
Portskewett
Newport NP6 4SA Tel 01291 430 522 22/2/98
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
Its that time again! (as my grandson says when he wants to drag me
to the loo, to attend to his bottom!!).
HELP!! QPAC2. I have a basic program called words_bas which finds
answers to the clues if you know some of the letters and put spaces at
positions of the unknown letters, then searches its lists to suggest
suitable words. This works fine when loaded to basic on TASKMASTER.
When I try it on my SUPERGOLD CARD from QPAC2 basic I find that after
writing 'tk2_ext loaded', it stops with the error message 'FREE MEMORY
NOT FOUND'.I suppose that means TASKMASTER must tuck away somewhere
the amount of memory allocated to basic, which it reads and the carries
on merrily!
The question is how do I make QPAC2 do the same?(without of course
ploughing through the manual!)). Any taker's???
{;-()
Ta very much!!
TTFN
Terry
IT SEEMS IT'S QPACII TIME THIS MONTH!ANY TAKERS?
#! Martin Burke,
14th February, 1998.
Dear Mike and Friends,
JM version + Trump 768 (and a SuperGoldCard that won't work
on the boat!) + 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.
Naming of PC drives: Martin W. says that machines are
unlikely to have 26 drives. When I used the word "drive" I used it
in a sense that probably relates better to the QL's channels and
devices - not that I deal much with these concepts much. Perhaps
better to refer to any means of input/output. As I understand it
a QL user might have - in a wondeful future - say 2 ED drives, 2 HD
drives, 2 hard drives, 3 printers, a CD-ROM, a writable CD-R,
zip-drive,a DVD, a couple of ROMs, ...
In PC - or QL - terms these are not all drives, nor
designated with a "drive" letter. In my limited knowledge of PC's,
I don't think I have ever encountered anything more than a "G".
But I can easily envisage a situation where a computer is
controlling an environment that requires input via many "devices",
and output to more. No doubt there are ways of doing this, using
"alias's", function/control/alt keys, etc (as on a QL). And I
presume that QLs will not - ever? - recognise a flp10.
I am one of those people disconcerted by the simple fact that
the hard drive is "C", not "A"; and that the floppy drive is "A"
not "B". Whatever happened to B? (Something to do with it being a
8 or 51/2" drive? Or second floppy being redundant when hard
drives were introduced? Or has Bill Gates taken it hostage? ...)
To some extent it is a matter of what one is used to, or what one
began with. I actually began with a Commodore PET - or was it a
pet Commodore?, ICL mainframes and worked witho PC's a year or so
before acquiring a QL.
As for QL software, such as the Psion suite, using 8+3
filenames, I understood this to be done for conformity with MS-DOS,
not for the limitations of the QUDOS system. Windows 95 gets
around the restriction (by use of a linking "tilde" -"~"?)
I do not particularly blame them for setting the system up
that way - I do appreciate the early restrictions on dataspace, etc
- only for taking so long to recognise the limitations. Even in
the very early days business applications were strewn with program
and data files that varied by only 2 letters or numbers or less and
could not be given meaningful names. The truncation and numbering
could seem very handy for the original writer's but could be a real
hassle for those coming onto the scene to fix bugs, especially when
documentation was poor, which was frequent.
Sinclair X1 radio: I sent the mailingcompany a letter (in
November?) asking where my radio had got to. I received one two
weeks or so later. Last week I received another one: perhaps not
so much a radio as an echo.
MAYBE YOU COULD SEND IT ME AS THEY SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN
WHERE I LIVE,AFTER NUMEROUS PHONE CALLS I GAVE UP!
Some time ago Frank Merrison mentioned that he had cured
lock-ups on his machine by lifting all the chips out and putting
them back again. So last week I took my QL to the London sub-group
meeting and let Colin Murphy extract them. (Yes, I know Colin had
recently tinkered with his set and tanked the Auroro, the GoldCard,
... but I like to live dangerously.) I have not had a lockup since
but I have not used the machine for more than about five hours and
not at all in the morning which seemed to be the most dangerous
time for some reason. Anyway, thanks to Colin and Frank.
Yours,
Martin Burke.
#!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Darren Branagh,
Rep. Of Ireland. 16th February, 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, 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.........
