Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Morning David, What on earth gave rise to a SPAM-HIGH: warning ? Answer ? :- Who can tell, it's a PC thing! :-) That was the only question ! Ok. But I notice you chose to completely ignore my previous email where I answered your accusations of pomposity etc by asking me not to send any more, while you have taken time to answer this one! This is once more from the web interface - how does it read? Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Morning again David, I wrote : Don't ask questions then! Whoops! Apologies. What I meant to type was Don't join a discussion if you don't want comments/correction/further discussion on the points you raise. Sorry. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Hi David, Normally Geting even more spooky now. I'm doing nothing different to last time, and yet you are now able to read my posts from the web interface easily. Beats me! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Hi Wolfgang, Difficulty is too much of a word. It arrived here as separate lines, but the lines don't linewrap, so I scroll a lot. Spookily enough, your email to me is one long line as well. I've never suffered from this before until David raised the 'fault' with my email all being one single long paragraph - which it so far appears that he is the only one who is having thins problem. Wonder what's going on? Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Evening David, Eventually I rendered it readable. I have no idea what it could have been that caused the problem. I've read it fine in the Linux version of Thunderbird as has at least one other recipient, I sent it to work and Outlook read it fine there. Wolfgang seems to have had a different problem to yours in that he saw each of my paragraphs as one single long non-wrapping line. Eudora reads it fine as well and my Wife's version of Thunderbird on Windows XP has no problems either. Spooky. It is surely just common sense that if you want a multiple boot machine you should mark the space out before installations. I have no idea what Linux has to offer in the way of such tools, Now, while I agree that it is sensible to do what you say, I have to state, for the defence, . . . . . . Of what, where is the attack ? It was a figure of speech, sorry if thought that I thought I was 'under attack'. I shall attempt to refrain in future from using words that may cause confusion. Will learned counsel for the defence please inform the court what he is defending. The less than sensible ? Linux ? Or Norman Dunbar ? You suggested that you knew not what tools Linux had to offer in the realms of disc partitioning. I provided a small list of these I knew about off the top of my head. As with many things Linux/Unix, there are about 101 different ways to skin the proverbial cat, so there may well be others. As for what I was defending, as I said above, it was a figure of speech. Is paranoia showing again ? It was yourself that perceived a non-existant slight in Tony's mail some while ago ? I believe you may be getting me confused with another member of the list. I have never been slighted by Tony, nor have I taken offence at any recent posting on the list. Paranoia doesn't live here! Bearing in mind you need a Primary ptn' for each bootup, I'm not 100% sure that this is true. You van define a maximum of 4 primary partitions on a disc and then you are stuffed if you want more. To get around this limit, you define an extended partition a. . . It is not a work-around, it is the system, the MBR is the first sector, number of definitions is limited. Sorry, I'm missing your point. You said that a primary partition is needed for each boot up. I said that I wasn't 100% sure if this was the case - in other words, I was questioning your statement of fact. I mentioned the 4 primary limit and you say that it isn't a work around (which I don't believe I mentioned), you then tell me that it it limited. So when I mentioned getting around this limit (of only 4 primary partitions) I was indeed mentioning how to get round the *limit*. Not a workaround at all. I did once install W95, 98 2000 in one box, as I recall it was a doddle, Windows just used free space to make the new primaries, The windows installer would have seen the partitions as separate drives . . . . You are quite wrong and just fatally biased against Microsoft, Dear or dear. You seem to know a hell of a lot about me and we have never, to the best on my recollection, ever been introduced. I am *not* fatally biased against Microsoft. My desktop PC runs Windows XP (occasionally I admit) and my wife's laptop runs XP as well. I tend to favour Linux on my laptop and on the desktop, again, I run Linux (it dual boots). Those are my preferences. I use Windows at work all day every day and it works, mostly. And I stand by my statement above. If you create 4 partitions on a disc and then install Windows, you will be asked which 'disc' you wish to install to and each partition will indeed be a 'separate' hard disc - as far as Windows is concerned. there are pro's con's for MS, allow credit where it is due. 25 years ago the bleat was why wont computers talk to each other ?, no they cry MONOPOLY ! WTF? Did Microsoft suddenly invent networking? I believe not. In fact, Microsoft came late to networking, like they came to the internet, very late and with a half botched attempt at a bolt-on to Windows 3.1 making it 3.11 (if I remember correctly) which was the first to have networking capabilities built in. Up until then, networking of Windows up to 3.1 was done on top of Novell Networking - or similar. A Sony VAIO of a friend caused quite a headache, a reinstallation was a pain due to the Sony Specials and an unhelpful dealership My Sony Vaio reinstalled quite nicely thanks. . . . . . I was just recounting , for Malcolm, laptop experiences - not seeking remedies for long past problems. And illustrating why I dislike the proprietry brands. And I was actually agreeing with you and recounting my experiences with laptops. I wasn't offering any solutions. I agree about unhelpful (Sony) dealerships though - exactly my experience when I needed a new keyboard for this laptop. Lastly my wife bought an Advent when I was away, at least it is not Vista, but as the OS and delivered software is only in a recovery partition, no discs, one cannot
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Evening Tony, Wonder what's going on? html? I often resolve long lines in Thunderbird by using view | message body as | simple html. I have all my email systems, including work, plus the 1 and 1 webmail system configured to send everything in plain text. It is the standard after all. Up until David's report of problems, I've had absolutely no problems sending or receiving mails from the web inteface to anyone I know. But suddenly, it's all gone pants! Even spookier are the totally blank emails from TomTom customer support that are only visible as html. They contain nothing but text and basic html tags. The idiots refuse to even *consider* that they are doing anything worng. Yes, I get a few of those at work, not from TomTom. They come in as attachments and the main email itself is totally blank. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Norman Dunbar wrote: David Tubbs wrote: Please stop, it was enough effort to write a response to Malcolm's request. Ok.no worries. I was not seeking guidence or solutions to problems long past. Don't ask questions then! I admit no knowledge of Linux, am grateful to have avoided a basis of need to know. :-) There is no room in my head anyway. I have a similar problem! Now I wish even more it was not unpicked. Consider this the end then! D Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Hi David, As a single paragraph yours is unreadable. I imagine it would be! However, I sent it from the web interface at work and my copy here in Thunderbird (on Linux) reads perfectly as a number of paragraphs and indeed, looks remarkably similar to that which I sent. I shall forward myself at work (Outlook) a copy from my online sent items to see what it looks like. What email client do you use? Does anyone else have difficulties reading my previous email? I shall forward you a copy from Thunderbird privately. Let me know what you receive please. I'm puzzled. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Hi David, What on earth gave rise to a SPAM-HIGH: warning ? Who can tell, it's a PC thing! :-) It is surely just common sense that if you want a multiple boot machine you should mark the space out before installations. I have no idea what Linux has to offer in the way of such tools, Now, while I agree that it is sensible to do what you say, I have to state, for the defence, that many people buy a computer and have paid the Windows tax and some version of Windows is installed. They usually have no choice about how the disc is divided up and in many cases it is simply a single huge C@ drive, or possibly a C: and D: drive - and no spare space. Linux offers a host of tools, fdisk, gparted, and others of a similar sounding name that I forget. The Linux installers have one to hand as well. Bearing in mind you need a Primary ptn' for each bootup, I'm not 100% sure that this is true. You van define a maximum of 4 primary partitions on a disc and then you are stuffed if you want more. To get around this limit, you define an extended partition and chop that into decent sized chunks of 'pseudo' partitions. Both Windows and Linux will recognise those as 'separate' drives. I did once install W95, 98 2000 in one box, as I recall it was a doddle, Windows just used free space to make the new primaries, The windows installer would have seen the partitions as separate drives and you told it to 'take over all of drive X' where X is C, D or E and so on with the first hard drive being C, then D and so on upwards. You were basically doing an install into a 'new' disc at that point. I'm unsure how you managed to get Windows to update the MBR though to give you the option of choosing an OS to boot into. Linux examines your disc setup and if it finds a spare 'disc' (or partition) it will advise installing into that plus it will keep your other OS details safe. Unlike an other OS I could mention! A Sony VAIO of a friend caused quite a headache, a reinstallation was a pain due to the Sony Specials and an unhelpful dealership My Sony Vaio reinstalled quite nicely thanks. Simply boot off the supplied CD and it asked me if I wanted a full reinstall or a program only. Choose full, and it goes away and repartitions the drive as it was originally, bungs XP back on and all the apps the laptop came with. Once done, a quick deinstall of the cr4p apps, defrag to free up as much space as possible, run my Linux installer and viola (!) a nice 60 GB chunk of ex-windows real estate to install Linux into. Since then, I've rebuilt it completely without Windows after Windows ate my root partition in a fit of pique, but that's life! Lastly my wife bought an Advent when I was away, at least it is not Vista, but as the OS and delivered software is only in a recovery partition, no discs, one cannot reformat the HDD without losing the system. My wife's DELL as a similar setup, however, a quick scan of the support site at Dell gave instructions on creating a set of 'original' CDs from the recovery partition. This is for people who chose not to bother paying (!!!) extra £5,00 for the CDs to be sent with the laptop. My desktop Dell came with the CDs - I paid up! I'm wondering if your wife's Advent has a similar setup perhaps? If so, you can burn (and test) the CDs then 'burn' the recovery partition as well - use Norton Ghost perhaps - before reformatting it as usable space. I have never invoked one of these recovery procedures, I presume they can only do so by recreating the original environment, everything else would be lost. That's about the gist of it, yes. They recreate exactly the shipped configuration. You basically start afresh with a 'new' hard disc and virgin installation. In the event of a complete rebuild being required, you do have a backup of your user data somewhere, don't you? Also, I'm pretty certain that in the event of you losing the hard disc completely (including the recovery partition) you are entitled to some support from the vendor in reinstalling your system. Whether this means being able to burn a CD or two from the recovery partition or paying for an install disc from Advent, I don't know, but you should perhaps check the small print? Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
My own experiences with Laptops are as follows : Sony PCG-FR315S laptop, 512 MB RAM and a P4 processor running about 2.3 GHz. Can't remember when I got it, it was around 2003, no later than December 2003. Running Windows XP (Only for work) and Linux - for everything else. Mandrake of various flavours, then Suse 10.0, 10.1, 10.2 and now 10.3. Worked well for ages then one day, restarting after an overnight shut down, a message no Operating System found Hmmm. A quick look around with Knoppix showed that the hard disc (Hitachi Travelstar 60 GB) had died horribly in its sleep. New Samsung 80GB drive fitted, restored Windows from the CD, repartitioned, reinstalled Linux. All well and good again. Recently, the keyboard expired - usual thing, some keys not working. Impossible to get one, Sony UK advised me to contact my local dealer, local Sony Centre didn't bother to reply. No more business for them then! Tried all over, but no spares to be had. Finally found one on eBay but was outbid at the last moment. Found another and clicked on 'buy it now'. Easy to fit and it has worked ok since then. I'm happy. This laptop has been all over the country for years and lived in the boot of my car at times too. Only problems have been the above, battery life is abysmal - but it was in those days. Oh, plus it's a heavy b*gger!! Runs Oracle 10g databases on Linux and Windows (well, it did!) quite happily - and that's what I do for a living, so that is most useful. I'm considering whether or not it's worth adding another 512 MB of RAM. I suspect it might well be. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] List problems
