[ql-users] Today 20 years ago...
Well, actually, it was 20 years ago tomorrow, but why wait.. I also got my QL then. It allowed me to learn how to program in assembler, helped me with MSc project (the MSc course used a 68000 board for the robotics stuff and I used the QL as a development platform, writing a subset of the QDOS system calls for the 68000 board to ease the development) and was a lovely machine to program. I see that another subscriber to this list is Robert Newson. Do you still use my old terminal emulator program? It still works, though it's up in my loft at the moment along with the Trump Card and the twin 3.5" DD drives. Ah, the memories. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Today 20 years ago...
Hello Tony, >>Well, actually, it was 20 years ago tomorrow, but why wait.. >Sorry, you snipped the context. >What was 20 years tomorrow Sorry about that, it was a reply to a thread on the list about a person getting their QL 20 years ago. Hence... >>I also got my QL then. >> >>It allowed me to learn how to program in assembler, helped me with MSc project >>(the MSc course used a 68000 board for the robotics stuff and I used the QL as >>a development platform, writing a subset of the QDOS system calls for the >>68000 board to ease the development) and was a lovely machine to program. I >>see that another subscriber to this list is Robert Newson. Do you still use my >>old terminal emulator program? >Which one was that? I was heavily involved with Tony Price's QuaLsoft >Terminal in the 80s/90s. >This spawned my BBS which is still running (see below)! Oh, it was actually an emulator of an emulator I wrote that I think only Robert Newson ever used. I wrote it over the summer of '87 after finding that the previous version written in SuperBASIC couldn't even cope with 300baud. It emulated the University College London BBC Terminal Emulator which itself emulated a DEC VT52 and Tektronix T4010 with the addition of BBC *FX commands. Of course, the overworked keyboard/sound/serial receive chip in the QL was the biggest bane as there would be constant lost data at anything above about 2400baud. The second biggest bane was that QDOS couldn't throw characters at the screen fast enough for anything more than about 600baud, which meant that I had to have a big receive buffer, which often filled (mostly 'cos I never got around to implementing a ring-buffer). Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Dead QL - long live my QL!
>I have just tried to re-insert the GC and it crashes on boot. Without it, >it booted ok, so haven't tried to re-re-insert. Have subsequently tried ICE >ROM and it has booted ok. Would poss suggest GC, but that *WAS* checked and >found Ok - implying poss fault on expansion port of QL? Or a power supply fault. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] apostrophes
On Thu, May 25, 2006 at 08:10:56PM +0100, Laurence Reeves wrote: > Secondly, how do you go about comparing the number of points on a > straight line (uncountable) with the number of computable numbers > (countable). Are there less computable numbers than points on a line, or > fewer? Ah, but this assumes that space-time doesn't have a finite smallest unit of distance. If there's quantum space and quantum time then the number of points on a straight line will be finite and countable, as would be the time it takes to count them. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] apostrophes
On Fri, May 26, 2006 at 02:32:13PM +0200, J?r?me Grimbert wrote: > There is a difference between: > > I want less jockey on my horse! > > and > > I want fewer jockey on my horse! Yes there is, the first is correct but the second isn't, as the plural of "jockey" is "jockeys." ;-) Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] apostrophes
> It would work with "fish" , though perhaps they (it?) would slip off > the horse. Yeah, slippery things, fish.. and I've not heard good things about them winning horse races. I think it's the lack of arms to hold the reins. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] apostrophes
On Thu, Jun 01, 2006 at 01:14:19AM +0100, Tony Firshman wrote: > John Taylor wrote: > > Lau > > > > There is no missing apostrophe. The people's, yes, but in this case > > peoples is plural. > Eh? 'People' is plural. > Of course, people often use the awful plural 'persons' Ah, but you can have "The peoples of the world" meaning the multiple sets of people contained within the Universe. Or, to be even more tortuous, you can have "something pertaining to multiple sets of people" and then you can use "peoples'." Don't you just love english grammar? Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Spare GC or SGC?
Robert, Well, there is another QL + Trump Card owning lurker out here as well... >Rich Mellor wrote: > >> I would be interested in sourcing a new development of SGCs (must write to >> Stuart about this), but I do wonder how many people would still be willing >> to pay ?200-?300 for a SGC nowadays. Certainly with a need to make 50 >> boards to make it worthwhile, I am not certain there would be a big enough >> market, especially with "only" 4MB RAM ! > >I find with 2M on my GC, data and programs just rattle around inside! Even >with the base 128K machine (around 77K(?) free for use) I used to be able to >do/run more than I could with a 540K PC. Or are people becoming so >"bloatware expecting" that 4M sounds titchy? Yes, but the QL doesn't have all those silly GUI thingies written in bloating C++ (or now JAVA and .NET). I must admit that I sometimes found 128K restrictive but never filled the Trump Card memory. (Oh and I did have a sort-of GUI thingy for the QL, the ICE ROM & mouse.) Still, storage has never been a problem for you, other than the UCL Euclid file quota, which you got around using a neat trick using the e-mail inbox if I remember correctly. Oh and then there was thae hack for getting long printouts on the self-sevice printer.. and the Babbage programs you wrote which made UCLCC people nervous about 'cos they did things no-one thought a normal user could do. By the way, I seem to remember a couple of years ago that you asked if you could pass on the source etc. of the terminal emulator I wrote to someone, did you do so? Seeing as I've not got a modern machine readable copy would it be possible for you to fish it out and pass it onto whoever archives QL software on this list? Someone might as well get some use out of it. Steve P.S. The terminal emulator emulated the UCL BBC Model B ROM based terminal emulator, which itself emulated a VT52, Tektronix T4010 with some additional escape sequences to run BBC *FX commands. -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Example ZIP needed
>If you want the facility to write to PC format disks on a standard QL, then >try using my DiscOVER software that can be downloaded from my web page at >http://homepage.ntlworld.com/itimpi/download.htm Of course, there is a bootstrap problem here... how do you get the file you've downloaded from the net over to the QL if the QL can't read IBM format floppy disks? :-) QL-Kermit never did work very well and unless you're running Linux on your PC (and assuming that the PC has a serial port, which many don't these days) it's going to be difficult to get a Kermit server working. (Even under Linux I'm not sure C-Kermit will compile anymore.) >If you are using SMSQ/E, then this is unnecessary as SMSQ/E supports IBM >format disks directly. > >Makes one think that at the time I wrote this software PC's were still new >and not that common at home! The main use for the IBM format initially was >the Atari ST! Ah, yes... I have one of those in my loft as well. (Along with a couple of BBC-Bs, an RML 380Z and some other living fossils.) Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Spare GC or SGC?
