Hi Dave, great projects, thank you for your effort!
It seems that it was the right time for me to return to the QL again;-) All the best, Anton Am 04.03.2014 um 01:36 schrieb Dave Park <d...@sinclairql.com>: > Hi all, > > Wow, it's been a crazy couple of weeks. I am so grateful to QUANTA for the > advert, and to so many of you for ordering or pre-ordering - your faith and > confidence will be rewarded. :) > > Firstly, I have had to make a new batch of microdrive felt pads. I sold > most of the first batch, and sent a lot more on to Rich at RWAP for those > who would prefer to buy from a more established seller. I also sent him > some QL on a Stick, new editions! I'm sure he'll have those listed soon > after he gets them. > > I have changed how I package the felt pads, and it will soon allow me to > reduce the cost even further. I now attach them to a piece of tape, then > mount them on the instruction sheet. I tri-fold the sheet, and it protects > the pads well enough - even if they get completely crushed, they fully > recover in about 20 minutes. You should see the lower pricing once the > current batch finishes selling. Oooer, I hope that doesn't kill my sales > while you wait for the new batch! > > The battery adapters have finally been released from customs and should be > here tomorrow! I am so excited to see them coming and hope to get the first > orders shipped out this week. > > I have almost finished the Minerva MK IIs, and am just waiting for two > components to arrive. > > UltimIDE is currently a box of components. I have almost finished the > prototype wiring and have started the PCB design in earned. Currently, it > supports two traditional IDE devices (more with an expander) plus two CF > cards and a 1.8" or 2.5" SSD on-board. It's almost entirely SMD. It will > have an option for 512K of on-board RAM, which will be selectable, in case > you want an unexpanded QL for compatibility or (S)GC reasons. > > UltraQ is taking shape quite nicely. It currently is specced for floppy, > parallel, QIMI mouse, IDE, plus its own CPU and 4MB of RAM. We are hoping > it will run most QLs at 15 MHz.It will not be quite as fast as a Gold Card, > but it will have twice the memory. It will also use some GC-style tricks > like shadowing video RAM. It will come with a custom version of Minerva > and, hopefully, SMSQ/E on CF card. > > Lets talk about ethernet for a moment. We would like to include ethernet: > the hardware is easy. Fitting it on the card is a bit more difficult, but > once we concede it'll be a double-deck interface, a lot of room opens up. > Maybe if we include the hardware the driver will come. This presents us > with a quandry. Including ethernet adds approximately £20 cost to the > interface - we have discussed if it should be on every card, or an optional > extra. If it is on every card, adoption will be wider and people will find > uses for it. However, if it's not on every card, some cards will be > cheaper, but the cards that do have it will cost a little more. If you, > humble reader, could have a sensible discussion of the merits of both > options, we'll read closely and take your thoughts into consideration. > > Which leads to... USB. We have found a way to reasonably implement USB > *hardware* but again, there are no drivers. USB takes up less space than > ethernet, but it is complimentary. I personally am deeply interested in USB > for a number of reasons; especially of the "build it and they will come" > variety. Secondly, the hardware has the potential to solve a difficult > problem for us, whilst also giving us more options with hardware. Let me > explain: > > We talked with Tony Firshman and Lau Reeves about open-licensing > superHermes, and they have agreed in principle to do so. However, > superHermes is a complex piece of kit: it isn't cheap to incorporate both > in terms of component cost, and production cycle. What it brings us is both > relatively great and relatively little... It allows us to replace the > inbuilt keyboard with a PS/2 keyboard and it gives us better working > serial. However, by modern standards, it still only gets us to where we > should have been initially anyway. It corrected a fault and an in-hindsight > omission. As an alternative, if we could get to where there is an HID > driver for USB and a USB component on the QL, most HID (Human Interface > Devices) - mice and keyboards plus all sorts of exotic input devices - > could be made to work using default profiles. Imagine being able to use > modern keyboards, cordless laser mice, etc. It fits well with the picoATX > cased QL concept I am trying to achieve. It also means the hardware is open > for people to write the other two main classes of generic USB driver: > storage devices and "the other one" (I forget. It's late!) > > The point is, if we can get a basic HID USB driver functional in the next > few months, it can go out on the QL2, and it might even make it interesting > for the UltraQ. With the ROM image in flash, the capabilities could be > extended by a community effort to cooperate and develop the drivers in a > way that will really free up the QL for all sorts of expansion. > > I am well aware of the fine work Adrian Ives did with the USBWiz. We'd like > to use that as a springboard, or at least an inspiration. That is why I am > more than willing to sink resources into making prototype hardware for both > ethernet and USB and get it into the hands of anyone who has an ability to > develop for them. Remember, I'd like all of this work to be open-source and > free. This is the only way we can inspire others to develop, and to secure > the future of the platform. > > We're also still scratching our heads at 4am on QL2. Literally. We know > it'll incorporate the majority of the above, but faster, on wider buses, > and with huge amounts of memory attached to a very fast CPU. It's just too > early to say, but it looks like it's going to be insanely great. > > I am looking for little side projects that I can use to raise more funds > for QL2. For example, I was shocked at the price of good quality > prototyping boards that are anything even remotely large or specialized. > 20x30cm prototyping boards can cost well over £200! I welcome feedback and > suggestions for little things like that, which I can do without too great > an investment and that won't be inclined to soak up all my free time. > > Finally, thank you once again to everyone for your support, both in > encouragement here, on the QL Forum and in emails, and by buying from my > store. I hope this can grow into a real and meaningful resource for the > community. > > Cheers! > > > -- > Dave Park > Sandy Electronics, LLC > d...@sinclairql.com > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