Morning David, Has the subject moved on fro Per's missing mails ? I'm sure Per said that he had Bruce on the case and to 'watch this space'. He then mentioned this gilfaethwy person - sounds like his account at bulldog has been closed and the postoffice sent a reply to the list which then sent it to all list members, which would have meant another 'not here' being sent back and so on. Bad config somewhere. We need Bruce to unsubscribe the chap/chapess to avoid the problems. I have just had four postings returned as undeliverable, though they have appeared in the List from Oct' last to the 8th of Jan. I had 37 rejects yesterday all for the same person, but my 1 and 1 spam trap caught all of them - I was confused and feelinga litle left out when you were all complaining of getting these mails and I had had noine at all. Went online today and found them all, waiting in my spam bucket. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Falling Cursor
Morning Marcel, Well, I only noticed 3, none of those running QPC under Windows. And I currently do not have any further ideas in this area because the things told do not add up: I agree - I'm impressed that you are still thinking about it to be honest. SNIP None of the above makes any sense does it! (Sorry, the list of points you made!). The only thought I have had this morning is that the kernel cannot be used for any 'real time' processes as it is not, without a huge patch, real time able. Windows, for example, can be used in a recoding studio as is, but Linux cannot. It can when you apply the real time patch, but not relaiable until then. I'm wondering if Linux is shceduling QPC 'badly' for some reason, but I really don't know enough about Kernel programming (yet - but I have a book!) to say for certain! What I should probably have said is that QPC does re-synchronize the SMSQ/E clock with the system clock once per minute. So even if the clock is runaway fast it will be right again one minute later. Ah, ok. No problems. I watched it for a while and it kept the same time as the xclock which was running side by side with it. SNIP Therefore my first guess would be that you're using an optical mouse that has problems with the surface it's on. I had that problem today at work! I have an optical mouse there and I was changing my monitor for a bigger one and the mouse was placed on a wooden (effect) desktop instead of the mouse mat. When the new monitor was fired up, the pointer was wandering all over the place. Shook the mouse and when it stopped, it carried on moving by itself. Put the mouse back on the pad - it remained where it was. Some mouse mats that we were issued with at work have a similar problem - they are too light coloured (I think) and the optics seem to lose the plot! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Falling Cursor
Hi George, I notice that many people have a problem with fast cursor flashing. My problem is that sometimes the cursor will not remain where it is placed, by the mouse or cursor keys. Instead it drops directly to the bottom of the screen at a constant, fairly fast, speed. Perhaps 1 1/2 seconds for a full screen. I've never had that problem under Windows and not yet under Linux/Wine. It's a most interesting problem though! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Marcel, Can you all check whether the SMSQ/E clock runs at a normal speed? I've run QPC from my USB gizmo under Wine 0.9.41 on a SLES 10 SP1 system here at work and the clock seems to keep the same time as xclock does, so yes, the SMSQ/E clock is fine. I left it running for 15 minutes and it kept exactly the same time. Same problems with the mouse movement being delayed and button clicks as well, plus the repeating keys in this version as well. Appreciate all your help so far - thanks. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] QL On A Stick
Finally got my QL Today yesterday, seems it still gets delivered to my old address. Roy, I've sent a couple of emails with my latest address - have you got them? Anyway, the QL On A Stick (c) article was very interesting and coincidentally I received an email (eshot) from a local company here called CCL whihc whom I have deal in the past and found them to be very reliable. They are offering $ GB USB (USB version 2.0) memory sticks for about £13.00 inc VAT and (next day) delivery. If you are interested check them out here : http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=19445tid=eshot0185 That obviously should all be on one line! I'm ordering one for myself! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Jim, Tried running it and it listed the lines with these procedures as mistakes. It sounds like you have a toolkit or something that I don't have on my system. If these lines are flagged with MIStake : 1190 DEFine PROCedure PW(V) 1200 POKE_W Base + Offset,V 1210 Offset = Offset + 2 1220 END DEFine 1230 : 1240 DEFine PROCedure PL(V) 1250 POKE_L Base + Offset,V 1260 Offset = Offset + 4 1270 END DEFine Then do you have some other toolkit installed that defines the PW and PL 'keywords' perhaps? On an unadorned QL/QPC installation I don't know of PW or PL so the SuperBasic versions from Marcel should be ok. If your boot file loads some toolkits in prior to you loading the above code, then I suspect those extras are the cause of the problems. Can you boot a blank QPC and then run the EXTRAS command and see if you get PW and PL listed, if yo do, change the names in the SuperBasic listing to something other then PW or PL (plus the calling lines too of course) and see if that makes any difference. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Marcel, Could you (and anybody else having increased cursor blink frequency) run this Basic program? Tell me what values it's printing (47 to 50 is normal). I'll give it a go tonight when I get home. Cheers, norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Evening Marcel, Could you (and anybody else having increased cursor blink frequency) run this Basic program? Tell me what values it's printing (47 to 50 is normal). Ok, managed to get it to run quite happily - couldn't type it in though, too many foibles with the keyboard. Created a file in ~/.wine/dosdevices and loaded it from dos1_ - worked a charm and no problems with the PW or PL procedures. Anyway, I ran it and the results were : 3 (yes, three!) 50 48 49 43 49 50 50 38 and so on. There were quite a few 50s turned up after about 30 or 40 repetitions, then after a few dozen of those, it started varying again. The first run was a 3 that is ot a typo. I have just run it again and it started with 40, then repeated 50 a few dozen times before I CTRL-SPACEd it. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Wolfgang, A -probably stupid - question: There's no such thing as a stupid question! ;-) have you switched off all the stuff that Suse autostarts (e.g. the *- +**$ Beagle indexing, Man pages autoupdate etc...)? I have indeed turned them off. It's one of the first things I normally do after an install, however, just to be absolutely certain, I shall check again tonight. However, there is no disc accesses going on while I'm trying to run QPC unless I ask it to dddir iii1_ :-) I have to say that once again this list is proving just how friendly and helpful we are in the QL community. I have help from yourself and from Marcel - and why should he bother, QPC is a Windows program after all - but he is still helping. It is all very much appreciated. Thank you. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Jim, The problem is that the CPU meter is pegging and it kills my laptop battery. On my office computer I don't care. I've just plugged QPC into my work PC running Windows 2000 - with QPC sitting there doing nothing the CPU is fine. When I simply move the move across the display, CPU flat lines at 100% - so your set up is not likely to be the cause. Better get it unplugged now - I'll get shot for having unauthorised devices plugged in! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC and notebook
Morning Per, ASUS have created the brand new UMPC Eee PC 701 4GB for total mobile internet computing. £219.73 inc VAT I saw a review of this recently in a Linux comic and while it got a pretty god review, it has afew faults as a Linux laptop. For running as a QL emulator base system, I suspect it will be fine. Wine might not be all that big a problem though - but who knows! I love this bit - I'm sure you meant MB by the way! 512GB RAM The 7 screen might be a tad small for my aging eyes though! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Hi Jim, Was that just the cursor or were you moving a full window? No, QPC was sat still in the corner and all I diod was move the mouse over the QPC display. All I has on screen were the wtv 4 windows and the button frame with pick, rjob, jobs, sysmon, clock and files all buttoned. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Marcel, It used to be TASM (Turbo Assembler), but when Borland discontinued it and certain bugs made development difficult I switched to MASM (Microsoft Assembler). TASM was the far superior choice when I started out but fortunately MASM has caught up a bit in the meantime and now is up to the task. Yes I was rather fond of the Borland tools myself, they simply worked much better in my opinion, but as the years went by, support dropped off or became non-existent, Borland changed name and then back again... Oracle stopped supporting Borland compilers and basically, the standards went down hill. Sadly. Well, the ld man page says it could work, but in practice... who knows. Well, if we can't get different Windows object files to link together, I'd say the chances are slim - but as I haven't tried this yet, I'm not saying that it won't work! Stranger things have happened. No, that's an entirely different topic. Object file linking could work, but this of course does not change the fact that it uses a lot of Win32 API calls. Looking more like we need to update wine rather than convert QPC. (I think I saw this in another email from you actually!) and by 'we' I wasn't implying that you should do it! Yes, but that problem was only the installer, which was programmed in Turbo Pascal. Its runtime library had a notorious bug which resulted in the described problem when ran on a too fast PCs. Aha, I had forgotten that and now you mention it, it was the installer - old age I'm afraid is ruining the last few working bits of Organic RAM that I have left! Apologies for slandering QPC. I may be able to use the CVS version for free though - but I cannot get to that URL from here. Will try later at home if Alison gives me some play time! Well, but if you're concerned that you don't have enough time to give Cedega a quick spin then I'm not sure you're ready to port QPC, True, but I wasn't expecting to become familiar with it overnight! :-) something that is certainly equivalent to a fulltime job for a few months ;) I expected nothing less! (vmWare) Completely unworkable I'm afraid. Strange, the performance I've heard of is far better than that. I know people here at work who use it from home, but they have huge amounts of RAM and latest Code Duo processors etc etc - they can make it work, but they too have pretty large load times. It could be down to the Windows build we use here at the agency - slightly customised for 'security' purposes! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Marcel, Version 0.9.52 obtained and installed. QPC runs, slowly, and still gives repeating characters - but not all the time. It is now workable - sort of. Hmm. Even on my trusty P3-600 server over a virtual VNC X session over a WLAN link QPC ran pretty usable when I just tried it. So this is probably not entirely normal. I have a P4 Sony Vaio Laptop with 512 MB RAM and a 2.3 GHz processor. RAM is shared with the graphics card so 32MB (the minimum) is 'stolen' to allow me to have the graphics working. So my system sounds faster than yours! When I say slowly, what I mean is the display (at present). Under the PE there is a delay when I move the mouse and the actual pointer on screen moving - so I end up overshooting and missing the actual place I want to be. Also, when typing (or when allowed to type) I get a delay between the key press and the appearance of the character on screen. Bear in mind I have not done anything other than install the Wine RPM and click on qpc.exe to make it run - no setup or anything has been done. PAUSE 50 - only pauses a very brief time. PAUSE 60*5 - ditto. Very strange but fits with the repeated characters (clock ticking much too fast so SMSQ/E goes into auto-repeat within milliseconds instead of seconds). How fast does the cursor blink? Much faster than on Windows. On a very unscientific test, I counted about 20 cursor on-off cycles in about 8 seconds. QPC needs RAW sector access to read/write floppies. Not sure whether WINE emulates this at all and cannot test as my server doesn't have a floppy drive. Well as I couldn't mount the floppy to /media/floppy it wouldn't be read anyway - unless raw access was working to /dev/fd0 like 'dd' manages. I have read your other email about setting a couple of links to /media/floppy and /dev/fd0 and will give them a try later at home. When I start QPC up and configure the image as win2_ it is not able to read it. WIN is in QLWA, not QL5A format. I know :-) I was only trying all avenues that I could think of to see if I could read it as am image. I even thought about mounting the dd image as a loopback device as well - but that would fail too as there is no registered ql5a file system! (yet!) Thanks for taking time to reply. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Wolfgang,
I notice that if I pause at the keyboard then start typing, I get the
repeats. Pressing ENTER a few times then typing again doesn't give the
repeating keys.