I've just had a thought... Instead of building new hardware, reuse very common old hardware which is easy to find on places such as eBay... i.e. Amiga 1200 etc. Now, if someone could write a version of QDOS etc. for that platform which could be burned onto ROM (the Amiga ROMs are easy to access and replace) that would give the community an easy route for an upgrade without a massive cost for the hardware. (The Amiga 1200 has a built-in IDE interface and an internal floppy drive. It also has reasonable 2D graphics performance, ample for the QL-like display. Oh, and much of the original AmigaDOS was written by Metacomco in BCPL on Sinclair QLs. :-) Maybe it's pay-back time?) The alternative to replacing just the ROMs would be a "trap-door" add in card.. but that raises the ugly head of hardware development. The big problem with that approach, again, is driver development. However, from what I understand, there's a lot of documentation for the Amiga hardware so it's shouldn't be as bad as it might otherwise be. What do you think? Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SDGC
>So MY ideal machine would be one that is capable of using the full >potential of SMSQ/PEv2 (only QPC2 and Qx0 can do that now, both Aurora/SGC >and QXL suffer from lack of memory) and can be fitted in a black box (or >my MaxiQL or MinisQL). >QL Today v10i2 had an article of the June 2005 Eindhoven show where Jens >Wildgruber showed his QL in a rack, with a Flashcard in stead of a hard >disk. That could make a compact QL, maybe even be put in the black box! Well, if he put in a couple of Compact Flash slots into the machine you could use Hitachi/IBM Microdrives instead of Sinclair Microdrives. ;-) Wouldn't that be cool? A new guts inside a QL case with closer to up-to-date hardware and CF slots where the Microdrives were. ;-) Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Spare GC or SGC?
Seeing all this discussion about possible new hardware etc. and the risks etc. is why I've come to the conclusion that there's never going to be any new hardware. It's just not economically viable: (a) The cost in time and money to design and build would be high. (b) The size of the market is too small so the price would be prohibitively high. It would be really nice if magically a new, hyper-fast, QL compatible replacement motherboard for the QL which fitted into the case would appear, but it's not going to. Those who want to continue to play can't find the old upgrade cards anymore (though I have seen on eBay UK at the moment someone selling two QLs with one Gold Card) so there's a problem. Porting something like SMS/Q or whatever to a new platform is still expensive in time but no-where near as much as new hardware, so surely, the best way forward would be to find some easily obtainable alternative hardware which can be easily adapted to our cause. (Sorry, for me emulation doesn't cut it, it's too clunky. I want to be able to plug a machine in, switch on and hit F2.) This is why I suggested 2nd hand Amiga 1200s (I know that one of our french friends said that french keyboard layout Amigas are hard to come by) as by default they're faster than the QL with useful on-board hardware and can be easily upgraded using reasonably available 3rd party 68030/040/060 and memory upgrade boards which can often be found on eBay. The only other possible alternatives would be Ataris, which aren't expanable and you pay through the nose for a Falcon040 (if you can find one), or old Apples, which don't have a great deal of hardware documentation. The alternative to replacing the Amiga Kickstart ROM in the machine would be to have the OS on disk as software and get Kickstart to load that instead. Probably easier than burning ROMs I would imagine. At least the Amiga platform is well documented and close enough to the QL to make it feasible. (You could probably even write a Copper list to make the Amiga video hardware read the QL screen format directly.) There are very few options available. All of them would require a huge amount of work. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL hardware and stuff
Well, >However, it is not the fault of SMSQ/e that only commercial assemblers can >compile it. George Gwilt has done a sterling job with GWASS and >converting smsq/e sources (and the compiler in some aspects) to ensure it >can be compiled. However, this is limited to a 68020+ processor and there >is no other public domain assembler that handles macros (so far as I know). > >The only other way would be to find someone to volunteer to convert the >smsq/e sources (which were originally written using QMAC) so that they >could be compiled with another assembler. However, GWASL is the only >public domain assembler so this would require a lot of work and may be >pointless after all - the resultant file sizes may be of such a size that >it wouldn't be possible to compile it in the memory provided by a Gold >Card anyway !! Well, what about porting it to the GNU assembler and writing a cross-assembling environment for Linux etc.? Surely the problem here is bootstrapping and it doesn't matter what system you use to bootstrap as long as it's easily available to practically everyone? I'm sure assembling SMSQ/e on a 2GHz Athlon 64 box would be a darn sight faster than any QL derivative. Once you have SMSQ/e compiled and onto a suitable bootable media you can then start copying all the other applications across on the target system, as it's now running the new OS. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] new hard disk
Actually. >I'd like the proper answer to that as well. I guessed that unformatted >capacity represents the total amount of data that can be stored on the disk. > Formatting added extra information (like an [un]allocated sector/cluster >map, root directory, boot info and program, etc) that needs to be stored >somewhere and so comes out of that "unformatted" capacity. It's worse than that Jim. Basically, the "unformatted capacity" is the total amount of sectors on the disk, including those used by the disk drive itself to store the defect list and, on newer disks, a pool of sectors which can be mapped in to replace defective sectors. There's also usually a couple of sectors used for the drive's configuration settings. Quite often, for ease of use, basically two cylinders are reserved by the firmware for all this. You should also remember that the metric for K, M and G used by hard disk manufacturers is based on powers of 10, i.e. 1000, 100 and 10 and multiples of 1024. Now, that's the amount of user available space. Now you have to add the overhead for the boot sector, partition table before even thinking about the data space used by the filesystem. The filesystem's overhead differs with the type but it can be quite large, especially if there are huge numbers of small files. Now, we've not finished yet. Although the raw disk works in sectors the filesystem works in blocks, which may or may not be the same size as a sector. Most filesystems have blocksizes starting at 4K, which is either 8 sectors or 4 sectors on the newer large capacity disks. Some filesystems, such as FAT32, will increase the block size (MS calls it the cluster size) up to 32KB. The problem with this is that the minimum amount of disk space able to be allocated is 1 block, which means that if you have 1024 1 byte long files they will take up a massive 32 megabytes (plus space in the FAT) on a large FAT32 partition instead of the 1KB you thought it would. I hope that gives you some idea about this thorny issue and helps you discover where all that disk space you thought you had has gone to. