********************* QL CLUB INTERNATIONAL *********************
ISSUE
102 AUGUST 1997
[All addresses snipped for security reasons]
EMAIL.106114,710 COMPUSERVE.COM
MIKEKENNEALLY1@COMPUSERVE.COM
ALL SOFTWARE SENT TO THE CLUB IS ASSUMED TO BE PD UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH.
QXL2 WITH A PACKARD BELL ATTACHMENT2XQL'S,1X3.5 DISC DRIVES,TRUMPCARD,
CANON BJ4100 COLOUR PRINTER.
Just a few lines from me this month before we go away,I shall think of you
all as I lay on the beach!Graham,there is still a problem with Fileinfo3
that was sent from Andrew.He has given a copy to John and I have asked him
to bring a copy with him when he,or if he comes to Manchester. So at least
you will have 2 people to get a copy from.What would be a nice idea,is an
easy to understand,step by step guide on how to use it along with maybe a
few screen snatches to help us along the way.I am sure a lot more people
would use it if only they knew how to set it up
.JUST A THOUGHT!WHEN I GET A COPY THAT WORKS PROPERLY MIKE.
There are a lot of progs out there that could be put to good use and most
of them probably are,some of you will be using progs nearly every day for
different things,so come on tell us what you use them for and do us a
review. It doesn't matter how old the progs are or how new,the important
thing is that we may have missed something ourselves,that you could be
doing.
YOU NEVER KNOW!
Any way enough from me,I hope Graham enjoys doing this months issue as much
as I do the rest of the time. Mike.
Graham D Lutz
Gear includes:- Minerva 1.93 AURORA QL with Super Gold Card,
ED and HD disk drives, 40Mb IDE HD, SyQuest 128 HD, Goldstar EGA monitor,
Canon BJC-4100. Various other QLs.
Dear Mike and fellow Quantum Leapers,Well, here goes, strap youselves in,
this could be a bumpy ride !!On a more serious note, I seem to have read an
awful lot about Linedesign not printing with the button frame resident.
Although the matter is now resolved, I will still offer a tip.The clue lies
in the Preview. If the preview is blank, nothing will print.If the preview
only shows part of a page, only a part page will print. It therefore
follows that a full preview equals a full printout. To get a full preview,
and thus a full printout, try the following:- Lasso or select the whole
page. Select the Edit menu. Go to Group Objects and Do / Enter. Try the
preview. (It may not pause for a keypress, this IS a bug). Print your work.
Another tip for Linedesign users.The Epson 360 dpi driver is afflicted by
the same fault as previous versions, i.e. it does not work correctly with
certain (Canon) printerts. The previous versions could be patched in an
editor to replace the offending control code, and so too can the new one,
but getting ProWess to recognise it afterwards is not that easy. Well,
actually it is easy if you know why. The reason, is that all the drivers
have file type 0 in the file header, but my editor at least saves with file
type 1 !!Enough rambling, on with the show. Graham.
#! Dennis Smith, 99 Field St, Codnor, Derbys. DE5 9RS
01773-748740NET1(downstairs) = (installed in a mini tower) Aurora, Super
Gold card, SuperHermes, Qubide, 420Mb hard disk, 2 ED drives, (SER3)US
Robotics 14.4 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 again,Good this QLCI business isn't it, right laugh. Mike, the
margins are adjusted as you now requested - 5, 10 and 70. Away from my usual
5, 5,and 75. I think it would be better if you announce your page settings
every month so as any new members wouldn't go astray?
John Southern: You ask what is project 3 of our sub group? This has not
been started because of doing other things instead, no other reason. It is a
software project I will now reveal. It has no name. You may have a phone
with say 10 memories on it. Fine, but if you run a computer and have a modem
why not write a program to dial the numbers for you and have a data base of
maybe a 1000 numbers. I'm thinking more of a business application here were
your mind is on other things and you need a quick result without pratting
around waving the the phone book about or looking through your little black
book then mis-dialling. Probably made permanent in the machine (hot_res ?)
from the system boot and put on a button if you like to make it fast and
easy to use. As the other end starts to ring just pick the phone up and
carry on as normal.
Martin Wheatley: You mention Zip drives, I THINK Ron Dunnett is now taking
#names of interested people who want these for the QL.