I also have noticed that this is not always true. After some time of usage,
even pressing ENTER repeatedly has no effect on the repeats.
I've checked my boot, and since time immemorial, I've had the
following line in it :
POKE_L !!$8C,HEX('0011')
This changes the QL character repeats (to make them faster, I'm
pretty impatient), but perhaps this has an influence ?
I don't have anything like that in my boot file. I want to try and slow down
the repeating now! However, it is a thought and one I shall try out tonight at
home.
BTW, jus what do you mean by QPC runs slowly?
See my reply to Marcel, but basically :
moving the mouse has a delay before the pointer starts moving on screen. The
delay is about 0.5 seconds - not long, but irritating!
Typing at the keyboard has a delay again before the characters appear in
whatever application I'm using. Same problem on #0, #1, #2 or in editors etc.
When the phantom repeat problem occurs, I begin typing and I get a longer dealy
of about 1-3 seconds variable, then hundreds of repeated characters appear.
The only slowness I had noticed was that of screen updates, the rest
ran just as fast as one would expect. And I can see a bit difference
there between windowed mode and fullscreen mode (the latter is slow,
the former not).
There's no difference between full screen or 640 by 480 mode. I did try 800 by
600 but that refuses to operate giving me a tall thin screen with no output and
no sign of win1_boot running.
Perhaps using a PC formatted floppy is a way around this, for now?
Again, I haven't used floppies for quite some time and never tried.
I'll do some tests tonight.
That might work, at least it will mount, however, all of my QL stuff on floppy
is in QL format so as I wanted to get at some old source code of mine on a
floppy disc, I am/was somewhat stuffed! If I can find a PC formatted floppy
tonight, I'll give that a try and see what happens.
Cheers,
Norman.
___
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Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Evening Marcel, cd ~/.wine/dosdevices ln -s /dev/fd0 a:: ln -s /mnt/floppy a: Ok, tried that. No effect. dir flp1_ gave me a header for win1 instead with the sector count for the win drive and not for the floppy. On startup I set dos1_ to be the A:\ drive, and a dir dos1_ gave me A:\ 0/0 sectors. So no joy there either. None of these made any attempt to access the floppy. Giving full rights to /dev/fd0 didn't change things either. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Hi Wolfgang, Perhaps using a PC formatted floppy is a way around this, for now? Just tried that as well, nothing works. dir flp1_ gives me a stat of the win drive and dir dos1_ (a:\ is configured as dos1_ on startup) gives me 0/0 sectors. :-( Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Hi Wolfgang, OK, so get 0.9.52 Version 0.9.52 obtained and installed. QPC runs, slowly, and still gives repeating characters - but not all the time. It is now workable - sort of. I notice that if I pause at the keyboard then start typing, I get the repeats. Pressing ENTER a few times then typing again doesn't give the repeating keys. OK, try it the other way around, just to make sure, - you will find the grapgics slowness then, though. I have tried running in a window and out. Both seem very similar to me. Some resolutions don't work though, but the ones I like to use ar ok - for now. The broken ones simply give me a tall windo (taller than it is wide) and nothing appears. If I change to 600 by 480, for example, I get my 'wtv 4' windows opened and showing on screen, plus win1_boot executes. Which Linux are you using (I use Suse). OpenSuse 10.3 and all patches applied up until today! OK, same here, so we will get this sorted out! It is running and workable, as I mentioned, I haven't tried to do any real work with it yet, but I will be doing soon. A couple of immediate problems have been found though : PAUSE 50 - only pauses a very brief time. PAUSE 60*5 - ditto. So it loooks like the PAUSE command isn't running very well under WINE. And, DIR FLP1_ doesn't work - for obvious reasons - The floppy in the drive will not auto mount even though /etc/fstab says to do so, because the file system on the floppy is not registered under Linux. The mount command won't let it be mounted with any known filesystem as our beloved QL5A file system is not known. I'm currently researching 'how to write a Linux File System' to allow me to do something like : mount -t ql5a /dev/fd0 /media/floppy Or, even better, as the ql5a file system would be a kernel module, it should be recognised and auto mounted - which would be better as specifying a type on the mount command is only permitted by root - even though /etc/fstab says 'user' as an option. So far, I have found one reasonable web site on geocities with a small example of writing a filesystem (but no actual device access!) which I am currenlty studying. Maybe, if I can figure it out, I'll be able to get a ql5a file system module written! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Wolfgang Lenerz wrote: As to Norman, I've been using QPC under Wine for quite some time now. I know - I read your article in QL Today recently to see what problems you have had with it. You didn't mention the repeating key problem but did mention extreme slowness. How on Earth did you get around the repeating keys - I find it impossible to type anything at all. Make sure you have one of the latest versions of wine, I'm currently using 0.9.50, which probably isn't the totally lateest version, I haven't had time to upgrade yet (type wine --version in a console to find out which version you have - get the latest version at www.winehq.org). You might also try to poke around in winecfg... Well after Windows recently ate my Linux root partition, I have not yet reinstalled wine. It is on the list of things still to be reinstalled though. I'm just checking in Yast as to which version I have on the DVD and/or in one of the repositories I'm connected to. (It says Wine version 0.9.44.15-i586 is on the DVD) I've also found that running QPC in a window rather than fullscreen makes a difference. I always run it in a Window, even on Windows! Usually 800 by 640. Conceivably, your window manager (KDE/GNOME or whatever) also makes a difference, although I haven't found this to be the case, I regularly run it under KDE and also under Gnome/Metacity with a maclike theme (http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac4lin). I'm most definitely a KDE user. We have Gnome at work and I absolutely loath and detest it. Should be wiped from the planet in my (humble?) opinion!! ;-) There is no reason why this should work here and not with you! Which Linux are you using (I use Suse). OpenSuse 10.3 and all patches applied up until today! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning David, Could your software run under QemuLator? That works fine with Linux and I think it accepts SMSQ now. I don't actually know. I'm used to QPC now and having paid for it all those years ago, would love to continue using it if I can. I might give it a try, but as I say, I'd prefer QPC. Cheers, Norman. ___ 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
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Morning Marcel, Actually I prefer not a frigging chance ;-) Not from me, anyway. I thought something like that would be the reaction - and I can't say I blame you! Well, step 1 would be to get the whole assembler stuff compiling under linux, which given that linux uses a completely different syntax for everything assembler (ATT style versus Intel style) would be quite a feat in itself. Not to say practically impossible. Well, that's today's something new then. I had no idea that assembly under Linux would be so different to Windows. (Which assembler do you use on Windows by the way?) It might be more sensible to continue using a Windows assembler and hoping that the Linux linker can cope with the resulting object format. Not sure how well that would work out. I suspect it wouldn't like it one little bit. Too different from the ELF format used on Linux. If it could use the Windows files, we wouldn't need Wine and so on, we could just do a LoadLibrary() or similar system call I suppose. snip All in all many things would probably have to be rewritten from scratch. If I rewrote QPC today it would be much different, but many of the design decisions were done when I was 15 or so, for much less powerful machines. Yes I remember an early version that I had worked fine on an old PC of mine. When I upgraded the PC, it failed with a divide by zero error because of some timing loop configuration whatsname was running far too fast on the new PC! If you want to give it a try, that could probably be arranged. It would certainly be fun to have a Linux version, at least if I have nothing to do with it whatsoever. But quite frankly I think life is too short to even try. I think you are probably right about life being too short, but, on the other hand, I would like to have a native QPC running under Linux, so yes, I would like to at least try! I can't promise to actually produce anything, but at least I will have tried and failed rather than never having tried at all! If you are willing, then so am I. Yes, wine is still a bit overwhelmed with QPC. You might have a bit more luck with Cedega. Aye, but then again, there's no guarantee that it will work any better! I've had a quick look at Cedga's web site, but here at work it's banned and the best I could get to was an Ubuntu web page telling me about it. Seems I have to pay $5 per month to 'own' it! (Minimum 3 months). I may be able to use the CVS version for free though - but I cannot get to that URL from here. Will try later at home if Alison gives me some play time! But I guess that best performance is achieved by running Windows in a virtual machine like VMWare. Not on my laptop I'm afraid. It's older, has a P4 chip and only 512 MB of RAM which has to be shared with the video card - the more RAM the graphics get, the less I have for the system. At work I have a similar PC with 2G of RAM and that struggles to run VMWare as well. With a Windows build it takes 20 minutes to load Windows. Completely unworkable I'm afraid. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] 2.5 inch HD
Hi Marcel, IIRC that might be a design limitation of Windows (and perhaps most other OSes) but probably not of the Core Duo chip. I wasn't sure whether it was the chip ir the OS. Thanks for the confirmation. Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] 2.5 inch HD
Hi Marcel, Not entirely true, using a processor feature called PAE (Physical address extension) some Windows server version can address more memory (up to 64GB). That's the patch I was thinking of, but I was under the impression it only allowed an extra i GB of RAM to be addressed. As an Oracle DBA I have had occasion to use this on a Windows 2000 Server box to get the extra RAM utilised by the database. We had to patch Windows, patch Oracle and even then could only use 1 GB and only for the buffer cache. H, I wonder if you are talking about something different to what I remember. But in practise this will not help you because applications have to be specifically written for this (anybody remember the EMS memory expansions cards of old yore? Or EMM386.EXE? The principle is similar). Me, I do! I used to have Turbo C++ V3 and also Borland C++ 3.01 and those came with a DOS extender. Never got anything to work properly. :-( Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Since when is there a Linux version of QemuLator? http://qemulator.createweb.de/ I suspect it's not the same one though!!! :-) Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] 2.5 inch HD
