There's a lot of information for people returning tot he QL scene on my website at www.dilwyn.uk6.net
You've made a good start by joining the ql-users mailing list where people like Neil Reilly have already found a wealth of people willing to share experience and offer help. Although your QL will still serve you well, after a while I would suggest getting a QL emulator if you have a PC or Mac. For a PC (i.e. Windows) you can get QPC2 (commercial, the one I use), QemuLator for WIndows (shareware, $40), uQLx for Windows (Freeware I think), QLAY and QLay 2 (both freeware). For a Mac, the only two choices are QemuLator Lite for Mac (freeware I think) and uQLx for Mac (also freeware). Get back into the swing of things with your original QL at first, then you can decide if you wish to progress further you can either acquire more modern QL hardware or go down the emulators route. 1. Gold Card is a combined memory expansion (2MB) and disk interface which can handle HD and DD floppy disk drives,a nd adds a full 68000 processor instead of the 8-bit data bus 68008 in the QL. 2. Super Gold Card is a development of the above, with 4MB memory, 68020 processor and capability to handle all floppy disk formats (including DD, HD and ED 3.2MB). 3. QUBIDE is an IDE interface able to accept most IDE style hard disks. Although individual partitions are limited to about 256MB each, larger drives can have multiple partitions, up to a total of 8, about 2.5GB IIRC. Qubide connects to the QL expansion port and has a through connector into which you can plug your memory expander/disk interface. Some adaptation is needed in respect of power supplies etc, which is why Tony suggested it may be easier to think about building it all into a PC-style case. There is also a QL-compatible motherboard called Aurora which is somewhat easier to build into a PC-style case, although you still need a backplane board to provide extra expansion card slots and so on. 4. The ultimate modern QL replacement is a newer computer called the Q60, which is a fast and complete QL compatible with the option of 16-bit colour graphics, inbuilt hard drive, sound system etc. This is an expensive option though, as it can cost hundreds of pounds. The various interfaces mentioned are mostly discontinued by now, although plenty turn up as second user hardware, either via the established QL traders like RWAP (Rich Mellor) or Q-Branch (Roy Wood), or via web places like e-Bay. The user group Quanta is still going and still publishes a newsletter and holds meetings (mostly in the UK) from time to time. QL Today magazine is still going - published by Jochen Merz Software. If you want a QL manual, or to read the Gold Card/Super Gold Card/Qubide manuals, refer to my other website at http://dilwynjones.topcities.com/index.htm where you can download replacement manuals for various old QL hardware. Good luck, and welcome back, Ian! -- Dilwyn Jones ----- Original Message ----- From: "silvercreekvalley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 5:17 PM Subject: [ql-users] Returning back to the QL :) > After stumbling across my old QL in an attic > recently - I decided to try and get back into > the QL scene after many years. > > I'm amazed to see its still fairly active, well, > compared to some of the other platforms I remember > from the 80's. > > Everything seemed to come up fine on the QL, > even the memory expansion seemed OK. > > I'd like to try and port a few tools to the QL > just for fun, and although I do have a C > compiler up and running OK, I wondered if there > were ever any hard-disk interfaces developed for > the QL and if they are still available. It sure > would make things a bit easier :) > > Cheers > > Ian. _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
