I am watching all this with great interest especially QL2. Brilliant job :)
Neil > 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 *********************************************************************************** The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient. It may not be disclosed to or used by anyone other than the addressee, nor may it be copied in any way. If received in error, please contact the company on 01234-265380, then delete it from your system. Please note neither the company nor the sender accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan attachments (if any) for viruses. No contract may be concluded on behalf of the company by means of email communications. BC Services (UK) Limited (trading as Boxclever), Technology House, Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9QQ. 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