Hi Dave, Dave Walker wrote: Modern machines have hyperthreaded CPU cores, so you are more likely to load multiple applications and still get decent performance if you have lots of memory available. A good theory, in practice it is let down by either the design of the Core Duo chip or the OS not utilising things properly - I'm not sure which. In a Core Duo, all accesses to the Input Output sub-systems *must* be done by the first core and only by the first core. I read this about a month ago in one of the mainstream computer comics - can't remember which one now that I need to. Apparently, core 1 says to core 0, stop that and service this I/O request for me, so core 0 has to comply, so anything running on the first core is interrupted while it passes on I/O requests for the second core, and the second core is delayed in processing I/O while it hangs around waiting for the first core to pay attention! An interesting design I thought when I read it. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Evening one and all, Happy New Year first of all, may 2008 be a happy, healthy and prosperous one for everyone. Windows ate my laptop recently. Over the festive period my Xp system, fired up for the first time in absolutely ages, removed my Linux root drive (partition) without so much as a by-your-leave. As you would imagine, I was a tad peeved at such behaviour. I was deleting the 20 GB D drive as I wanted the space for Linux, and as I haven't used anything on XP for ages, I decided to de-install everything, delete the drive and reuse it as a Linux mount instead. Well, Windows did everything correctly until I deleted the drive, I selected the D drive and requested that it be deleted, Windows did so, but at the same time, deleted my root partition, leaving me OS-less on my laptop. After a few attempts at retrieving the partition table, which worked, I found myself with no file system on the partition any longer, it was gone. With no system backups (I do backup my own data though!) I had no alternative but to re-install. After a wee while of this, I have a brand new system - and not a byte of Windows anywhere in sight - the C drive got reused for my new root drive instead. I now have a completely Linux laptop. This of course, leaves me with a slight problem. WHen I go away, I usually take the laptop to watch DVDs, listen to my music, read 'books' etc, but also for QPC and my ongoing Assembly Language series. To this end, and I can almost hear Marcel groaning right now, I'm wondering what the possibility of getting a Linux version of QPC is? Do I hear the work 'slim' or even 'no chance at all' out there? Don't get me wrong here, I'm not asking for a free version of QPC for Linux. I'm even willing to put work into it myself, if I can, to help develop it, assuming it is possible. I use QT4 for C++ development on Linux, occasionally, and if the 'engine' of QPC is simply (Sorry Marcel, I know it isn't simple) something that could be converted to a library, or a module that is called, I suspect I could possible manage to build a sort of working version of QPC for Linux - a little naive there perhaps, but I know almost nothing of how QPC actually works. Now, my version of QT4 is only for applications that are Open Source, so if the engine was modular, I could write the GUI around it, and easily release the source code - without compromising on all the work and effort that Marcel has performed over the years. Additionally, the Linux version would, I imagine, only be available as an 'add on' to the Windows version. Now, whether the above is feasible, possible or even desired, I have no idea. I have tried to run QPC under wine on Linux but with little success. When I type in a command at the #0 prompt, I get an instant repeat of the first character or the command, and random ones after that. So 'dir ram1_' would turn out to be 'ddir rram1_' or similar. Not very much use to me! As I said above, I'm willing to put in the work, and assuming I have the required skills of course, to make this happen, but I depend on the hard work of Marcel in the first place. It may not be possible. Comments? Ideas? Criticism? As I said, I'm not looking for a free version of QPC to run on Linux, I'm looking to see if I can help produce a version where some of the code is free (mine) and some is not. My code will have to be made available as that is the terms of the licence, but I do not have to expose Marcel's code to the Open Source community at all. Anyway, having said all that, I'm ducking out for a bath (and a read!) and will check back tomorrow to see if I have stirred up a nest of hornets, or if I actually have had a (rare) good idea! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QL Today apology
gwicks wrote: The QL Today team would like to apologise to our UK subscribers that we have been unable to keep our promise to deliver issue 2 shortly before Christmas. Although the magazine was ready at the end of November it was not possible to print the UK copies immediately. Not a problem (for me anyway!) Geoff, I've been away on an Oracle RAC course for a week and only got back late last night. Funnily enough I was thinking that there should be a QL Today waiting - but there wasn't. A good read early in the new year will be a nice start to 2008. Must get on with my next article, been working on some ideas for a while, but no code as yet. Oh dear Anyway, I hope everyone has a good Christmas, Yule, Eide, Hanukkah or whichever religious festival happens to be current in your neck of the woods, and a healthy and happy 2008 (or whichever year it happens to be where you are!) I don't know, political correctness eh? Who needs it! :-) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] macros
Hi Dilwyn, I'm looking to write a little utility to record keypresses as macros, if necessary assigning them to a hotkey or altkey for later use. Some processes mean repeated strings of keypresses, so it may be handy to record these keypresses and replay them later with an alt or hot key to avoid typing the same commands repeatedly. Anyone have any idea how best to go about achieving this? My first thought would be hook in an interrupt handler to read the 'current key press' word from the system variable. But, my second thought was how to determine if it has changed especially when it is the same keypress as the one before. I'm too far away from my docs to be able to look them up at present, plus I have the boiler man in to fix the central heating. We had a new kitchen put in, a radiator removed and it stopped working. The original plumber says it wasn't removing the radiator that did it and doesn't want to know. He will not be getting paid I suspect! Good luck. Cheers, Norman. PS. Check Slow Gold source code for hooking in an interrupt handler. Also, there was a caps lock indicator program (Quanta?) a few years back. I think that did a similar thing. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] 1 and 1 domain costs increases
Hi Tony, Just been to 1 and 1 and the cost of a new domain is indeed £2.99 plus VAT per year for a minimum of two years. As of yet, I have *not* had an email to say it is increasing. My invoice is paid every year in November (26th) so It will be interesting to see what happens and whether I do get an advice of increasing costs before my invoice is due. I'll be watching! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Email address change
Hi Tony, I have about six domain with them, and have *never* been advised about renewal in advance. I just get a paid invoice after the event. What did you do to get notification? Nothing that I can remember - I signed up for a single domain (which came with a free sub-domain - whatever one of those is) at £1.99 for a year and I added the Emila for an additional 0.69 per month. Total bill in 2004 was £14.41 whihc is 2 years for the domain and 1 year for email plus VAT. In 2005, I was charged exactly the same price again fro email (£9.73) and nothing for the domain. Then in 2006 I was charged £14.41 for another two years of domain and 1 of email. So, for the last three years no increase in costs at all. All I have done is pay with my credit card and allow 1 and 1 to continue to charge me for as long as I say so. The issue of them increasing the fee and heavily disguising it on the web page is there for all to see. Maybe your packages are different to mine. I don't have hosting with 1 and 1, just domain and email. I didn't mention all the problems. Prior to the online cancellation ... Strange that it should take 6 months to sort that out - it does sound just a little excessive. And, not a little silly as well - when you send them something far more secure that they are asking for! I will not though deal with a company who can increase their fees without even bothering to tell me, and then disguise this on their web pages. Well, I have never had a problem so far. This doens't mean that I won't suffer in the future - thanks for the heads up. ... especially as 123 is now cheaper. I have not yet tried 123, but if 1 and 1 do give problems, I shall. Thanks. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Email address change
Hi Tony, ... especially as 123 is now cheaper. I have not yet tried 123, but if 1 and 1 do give problems, I shall. Just managed a quick look, 123 are charging £2.59 per year for .co.uk domains and 'from' £0.83 per month for emails - this reduces to £0.67 per mailbox per month if I buy 10 mailboxes. At 1 and 1 I get 5 mailboxes (and a reforwarding service) for one payment of £0.67 plus VAT. I note that VAT is on top, so it looks like 123, for me anyway, are not quite as cheap as 1 and 1 - for my needs. Just a quick look - I'm in a coffee break on a course at the moment - they very kindly allow webmail to be accessed and used! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Email address change
Hi Tony, my domain, dunbar-it.co.uk, has been throughh 1 1 for as long as I've had it. They are far cheaper for a .co.uk than the company my wife used for her, now lapsed, they were charging £25 for two years. I've had no problems yet with tech support and I agreed to allowing 1 1 to debit my credit card as and when. I always have received an email with details before it occurred. I'm puzzled as to your problems ! And, I have 5 2 GB inboxes supplied with my account for £0.69 per month. Very useful. Even Demon (for whom I had the utmost respect) only allowed me to have a single mailbox of far less space that each one from 1 1. Just my current opinion based on my dealings with them - they have been most helpful and prompt to reply to my emails and support queries. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Punters
Hi Malcolm, Not entirely frazzled the old brain then ( in the heat )... ? ... :-) Not any more than usual I'm afraid - I tend to always be frazzled these days. ;-) I envy you the visit ... Ancient Egypt has always been a favourite period of mine. I was never there myself, but I do so enjoy the monuments and such like - most impressive. I do a project at school which uses the background research on a tumbler style lock that the Ancient Egyptians invented - made from wood - which is closely identical to the modern tumbler lock - Yale type lock. I've either seen it or a replica some years back - nothing new under the sun is there? A main difference is that they didn't invent the use of the spring inside the lock. Who needs a spring when you have gravity? Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Punters
Dear oh dear. BEGIN RANT ... I really get 'teed' off with Political (bloody) Correctness. What a complete pile of crud that subject is. For example, a black, Somalian, Muslim friend of mine (George Bush must really hate him) hates being called 'coloured' because, as he says, he is black. Not only that, he used to collect the Golliwogs from jam jars. He is not offended by being called black nor is he offended by black boards, black balls, black marks or anything else with black in it. He is not offended by Christians having Christmas, Easter or any other religious festivals - and neither are any of his friends and family. What does offend him are, to use his own words, all these do-gooders and social workers who shove their noses into other people's business and make a problem where there wasn't one before. As he is quick to point out, if it is offensive (to black people) for a black board to be called black, why is it not offensive (to whites) for a white board to be called white? You can't have it both ways! He is one of the most helpful, friendly and nicest people you are ever likely to meet. There is nothing abusive in being called a punter and I'm happy to be one, because, I am one. If other people complain about being a punter then they are either far too sensitive or have had PC rammed down their throats to a horrendous degree. What, exactly, is wrong with being a punter? Other than having to stand at the back of a flat boat with a pole in one's hand :o) END RANT. I don't do PC I'm afraid (actually, I'm not afraid) - I call a spayed a cat that's been to the vets! (ok that was a tidied up version !) Cheers, Norman. (Back from Egypt, and only slightly burned.) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Punters