Andrew Halliwell: You run out of memory on your Trump card QL. Join the
club, I run out of memory on my Super Gold card about three times a week.Ah
yes, your approx. quote "if you have pointer environment then a lot of 'new'
software runs ok". Err, no, the 'new' software has not been written yet. The
nearest you get to it is ProWess which you will see as a representation of
what can be done. If Jochen Merz commits to this type of programming ALL his
'new' type software will go that way to give it the same look and the same
feel. Buy the software 'click' install and use the program. A lot of people
have asked for this at Quanta workshops, well you've got it. Free SMSQ/E
upgrades. You sort of fell into the trap there. As Jochen says "All SMSQ/E
upgrades are free" which is correct, 'get it! I went to see a mate a few
weeks ago, not seen him for maybe 2 years? Well we had a chat about what he
had been doing and it turns out that he had been running a business and not
doing too bad. To give you an idea of his effort his outgoings were `2000
per week. What computer ran all of this empire, a Trump card QL of course
with 2 floppies! He has since relocated and has a couple of PCs now as well
but he doesn't use them very much because he can "Get on with and understand
his QL a lot better than the others". He showed me an invoicing program he
had been using and said that "It would be better for him if this that and
the other were a bit different". Well ok, it's a QL so therefore it is not
difficult to program it, I'll write an invoicing program for you and you can
have what you like, for free. In contrast to this he described his friends
PC program that does a similar thing, cost `900 plus quarterly upgrades that
are not free. Yes, that's what I thought. To do this I have borrowed his
spare QL and stuck my Trump card in it and will program on that. Why not
program on my main SGC SMSQ/E? Well I might make a mistake and use a modern
programming technique somewhere in the middle or time after time then find
out it will not work on a JM. Besides that this is going to be in 'chunky'
mode 8 and I want to get the 'feel' of it on the actual machine. I wrote a
small utility program a few years ago on a JS which also ran on Minerva,
SMSQ/E would not have it. I looked at the basic and looked again I couldn't
see what was wrong. I was getting an error report that I could not track
down, finally I spotted it. I had left off an END something or other which
made the program read logically incorrect. The JM, JS and Minerva allowed
the program to operate even though it was incorrect. SMSQ/E does not allow
illogical code. That's a short example of incompatibility.The sub group
picked up again as they do, if we get 10 each time that will be good enough.
From 1pm to 5pm actual running time does not seem enough, I rush from one to
the other sorting out what I can and gone 5pm I'm still rushing about.
Everyone seems to enjoy themselves and I do look forward to it now it's
running. Phil Jones will be giving a talk next time, very informative and
you may even learn something, lasts about 20 mins. then back to work. Check
this: The Quanta Workshop is at The Parish Hall, Mansfield Rd, Selston,
Nottingham. For some reason when Graham placed the advert in Quanta he
missed the place name and road. I recommend that you get to junction 27 M1
and follow the signs
for Quanta.Competition time: The following line is from my system boot: (dy$
-= DAY$)2630 IF dy$='Mon' OR dy$='Wed' OR dy$='Fri' OR dy$='Sun' ALARM
-19,25:END
IFYou can see what it does, can you work out why it is in my boot, what
does it refer to? Guess that bit and I'll tell you exactly why and what
happens next, unless you can guess that bit as well.An old school friend has
a Trump card setup with a pair of floppies, he's on the dole and soldiers on
like they do. I give him the public domain stuff to mess about with and he
seemed happy enough. I decided it was time for a change so I took his Trump
card from him and sold it to Derek Stuart then bought a Gold card from Roy
Wood and gave it to him. He's not stopped smiling since, he doesn't like it,
he loves it. Pays me back on the drip. Kind gesture, no, I just couldn't
stand it any more.
Personal attack alert, Martin Wheatley: The first few lines of my text
refer to you then I break from that to wind everybody up in general. I use a
blank line to change subject as you can see above, unfortunately one of
those ever so useful page breaks has dropped in just below my end of
paragraph (when Mike merged the text in, I don't use page breaks) and made
the paragraph look continuous but its not. Afterwards you are refered to by
one liners only and the last one is deliberately misleading as explained
above, see.Look a new line, I now move on. The results of the controversy
test are generally your (no not you Martin
your as in all of you) text increased substantially. A bit better than "Hi
everyone, not much to say this month, bye everyone".Something to think
about.