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QDOS4Amiga
Ian L. Pine wrote: > I have (on loan until its owner decides how best to dispose of it) an Amiga > 1200. There are no manuals and the only software a collection of disks - > mostly games - plus a couple of disks which appear to contain a minimal > X-Window style operating system which enables you to explore the files and > folders on the disk (but precious little else). There appears to be no > built-in software in ROM other than a BIOS and boot loader because the > system requires a boot disk to be inserted before anything will happen. The Amiga has a bootloader in ROM (Kickstart) which is then used to load the actual operating system (AmigaDOS + Workbench). The "minimal X-Window style operating system" is just that. You will need this to be running before you can run any other programs, including the Amiga QL emulator. Mauny Amiga 1200s had an internal hard disk, yours doesn't seem to. Oh well, this means that you'll be swapping floppies a great deal and I'm not sure that QDOS4Amiga will actually fit on one and be usable. By the way, you can do some things in Kickstart. When you switch the machine on or reset it with Ctrl-Amiga-Amiga hold down both mouse buttons. You will now be brought into a settings menu where you can find s small amount of info about the machine and change settings (for that boot only) for the processor cache, video chip mode (old mode, new mode) and video format (PAL or NTSC.. and as the clock is based upon the frame rate, the machine in NTSC mode will run 1/5th faster than in PAL mode). Did you know... that most of AmigaDOS version 1 was written on Sinclair QLs using the Metacomco BCPL compiler by Metacomco. AmigaDOS is based upon Tripos, a little known operating system written in Cambridge. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QDOS4Amiga
Ian L. Pine wrote: >> Mauny Amiga 1200s had an internal hard disk, yours doesn't seem to. Oh >> well, this means that you'll be swapping floppies a great deal and I'm >> not sure that QDOS4Amiga will actually fit on one and be usable. > > Hmmm. Might be more trouble that it's worth then. I haven't looked inside > the case because the machine isn't mine, but if the connectors for the hard > disk are provided inside, what type of disk would work - I have a spare 6Gb > ATA one? 2.5" laptop IDE drives. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
> I've been reading this thread and it seems like may of the people on this list are still stuck in the 1980s when it comes to knowledge of x86 laptops. :-) Anyway, with regards laptops... They work well these days.. they're not as flaky as the original 80286 Toshibas and you can read the screen, even in daylight! Dual booting Linux and Windows is not a problem anymore, other than Windows will fight to put its boot sector on a drive and wipe out any others. Of course, why would you want any OS other than Windows?! Now, as for options to run old QL-derivative emulators on old versions of Windows on modern laptops you have a few options: (1) Try to install old Windows on a modern laptop. Unless the laptop is available with Windows XP on it forget it. You won't find drivers for most of the modern hardware. Also, if the machine has a SATA hard disk interface you'll need a driver on a floppy disk just so that you can install Windows XP. (2) Run a DOS emulator for really old machines. This is an option if you have Windows XP but I don't know of any which run correctly under Windows Vista (which you should avoid 'cos it's too buggy anyway) and even fewer will run under 64bit Vista. You can dual boot with Linux. This is not a difficult thing to do and distributions such as Mandriva have utilities within the install process which will allow you to resize your Windows partition without losing data. The main problem is that WiFi drivers under Linux are hit as miss due to the manufacturers not releasing the programming specifications. Other than this Linux emulators or virtual machines (e.g. the free VMware Server) make this attractive. (3) Run MSDOS or Windows in a virtual machine. Again, this might cause a problem with drivers if you're running Linux. Alternatively, you can buy VMware workstation for Windows. There is another alternative, you could buy an Apple laptop (which spec for spec actually are cheaper than other Windows machines) and either dual boot (Bootcamp) with Windows and/or buy either Parallels or VMware Fusion and run under that. It also has the advantage that MacOS X is a true BSD Unix descendant and is pretty hardy when it comes to being attacked by crackers on the 'net. Hm.. I wonder... I've just had an idea, I wonder if I can compile UQLX under MacOS (using the supplied SDK and X server) and have a nice little QL in a window. :-) Steve --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
On 5 Feb 2008, at 20:34, Tony Firshman wrote: >> >> Unless the laptop is available with Windows XP on it forget it. You >> won't find drivers for most of the modern hardware. Also, if the >> machine has a SATA hard disk interface you'll need a driver on a >> floppy disk just so that you can install Windows XP. > Not necessarily true. My Tosh laptop has a sata HD and installs XP > just > fine from the CD. >> > The stock Windows XP SP2 CD (Home, Professional and corporate install versions) won't be able to access SATA devices (unless the BIOS makes them pretend to be PATA). It's quite probable that the Toshiba XP install CD will have the interface drivers added already. It would be silly if they didn't do this. Steve --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Vintage Computer Festival: Bletchley Park this weekend.