Hi John, (In Wales) Before I vote, I'm waiting to read what we get when we Dunbar-it! Dunbar IT - that's my company name :o) As for my thoughts on the matter - see my previous rant, I think that should cover it. Cheers, Norman. (not in Wales) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Punters
Hi Arnold, I used to have a shop and we referred to the people who attended our shop as customers, people who attend market places, boot stalls etc, are referred to as punters. I was always of the opinion, probably wrong, that customers were people who brought 'you' (ie the shop keepers etc) custom. A punter is just a general term for the crowds of people attending an event - I think it may stem from betting parlance where to punt is to bet and those who punt are punters. The English Language (and others too) is advancing (well, mostly advancing, Text Speak is a retrograde step in my opinion) and the term came to mean (or be accepted as) the public attending an event of some sort. Then the do-gooders got hold of it and tried to make us feel guilty about (a) being a punter or (b) using the term to describe a punter. It's worse in Australia. There is a bird - a Gallah (Spelling may be wrong) but it's a Rose breasted Cockatoo now. The DGs down under decided that because the term Gallah was being used to describe an 'idiot' that it shouldn't be taught to kids any more, so the bird was renamed to the Rose Breasted Cockatoo. Unfortunately, that name offended some other DGs who decided that you cannot teach kids to say 'breasted' because it is rude. Trust me, the parrots don't care what they are called and people in Oz still call them Gallahs! I suspect some people (ie, the DGs) have far too much time on their hands and they need to get out more. :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Punters
Hi Malcolm, Whereas ALL ql_users, as we know, are very erudite ... :-) Indeed we are ! Norman. (Back from Egypt, and only slightly burned.) Umm ... it must have been hot ... ! Yes it was. 14 days all of which were 40 degrees (C) plus, or, in old money, over 104 degrees F. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Punters
Hello again Geoff, Also on my part there was no intention to accuse you or anyone else of personal critcism of the person in question. I just thought we could be going in a dangerous direction in which some readers might just draw this conclusion. None taken Geoff - no need to apologise. Now the question has to be, have all us punters turned into apologists :o) Or, should we not go down that route? On a slightly different note, I must say that I find this list very 'exciting'. I remember when it was restricted to pure QL topics and while interesting and thoughtful, it seemed a bit 'staid' at times. Now that we tend to drift ever so slightly off topic from time to time, it feels more homely and fun. Anyone disagree? Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] batch file
Whichever you registered or unregistered, both did so at the same time, so obviously QemuLator is finding its registration info in a fixed location, probably in the usual C:\program files\qemulator\ I suspect it is most likely in the registry. A nasty piece of work the registry if you ask me - which you didn't :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] SPAM-HIGH: OUTLN
Hey David, (I've cc'd this to David in case he has unsubscribed !) Well, now you know what it's for... :-) Hardly OUTLM is used by the Pointer Environment to set the outline of the primary window. This is where all your other windows (that get opened by that application) and so on, get opened within. Basically setting 256 by 512 starting at 0,0 is a bad thing - I know, I did it years ago - because you have covered the entire screen (ok, in those days) abd clicking on another program's window was interpreted as being your apps window - so you couldn't switch apps by clicking. The PE looks at the co-ordinates of where the mouse was clicked and tries to find out which window the click occurred in - but if some app have an OUTLN over the coordinates, that's the one that gets picked. Appologies for SPAMMING ! So I will say Goodbye All I suspect that some spam filter somewhere has inserted that. I get it all the time at work, for example, if an email 'trail' with a certain number of messages with the same subject, after the triggering email, they all get flagged as SPAM - no-one is changing the subject deliberately to make you out to be a spammer. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Using different devices
... using LRUN, seems to clear the BASIC memory area of a windrive$ variable that I have just obtained from user input. Try MRUN whihc does a MERGE and doesn't/shouldn't clear your variables - assuming I'm remembering correctly of course. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] OT - Re-Windows Vista
Morning Malcolm, I haven't used Windows Vista myself, as yet. Nor have i, but from reviews and what I've seen so far : There are a number of versions. All expensive. The changes that MS vaunted for ages have all failed to make it into the finished product. The new Vista differs from the old XP etc in mainly conmetic ways only. It kills your iPod if you connect it up - there's supposed to be a patch but Apple have warned people about connecting iPod's to Vista. It was 'forced' to have DRM installed so that you and I couldn't play HD DVDs on our PC if our interfaces had an HDMI output socket. The Movie world is scared of people copying DVDs using this. MS is scared of the movie industry. What happens is that the code checks for an HDMI output and if found, degrades the quality of the DVD to normal DVD quality so you cannot watch it in HD quality on your PC. Personally, if I buy a DVD of any quality I expect and demand to play it wherever i want thank you. This makes Vista illegal in Australia and New Zealand where they have laws to protect the rights of the purchaser - even 'region encoded' DVDs are illegal down under. You will most likely need a hardware upgrade to use it properly. Varios industry surveys have deemed that for a business to upgrade their systems to Vista would cost about £350-450 on average BEFORE adding in the cost of Vista. Most of the 'improvements' have been in various versions of Linux for over 2 years. Remember all the hype over Windows 95 and what an expensive upgrade that was? Worse for Vista. Of course, with the costs of new hardware and additional licencing as well, and because we in the 'agency' need to save money, there is a project already started that is looking into 'upgrading' us all to Vista. Ah well, which part of saving money am I not understanding here ? Is it a total code re-write of the Windows code, or does it still contain all of the legacy elements of WIN 95, WIN 98, WIN 2000, WIN XP, etc ... ? Yes - the legacy stuff is still there. Finally, are any of the QL Emulators now able to run under it ? I'm pretty sure QPC does, but I have a vague recollection of Marcel posting something here a while back about Vista. I can't remember what though ! Cheers, Norman. PS. My spell chequer thinks your surname is wrong and should be 'Badman'. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Archive protection
Morning Tony, Was it *really* protected as such? Under normal Archive the only difference between a PROTECTED and an OBJECT and a PRG was a single byte in the header. When I was writing 'ArSE' many years ago (an Archive Syntax Evaluator/compiler to convert Archive programs to DataDesign - never finished it !) I wrote a small routine to convert from 'object' to 'source' simply be resetting that one byte. (At least I think that's what I did !) The utility was called 'unprotect' and simply flipped byte 7 from $01 to $00. I have the code here somewhere - probably on my USB drive. BTW - I changed the name as well - to 'dbport'. There was something about 'ArSE' that didn't quite ring true :o) The protected programs in the runtime Archive were really protected - as far as I remember. I have never thought of .pro as such. Surely it was simply coded to reduce size. You could 'save object' or 'save protected' the difference was a 1 (protected) or a zero (object) in the 7th byte of the file. : 0 = 'dbp0' (Archive) or 'dbp1' (Xchange) 4 = Don't care 5 = Don't care 6 = Status byte 0=Object 1=Protected. Once unprotected by my utility, I could simply load the resulting object file and save it out as text/source ready to be dbported. Maybe someone knows how to decode. Surely also someone has the runtime version. I haven't a clue where mine is now. I think it was simply saved in the internal tokenised manner (similar to QSAVE and QLOAD for SuperBasic) but the internal format was never documented (as far as I know). I'm sure someone could figure it out ... Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] OLPC
Hi Per, Nice to see that The [$100 One Laptop Per Child laptop model] XO will be produced in Taiwan by Quanta (see BBC news story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908946.stm). But why have they kept it under their hat(s?), and why did they procure a new, non-QDOS OS for the project? :o) I thought something similar when I read that article this morning ! Let's hope that it is a very successful venture indeed. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Sinclair Industrial Design links
Morning all, I'd have bought the 'Wafer QL' and the stack to go with it - what a fantastic looking beast ! Does anyone know what happened to the wafer technology? The last I remember was a write up in PC World which mentioned that while IBM had given up on it, Sinclair had succeeded and had even employed the head man from IBM's wafer research. Since then, nothing. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
I am only kidding (of course). Sarah is *exactly* the same - I mean *exactly*. I really wish I had not fitted switched sockets. Many is the time I have wasted 10 minutes as I waited for the kettle to boil. One time when I went away to a QL show she turned off everything in my office, including answer machine, phones (which all discharged their batteries) and computer running my fax machine. I think it's possibly one of those OCD things. An obsessive (irrational) need to turn things off. When I'm having a bath, Alison comes in to make sure the taps are off - eh? I'll bet I have 'foibles' as well :o) It is not a question of understanding electricity - she has two degrees. It is akin to being afraid of spiders - ie unexplainable. Completely unexplainable. I blame the parents - they started it all! OK - when did *any* electrical equipment in the house catch fire, including toasters. April 2000 in Darwin. The Novatel. There are toasters in every room. On Good Friday at 06:30 ish AM, on the only day we were able to have a lie in after 05:30, some silly woman in another room started a fire with a toaster. So much for a 'lie in'. A friend's washing machine recently went up in flames when switched off (plugged in and turned on, but off on the rotary switch!) - burned her house down :o( Give her more then. I see 40GB hard disks from CPC are now under £25. I'd go the whole hog and fit the biggest disc I could get my hands on. You never have enough disc space, not at 6 mega-pixies in RAW format. A 1GB card holds about 100 photos - so 40 GB would give only 4,000 photos and no room for the PNGs she generates for the Web and so on. Ah yes - Rawden is where Phil Borman used to live. I have corrected the database. Funny how the eyes/brain are never to be trusted. I wouldn't trust mine any further than I could throw it. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
Hi Tony, Give her more then. I see 40GB hard disks from CPC are now under £25. Just had a flyer from CCL computers in Bradford, check this out : http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=14730tid=eshot0157eshot=1 A 1 Terabyte drive for £214. Now that should be enough ! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
I don't know what happened to the link, best to cut and paste. Clicking on it takes you to the 1 and 1 email system. How strange. When I pasted it in, it pasted as text and does show the proper location. It seems broken when displayed in HTML. :o( Sorry. Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing
My wife's version of this is with the microwave oven and it is so silly I've never told it to anyone for fear of being ridiculed. I've seen that loads of times. Mind you, I wonder what they say about our 'funny' habits - assuming we actually have them of course. When something's heating up in there, she *ALWAYS* stops it by opening the door, never by using the stop control. She then takes the food out ... Maybe it's the 'oven' thing. An ordinary oven doesn't really worry if you shut the dorr with nothing in it, so when cooking it is normal to remove the food, shut the door and then turn it off. Maybe? No matter how often everyone has told her, she seems totally incapable of curing that potentially dangerous habit. Yet she's *completely* obsessive about not leaving TV etc on standby. Alison likes to grab food from the chopping board when I'm using my sharpest knives to cut it. Her mother does the same - so I know where she gets it. Years ago on his farm, when a fuse blew my father would always put a piece of tin foil or a nail in a 13 amp plug until he bought a new fuse. He just couldn't understand that a fuse blew for a reason and he was just asking for trouble. Even as young children my brother and I would cringe every time he did it. About the only time that baler twine couldn't fix the problem I suspect. My dad was of farming stock as well (sheep, pigs etc) but his electrical problem is red/green colour blindness. I've been wiring plugs for him since I was about 4 - in those days live=red earth=green and you don't want to mess those up ! Yet, every day, many of us have new(ish) PCs and run QL emulators ( 20 year old system) on them which is probably just as unexplainable to many ... (phew, back on topic). A bit contrived there Dilwyn - must try harder next time. The reason I run QPC on my PC is because we should alway stry to better ourselves, so I'm bettering my PC :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
Tony, Sarah turns taps off so hard they *do* start dripping as the washer gets destroyed. Ah, now that's probably going too far ! Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
Good god are you sure they are not twins. Sarah turns my bath water off when it is about 6 inches deep before I even get near. Well, Aliosn doesn't do that, but I think it's funny that sheis 'scared' that the bath will fillup and flood from a dripping tap when there's a two inch hole in the bottom whihc lets water out much faters that it can drip in and simply looking at the taps would tell if there was likely to be a problem or not. But no, she has to turn them off just to be sure. Nothing at home then (8-)## So far so good ! Still not *your* house. Not yet ... ... then get a 250GB disk. Mind you it would take a *very* long time to download that lot on the internet (8-)# So the terabyte one would be even better then, and longer to download as well. I wouldn't trust mine any further than I could throw it. I could have sworn you have two eyes. Maybe one is there only for throwing. One spare - for looking to see where the other one landed ! Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing
Wow - did you drive for him as well? I assume he could at least detect orange (8-)# Nah, no need. We lived up North in the wilds of Scotland and tere weren't any traffic lights up there for many many years. Half the roads were single track with passing places He was an HGV class 1 lorry diver up until he retired - so I suspect he just went by whihcever light was brightest I suppose ! The reason I run QPC on my PC is because we should alway stry to better ourselves, so I'm bettering my PC :o) 'stry' I supose is a mixture of 'strive' and 'try' (8=)# Could be, most likely to be a trailing 's' from 'always' that got ahead of itself and decided to join onto the front of the following 'try'. That email was not the best one for spelling etc today - I'm off home now I think. It's curry night and no-one is allowed to smoke anymore - hooray I can eat in comfort! Have a nice weekend folks. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
With ADSL, a fixed IP address range and oneandone redirection I run all my websites locally. I get 740kbps outgoing which is not too bad for users. Yes, I had a fixed IP at Demon which was great. I considered hosting a small web site - but SWMBO isn't too keen on leaving 'stuff' plugged in and running when we are not at home. Fair enough - if the house burned down due to some (cheap) electric gizmo, we wouldn't be too happy! It is not difficult setting up the required Linux server - a standard Ubuntu install is all that is needed to set up the simple web server. IMAP and Asterisk (VOIP) are a different matters though. SUSE for me. I have my database(s) running on that plus my accounts etc (Open Office). I have never used Windows on the new PC yet. You could then satisfy Alison so to speak (8-)# Hmm, why use a single entendre when a double one will do nicely :o) Who knows, we might yet, one day, perhaps, possibly, think about maybe setting something up for her photos. Time, as they say, will tell. I did used to run Mambo on my laptop way back before the disc expired. That was interesting in itself - very professional looking. By the way, I sent you and Roy an email recently about my new address - as you requested - did you get it? I'm asking as I have had no feedback from you or Roy on the matter plus QL Today got delivered to the old address. ell, it would have been delivered there but the redirect kicked in and it came to use eventually. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
Tony, ... so you will be switching off the fridge/freezer, central heating (and draining it), answer machine etc then (8-)# I always drain the central heating before I go out - doesn't everyone? No I get your point - but you try explaining that to someone who, for years, has switched off the switch of the sockets even when nothing is plugged in - to stop electric leaking out. Some people underrstand electricity and some don't. Some, never will. When did your computer last catch fire? It's not so much the computer - they are, I'm told, meant to be left on anyway. It's the routers and so on - they run a little hot for my liking. I've got three now - a Linksys, a D-Link and now a new Belkin - all three get hot. Well the bait of a 10GB photo space might be the answer. I suspect she might want more :o) I got it OK I think - Rawden now? Ok, you got it, Rawdon it is. Thanks. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
Well, if you are reading this, I might as well try to make it interesting ! Ah well, after saying how wonderful Demon were and how I'd never leave, my recent house move stuffed that up. BT told Demon that I had moved so Demon cancelled my account yesterday (2/7/07) - they did send an email to tell me this - but they sent it to the closed account. Eh A quick word with customer services sorted that out, however, I'm no longer wioth Demon and I need to check that all is well here too. I'd hate to be cut off again. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Testing (new email system) please ignore.
Norman Dunbar wrote: Well, if you are reading this, I might as well try to make it interesting ! It works, it works - hooray ! Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] old QL
Morning Malcolm, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What is a TV then, Norman ? A TV is like a monitor, except it doesn't have the same resolution. :o( Every home should have one - although, nowadays, it seems that every room has to have one ! All QL's are capable of driving a colour monitor ... :-) True, but I no longer have any CRT monitors. I have a single 19 LCD flat panel with digital inputs (possibly, only digital inputs!) - I have no wish to 'fry' it by connecting a potentially knackered QL with a conversion cable to my (business) monitor ! A TV will be found Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] old QL
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... and when analogue is turned off, there will be a country surplus (8-)# How very true - unless, of course, they are all connected to a Freeview/FreeSat/Cable or Sky box. I have a couple of neat battery powered TVs However I do object to them being forced into redundancy. I agree, with all this talk (and that's about all it is, talk) of svaing the environment aND RECYCLING MORE AND SO ON, WE THEN FIND OURSELVES BEING FORCED TO BUY NEW KIT TO REPLACE OLD KIT THAT WORKS PERFECTLY WELL (Sorry, caps lock came on - I'm too lazy to retype that last bit !) and junk the old kit - sounds very much at odds with what we should be doing. Mind you the QLs TV output is terrible. Sinclair found this too, and attempted to 'improve' it by shielding mdv1_. Not as bad as the ZX-81 was, if I remember correctly. I know of no way a QL would zap a monitor. The other way round is *very* common (8-)# Yes, but my knowledge of electronics and what can and cannot be done is very very limited so while it is possible that the QL might not zap the monitor, I could equally connect the cable up wrongly and feed 12v up the wrong wire - or something similar. A TV will do for testing :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] old QL
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: How many other modern consumer goods can be expected to work after periods of non-use nearly a quarter of a century after they were made! Ok, I give up. How many? I found three black box QLs when I moved house. Two have no microdrives, one has two. I have a box of assorted power supplies and QL 'Feet' and a TV cable. I intend to see if they work, if so, these have been lying around unused for at least 10 years, possibly closer to 15 ! It will be interesting to see what transpires. Of course, I now need a TV to test them ! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] ql-users
Morning Dave, I have just gone thru the biz of changing email address but notice that copies are still going to the old one as well. I think, if I remember correctly, that you have to first unsubscribe your old address then subscribe again with your new one. At least that's what I remember doing some time back. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Stupendipity!
Morning Tobias, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: SNIP The observation that all your local PCs see the DHCP responses directly from the cable end (i.e. get WAN addresses) strongly suggests that there is no routing between your LAN ports, just bridged forwarding. Yep, thanks to input from Dave Walker this does appear to be the case. I'm simply following the instructions from the Cable people - and it seems to work. No LAN though :o( I see no easy way to solve this except your router has te possibility to assign a local Ethernet port as WAN port (I can hardly imagine a box that could do this, however) I have ordered a new cable/ADSL router now - this one says it works with ADSL and CABLE so if I ever changre again, I should be ok. I can use the other router to extend my LAN once we get connected up properly. Thanks to all for helping out here and apologies to all for the off topic-ness. However, I should hopefully get my office set up soon (when the router arrives) and once that is done, I can get back to writing assembly articles for outr esteemed magazine :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Stupendipity!
Morning Rick, Have you tried powerline networking - ie Ethernet over the domestic power cabling. Not yet. However, I have made some success - my wife can now login over cable broadband - her work updated her laptop with a much more recent VPN and it simply worked first time when she logged in yesterday. She is pleased again ! As for the wireless, still a problem. There's something wrong (I think) in my config of the router - when we connect via ethernet we get an IP from cable (81.x.x.x) and a default gateway. When we try to connect via wireless to the same router, it's dishing up it's own ip addresses (192.168.X.X) - which is exaclt what used to happen when we had ADSL over the BT line, but it appears that the internal LAN cannot see or talk to the external WAN. I need to get down and dirty in the config of the router again. As for the upstairs-downstairs problem, we may have a solution : put the cable modem in the bedroom (where one of the three cable connections is) and have the router next to it. This is good because my wife can wireless into her work from any room in the house. Run a cable from the router downstairs to another router that we have downstairs and now we have two wireless networks. Who knows, it might just work. I hope so because downstairs is my office with the main PC, printer etc - so we want to keep all that IT stuff out of site. Time will tell. Thanks for the URL though - very useful. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Stupendipity!
