Hi all,
Here I am, stirring up controversy again... In my *humble* opinion, most QLs are at end of life. Many of their capacitors are dry, membranes are problematic, and they're expanded in many and various ways... I don't think there are two expanded QLs that are the same. Different HD formats, different OS versions... I think if people were to upgrade their machines to a common spec, it would be ludicrously expensive. We all know Nasta's been working on Goldfire for an age and a half, and that the Q60 is available if you've got the money. We also know that QLs aren't about performance, or we'd all be doing soemthing else... :o) So, the room (still!) exists for a low cost platform to run SMSQ/E. By low cost I mean under 200 ukp. This should include all the basic interfaces one would expect. Mouse and keyboard, IDE, floppy, CF, memory expansion possibilities, video output, etc. I've previously touted the ARM7500FE and their equivalents as possibilities for a low cost platform, running linux and uQLx. I still think this is a really great way to go, if raw speed isn't an issue. Also, there are similarly embedded Coldfire processors, and now the source for SMSQ/E exists, it's feasable to make them worthwhile. I've decided piecemeal patches and fixes and add-ons are not in the best interest of the community, in my opinion. They allow people to carry on using the same old things, and they're excuses to not move forward. But then when you say that, a separate crowd digs their heals in and doesn't want to move forward. They like the exact look and feel they have now, and don't feel inclined to change, thankyouverymuch! (Yet these same people pay hand over fist to maintain their existing systems!) So what are the chances that we could sit around this virtual table and throw out some ideas for a primarily "low cost" platform, of the type that would be cheap and easy to assemble, use standard components as much as possible, needn't be elegant but must be reliable and have other QL qoalities (low power, no noise, very easy to use, cute black case ;) What's out there? Nasta, what do you need to get GF finished and out there? Dave