Oh, and a few extra bits and bobs for the Z88 now I'm editing the
new Z88 magazine - namely a couple of 128K rampacks, four 32K eproms,
an eprom eraser, a Z88 to Apple Mac link, a Z88 to QL link, and a Z88
to PC link, all recieved from Bill Richardson this week...........
...........and a Partridge in a very heavy pear tree !!!
Dear Mike and the ever growing gang,
At the time of writing I have decided to give the Hove show a
miss. Unfortunately, its due to a number of reasons - the main ones
being the fact that Ryanair, the cheap flights Irish airline are having
strike trouble with their ground crews at present, but mainly the big
reason is the fact that the Irish punt is trading very lowly against
the Sterling pound - at present, the damn punt is worth only 82p BEFORE
the bank takes its commission!! Just before Xmas it was over `1=`1. I
reckon I'd loose at least twenty percent on any currency exchanges at
the moment.
It isn't too bad in terms of flying, as I pay that in punts, but
I'd be robbed as far a buying any QL software or Hardware goes - I was
going to get a working copy of QPC if I went, but instead of costing
`100, it would have cost me `120.....
Anyway, means that I'll make it over in the summer, when the
weather is better, and hopefully Mike and Dilwyn among others with be
going then. Actually, another reason for not going to Hove was that I
wouldn't get to meet you Mike!! ;-))
YOU WOULD ONLY HAVE BEEN DISSAPOINTED MATE,ASK ANYONE WHO HAS MET
ME!
Right, onto the points raised in QL107......
Mike was wondering what the hell Spike was on about with uQLx -
its a QL emulator for unix based systems (unix is just an operating
system for PC's, like MS-Dos or Linux) the computer he was using was I
think, a Sun Sparc station, or is it a Sparc Sunstation, buggered if I
know - but they are quite well know for their graphics capabilities -
most of the demo graphics for Ergon Developments OPEN WORLD conversion
program for QL's were produced on a Sunstation...........
Mike also said "does this mean that QL are the only computers that
won't die in 2000?" in response to Spike. No Mike, unfortunately it
don't... Different problem, the main one being that when the date is
written as say, 16/2/98, in the year 2000 that would be 16/2/00, and
most computers don't know if this is 2000 or 1800, or 1900... get the
picture?? Actually, a leading Irish supermarkets stock computer
recently trashed `25,000 worth of tinned fruit because the sell by date
was end 6/00 on the tins, this of course reffered to the year 2000, but
the stock program assumed the damn things were out of date over 100
years!!
BEING IRISH THEY PROBABLY WERE(JUST JOKING!)
PAUL McPHERSON:- Glad I could help with a copy of COSMOS - I never
use it anymore as I have DP's ASTRONOMER prog instead. Paul also wanted
to buy a Monitor off me, so hopefully I can get it to the UK in one
piece.......
Oh, Yeah, GOLDFIRE, well - Paul, I think I covered this in QLCI a
couple of months ago, but basically its a replacement for the SGC, and
will (apart from the Q40 or Q60) be the only one, as Miracle have
dropped the Ultra Gold Card plans. It will use standard PC SIMM's
memory so upgrading the RAM will be very inexpensive. I think it needs
an Aurora to work too. Oh, and it based around Motorolas new Coldfire
processors, running at 25Mhz and 33Mhz, hence the name......
COLIN BASKETT:- Thanks for the nice words, Colin. Glad you
appreciated the review I sent you - I was glad to get some free
software!! :-)) Please thank Geoff Wicks for me, as I've never met
him. As I said before, anything else I can help with, just ask.
Glad to hear someone else is struggling with QPAC2, I think its a
great piece of software, but the manual and the commands baffle me
sometimes.
J.C. MARCUS:- Ahhhhhhhh, a Man after mine own Heart, a fellow
Malcolm McLaren fan, Sid Vicious, Jonny Rotten...... Great Stuff!!
Yes, I too was rather impressed with my photo - first time I've
ever recognised a digitised piccie of myself!! As for the
fingernails..... well spotted!! I actually burnt two fingers quite
badly that morning, while handing out eggs and bacon to Tony Firshman
and Stuart Honeyball at breakfast - Seriously !!