I was just wondering if there were any QL representatives at this weekend's Vintage Computer Festival taking place at Bletchley Park. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] USB Floppy Disks and The QL Future
Rich Mellor wrote: I would also like a java based Sinclair QL emulator and perhaps that would be a project which Quanta could help fund the development of - it would attract a much wider audience and enable demos of programs to be played online to show what the QL is capable of. There are already Java based emulators for the Amiga - perhaps someone could use this core, or even see if they can get the QL emulator to run on the Java based Amiga emulator. I think the idea of using a platform independent system to run an emulator to be a good idea, though it does add another layer of indirection and a performance penalty. After all, it's a virtual processor/machine running within another virtual processor/machine. For those who like hardware, maybe building upon the work done in the Linux world would be an interesting way forward, e.g. writing a bare-metal M68K virtual machine on top of an ARM (I know, it's an Acorn derivative ;-)) machine which is already available. I found the following web article interesting with regards to keeping Acorn RISCOS alive. Maybe the same hardware could help keep the QDOS and derivative OSs alive?: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/25/riscos_beagleboard/ Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Vintage Fair
Rich Mellor wrote: Well, I was there representing the QL and other sinclairs, plenty of people talking about the QL and asking about its capabilities and differences from the Spectrum. Quite a few people walked off with Quanta and QL Today magazines and subscription forms, so hopefully, there may be new subscribers. Over 1800 people attended over the 2 days, so I am sure I did enough to spread the word! I was there and visited a number of times on the Saturday. I was slightly tempted by the Minerva board... You can see a selection of the photos I took via Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182145&id=514863999&l=4dea135e34 Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] The QL Future
Good evening, I've actually been thinking more about this over the day... Malcolm Cadman wrote: Hi Steve, Nice link ... :-) Chris Curry and Clive Sinclair originally worked together, and then split with the Acorn/Sinclair rivalry ( friendly though ). Coming back to together with a common hardware platform - the ARM chips - would be interesting. RISCOS Open is a nice idea, too, to take forward the development. Interesting to hear that is now happening. I still use my Archimedes ... :-) Would that work for an QDOS/SMSQ/E "Open" ... ? Anyway, something needs to get done. Indeed Well, I see that there are two issues with the QL legacy, one which gives a QL-like experience (i.e. SuperBASIC etc.) and emulation for running old programs. Now, for the former, I can see a niche market just waiting to be filled. Firstly, read this link: http://www.osnews.com/story/23464/Why_Johnny_Can_t_Code Then, thing back to the BBC programme, Electric Dreams, the 1980s episode (unfortunately not now available to view): http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n59t4 The boy was amazed by the BBC micro, as was his friend. They loved to be able to make the machine do what THEY wanted it to do quickly and easily. (As opposed to the current crop of OSs which ALLOW the user to do what the application developers thought that the user SHOULD do and no more.) So, I envisage the following in this case, a re-implementation of SuperBASIC, extendable but basically the same as the original, developed using a cross-platform graphics toolkit, such as QT (which runs on UNIX/Linux, MacOS and Windows and has a mobile version too, useful later, see below). In its basic form, you could even have it use the raw, whole display. This could actually lead on to a second stage, the almost instant on Linux/QL hybrid. Replace the Linux init process with this SuperBASIC interpretor (plus display driver) and the system would boot within a couple of seconds, be it ARM based or Intel it doesn't matter. Now for the clever bit... when you called EXEC or EXEC_W the program being referenced would be looked at and its type determined. If it is a QDOS program then a virtual machine would be started with a QDOS compatible OS inside and the program would be run in that. If it were a native Linux binary then it would be able to be run as well, as would a "SuperBASIC" program. Writing the "SuperBASIC" application as a stand-alone application, running within other windowing systems should be the priority but with a thought to developing the "kiosk-mode" version for a later QL-like, (pseudo-)instant-on system. i.e. the best of all worlds and standing on the shoulders of the Linux developers, who have done all the hard hardware work and using commodity hardware. Thoughts? Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] The QL Future
Urs Koenig (QL) wrote: I agree with Stephen if we talk about (complete) novices (like my children of age 10 and 8). I will try to explain my son the basics of a computer program by using SuperBASIC with QemuLator in fullscreen mode on our family notebook. Some FOR/NEXT loops (e.g. FOR i=1 to 7 step 2), some PAPER/INK/PRINT/LINE/CIRCLE calls using some variables, even some RND and BEEPing. But I'm sure that if he gets interested in programming we will move to a recent development environment very soon (in months if not weeks). He will definitely ask me: "How can I program my first iPod app?" That may be so, but only when they've actually got the programming bug. So, I envisage the following in this case, a re-implementation of SuperBASIC, extendable but basically the same as the original, developed using a cross-platform graphics toolkit, such as QT (which runs on UNIX/Linux, MacOS and Windows and has a mobile version too, useful later, see below). In its basic form, you could even have it use the raw, whole display. Even I like SuperBASIC very much and it was the programming language my career started with I must say that there's no need for S*BASIC in 20xx. Even with SMSQ/E think of its limitations like "stick with line numbers", very limited datatypes (only the string datatype is somehow 21st century, no 32bit integers, no usable floating point format), no modularity (you have to handle "modules" on your), no object orientation (OOP) at all, no IDE (ED is all we have built in, no debugger, nothing; OK, you can add QREF, other Toolkits, use QMON for S*BASIC trace/debug -> arghh, etc. pp.), GUI programming only as an add-on (QPTR, EasyPTR, TurboPTR). I'd disagree greatly with a lot of these arguments for people just starting out. Line numbers, although a pain for advanced programmer, do help novices think about order. Data types confuse things and make it more complex than it needs to be. Let's face it, some real-world languages don't have them as such, e.g. Perl. In time, once the novice has grown out of the language they can move on. It's not as if we're saying to banish them. I use Microsoft VisualBasic (VB) since version 5 (1997). Since version 4 (1996) VB superceded SuperBASIC in all aspects. OK, it took M$ - the company which did almost all (well, at least over 50%) BASIC interpreters available in the early 80s - more than 10 years to beat Jan Jones's design. Even I loved VB v6 the most of all VBs, I currently work with V10 (Visual Studio 2010). As Norman mentioned before there are free editions of powerful Microsoft packages such as Visual Studio (the Integrated Development Environment with different programming languages) or SQL Server (the very powerful relational database). Just try it out! http://www.microsoft.com/express/downloads/ Eek! VB! It's almost, but not quite, totally unlike BASIC. (To paraphrase a well known quote from the Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.) There are many computer scientists who would spit at the mention of the language! :-) In my opinion there are only two drawbacks of such modern platforms: 1. (Relatively) huge packages and therefore not that easy to get an overview. Actually, the biggest drawbacks are complexity. It often takes a number of weeks learning the language and especially the overly complex library calls and hundreds of lines of code just to print "Hello world!" This is a major turn off for the teenage absolute novice. If you can't look at a manual and get fun things happening within 5 minutes you've lost the battle and the war. 2. BOOT up times like we love from the good old Sinclair computers (power-on until first statement written less than 10 seconds) are not possible, not even with latest CPUs, gigs of hyperfast RAM and superfast SSDs (solid state drives). Yes it is. OK, the BIOS will be the slowest part these days. After that the boot-loader will take milliseconds, the kernel boot time can be 5 seconds and if you then jump straight into a BASIC interpreter program it's again milliseconds. Remember, the majority of the time taken to start modern OSs is not the OS itself, it's the stuff above the kernel. e.g. daemons, network configuration etc. etc. Under Windows the majority of the time is loading and indexing DLLs and scanning/updating the registry (and doing huge numbers of tiny read and writes, bogging the system down in I/O waits). Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Memories are made of this ...