When Qubide initialises it overwrites part of the operating system device
driver. I wonder if inconsistencies in floppy disk handling of SMSQ/E are
down to this?Quanta quandary. Quanta are failing financially, what to do
about it? They do a dam good job of paying for all the Workshops, imagine no
more workshops, no more large scale get togethers. No joke that could be the
future. Difficult to turn it round now, but certainly not hopeless.
Colin Basket (Quanta editor): I think you are doing very good job under
adverse conditions, having to jump in unprepared and have a go. Well done, I
suggest our Colin is a sort of hero.That's about 1430 words, I think it's
enough to keep you going. Bye.This was meant to be for QL101#!
Graham Buck
JS QL ( TH Eprom
), 2 x 3.5" HDDD, SerMouse, QIMI Mouse, Epson FX105 printer, Zoom 14,400
Modem, Grundig PM015 monitor on loan Gold Card Victor 286 Luggable
Hello Mike and Friends
I am going to be redundant as of August 15. My intention then is to spend
about a month totally redecorating my house before putting it on the market
to sell it. Once sold I am going to buy the biggest new Motorcaravan that I
can afford and then go on the road spending approx 6 months in Europe and 6
months in the UK every year for the next 3 years or until the money runs
out. When the money runs out I will worry about what to do next then.As
Richard has been totally nomadic for numerous years I am hoping that he can
share some of his knowledge on this subject. If not, I hope to stay in touch
and keep you informed of my adventures.
Jeremy Davis, welcome back, I think that you should get in contact with
Jonathan Hudson if you are totally into Unix as that is what he uses when
writing all of his programmes.
Darren Branagh, Sorry, but I won't be able to make the Irish show unless
something fantastic happens. If it does I will be there.
Bryan A. Horstmann, I think you should speak to Jeremy Davis as well, A. He
was into Mountain Bikes in a big way and B. He nearly finished writing a
replacement for Easel.
Dilwyn said, I think someone expert in these matters could make a fortune by
>setting up an 0891 number to answer help request calls from frustrated
>PC-users-from QL-background like me.
It's already been done but not on an 0891 number, there is a PC Doctor who
charges a registration fee and then you can have a long a call as you
want.You should never need to back-up the entire disk on your PC, you just
need to back-up the configuration every time you install something
different. There is little point in making a back-up of the information that
you have on a CD, you only then need to back-up your own information that
you have added, and then there is a way of just backing-up the files that
have actually changed. As you then discovered, you only need one floppy to
boot up the system to get it to recognise the CD and then you are off again.
Alternatively you can use a DOS boot disk to get it going to get access to
the HD. It can be done but I don't know the actual details and if I
speculate, Martin will shoot me down.
Dennis Smith said, Project two: complete and in final testing. FaxeQl, a
>send and receive fax front end for both Qfax and Lfax, class 1 and class 2,
>pointer driven. It is quite comprehensive with all the expected facilities.
Is this a progression from Phil Bormans 'Sendfax' which is a very useful
front end to Qfax for just sending faxes. What about class 3 faxes ?
Gordon Wright said, I can only say it was a pity the people in Club QL
>didn't really want PC owners in with QL owners when I was in the QL scene.
>How things stand now I don't know but I still feel that a door closed is
>rarely opened and though I fully realise that people who own only one type
>of machine, ( i.e. the QL
>) will only want to talk about that machine. I still personally think it
>better to have club members for whatever reason. After all no one is going
>to keep writing in if everyone else avoids their subject.
The bickering goes on Gordon ( It adds to the excitement ), but I did
offer to transfer the newsletter to DOS and send it to you as I have been
doing for Richard Herland for years. It was you who declined the offer.
Andrew Halliwell, I did like the euroenglish article, its that daft it is
bound to become law shortly.
Colin Baskett, how do you do it, I do hope you take your Ed's hat off now
and again and keep writing to us as well. Got July Quanta this morning 30/
7/97, didn't you do well. If you ever get totally stuck for articles just
print this, I'm sure Mike won't mind !That's it again, late as usual,
Regards Graham Buck
For QL102#! Graham Buck 12
3 x QL'S, 2 x 3 1/2" HDD Drives, Gold Card, Hermes,
SereMouse
& Qimi Mouse, Zoom 14,400 Modem, Epson 105 Printer.