As to my list of Computer Junk, Yes, I use it all fairly
regularly!! I am (or at least was) a fairly good Z80 Machine code
programmer and used to love my old Speccy to pieces, coming up from the
old rubber keyed 16K, to a 48K to a 128K on finally 128K +2b. Though
using the limited QUANTA software I managed to convert a lot of my
speccy progs to the QL. My house is pretty big (It is a Guest house
after all - dozen or so bedrooms, swimming pool and tennis court) but
all the damn computer reside in my bedroom, which is only 12ft square!!
I have the Pentium and 286/QXL next to each other, with a Trump Card QL
networked to the Latter, the Speccy is on a pull out retractable shelf
under the Telly, next to the Video, and I have a signal splitter to use
it on the TV, though the RGB port is wired exactly the same as the
Ql's, so if its serious use called for, I switch it to the Colour
Monitor instead of the Trump QL, the Pc Laptop and Z88 live on the bed,
so I can grab either for some late night letter writing....... :-))
...
As for all the birds Mike, Eamon De Buitlear (the Irish equivalent
to David Attenbourough or Bill Oddie!!) is due here the day after
tomorrow to check on a rare breeding pair of falcons currently in the
cliffs behing our house!
I TAKE IT THAT'S WHERE THE NAME COMES FROM?
Oh, Speaking of the Sex Pistols and Heavy Punk and Metal, any
ACCEPT or U.D.O. fans out there?? I was a fan for years in the
eighties, and Roy Wood of Q-Branch fame is now workind with U.D.O in
Germany as his Sound Engineer!! He sent me a signed C.D. and tour
T-Shirt for Xmas, he says its hilarious as Udo Dirksnyder is now about
17 stone, and is only 5ft 6in. or so!! Yet he has a Metal Rock voice to
drown out El Nino!!
MARTIN BURKE:- Why 3 Laser Printers , Martin? Well, Actually , I
got the 3 of them dead cheap, as I was looking for a part for my
existing EPL4100, and between the three EPL4000's I bought I managed to
solve the problem. These are BEAUTIFUL printers - I'd recomend them to
anyone. They emulate HP Deskjets, Laserjets by default, or Epson LQ,GQ,
LX, FX or MX range of printers automatically! I even have one
connected to my Pentium PC and Trumpcard QL at THE SAME TIME - the Pc
via the Parallel and the QL via the Serial - I can even set both
computers to print at the same time!! (each printout follows each other
- though the PC usually gets there first!!)
I'm actually selling one of these printers at the moment if anyone
is interested.
DILWYN:- Whoops, didn't mean to COMPARE you to Dame Barbara, Sorry
old Pal. But the fact that your actually saying something NICE about
PC's all of a sudden came as a bit of a shock....!! :-))
Thanks for the kind words of encouragement for Z88 International -
I'll keep you posted about it.
PETER GRAF:- Wow!! The spec for the Q40 looks sensational!! Mike
uses the words "BLOODY HELL!" I used a similar expletive, just one word
though, starting with "F"........... Any idea of price??
BILL WAUGH:- Welcome Bill! I was glad to hear you'd joined our
merry group, as I have been using your method of starting the various
screen dimentions of QXL in Windows 3.1 for ages now, and wanted to
thank you for writing that excellent article for QUANTA a year or so
ago. I now run QXL from its own program group within the Prog Manager
of 3.1 thanks to you!!
Oh, Mike Nearly forgot - Glad you got the E-Mail stuff I posted
you, there is some pretty funny stuff there, hope you enjoyed it!!
Dilwyn sent me a hilarious piece a while ago called "uninstalling the
software called wife 1.0" - can't find it at the moment - Dilwyn, any
chance you could post this in next month?? It's brilliant.
A quickie from me....
Q: How do I format a disk to Ms-DOS using SMSQ?? or is it
Possible?? I know I can DIR an Ms-DOS disk using SMSQ, but is that as
far as it goes??
All the best,
DARREN
P.S. You said you had problems with QLAYT082.ZIP Mike - if anybody
has problems, let us know and I'm send it again next month (can't put
my hand on it at the moment....)
YES I DID MATE,BUT I STILL DON'T KNOW WHY.