Morning Dave, It would be normal for a router to have a different IP address on the downstream side to the upstream side with the upstream side being of the 192.168.0/1.x type of address for your local LAN and the gateway and DNS is then set to be the router. Yep - I know that bit. That's how it was under Demon as well. The only difference now is that instead of the router being connected to the ADSL phone line (filter), I am now using one of the 4 Ethernet ports to connect the modem into the router. I can't see how it makes a difference (yet) as this set up works fine for Ethernet connections, just wireless is pants at the moment! The setup is cable-modem-router (port 1) Then the internal equipment (printer etc) will be connected to ports 2, 3 and 4 of the router. They are/will be set to fetch an IP address form the router. Now, this is interesting because they seem to be connecting directly to the Virgin network and not seing the 192.168.x.x addresses - they all appear to have an 81.x.x.x address instead. I wonder if this is because the upstream side is not coming into the router via the ADSL input - Hm. I for instance currently (and being cable it rarely changes) have a external IP address of 82.22.94.182 supplied by Virgin, but all my local equipment on 192.168.1.x addresses with both Gateway and DNS set to 192.168.1.1 9which is the router address). That's what my wireless stuff looks like - but cannot connect. The wired stuff all appears to have an IP on the Virgin network - nothing local at all. Just a thought - is your router set to act a DHCP server - you want it to so it can deliver local addresses to your PC's, and that is also where you set the address range to be used for the local subnet. I can't remember offhand. I'll check it and see. It certainly looks like that's how it works for the wireless anyway. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Stupendipity!
Hi Dave, Is the router you have designed for use with cable? Nope. ADSL. (Both are !) I figured it might be that that was the cause of the problems, however, the bumff from Virgin makes no mention of needing a cable router They simply say to plug the ethernet lead from the cable modem into one of the ports on your router. I can then connect as many other routers or equipment as I like to the router. I was wondering if this was why I was seeing an 81.x.x.x IP address when I checked the IP of the connected equipment. Ah well, a trip to PC World may be in order for a proper router. Oh hum ! Thanks for your help. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Stupendipity!
Morning John, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: [It's very quiet here - unless my eList-software has become invisibly unplugged! You have missed the 'any old iron' exchange then ? Oh the ache! You QLusiasts just won't believe it! Here, on this list, I could have been shunned forever. Because - After that email, I think you might be :o) BIG SNIP So, rejoice with *me*, but believe in your *own* systems Greetings to all, And I'll have a pint of what John has been drinking please :o) Hope you are well (now) John ! Cheers, Norman [in new house!!] ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Any old iron.
Morning Neil, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Firstly, it's all a little bit quiet in here, is everyone on their Hols.!!? It has been a little on the quiet side recently. I wonder if people simply cannot get through all the spam about the German stock exchange that seems to be very 'popular' at the moment. I'm getting about 300 of these on a daily basis. Today, however, it is different. They are now arriving in German whereas before they were in English. Oh hum ! Anyway, back on topic. I'm afraid that I don't have any 'bits' for you at present, but happy hunting. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Q40 now built by Samsung
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A company called Trolltech have come up with a customised Linux OS called Qtopia ... so this Q thing is catching on elsewhere . Ummm, no. Qtopia is not a customised Linux OS, it is an API for developing embedded applications for hand-helds and so on. There's even a version called Greenphone Qtopia to build apps for a mobile phone. With the dev kit you get a phone (green!), a VMWare 'vitrual machine' to do your development and communicate with said phone, plus the Qtopia development kit and tools. Qtopia is the little brother of the Qt toolkit (pronounced 'cute' - although I mis-pronounce it 'Queue Tea') whihc is probably the best all round cross platform development system you can get for C++ development. I use it (to dabble with) from QStripper, but it works on many flavours of Unix, Linux, Windows and Max OSx. You can pay for a commercial licence if you want to sell your software (or keep the source code secret) or you can get an Open SOurce version for free provided you only build OS applications and make your source code available under the terms of the GNU licence. The Open version is only missing a couple of database drivers (Oracle for one) because of the licencing terms which boil down to the fact that open source cannot be linked to Oracle (for example) libraries. I'm sure I posted this email yesterday, but it appears not to have turned up - so I'm trying again. The company, Trolltech have been around since 1994 and have been expanding year on year ever since. The KDE project uses QT to build their GUI for Linux. On the matter of trademarks, I don't think it is possible tio trademark a specific letter (Q for example) simply as a letter. You can trademark it in some design, but only that design wiould be proteted. However, words etc (Q40 for example) can be trademarked. Now, The Graf brothers have been using the name Q40 for some time and it is a computer system. This means that they can, if they wish, ask Samsung to cease and desist from using the same name for their computer system - even though the Grafs have not actually registered the name. They have been using it and thus, it is 'prior art' (sort of). The Firebird database project has the same name as a Pontiac car, but it's unlikely the two can be confused, so Pontiac don't complain. Firebird used to be called Phoenix but the BIOS company complained that it was confusing to have two software products with teh same name, so Firebird it became. Then Mozill decided to rename their browser to Firbird a couple of years back. That cause problems all round and after a few weeks of email exchanges, they renamed Firebird to Firefox, and the rest is history! So, Q40, even if not registered has been in use and Samsung could be asked to refrain. :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] e-mail address: format
Morning John in (wet, very wet) Wales : [EMAIL PROTECTED] is a valid format string for internet e-mail addressing? Yes it is. My real address at the moment is [EMAIL PROTECTED] That;'s how a Demon account is set up. You get a domain (mycompany) and your email addresses go to 'anyname'@,ucompany.demon.co.uk. Spammers know this. When I first created the account many many years ago, I logged on to find my first spam - literally 5 minutes after creating the account. I still get lots of emails for 'george'. Still, the spam trap can get at them easily ! Cheers, Norman. (in very very wet Leeds) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Deadline looming
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Morning Geoff, Just a reminder that the QL Today deadline is just a week away. Oh dear ! We have quite a bit of copy over from the last issue, but not enough for a full magazine. More welcome. Not sure if I'll have much for you - still in the process of moving house and most of my 'life' is currently residing in cardboard boxes all over the place. :o( You do have a small update to the last article on conversion to long from Ascii, and I might have an answer to George's comments (I have his email here at work) and Simon N Goodwin has contacted me also with an email (as yet unread) on the subject too. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] new hard disk
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: didn't it have 1 word, 2 bytes per sector: the file number in one byte ($f8 = sector map, $fd = free, $ff = dead) plus the block number within the file in the othe byte? I can't remember :o( Note tpp, every file fragmented of necessity by the interleave factor That begs the question of what one means by fragmented? I remember this. If I'm not mistaken the default interleave for floppies is three so when one bit of file has been read and processed the next bit *should* be arriving at the heads ready to be read. Now, a fragmented file will not have the 'next chunck' in the correct sectors as defined by the interleave, but will be elsewhere - hence, technically, fragmented. Simon N Goodwin (I thnk) did a fast loader as part of the DIY Toolkit (assuming that it was Simon) which allowed the changing of the interleave to speed up loading on faster systems. (Or something like that - note how accurate I'm being this morning!) would be passing the read head...did it take into account scatter[1] loading? Here we go again, scaning the Organic RAM for info that's not quite there, or may have parity errors, but : LOAD and SAVE load and saves files in order (ie SuperBasic files). SBYTES and LBYTES does the scatter loading. So the interleave is good for LOAD/SAVE but meaningless for SBYTES/LBYTES. (or is it the other way around?) I suspect I have got it right this time as a SuperBasic program being loaded would have each line parsed and tokenised whihc takes a bit of time. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] new hard disk
Morning Ade, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I must admit, I was assuming Sinclair had used 1024 byte blocks on his microdrives - I may need to be corrected on that. I suspect that 1024 is correct. Although, the freespace/total space numbers (on a DIR or STAT) was reported in sectors with a sector being 512 bytes if I remember correctly. I think each file had a 64 byte overhead on the first sector for the file header which was also the directory entry. However, having said that, I have never been able to read the 64 byte file header, or seen it, directly from the file - even though I've seen it written down that it can be done. I'm pretty sure I even used a disc sector editor program to check it out - still no joy. I remain to be convinced of the actual existense of this phantom 64 byte header per file actually 'in' the file. Stephen Usher's description of the perils of formatting is amongst the best I've ever seen. It's true that you can lose staggering amounts of disk space to a bad file format... Yes. I remember the old days when as you added a bigger disc to DOS/Windows, you didn't get as much extra space as you thought. The bigger the disc, the bigger the cluster size so the bigger your small files actually were in reality. This was due to FAT16 (the forerunner to FAT32) only having 16 bit numbers - so if you got too many MB on the new drive, it 'adjusted' the cluster size to allow the whole disc (subject to some other limit) into a 16 bit number. Very helpful indeed - not! However, I think anything in the 3 to 4 million microdrive equivalents will probably last most of us for a while yet (unlike a 400GB PC disk, which at current rates will be obsolete in 18 minutes and 23 seconds). Hmmm. I'm just wondering how long it would take to feed the afore mentions 3.x million cartridges into Dilwyn's Super Disc Indexer/Labeller program to catalogue the contents of them all. Let's see : * assume 30 seconds per scan (that's optimistic!) * assume 3.5 m illion cartridges. So, that's 1.75 million seconds, not including run up/run down and swapping over time. That works out at 29,166 minutes and 40 seconds. That is 486 hours, 6 minutes and 40 seconds or 20 days 6 hours 6 minutes and 40 seconds of continual time. That's a hell of a lot of cartridge labels too :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] new hard disk
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I must try and write a program to see just how many directories there are. Assuming Linux (because you mentioned it) how about : cd \ ls -Rl | grep ^d | wc -l I got 2,889 on a test system I have here at work - and that's not from the root of the drive. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Wiki
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The Yahoo! Search engine pick ups your QL wiki straight away ... whereas Google seems to struggle to find it. I don't know which definition of 'struggle' you are using Malcolm, the very first hit in the list from Google is Rich's QL Wiki. I simply searched for 'ql wiki' two words, no quotes - Google picked it first. That was yesterday though ! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Wiki
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The clue is in the help text: Link : [linkname|link|lang|description(title)] H. Where I come from, a list of OPTIONS is separated by a '|' symbol, hence my slight confusion. The above means (to me anyway) either a linkname or a link or a language or a description (and title). Ok, I admit the 'language' had be stumped though :o) try [Dilwyn Jones Site|http://www.dilwyn.uk6.net/tk/djtk.zip] Ok, I see you have changed it and it works. Thanks. What we need is a volunteer to change the css to make it more QL - like Well, I'm not the world's greatest CSS guru, but if there's anything I can help with, give me a shout and I'll see what I can do. I'm not sure what that will be though - we are moving house and I've got no idea how long I shall be without internet for :o( The new house doesn't have a BT line and I need one for my Demon broadband - and I'm not swapping that for anything, it's far too good! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Wiki
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: at the moment, it looks as though I should close down the QL wiki on my own site, as there have only been contributions by myself, Dilwyn and Jimmy. And me ! Check out DJToolkit on the Software page, plus DJC and Dilwyn Jones - I did all of those :o) (I'll bet Dilwyn goes strainght over when he reads that !) How many people are willing to contribute to these information resources by the way? I'll do some as and when I can - as usual. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Wiki
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: but not many people are coming forward to say which they would rather use !! I vote for Rich's new one over Wikipedia. We can keep it relevant and all we have to do is put an external link on the Wikipedia one at each and every available opportunity. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Wiki
Rich, I don't know why, but the link to Dilwyn's web site on the DJToolkit (software utility) page is trying to go to a page on the Wiki and not to an external link. I've looked at the help page - not very helpful at all I'm afraid - is there something better ? I like the page format you are using for software, very nice. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL, Spectrum, and PC
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Not if the rest of the spelling in your email is anything to go by!!! I suspect that I'll never be a wizard, I'm not very good at spelling! Cheers, Norman. PS. I just thought, Roy Wood and Wizard - I'll bet you've never heard that one before - so apologies, but it wasn't intentional. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] OPD Expired!