& Victor 286 LaptopMike
and friends,Well, with a week left to go at my job, they offered me another
two weeks work, then with two days left to my original finish date, they
offered me another job altogether. So now although technically at the time
of writing this I have not finished my present job in Accounts, I am now the
Spares Administrator.This of course has put the brakes on my original plan
to sell up and go on the road, but I view it as only a temporary set back as
I can't actually see this job lasting very long anyhow as the German parent
company is still under a lot of pressure and may well pull the plug early
next year. It is a bit of a shock to the system though to have to go to work
when you could have been finished; and even worse when you actually have to
do some work. I don't have the time now to type my letters at work and that
is really a bind
!Dennis Smith, I let it go last month, but .......The object of ClubQL
International has always been to offer FREE help and advise to anyone who
writes in; and to answer in the clearest and simplest way pertaining to the
complexity of the original query. To this end we are trying to encourage
and hold on to QL users and prevent them giving up for lack of help and
changing to another machine.The original reasoning for the start of ClubQL
International was that it was felt that articles in Quanta and the then QL
World were pitched at a more technical level and therefore not understood by
the average or new QL user. Thus the club was formed to provide the
information that it was felt was needed; and with a faster turn round of
problems in a more convenient form.In that vane, we; and I mean everyone who
contributes to ClubQL International are supporting the QL; and in the best
way that we can. I personally cannot afford to support new hardware
projects, and neither can several of the other regular contributors,
including those that don't actually use the QL very often.People come and
people go, but even you should have noticed the odd name crop up on an
irregular basis when another problem befalls them. We don't care, we are
grateful that they are still keeping the faith and still using the QL. By
coincidence I received a phone call the other day from someone with the
simplest of queries, ie How do you suppress the page numbers in Quill. This
was from someone who has two PC's and three OPD's, but still likes to keep
his hand in with the QL. The longer we can keep people using the QL, the
more likely it is that the same people will want to update software and
hardware in the future. We need them as much as they need us.The number of
QL traders is still declining, but with due respect, they are still business
men and as such they have an idea of the market for QL bits and adjust their
prices accordingly.It is possible that people are put off writing to Quanta
( Colin ) because normally only the questions are printed and not the
answers and so people assume that there are no answers ( bit fishy ! ) when
in fact when I wrote in myself I got an answer from someone in Spain, but of
course this was not published. I got another answer from Martin W, and I
have been writing to ClubQL International ever since. What is really needed
is a big database of all the questions and answers, but this would entail
someone doing this more or less full time and so need the necessary
remuneration. But it would seem that this would be a sensible solution to
users of computers to get a computed reply. It would be nice if evertime
someone asked a question, they straight away received a printed reply
containing all the relevant answers to the question.On that note, and as the
questions have been asked, I have just been going through all of the
newsletters to find my own replies to the queries about transferring data
from the QL to a PC and back; and also the question
of printer control codes. On looking back, I can only conclude that
over the years we have all contributed an enormous amount of information and
programmes to ClubQL International and to this end we all owe a debt to Mike
who has kept it all going. Three cheers to Mike.
John S, It turned out that my way of getting the QL working with a portable
TV was not as simple as implied. I will reproduce the drawing as soon as I
get it right. The problem with the drawing was that I did it on a PC, and I
must have unavertedly used Tabs which disappeared when I e-mailed it. What I
wasn't told when I started was that the RGB output is at 5V from the QL, so
that has to be reduced to 1V as well, so it is a question of just how many
resistors will fit into a Scart plug. Just by coincidence the battery on my
laptop was flat, it was an AA sized 3.6V Lithium battery, I was told that it
cost about `14-00 to replace it, so I got a double AAA battery holder from
Tandy together with two ordinary Alkaline batteries and put that in. It has
been OK so far, I will let you know how long they last. ( The batteries were
not new and the holder cost 69p )That's about all I have time for now, must
get this of to Graham in time as I was too late with QL101.
Regards Graham Buck #!
Colin Baskett
28 August 1997EQUIPMENT: 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. Various other pieces of software I am hoping to learn in
order to edit QUANTA better.