The 30th anniversary of the launch of the ZX81, along with the BBC 4 programme "Electric Dreams" has had me pondering... which prompted me to write a blog item. http://www.lingula.org.uk/wordpress/2011/03/06/fun-basic_required/ Comments and discussion either to the list or to the blog are welcome. So, what are your thoughts? Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] New QL option...?
On the new QL hardware front, it would probably be easiest to build a system which boots directly into an emulator of some kind, probably under a stripped down Linux kernel. With this in mind, what about looking as this hardware platform?: http://beagleboard.org/ It's small (could fit into a QL case), ARM based (OK, it's a derivative of Acorn technology. ;-)) and reasonably cheap. Oh, and there's a Linux version for it already. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] OT - The great man - Steve Jobs
On 07/10/2011 19:48, Malcolm Cadman wrote: With, the QL, at the time of manufacture, it was the lack of a floppy disk drive (in favour of the micro drives). Erm, yes, there was the lack of a floppy drive, but then there was the foolish decision of make the over-worked keyboard controller chip also do sound and RS232 receiving. It wouldn't have cost much more per unit to put a proper DART in the machine to handle the serial communications. Basically, Sir Clive wasn't like Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was a perfectionist with an eye for detail. Sir Clive has lots of ideas, most of which involve either making things smaller (even to the detriment of their function) and electric vehicles. He gets bored quickly and wants to move on and sell things before they're properly ready for market. Steve Jobs also had his flaws, we all do, but putting half-baked ideas into market wasn't one of them. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] OT - The great man - Steve Jobs
On 07/10/2011 20:05, peet vanpeebles wrote: To be fair Apple products have a had a checkered reliability as well. I've fixed a number of ibooks. Not mention the faults with older ipods or phones with no signal. Or the top of range liquid cooled G5s that were prone to leaking. Ebay is awash with spares or repair Apple equipment. Sir Clive made some shonky stuff in his time but never charged 1000s. If you pay a few thousand for a computer I'd expect more than a 1 year warranty. Again, to be fair, this is the same with *ALL* manufacturer's kit at the moment. The same factories in China that make Apples make Dells and HPs etc. Having said that, and dealing day-to-day with a large number of people with a large number of types and manufacture of machines, the Apple machines, like for like, are about the same price as an equivalent corporate Dell and are, in general, better put together and reliable. They all fail but on the whole the Apples are slightly better. They're also (mostly) a darn sight easier to repair and get parts for as the models don't change as often as their PC counterparts. They are nice to use and I own a few myself but I think it's more about the branding, image and selling a lifestyle. Actually, there's some of that but they just don't play in the bargain basement, where ASUS, Acer etc. fail to make money. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] OT - The great man - Steve Jobs
On 09/10/2011 23:37, Tony Firshman wrote: Nope - all they needed to do was to program it better. Laurence Reeves proved with Hermes you could get working code with the 8049. It's only issue was it was not fast enough to get a true 19200 input throughput. Ok it was a relatively slow serial port but perfectly good enough at the time when BBSs were V23. It even coped with V22bis perfectly well a few years later (at 2400). Except when the chip had to do sound as well. Putting a dedicated chip in there would have made the system far more flexible and able to go way beyond 19200 baud. Not only this but a proper serial chip would have had hardware buffering and would have been able to have been fully interrupt driven rather than polling. Steve Jobs also had his flaws, we all do, but putting half-baked ideas into market wasn't one of them. … but his philosophy with *all* his products was not to aid tinkering. Iphone especially is very very difficult to modify at firmware level. He even up to recently made it a puzzle even to *open* the products. It is a great step forward that not only are the Macbooks now openable, but there are official instructions on how to replace RAM and HD. Battery though has dire warnings not to meddle, even if one removes the screwed on back. The QL was quite the reverse - it was so trouble-prone it *demanded* tinkering at every level. That is what made (and makes) it so attractive, and gave Quanta its name - Isn't QL Users and Tinkerers Assocation? This is indeed his biggest flaw, and it started with the Macintosh. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] OT - The great man - Steve Jobs
On 10/10/2011 07:45, Norman Dunbar wrote: The Sinclair kit always came with a decent sized manual which explained things like the screen format, the system variables and so on. All the information you needed was there - maybe not described as well as it could be, but it was there. Not always. Once the ZX Spectrum+ came out the manual had been shrunk to almost nothing. It was practically a guide to plugging it in, switching it on and loading a game from tape. Now, scroll forward to Windows XP, for example, and what do you get? a tiny little booklet, of no use what-so-ever, with the most important bit of information buried in the small print on page 19 (I wonder how many people got that far in reading it?) which states that "your administrator user is set up without a password". That would be the one that gets caught within 10 minutes of connecting to the internet then? Microsfot always thought that you should pay extra for any information. As for XP being "0w3d" withn 10 minutes, yes, that was a major silliness, but only affected the "Home" edition. Basically, up until Vista Microsoft didn't see any business advantage in taking security seriously. They could sell more units by making things "easier" even if this was to the ultimate detriment of the security of the system. (e.g. Microsoft Outlook pre-opening documents in e-mails as they came in, even before you read them.) Linux systems are a little different, the information is there, but as Linux runs on so many different hardware platforms, it's unlikely that there will ever be the hardware details for tinkering - but at least the OS is well (ok, possibly nearly well) documented. Actually, with Linux half the information *ISN'T* there as either the coders thought it was "obvious" or they were too lazy to document it. Even when documentation is there it's often so out of date to be useless or is very poorly written by someone who hasn't a clue about technical writing. Sinclair was the best, from the ZX81 (In my case) through the Spectrum to the QL, all came with excellent manuals. Just my £0.02. Actually, Acorn were just as good in this respect. The BBC manual was an excellent primer. The Advanced User Guide actually went way beyond the Sinclair manuals, but it cost money. The whole bedroom coding thing came from the manuals rather than the specific hardware, in my opinion. This is why I was a little dismayed when the Raspberry Pi project decided to drop the idea of commissioning a tutorial and technical manual to go with the device. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Nascent project: Cross-platform SuperBASIC derivative.