/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/#/
FROM:Bill Waugh, INTERNET:bill@waughql.demon.co.uk TO:(unknown), MikeKenneally1
DATE:2/27/98 7:08 PM
Bill Waugh 8 Hetton Steads Lowick Berwick-upon-Tweed TD15 2UL 01289 388236
stuff PC - 120 mhz 486,Win 95,modem,scanner. good stuff -
QXL2,smsqe. better stuff - Aurora,SGC,Qbide,850 meg hard
drive,smsqe,romdisc(onway). shared stuff - 17" monitor, Stylus colour
600. future stuff - goldfire or maybe Q40!!!-Q60!!! (dream on)
Hi everbody Just when I thought my choice between the Ultra gold
card and Goldfire had been resolved with Miracles decision not to go
ahead with Ultra gold card up pops the spec for Q40, I think for the
time being Goldfire with a speed increase to maybe three times that of
the QXL2 will suffice, the atraction of Q40 is its possible succsessor
Q60 and the colour to resolution factor - 64k at high resolution, very
nice if someone writes software to use it.
Colin Baskett wrote in the last issue
--------------------------------- 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. --------- I
note from the equipment he is using (there is no mention of Aurora)
that he may be using QL resolution of 512,256 if this is the case there
is a program called Qsnap that came with Qdesign that would capture
text or graphics and save it to scrap. Scrap is a sort of device used
by programs like Qdesign,QD,Linedesign and probable others to store and
retrieve text or graphics a bit like windows clipboard. I used Qsnap
for a lot at one time for capturing screenshots (I now use Phil Jones
Grabbit) the snag with Qsnap is that the text capture only worked with
the standard QL resolution (I was told this by Jochen, I never actualy
tried it). Getting back to Scrap, if you have Jochen Menu extentions I
think there are basic commands that you can use to put and get stuff
into and from Scrap; scrap_put ,a$ will put a$ into scrap; print
scrap_get$ will print the contents of scrap (a$) just how you get your
text into a$ is another matter. Phil Jones has a good program that he
is devoloping called Scratch that gives you a button that can be used
to drag and drop the contents of scrap into another program, and
Scratch also incorporates Grabbit (a screen capture facility), his
intention is to improve Scratch to include the capture of text. Colin
mentions the Stuffer Buffer - ( I am not to sure if this just applies
to smsqe but give it a try) to pass text to the keyboard buffer, the
limitation is in what text you can get hold of. For instance - 1,
bring up Qpac2 files 2, hit(select) a file name so that it is
highlighted 3, press ALT then Space (my system also works with CTR
then space) 4, now go to superbasic and press ALT then space and the
chosen file name will be stuffed into the command line, the same
procedure will work with the TK2 ED.
Mike I have taken your advice about VGA to heart and now run the
QXL in VGA the down side is a lot less info on screen, the advantage is
that I can now pop out of qxl into windows - change a zip drive
cartridge - dir it in windows - pop back into QXL and use it.
IF YOU USE 'CTRL+F4'YOU CAN MOVE YOUR SCREEN INTO A MORE CENTRAL
LOCATION AS WELL.
Darren Branagh, was asking about a lead for a phillips monitor, I
used to have a spare manual for these but sorry Darren I can't find it.
However it is our subgroup meetin on Sunday (1st March) and Joe Miller
has a Phillips 8833 so I will have a look, I can't for the life of me
remember but if they use a scart socket then you should be ok as scart
sockets usually come with pin info as it is a standard sort of thing.
I hope to meet some of you Sequel folks at the AGM and possible some of
the rest of you. If work allows I will be down with the present Mrs
Waugh and maybe Rusty (a border terrier with a passion for wallpaper)
for the meeting and then visit my farther in law at Wolverhampton on
the Sunday, can anyone recommend a good B@B for the Saturday night.
I am typing this in Turnpike (on the PC) and I do miss Qtyp (maybe
not as much as you do when you read this) it has just dawned on me that
I could have typed this into Text87 and saved it to a floppy and loaded
it in, better still a modem for the Aurora set up and QL email with a
web browser; is this possible? I am not to sure of all this comms
stuff is QTPI for sending files to bullitin boards only.
Enough I am begining to ramble - time for the pink pill
bye all
Bill waugh -- Bill Waugh
Re:Darrens CM 8833
well its an ill wind and all that, disaster struck today when my
ever reliable car refused to work so I could not get down to our
(Quantane )sub group meeting, as it happens we decided to postponed the
meeting until next week as I was taking Ian Bruntlett down as well. So
I had an afternoon going through the drawers and I came upon the
Phillips CM 8833 manual that Darren Branagh was asking for, I will put
it in the post Darren as I am not sure when Mike send this out.