Dear Graham, QUANTA MAGAZINE Thanks to Mike for filling in the questionnaire
- every penny makes the water warmer! Other comments on the questionnaire
would be welcome. What sort of information would people like to see. How
could the wording be made more precise? Thanks also to Dennis for setting
the cat amongst the pigeons and even more to Martin, Andrew and all those
others who were stimulated to reply. Lots of food for thought for QUANTA
there. Somehow or other we have to support the future without abandoning
the past. Let's remember the old Chinese tale: son, 'Why have you put
Grandpa in that basket, Dad'; father, 'I'm taking him to the rubbish dump,
Son. He's too weak to work any more'; son, 'Well, be sure to bring the
basket back, I'll need it for you one day'. Andrew mentions my query about
the Minerva screens. Thanks for the suggestions and Sorry! if I mislead you.
My interest was not in using the dual screen mode (It is fascinating but I
have never found a use for it. I really should be glad if someone can show
me something useful I can do with it that I cannot do with QPAC2 etc.) but
in setting up my boot program so that I could use F1 to F4 as a means of
selecting between various start up conditions (e.g. QDOS, SMSQ/E, ProWesS).
Having selected the appropriate branch of the boot program, the screen would
be reset to F1 mode. The need is for a simple way for the program to
determine which of the four Function keys has been pressed. Maybe the menu
suggestion is the best; it can cater for more alternatives (if you will
allow more than two of these; we badly need a new word here). Thanks
again.Thanks to Mike for his support for the general idea of an equipment
recycling scheme. Any ideas how this could best be arranged. Through QUANTA
via the magazine and at Workshops and sub-groups. Are there any
alternatives. There would be quite a lot of work if the scheme took off. Is
there a modest opportunity for a Trader here? If you have any gear you could
bear to part with for a modest sum, how about an advert in QUANTA (50 words
free for members)? Make clear you are not giving up the QL otherwise the
effect might be depressing! Dennis Smith gives an interesting account of his
sub-group's activities. Any chance of a short (or not so short) article for
QUANTA. Or can we publicise your meetings for you? Or the 'pretend to be a
Telephone Exchange. Sounds a good wheeze.How are the sub-groups, generally?
Is there anything that could be done to give them a helping hand. More
publicity, net-working to share ideas or whatever. DO LET ME KNOW. QUANTA is
here to help.If you are using an ink-jet or laser printer I would like to
hear about your experiences, ranging from a simple 'Superb!' to detailed
descriptions of its operation, strengths and weaknesses. What is the manual
like? Can you get extra info and if so how much? How much does printing
cost you in ink and cartridges, or toner. Do you use the colour facility
much, if there is one and how is it. Do you use it via a PC? If so, how does
it work with a QL? Would you buy it again? I am trying to compile a list of
printers for QUANTA. Even a brief note would be helpful. Or tell me where to
find it in back copies of CLUBQLI. Incidentally has anyone done an index???
Best wishes Colin B.
FRANK MERRISON,
For QL102_doc 25-8-1997 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!
Dear All!!!! The odd person who has taken the trouble to read my
scribblings in recent times will have noticed that I invariably begin with
the moan that 'I can't think of anything to write about'. Last month Mike
remarked that I had managed to spread nothing out over two pages - heaven
only knows how! It is my usual practice to read the newsletter avidly as
soon as it arrives and to go through it at least two more times making notes
of any item that I might be able to comment on. And so it was this last
month. My note consists of one line - more later.Unfortunately it appears
that what interests others is a mystery to me, that I cannot summon up a
desire to fathom out, such as the internet which seems to be all the rage
these days.I believe that the range of interests covered by members is now
so wide that fewer and fewer members have the same things as a common
interest. When we started, with Bill Johns and I, actually writing letters
to each other; neither of us knew anything about computers so whatever we
wrote was new, fresh and exciting. It seems a long way from the time when it
was quite an achievement to be able to switch the QL on and get a program
working. The odd crashes adding to the fun(?) Stumbling through the Psion
suite and actually writing a procedure for Archive that worked was heady
days indeed. And to actually lash out `5.00 for "Typing Tutor" from Dave
Batty of Sector Software at Victoria was indeed heaven.As Martin said last
month; this club began for novices and has always had their assistance as
it's main aim. Before it even had a name the club made no pretentions to
being in the same market as Quanta or QL World - being purely somewhere
where the totally ignorant could ask the silly questions that would arouse
embarrassment elsewhere. Why do we never get any "how do I do so-and-so in
such- and-such a program" these days? Is it the diverse interests of members
or have I been left behind as others have got more and more expert?You may
recall I tried to illustrate this point last month with my questions about
new-fangled hard and software that I felt had never been properly explained.