The Raspberry Pi project and my work at Oxford University supporting a science department has had me thinking for some time about the need for a modern equivalent to the old home computer systems and the BASIC language which came on them. On the home computer front, as shown in the second episode of the BBC's "Electric Dreams", teenage boys are still enthused by being able to program, as long as within 15 minutes they can start annoying their family with sounds and putting their name on the screen in gaudy colours. Plotting things on the screen simply is also important. The energy barrier must not be very high. On the scientific front, there are many people who need to do some programming but find the energy barrier for learning traditional programming languages (and even Matlab) too steep. They need a simple language with which to process data and plot their data in a publishable quality format. To this end, I see SuperBASIC as a very good starting point, which needs to be extended with modern data structures such as compound variables and proper variable scoping. I've been thinking about this quite hard in the last few days and have written up my initial thoughts on my blog: http://www.lingula.org.uk/wordpress/2012/02/23/notsobasic/ Any comments and possible help appreciated. ;-) Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Nascent project: Cross-platform SuperBASIC derivative.
On 23/02/12 10:49, Neil Riley wrote: I used to Dabble a little using Dark Basic Professional, a rather nice Gui front end Basic mainly aimed at writing 'games'. A couple of my friends teenage boys enjoyed messing with it as it was very easy to code and results came quickly. This is worth a read for those interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DarkBASIC Not quite what I was aiming at. It looks like a fun, Windows-only games programming environment. The aim of my idea is cross-platform and aimed at training programming and being a tool for mostly non-computer literate scientists. I envisage being able to run the interpreter in a non-interactive mode, possibly even in an advanced mode utilising the C pre-processor etc. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Nascent project: Cross-platform SuperBASIC derivative.
On 23/02/12 12:02, Marcos Cruz wrote: En/Je/On 2012-02-23 10:40, Stephen Usher escribió / skribis / wrote : need for a modern equivalent to the old home computer systems and the BASIC language which came on them. I miss such a tool too. I agree it would be very helpful on home computing, computing learning and professional fronts. This makes me remember an article I mentioned here some time ago: http://www.osnews.com/story/23464/Why_Johnny_Can_t_Code http://www.salon.com/technology/feature/2006/09/14/basic/ Indeed! To this end, I see SuperBASIC as a very good starting point, which needs to be extended with modern data structures such as compound variables and proper variable scoping. Right, but writing a new language is a huge task. Another approach could be to adapt an existant multiplatform BASIC such as FreeBASIC (htt://www.freebasic.net). It's a compiler, so a layer of macros and preprocessor commands could do the task to some extent. But of course a compiler would make things more complicated for the final user. Then again, it adds to the energy barrier, having to edit, compile, run. I'd like to avoid that. It also decreases the immediacy. It's not so much writing a new language as building upon the legacy of an older language which we know works, at least at the syntactical level. The goals of this project are probably very different from those of most, if not all, previous BASICs. i.e. not only easy of use for a 13 year old but also a tool for scientists for producing output publishable in journals. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Nascent project: Cross-platform SuperBASIC derivative.
I've put a PDF of my current thoughts about syntax on my web site: http://www.lingula.org.uk/~steve/NotSoBASIC/docs/definition.pdf Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Nascent project: Cross-platform SuperBASIC derivative.
On 24/02/2012 07:38, Norman Dunbar wrote: Morning Steve, On 23/02/12 20:56, Stephen Usher wrote: I've put a PDF of my current thoughts about syntax on my web site: Quick question. FOR lops. I read that "If the TO or UNTIL expression evaluates to zero at the time of loop entry the commands within the loop do not get run." which makes me think that the following is a non-loop: FOR x = 10 TO 0 STEP -1 NEXT x I think it should read "If the WHILE expression evaluates to zero, or the current value is equal to the TO value, on entry ...". Thanks. I'll re-word it! What I was trying to say that if the test expression evaluates to zero upon entry to the loop the loop contents do not get executed. In the "FOR assignment TO loop-variable-target-expression STEP expression" version the implicit test is "is the loop variable not equal to the value of the target expression?". Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Rasberry Pi arrived
On 24/06/2012 16:17, Tony Firshman wrote: The Pi powers off a USB socket and outputs video via an HDMI socket. Both these should be on modern LCD TVs. That is why they did it this way I am sure. Tony, actually, the power supply port was designed for Nokia chargers and requires a great deal more power than USB's standard 500mA allows, so you can't power it directly from a normal USB port. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Rasberry Pi arrived
On 23/06/2012 15:24, Dave Park wrote: I have a friend with a 3D printer and a few rolls of black ABS plastic - I was thinking it would be fun to print some enclosures for the Pi in the style of the QL... Wouldn't mind owning one myself actually, but really would want to print larger objects than 20x20x10cm I've an idea for a case not so much like a QL but more an Acorn Atom, with an external slot for a standard sized bread-board PCB with an edge connector so as to easily build and slot in hardware projects without opening the case. The only problem being that I need someone with knowledge of (single-sided) PCB design, power regulation circuitry and 3D CAD. Oh, and someone with a 3D printer and/or injection moulding facilities if I wanted to try to market the kit. Other than those skills I'm fine! ;-) Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Rasberry Pi arrived
On 03/07/2012 14:15, Tony Firshman wrote: Stephen Usher wrote, on 3/Jul/12 12:48 | Jul3: On 24/06/2012 16:17, Tony Firshman wrote: The Pi powers off a USB socket and outputs video via an HDMI socket. Both these should be on modern LCD TVs. That is why they did it this way I am sure. Tony, actually, the power supply port was designed for Nokia chargers and requires a great deal more power than USB's standard 500mA allows, so you can't power it directly from a normal USB port. Yes in theory at 700ma plus usb devices, but http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=6050 finds 210ma max. It works fine on all USB sockets I have used. I suspect though that my monitor allows more than 500ma. I wonder whether it has the 'intelligence' to complain (8-)# My M/C helmet, BT keyboard charger and Apple chargers will also do. Hoopy! The GPIO header looks great. Other that power and ground it looks user-definable. I must see if I can get the QL I2C devices working. I presume drivers do not yet exist. I'm sure I saw a project (posted via Raspberry Pi twitter feed) of an I2C project. Also an LCD monitor (via ribbon to the motherboard) would open the way for long lasting battery powered units. At present it is not possible to ssh in - 'connection refused' - and sshd is running. Where do I investigate I wonder? Look in /etc/ssh/sshd_config You may have to create a new user account or allow root logins as well. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Microdrive pinch rollers: Any sources out there?