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm just a simple country lad but could I point out that the water in your radiators is most definitly NOT plastic The last time I drained down the system, it looked like plastic, I can assure you of that. Very nasty ! I suspect it had been in there from day one (of the house) and never had anything like a can of 'treatment' added to keep it 'nice'. I didn't taste it though :o) and will provided all the continuity you could ever wish for should you drop a live QL PSU into your bath instead of a plastic duck (;-) Speaking (typing) as one who has had the misfiortune (twice) to have been 'plugged in' to the mains while working on a device (I removed the plug and the workshop 'numptie' plugged it back in - even though there was a notice saying 'Norm at work, do not plug in !' The HS repercussions were worse than the 240V), I shall try to avoid dropping QL PSUs into my bath for two reasons that I can think of : (1) I would probably drop my book into the water as well and that would upset me (2) The power lead on my QL PSU is too short to reach :o) Still, I enjoyed your posting - it's good to see that I'm not the only one with a slightly warped sense of humour. Cheers, Norm. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] OPD Expired!
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Morning all, SNIP If, and only if a pin is bent, first ground yourself on a radiator then take a pair of fine pliers or tweezers (available from maplin) = if I might point out, my radiators (10 year old 'modern' house in th UK) have plastic pipes and are not connected to earth in any way. In fact, the entire water system in the house is plastic. Beware as not being earthed can be catastrophic. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Supercharge
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Morning Malcolm, Yes, it is one of those Digital Precision hard on the eyes productions :-) I think you probably mean one of those Digital Precision 'hard to photocopy' productions - Freddy was very very good at protecting his interests. All his manuals were on coloured paper that was, at least back then, very difficult to photo copy. I'm told, because I never actually tried, that they (a) come out all black with black text and (b) use up all your [employer's] toner ! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Hardware and software - new horizons
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Umm ... not the tick tock ... :-) Strange. Maybe your message too the long way around :o) I suspect there's some data in the message headers we can use to find out - but I'm not all that clued up on that part of emailing CD's / DVD's / Downloads / Magazines, etc ... all add to the total cost of ownership. Although it may not seem so obvious to the user. Of course they do - you should see my QL software collection, and all the magazines I have had or still do have (every issue of QL Toady). My wife dearly wants me to 'get rid of that mess' - aspecially as we will soon be moving house. On the other hand, I work as an Oracle DBA in my 'real life' - you should see how much 'stuff' I have for that ! Still, all a part of the fun ! Of course :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Need for Speed
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Have just got my Aldi computer setup - Dual core Pentium 2.8, 1 Gig ram, 250 Gig hard drive, and Windows Vista home Premium. By any chance Bill, do you have an Apple iPod? If so, DO NOT CONNECT IT TO VISTA. Sorry about shouting there but it appears that Apple have issued an edict about this very subject, Vista will, apparently, trash you iPod operating system in one way or another. There's a message somewhere on the Apple web site (or similar) - sorry I can be more specific than that. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] c68 guide for one who wants to know.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I see, so even though pth1_ seems to be a list of separate directories, it doesn't fully work like that, therefore if an application asks for where to look for it's data, you can't just use pth1_ expecting the application to see all the data even if you've setup pth1_ to point to all the places where that data should exist. Shame that ! Morning Neil, on Linux/Unix (and similarly in Win/DOS too) you do something like this : export PATH=folder_1:folder_2:folder_3:folder_etc That sets the PATH variable to hold a list of directories that you wish to use so that the system will find a program to execute when you say something like @ myProg param_1 param_2 Param_etc If the executable for 'myProg' is on one of the directories held in the PATH variable, then the OS will find it and execute it. You can, in *nix do this : ls $PATH (The '$' de-references the variable and uses the contents) but that doesn't give you a directory listing of each directory in the PATH variable, it simply lists the various directories (well, it does here !). The PATH variable isnt used when opening a file, if I try to edit a file that is in a directory on my PATH, then it fails to open because it is not in the current directory (that I have cd'd to). The PTH driver is similar to PATH on *nix. Use it for finding and execution binaries, not for opening files, directory listings or saving datat files. HTH Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] c68 guide for one who wants to know.
Dave Walker wrote: In terms of using quotes around the filename, I get into the habit of doing this as it allows for characters that would not be valid if used without quotes. If you put quotes around the file names etc in S*Basic you are effectively defining a string variable. If you leave the quotes off, it becomes a NAME and goes into the name list. This can lead to problems if you ever want to change the letter case of a file, for example, and don't use quotes. The name version will be used and give you back the original capitalisation. You can see this beautifully in a S*Basic listing : DEF PROC ABCdef ... END DEF abcdef At the END DEF, the 'abcdef' will be changed to 'ABCdef'. (I think the above is correct - my organic RAM is failing these days !) Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Programming question
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One more question, anyone tried to develop QL apps on PC? For example have you tried Easy68k? Currently I'm using macroassembler AS (by Alfred Arnold). Spookily enopugh, I donloaded Easy68K just two days ago. Haven't had a chance to do anything with it though. It looks like a 'generic' 68K simulator - I wonder if SMSQE would run on it :o) (I expect not - too many hardware problems no doubt). Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Programming question
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Jan, I also found fabulous source of documentation in QDOS Internals page. Greets to author. And greets to you to. Unfortunately, QDOS Internals (as featured in Linux Format magazine number 87 I think!) is far from finished. :o( One day soon, I hope to do more work on it. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL hardware and stuff
Morning all, True, many articles in QL Today which demonstrate programming techniques etc. are scattered throughout it's 11 volumes. I believe that all of these still exist in electronic form so maybe there is some possible mileage in gathering all of the articles of each series together and either printing them off as a single volume or putting them on a CD as PDF files. I have no idea how much work this would be but it would be work so there would have to be a charge. Nevertheless it would be worthwhile if it got some people writing software again. well, having converted almost all of my Assembly Language tutorials - some of then accurate - to DocBook XML, converted that to pdf and HTML, I can honestly say that it is a fair bit of work going from text to xml. However, the recent QL Toady CD with the docs etc on it had copies of my series plus my conversion of an (Amiga based?) MC68000 processor instructions. If anyone wany a copy of same (in zipped format) please contact me at Norman (at) Dunbar (hyphen) IT (dot) co (dot) uk with a self addressed email (!) and I'll attempt to send a copy back in return. *** If that's ok with the editors of QL Today of course. *** Having said that, any work I produce for the QL and derivatives whether programming or documentation is free and can be used and abused by anyone. It is also entirely possible that Dilwyn has the above mentioned docs on hiw web site. I must check !! Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL hardware and stuff
PS. With regards to how much work it is to convert an article to pdf, for example, see my write up in a recent QL Today. Copies available from me too. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Hardware and software - new horizons
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Quite informative to see the SMSQ/E registrar shed some light on his attitude regarding the importance of native OS support for TCP/IP and ethernet. And a confirmation that I'd only get reasonable opportunities for major QL hardware again, if the slow and painful route of a free QL OS is taken first. Steady Peter, steady :o) I didn't read it that way. Talking (typing?) from not a lot of experience on the matter, the way I see it is this : There has been much talk of TCP running natively on the QL (of whichever variant) but after a flurry of initial development, silence! At present I have absolutely no idea what the current status of said project is - is it still viable, defunct, abandoned, or what - do you know ? Now, before any accusations/flames come flying in about those comments, I am not starting any flame wars here. I've developed software, commercial and otherwise, for the QL for many years (ok, not as much recently) and written articles for QL Review, QL Toady and IQLR magazines for more years that I care to remember and I *know* how disheartening it can be when you either lose interest or motivation in a project, or worse, cannot find the time. I have a number of projects on my hard drive that have stalled - Printermaster 2 (although Dilwyn has the source somewhere and I've given permission to distribute it if wanted) a PE version of Dilwyn's Printer Master software, ARSE (!) the ARchive Syntax Evaluator whihc was a 'compiler' project to read in Archive PRO and PRG(?) files, and screens, and convert them to something that DBAS could use (or it might have been Data Design - I forget!). I've even got a blank repository on SourceForge for my cross platform QStripper app, I just have not had the time to upload the current version. Plus my QDOS Internals web site is way behind on updates - need I go on. It's not easy enjoying writing software for a 'hobby' computer :o( Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