Others seemed to chat about them as though they were as common as Quill to
me but I feel more and more left behind by new developements. When these
were reviewed in QL World by others cleverer than me I could at least grasp
the basic ideas of what they were for and how they worked - not any more! I
don't think that the problem is entirely due to my ignorance as I have
managed to understand enough of Windows, Word for Windows, Excel and others
to be a competent user (not expert by any means but I can use them for my
interests). Even some things that seem to baffle others such as printers
hold no terrors for me.So----- to sum up.When members write about their pet
subjects can they please make a point of writing in such a clear fashion tha
even I can understand it and maybe take an interest. Remember who the
members are and why they joined originally. I believe that over the years we
have lost many supporters who "lost the trail"And finally my single nate
from QL101. Dilwyn Jones' truely brilliant Freudian slip when he wrote about
PC "TARTUP FILES" They really do!
Frank Merrison.
Darren Branagh,
GEAR INCLUDES:
2QL's one JS and one Running MINERVA v1.97, Miracle Trumpcard, Microvitec
CUB 653 Monitor, Twin NEC 3.5" DS/DD Drives & Twin Miracle DS/DD Drives both
joined by a Miracle Disk Adaptor (flp1_ to flp4_),
150+ Disks of Software, Epson EPL4000 Laser Printer, Serial 8056 Thermal
Printer, Joysticks, SERmouse, Tandata 3 stack Modem, Gateway 2000 Pentium PC
with 1.5Gb Hard Drive and 16Mb RAM, Zenith Minisport 286 Laptop PC,
Cambridge Z88 Laptop, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K +2a, Sinclair ZX81, and my
Latest buy - a Philips P 3230 286 with an 8 Meg.
QXL II inside.............
Hi all ,You'll all no doubt be relived to hear my PC troubles are
(hopefully) behind me once and for all - I say that because I'm now using
one virtually ALL the time - even if it does have a QXL II inside it!They're
over as far as my old 386 is concerned - I flogged it off to a guy who was
upgrading from a 286 - his entire computer had just blew up, even though he
had just fitted a new large hard drive in it - so he wasn't a bit concerned
about the fact the HDD in the 386 was bust - it suited him actually.I got a
copy of QPC DEMO to run on the Pentium for a laugh (it is a lot slower than
the 286/QXL2, but its hardly a fair conparison is it?) I'm really envious of
Dilwyn's new colour Laptop running QPC, so I reckon thats next on the
agenda!!I must ring the praises of the QXL card too - Its really stunning,
especially in the VGA modes, etc. I know you have one Mike, what modes do
you use it in most? How do you set the screen windows? I'm using stuff like
WINDOW#1,600,480,0,0 at the moment, but I reckon theres a better way. I'm
getting the odd bit of flack from programs that hate the higher resolution
screen modes, but Its a small price to pay. I've set it up too so I can
start it up from Windows 3.1, with its own set of Icons, and its own program
group, as this is very PC-ish, I won't go into details of how to do it, but
if anybodys interested, I'll explain it further next month.I'm typing this
on the QXL now and I am one of the strong anti-PC gang, but I must say what
a pleasure it is to type on a real, responsive keyboard via a PC as a QL, I
think my typing W.P.M. has just doubled!! (As Dilwyn said, in a letter to me
recently, between myself, Jochen, and himself we could open a PC scrap shop
together, so I think some keyboards could be had!)BTW, I heard a rumour that
the newer versions of Xchange automatically use the full VGA or SVGA screens
of a QXL when loaded (like TEXT87) is this true? I use version 3.90L, and it
doesn't do this - which version does?