I was just wondering if there were any sources of pinch rollers compatible as replacements in Microdrives. If not, I'm sure that there would be a market for them in the retro scene, both QL and ZX Spectrum. Rich, any ideas? Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Microdrive pinch rollers: Any sources out there?
On 23/01/2014 11:20, Rich Mellor wrote: I have 3 replacement rollers left in stock See http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/Replacement-Sinclair-QL-~~-ZX-Microdrive-Rollers-2630 I have also been speaking with Louis Siedelmann who got these made about making some more Rich www.rwapsoftware.co.uk That sounds excellent! I'm just prepping a QL for a hands-on display as part of an exhibition at the Oxford Museum of the History of Science, probably during May and it has a split roller. I might check out the other QL at the same time. I've tried some Microdrive cartridges, but they all seem to have succumb to the dreaded perished foam disease. A couple of years ago they were fine. :-/ Still, at least the MICE ROM and mouse still works fine, as you can see... Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Microdrive pinch rollers: Any sources out there?
On 24/01/2014 19:54, Stephen Usher wrote: Still, at least the MICE ROM and mouse still works fine, as you can see... Or you would have if the list had not stripped the attachment. But you can see here: http://www.lingula.org.uk/~steve/images/QL-mice.jpg Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Microdrive pinch rollers: Any sources out there?
On 24/01/2014 20:07, Rich Mellor (RWAP) wrote: Steve, If you need some cartridges to use as part of the display - let me know and I can let you have some of my better ones - I have a few which seem to be in good condition - although not sure how long they will last. One suggestion is to apply glue to the felt pad before it splits - has anyone tried this? I read of someone replacing the sorbo rubber with a replacement bit of sponge and sticking the top of the old pad on that. Steve P.S. It's amazing what you find in the loft. I've just been up there and forgot that in the job lot of Spectrum stuff I picked up a few years ago I also had a 16K Memopak for the ZX81, a Currah microspeech and a brand new Microdrive cartridge still in its bubble pack! ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] A quick plug: New blog post on 30 years of the QL and the Mac.
Just a shameless plug for a blog post I've just written... ;-) http://www.lingula.org.uk/wordpress/2014/01/25/its-been-30-years-since-the-announcement-of-an-important-computing-product/ Plug, plug, plug. Maybe I should go on BBC's "The One Show" next? ;-) Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QPC2 v4.01 released
Congratulations! Good luck to all your family. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] A quick plug: New blog post on 30 years of the QL andthe Mac.
On 26/01/14 20:13, Alexandre Souza wrote: Just a shameless plug for a blog post I've just written... ;-) http://www.lingula.org.uk/wordpress/2014/01/25/its-been-30-years-since-the-announcement-of-an-important-computing-product/ 4 bit intel processor?! I thought it was 4 bit. You always have to communicate with it in nibbles. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] A quick plug: New blog post on 30 years of theQLandthe Mac.
On 27/01/14 15:30, Alexandre Souza wrote: But maybe we should solve that one - The poor guy 8749 _really_ was an 8-bit processor. And not the worst that Intel ever built.The successors are still around in the embedded industry. Some mildly off-topic info: - 8748/49 was THE processor of choice for PC keyboards. Before USB, **all** of them used 8748 or 8749 microcontrollers, even in die form. - Up to the 386, all PCs had one of them in Keyboard input - And after the 386, much of them had it too, but integrated in bigger ASICs But in those it wasn't asked to do more than keyboard communication. It didn't have to handle sound and RS232 data at speeds far beyond a human could type, whilst still reading the keyboard. The poor thing was just overloaded. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] The fun of data recovery.
Last night I was going through my old QL floppies trying to recover and refresh the data. Well, you have to every 25 years or so I imagine. Using a combination of the two floppy drives and perseverance I managed to recover almost, but not quite, everything. The one program which really stubbornly wanted to corrupt itself was the "Artice" drawing program from Eidersoft. I had it on two floppies (and the Microdrive cart) and guess where the bad blocks turned up on each of the media... Typical! :-) I'm wondering if I'll have better luck trying to ready the floppies on a Linux machine as the Sandy disk interface seems to give up readying on the first, or even second attempt rather than retrying a number of times. Still, I did have fun reading all my undergraduate and postgraduate project reports in Quill. Steve P.S. It seems that the Sandy 512K expansion + disk interface overheats after a while causing the QL to fail the memory test when reset, was this a known problem? ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] The fun of data recovery.
On 31/01/14 09:56, Wolfgang Lenerz wrote: You could also simply try cat /dev/fd0 > imagefile.img and try to read the image file, for example, with SMSQmulator (shameless plug). That was the sort of thing I was thinking of doing, though probably using dd instead of cat. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] The fun of data recovery.