In case you read this first or someone else is interested here is
the pin out for the TTL RGB connection
pin 1 open pin 2 red pin 3 green pin 4 blue pin 5 intensity pin 6
earth pin 7 H.synchronisation or composite synchronisation pin 8
V.synchronisation
the scart (euro) connector is easier to work on (more room for big
solder bits) the pin out for it is pin 1. - 2. audio 3. - 4.
earth for audio 5. earth for blue input 6. audio input 7. blue input
8. - 9. earth for green input 10. - 11. green input 12. - 13. earth
for red input 14. - 15. red input 16. fast blanking 17. earth for CVBS
18. fast blanking 19. - 20. CVBS inout (also synchronisation signal of
linear rgb input) 21. screening plug
hope this is of some use oh does anyone know anything about Rover
218 deisels all the best Bill Waugh -- Bill Waugh
FROM:INTERNET:dilwyn.jones@bbc.co.uk,
INTERNET:dilwyn.jones@bbc.co.uk TO:MICHAEL KENNEALLY, mikekenneally1
DATE:2/27/98 9:26 AM
Re:RE: Clubql&QXL
There was one version of SMSQ/E for the QXL which gave me
sleepless nights trying to use the disks it made on another PC. I've
used the FORMAT command successfully on current versions of SMSQ/E on
all machines, the only places where I run into problems are: 1.
Formatting HD disks in ED drives. They will only work in the drive
they were formatted on. 2. I have one drive on my Aurora that will not
recognise and format DD disks unless i use the special command to
force it. Try an HD disk and it sometimes works fine despite being a
DD drive, and of course vomits out an ED disk as it's a DD drive!
With these sorts of formatting problems the usual answers are:
1) Use FLP_DENSITY 'H' for HD disks before formatting. In my
experience, HD are by far the most problematical. Alternatively, use
FORMAT 'FLP1_NAME*H' (i.e. add the *density (*D, *H or *E) setting for
the name given in the format command.
2) Get a copy of the most recent QXLformat from Dave Walker. V1.5
is the only one which reliably formats HD disks in ED drives on my
Super Gold Card systems under SMSQ/E.
Expect some floppies from me soon. I've given up on John Southern.
THIS WAS NOT INTENDED FOR THE NEWSLETTER BUT I THOUGHT IT MAY BE
OF INTEREST.I THINK THE PROBLEM I HAVE IS I ONLY HAVE SMSQ AND NOT THE
SMSQ/E,I WONDER HOW MUCH STUART CHARGES FOR AN UPGRADE?
FROM:Peter Graf, INTERNET:pgrafq@t-online.de TO:MICHAEL KENNEALLY,
MIKEKENNEALLY1 DATE:2/28/98 9:18 AM
Dear friends of the QL,
I would like to answer some statements and questions of the last
newsletter.
Darren Branagh wrote: "...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."
We have been in Hove showing the Q40 running at 40 MHz, 32 bit
graphics, harddisk accesses, stereo sound and more. It was also
interesting to see the portable system Qbranch is trying to produce -
the Q40 does also fit into the same case.
Dennis Smith wrote: "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."
When a computer system is mainly used on emulators it has already
lost the race. But I hope that some dedicated QL hardware can survive.
Motorola still provides CPUs that can outperform the software emulators
by large factors.
Dennis also wrote: "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."
Sorry - I do not know the specifications of the announced
Goldfire. Only that it uses the MCF5102 CPU, a PAR port and a SIMM
socket. The instruction cache of the 68040 is 2x and the data cache is
4x bigger than the MCF5102. The 68040 has parallel address and data
busses while the MCF5102 uses only one multiplexed bus for both. The
68040 has a floating point unit and a memory management unit while the
MCF5102 lacks both. The 68040 has also higher clock rates available.
Without dirty tricks 32 MB RAM is the definite upper limit for the Q40.
More than that would mean to use a bigger and much more expensive LSI
chip, additional costs for chip design software, and a large delay for
a complete PCB redesign. I thought that price and release date should
have a higher priority. I am currently producing a few Q40 boards for
the upcoming firmware development. I hope that Tony Tebby can start
working very soon. For the Q60 I would like to wait until Motorola
produces the 66 and 75 MHz versions of the 68060. At the moment only
the 50 MHz CPU is available and I am not sure if I will develop a
chipset for this version.