Anyway, on to replying to last months flames: (!) (call the fire brigade)
oooops!! I forgot to set the margins as you wanted Mike - hang on, press
that, then those, ah,there. I've got the left to 0.5 and the right to 7.0,
The indent shouldn't matter, (or does it?)DENNIS - Oh, dear. Annoyed a few
people, didn't you? I must include myself in that lot too; the main reason I
joined QLCI was that it catered for EVERYBODY (I was a microdrive user up
until a few weeks before I joined QLCI) and I thought the SMSQ/E was a third
level exam or something. PLEASE don't let the QL world go the same way a the
PC world has gone, in there these days you HAVE TO have a Pentium with a
CD-ROM drive and 16Mb of ram as a bare Minimum!! (I don't as yet have a
CD-ROM on my PC, the 16x job in it turned out to be faulty, so even the free
CD's on magazine covers are useless to me!) In contrast, A QL with single
3.5" DD Drive and a Disk I/F of some kind, with around 256K-512K or more of
memory in sufficent to run 80-90% of all QL programs (all be it slowly).
THIS IS A GOOD THING, DENNIS. because of this, you don't have to fork out
hundreds of quid a year just to keep up. (I went looking for some Pentium
software on 3.5" disk the other day, and was laughed at!!) THIS IS ONE OF
THE MAIN REASONS WHY I TOOK TO THE QL ONLY A YEAR AND A HALF AGO!!! As for
suggesting buying SMSQ/E to read PC disks, sure why didn't you just suggest
he buy a Second hand 8088, or 286, or something? It would have been as
cheap! Right, Nuff Said.
DILWYN:- You where asking if I really Drive using my Z88 from the lighter
Socket. Well, It gets a little difficult doing it, especially when doing 80
Mph, and trying to watch Star Trek on the Video, fast forwarding with my
toes, shaving in the rear view mirror, and answer the
Phone............Regarding the PC/QL jokes, they're being reserved for the
JOKE BOOK I'm working on, which should get its public airing at the Irish QL
Show (which I'll report on next month) so, If you want them, you'll all have
to wait..........!!!I've sent Colin Baskett a _doc file on how to doctor
unformatted HD disks into expensive ED ones - for those of you who don't
subscribe to QUANTA, I'm including it here on the disk, called HDtoED_Doc.
I've done about 20 of these conversions now for Hilary (I don't have an ED
drive) and over the past couple of months, we've had 100% reliability so far
- even the couple I sent Dilwyn survived the ravages of the postal system,
and are still working perfectly after he filled them with some of his
wonderful clipart (thanks, Dilwyn!)Ah, great this. I've just finished two
pages, and in a fraction of the time it took on the QL keyboard, a lot less
"fumble-fingers" in this one too. I may be persuaded to like PC's again, but
only if they've got a QXL up their backside!!Thanks to Graham for looking
after this issue too. Hopefully Mikes enjoying himself!SYNM, (See you next
month)DARREN.BTW, I having trouble using subdirectories on the QXL as hey
don't seem to operate in the same way on a QL as on a PC - or is it just me?
If I make a directory, put some files in it (say all the files needed for
xchange) how do I run xchange from that directory? MIKE DODD:- If your
reading this, did you get the centronics I/F I sent you a week or so ago?
++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++#!John Southern
Email
:tarragon@dircon.co.uk tarragon@cix.compulink.co.uk 1 Sept 1997 Main setup
:-Aurora, Super GoldCard QL, I2C, sH, 33600 modem, ED drives, 840Mb HD,
Trackerball, HP500C printer
Dear All,Well I am late again, and I have not yet received #101 so this
will be short.I am enclosing a few zipped files downloaded off the BBS
systems, that if space is available Graham will include on the disk.ACP
version 3.4 EnglishAnalogue Clock / Timer by Phil Jones FileInfo 3.02
EnglishQPAC2 patchI2C io for SMSQ usersSuggest 2.03Unzip 5.3VAT
CalculatorMiniConfig for I2CASCII codes for the QLCharacter Select by
Beginners ClubVersions of Minerva
(FOR INTERNET READERS - YOU WILL HAVE TO MAKE SNAIL MAIL CONTACT WITH MIKE
IF YOU WANT THESE)
For a hardware project I need to accurately pulse an output line with 1,
1.5 and 2 millisecond pulses. Any suggestions ?Oh yes, Spike has joined the
TA so I suppose it is now NulSpike or SpikeNoSpike. Hope to see everyone at
Selton ?John.-------GCv3.1
(
geocities.com/siliconvalley/vista/Vista/4807) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley/vista/Vista) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley/vista) (
geocities.com/siliconvalley)