On 31/01/14 13:41, Dave Park wrote: On the earlier version that had the long slotted heatsink, that could sometimes be a problem. That was why we changed the design to have a switching power supply. Others solved the problem by moving the heatsink to outside the case, so it was still inefficient, but the heat was already outside. Ah, that's version I've inherited, which used the old Sinclair plastic case. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] The fun of data recovery.
On 31/01/14 14:11, Dave Park wrote: All versions used the Sinclair-style case (we thought they looked neat, and Sinclair was almost giving them away). Does it have a round yellow, green or orange sticker on it? I'll check when I get home, but I think that it's yellow. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] The fun of data recovery.
On 31/01/2014 14:11, Dave Park wrote: All versions used the Sinclair-style case (we thought they looked neat, and Sinclair was almost giving them away). Does it have a round yellow, green or orange sticker on it? The circuit board had "Sandy Super Q Board Issue 1" written upon it and the sticker's green. It's a pity that the heatsink is riveted on as it would be easier to replace if it were screwed or bolted. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Toolkit II Manual: In Word and PDF format.
I've been working on getting the original Toolkit II manual into a more modern format which is actually usable. I've attached (assuming the attachments don't get stripped off) both MS Word and PDF versions. Alternatively you should be able to download them from: http://www.lingula.org.uk/~steve/share/ToolKit-II-Manual.pdf and http://www.lingula.org.uk/~steve/share/ToolKit-II-Manual.doc There's still a lot of formatting to correct but it's a heck of a lot more readable than the original. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Toolkit II Manual: In Word and PDF format.
On 10/03/2014 00:12, Timothy Swenson wrote: Stephen, Are you going to continue with reformatting the document, or are you looking for someone to take it from here? Given that I have a usable version I was going to just put it on the back-burner as a background task and dip into it from time to time. However, if the community would like to take up the mantle and continue the work I'd most certainly not have any problems with that. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Ethernet chit chat...
On 16/04/2014 00:09, Dave Park wrote: Which device is most likely to have code written for it that gets it to a useful state, be it a 'driver' or SuperBASIC routines that peek and poke their way to victory or assembly or whatever? I would envisage the best way would be to create as a minimum a device driver such as "socket_192.168.1.1_80", "listen_192.168.1.1_80" and "send_192.168.1.1_80". as this would give simple connection and datagram access, but you'd have to implement the overlying protocol yourself. In addition, it may be useful to implement higher level device drivers, such as http_ and ftp_ as I imagine that these would be the most useful for data transfer on and off the QL, using a transformed URI e.g. copy "ftp_remote.fileserver.org/pub/ql/usefulfile" to flp1_userfulfile Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Oxford University Museum of the History of Science: Geek is Good exhibition.
In case any of you are interested one of my QLs will be on display as an interactive display in the upcoming "Geek is Good" exhibition at the University of Oxford, Museum of the History Of Science starting on the 15th May and going on until September. http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ It'll be sitting there connected to a Microvitec monitor with the Sandy Qboard and a floppy drive, along with the manual. So, if you want to pop along and amaze people with your SuperBASIC knowledge or squirrel in a floppy disk to boot from you know where to go. On one evening there will be a special event, I think on Saturday, during which the QL will be running Jochen Merz's "Arcanoid II" game next to a BBC Micro running something else. The exhibition traces "geek" from ancient times showing that they were often the innovators who lead to today's scientific and technical world. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] One Per Desk: Computer One floppy interface. Need the ROM image.
I'm recreating the Computer One OPD floppy interface, reverse engineering it from the information on the RWAP web site. I thought that the ROM image was included there but I can't find it. Seeing as I have the PCBs arriving on Friday and all the chips I could really do with a ROM to go with them. Any pointers? Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List
Re: [Ql-Users] One Per Desk: Computer One floppy interface. Need the ROM image.
Apparently Quanta used to have an OPD section (http://www.quanta.org.uk/systems/opd) but that no-longer exists. Do we know who is in charge of the Quanta web site now, and if they have an archive of the old site? Steve On 14/12/2023 08:20, Rich Mellor via Ql-Users wrote: Just checked and the PDF is dated March 2018 - does anyone have quanta magazines from around then to check if it was covered in the magazine? Rich On 14/12/2023 07:59, Rich Mellor via Ql-Users wrote: I assume that the project is based on the notes I received from Quanta: https://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/oneperdesk/C1%20Compatible%20OPD%20Disc%20Interface%20Project%20Notes.pdf According to that a Dave Warne provided a copy of the firmware / ROMs, but I have no idea as to whom was doing that project, nor do I have any details for Dave Warne. Unfortunately, having lost all of my emails last year, I cannot even recall who it was that had quite an extensive ICL One Per Desk collection? Does anyone else remember? Rich On 13/12/2023 19:00, Stephen Usher via Ql-Users wrote: I'm recreating the Computer One OPD floppy interface, reverse engineering it from the information on the RWAP web site. I thought that the ROM image was included there but I can't find it. Seeing as I have the PCBs arriving on Friday and all the chips I could really do with a ROM to go with them. Any pointers? Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List ___ QL-Users Mailing List ___ QL-Users Mailing List
Re: [Ql-Users] One Per Desk: Computer One floppy interface. Need the ROM image.
OK. The Wayback Machine just has the first version of the web page in 2007 and the C1 interface information points to the RWAP web page, so Rich, you had that PDF in at least 2007. Looks like that's along gone then. Steve ___ QL-Users Mailing List
Re: [Ql-Users] One Per Desk: Computer One floppy interface. Need the ROM image.
Thanks all for the searching. Fingers crossed we can get a ROM image and I can produce a design that the community can reuse in future. My Mk.I board will be to just verify the reverse engineering and hopefully get it working. Mk.II will separate the WD1772 and floppy interface onto a separate board connected via a ribbon cable, making the host interface board not much bigger than a ROMpack. It will also, given the rarity of WD1772s, allow me to replace the daughter board with a RPi Pico based floppy simulator which will be able to use images on an SD card, making the whole thing more sustainable in future. That's the plan anyway. Steve -- --- Nostalgia isn't as good as it used to be. ___ QL-Users Mailing List