Mike Kenneally wrote: "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!"
I do not know the quantity of boards, the production costs and the
marketing costs, but I think the Q40 will fit into the price landscape
of other QL hardware.
Years ago there was a card announced with 1024 x 512 pixel
graphics, many colours, SCSI interface, parallel and serial ports,
keyboard port and a new design with a fast CPU. How could I know that
not all would become reality? I think you are right: If there was a
Q40/Q60 some years earlier, it could have stopped many QL users from
turning to Wintel PCs and could have become a big success. But in
Germany we say: "Besser spaet als nie" - better late than never.
WE HAVE THE SAME SAYING PETER,BUT WHY ARE WE ALWAYS LATE?
Best regards
Peter
-------------------------------------------- Dipl.-Ing. Peter Graf
Lahnstrasse 32, 35239 Steffenberg, Germany Email: pgrafq@t-online.de
FROM:Martin Wheatley, INTERNET:martinw@ndirect.co.uk TO:(unknown),
MIKEKENNEALLY1 DATE:2/26/98 8:28 PM
*!
Martin Wheatley martinw@ndirect.co.uk
QL, SuperQboard, Twin Disc Drives, Green Screen Monitor
Mersey Mouse, PC running Xchange
Hi everyone
We were discussing the naming of drives on a PC and Mike said
##############################################################
WHY DIDNT THEY USE THE SAME SYSTEM WE USE,WE HAVE BEEN
WRITING FLP1_ FOR YEARS OR FLP2 ETC.?
################################################################
The obvious disadvantage is that it is inflexible There are new
types of drives coming out all the time and every one would need its
own keywords added. If you use A, B, C etc you can just use as many as
you need. It doesn't matter if my D drive is different to yours. It
allows for different people having different setups
ALso they had A and B before we had flp_ The QL wasn't the first
computer to be invented!
MAYBE NOT MARTIN,BUT IT WAS CERTAINLY ONE OF THE BETTER ONES!
Mike wrote
################################################
DOES THIS MEAN IN THE YEAR 2000 THE ONLY COMPUTERS THAT DON'T
DIE ARE QL'S?
#################################################
Sorry to disappoint you Mike. Very few computers will die in 2000
The thing that is most at risk are your credit cards!
THEY ARE ALREADY AT RISK,ASK THE WIFE!
Most desktop computers of whatever type will not have a problem
although some will need to have the date changed manually from 1999 to
2000 because some machines only have a two figure changeover algorythm
and so will switch to the default start date. This doesn't apply to
the QL only because it didn't have a built in clock - others will have
to tell us if the clocks in the various QL upgrades can handle the
changover or will have to be manually altered.
The Year 2000 problem is mostly with big companies with main
frames and time critical programs. Not many of us have those at home
(except possibly Nasta!). The dofficulties we have will be mostly
with those companies - if the bank doesn't pay my pension I suffer more
than the bank!
Credit card readers are a big problem, because they only read two
year figures and you take a card which says Expire /00 in 1999 and
its going to think it is 99 years out of date!
AND ALSO PEOPLE WITH OLD SOFTWARE ie ORGANISERS THAT ONLY GO UP TO
1999.
replying to Colin Baskett Mike wrote
#############################################################
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.
#############################################################
Nice idea Mike but not realistic at the moment. The snag is the
PD QLAY Emulator is in no condition to be sent to anyone but a
confirmed tinkerer at the moment. It's difficult to use for many of us
let alone someone who hasn't been near a QL or a command interface for
a number of years. It's just going to remind them of why they like the
menus on their PC! The program needs to be (1) Finished Which it is
not yet (2) Have a decent clear manual written. At the moment it has a
short technical read-me file written by someone who assumes the reader
already understands all the concepts and is as knowledgable technically
as he is (3) It needs a clear simple interface to start it up At the
moment you have to type a complicated command line with loads of
switches which you have to work out for yourself Theres not even a
default setup that would let you start it just to see (4) It could do
with being a lot quicker - unless you have a cutting edge PC with a
lot of memory and a fast processor it is too slow.
Try it yourself then you'll see how difficult it is
JUST AN IDEA MARTIN,EVEN IF AT THE MOMENT IT DOESN'T WORK ITS
THERE FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
Martin Wheatley
(
geocities.com/siliconvalley/vista/4807) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley/vista) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley)