[ql-users] ED Disks
By the way. I have also just acquired about 13 boxes of brand new IBM ED disks in sealed plastic disk boxes of 10 if anyone needs them. The last of the stock I could find. -- Roy Wood Q Branch, 20 Locks Hill Portslade. Sussex. BN41 2LB. UK Tel : +44 (0)1273 386030 Fax : +44 (0)1273 430501 (New number!) Mobile +44(0)7836 745501 Web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk
Re: [ql-users] Recent Acquisitions
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Norman Dunbar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes > >Nostalgia. >If it's in good nick, I might have it off you then ! All of the books are perfect as far as I can see but they do have that old book smell to them. I will send it to you. Regards Roy -- Roy Wood Q Branch, 20 Locks Hill Portslade. Sussex. BN41 2LB. UK Tel : +44 (0)1273 386030 Fax : +44 (0)1273 430501 (New number!) Mobile +44(0)7836 745501 Web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ Source...
P Witte wrote: > win1_iod_bim_dddb_keys - not found Yes, lacks in my current source tree, too, but I still have this from an old distribution (2.93. The whole iod_bim directory got retired with GD2). Only seems to be needed on gold cards and sdump. > win1_ee_qptr_keys - not found. Same as ptr_keys? Have that one, too. Consists of two line: ca.gtstr equ $116 ca.gtlin equ $118 The corresponding file is win1_keys_qlv though one has to change the ca.* to sb.* in the code. I only see a single source file referencing it, so it's better change it instead of creating this outdated keys file. > win1_sys_xut_data - not found (xut dir not there) Don't have that one, never needed it. The referencing ee_hxt_ directory seems to be a relict of the past. > win1_match_keys - not found > win1_qram_keys - not found (qram dir not there) The referencing files are (were?) part of QRAM and are not needed for SMSQ/E. Marcel
Re: [ql-users] [OT] Making business with Roy Wood
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tony Firshman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >>That is about all I am going to say on the subject you will all be >>pleased to hear. I am sure Peter has a whole different view on the >>subject and, after all, this is all very subjective. My main concern >>was always for the end user. I may have acted rashly at times and I may >>have not treated Peter very fairly in some people's eyes but he was >>willing to wash his hands of the whole episode at a very early stage >>and I am sure that Tony Firshman has the email in which he said this. I >>deleted them all . >What email was this exactly and when. I do have them all. Can't remember when but I recall him saying this had made the whole thing go sour on him and he wanted nothing more to do with it. -- Roy Wood Q Branch, 20 Locks Hill Portslade. Sussex. BN41 2LB. UK Tel : +44 (0)1273 386030 Fax : +44 (0)1273 430501 (New number!) Mobile +44(0)7836 745501 Web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk
Re: [ql-users] [OT] Making business with Roy Wood
>The Q60 is a success, no two ways about that. The entire first batch >is almost sold out from what Dennis and Derek told me, so we are >probably better off getting all of this off our chests then forgetting >about it and see the positives to come out of it, namely that Peter >and D & D Systems have a good product which seems to be selling well. >The loan Q60 I had from D&D for a while has now gone back to them and >I shall miss it. Brilliant piece of kit. Although I didn't get time to >use it as much as I'd have liked while it was here, I did use it >enough to know that it never once crashed (apart from my programming >mistakes), was wonderfully fast to use and had some nice software on >it - preinstalled commercial quality software being a bit of a new >idea on QL-compatibles. I have no intention of rubbishing any of the product and I wish D&D all the success possible,. I am glad to see new platforms happening. I only raised my problems with Peter because it was beginning to appear that he was the martyr being nailed to the cross of the SMSQ licence deal and I was not going to let us all be cast in a bad light because of it. >Accordingly, by all means get this off your chests lads, but don't >forget also that the Q60 is such a wonderful system when you actually >get to use it! My reply was an open and frank statement of what happened between us. I suspect we both wound each other up and I fully admit that, because he decided to take me to court for a ridiculously small amount of money that I would have given him had he been even slightly civil about it ( one of the Q40s that Tony supplied him with at the end of the deal did not work so he sent it back and accused me of trying cheat him again), I made him go through the whole hoop before paying him. No I won't take him to court for libel although I should. As far as I am concerned it is all closed. By the way D&D apply to be SMSQ resellers because you do need to do that. -- Roy Wood Q Branch, 20 Locks Hill Portslade. Sussex. BN41 2LB. UK Tel : +44 (0)1273 386030 Fax : +44 (0)1273 430501 (New number!) Mobile +44(0)7836 745501 Web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ Source...
Norman, The following include files referenced in the code appear to be missing also (or perhaps just renamed?) win1_iod_bim_dddb_keys - not found win1_ee_qptr_keys - not found. Same as ptr_keys? win1_sys_xut_data - not found (xut dir not there) win1_match_keys - not found win1_qram_keys - not found (qram dir not there) Per - Original Message - From: "Norman Dunbar" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 10:19 AM Subject: RE: [ql-users] SMSQ Source... > > Marcel, > > thanks ! > > They get a mention in Tony's 'list of directories' file, so I assumed that > they should exist. > Not to worry. > > Regards, > Norman. > > - > Norman Dunbar > Database/Unix administrator > Lynx Financial Systems Ltd. > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tel: 0113 289 6265 > Fax: 0113 289 3146 > URL: http://www.Lynx-FS.com > - > > > -Original Message- > From: Marcel Kilgus [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2002 5:06 PM > To: ql-users > Subject: Re: [ql-users] SMSQ Source... > > > > Norman Dunbar wrote: > > win1_iod_con2_8 > > win1_iod_con2_qxl8 > > win1_iod_con2_gold8 > > > win1_dv3_atari_fdold > > > win1_dv3_ram > > win1_dv3_milan > > They don't exist. At least not to my knowledge... > > Marcel > This email is intended only for the use of the addressees named above and > may be confidential or legally privileged. If you are not an addressee you > must not read it and must not use any information contained in it, nor copy > it, nor inform any person other than Lynx Financial Systems or the > addressees of its existence or contents. If you have received this email > and are not a named addressee, please delete it and notify the Lynx > Financial Systems IT Department on 0113 2892990.
Re: [ql-users] QL Pawn
Dilwyn Jones wrote: >>This sounds very much like the protection on Paraoh (right name?) - >> > where > >>you had to navigate through a purple(ish) maze with egyptian style >> > music in > >>the background, avoiding naties like snakes. A bit of code was >> > loaded from > >>a hidden file (the directory had to be changed before it could be >> > loaded, > >>and changed again afterwards to rehide it) into the base of the >> > screen > >>memory ($2) where upon it was called. >> > This sounds like the system used in the old Sinclair Production Kit, > protected fast load basic programs, with some code held in hidden > files. In older versions, the file was called no name (i.e. FLP1_) but > when subdirectories were 'invented' this got changed to a single space > "FLP1_ " which you often couldn't see as it was the last file on the > cartridge so you didn't notice the filename. The visible code file (well, for Pharoah anyway) contained the object code encrypted and the hidden file contained a simple bit of code to decrypt (look out DMCA...) the program/data. If I had the time... > Some software didn't have copy protection as such and was simple > written to run from specific addresses. OK on a 128KB QL then on > expanded memory systems the code wasn't where it expected to be and > BANG! when you tried to call or execute it. Hence the 'addr=RESPR(RESPR(0)-)' that some proggies used to try and ensure they got their correct address...I vaguely remember some program that actually absolute-a-dized itself at run time (I think it had a table of offsets that stored offsets that were added to the base address of the job and replaced) - the mark II of the absolute program. > If you can find copies of 4Matter and Locksmithe from Zitasoft, these > had facilities to remove protection on some of these types of > protection. Sadly, they also would only work on certain QL systems (I > used to have a copy in DJC days which would not run on a Gold Card > system). > > Several people have over the years managed to bypass this copy > protection method and create disk based copies and so on. Not wanting > to be a killjoy, remember that many old QL programs are still > copyrighted and shouldn't be copied without permission. As far as I > know, there's no harm though in producing programs which patch the > originals to run on modern systems though. > > -- > Dilwyn Jones > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.soft.net.uk/dj/index.html
Re: [ql-users] QL Pawn
> This sounds very much like the protection on Paraoh (right name?) - where > you had to navigate through a purple(ish) maze with egyptian style music in > the background, avoiding naties like snakes. A bit of code was loaded from > a hidden file (the directory had to be changed before it could be loaded, > and changed again afterwards to rehide it) into the base of the screen > memory ($2) where upon it was called. This sounds like the system used in the old Sinclair Production Kit, protected fast load basic programs, with some code held in hidden files. In older versions, the file was called no name (i.e. FLP1_) but when subdirectories were 'invented' this got changed to a single space "FLP1_ " which you often couldn't see as it was the last file on the cartridge so you didn't notice the filename. Some software didn't have copy protection as such and was simple written to run from specific addresses. OK on a 128KB QL then on expanded memory systems the code wasn't where it expected to be and BANG! when you tried to call or execute it. If you can find copies of 4Matter and Locksmithe from Zitasoft, these had facilities to remove protection on some of these types of protection. Sadly, they also would only work on certain QL systems (I used to have a copy in DJC days which would not run on a Gold Card system). Several people have over the years managed to bypass this copy protection method and create disk based copies and so on. Not wanting to be a killjoy, remember that many old QL programs are still copyrighted and shouldn't be copied without permission. As far as I know, there's no harm though in producing programs which patch the originals to run on modern systems though. -- Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.soft.net.uk/dj/index.html
Re: [ql-users] [OT] Making business with Roy Wood
> Well that was an interesting tirade. I have no intention of going into a > lengthy discussion of this in deference to those of you who have become > as heartily sick of the whole thing now as I was in trying to deal with > Peter in the first place. I do feel, and I apologise in advance here > that there are a few inaccuracies that should be stated. I will keep > this as brief and blame free as I can. It's obvious there's some unhappiness on both sides of this. The Q40 is dead, long live the Q60. The Q60 is a success, no two ways about that. The entire first batch is almost sold out from what Dennis and Derek told me, so we are probably better off getting all of this off our chests then forgetting about it and see the positives to come out of it, namely that Peter and D & D Systems have a good product which seems to be selling well. The loan Q60 I had from D&D for a while has now gone back to them and I shall miss it. Brilliant piece of kit. Although I didn't get time to use it as much as I'd have liked while it was here, I did use it enough to know that it never once crashed (apart from my programming mistakes), was wonderfully fast to use and had some nice software on it - preinstalled commercial quality software being a bit of a new idea on QL-compatibles. I realise I'm changing the topic here a bit, but please believe me, whatever may have happened between you in Q40 days, the Q60 deserves to do well (I can't see how it can fail) because as far as I can see the concept is good, and between them Peter and D&D seem to have such a good product on their hands. Accordingly, by all means get this off your chests lads, but don't forget also that the Q60 is such a wonderful system when you actually get to use it! -- Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.soft.net.uk/dj/index.html
Re: [ql-users] QL Pawn
In a message dated 01/07/02 00:16:18 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Dave Walker wrote: > Rich, > > I once looked into this. The copy protection itself is easy enough to > break - if I remember correctly it was based on reading some hidden > sectors from the microdrive. The issue was that it had to be read into > a specific address in memory and executed from there - and the address > in question only seemed to work on an unexpanded QL. This sounds very much like the protection on Paraoh (right name?) - where you had to navigate through a purple(ish) maze with egyptian style music in the background, avoiding naties like snakes. A bit of code was loaded from a hidden file (the directory had to be changed before it could be loaded, and changed again afterwards to rehide it) into the base of the screen memory ($2) where upon it was called. If anyone has managed to get Pharoah to run from disk without being memory location specific, please send me a copy as I have the rights to sell it again!! I have tried, and failed miserably. Maybe Ergon could provide the source for the program they wrote to overcome the problems with Psion Chess being location specific (Davide??) Psion Chess _WAS_ position dependent and the boot program RESPR'd lots of memory to get the right address - if my memory serce me right it used the same protection method (seactor header) as The Pawn... > I might have to > dig out my copy and see (assuming it still works) whether anything > better can be done. It loads as a RESPR (a=RESPR(001024):LBYTES mdv1__,a:call a) and it uses the cartridge random ID number from the header of each sector (got via vector 12A). If the ID on the key cartridge matches the required number, it then continues with the boot program (OPEN_IN#3,"mdv1_ ":FLRUN) - if the ID didn't match it reset the machine. The code loaded (mdv1__) contains the code for FBOOT, FSAVE and FLRUN. It's very easy to break...a little modification to the check (2 m/c instructions) will suffice - I can dig out the details of a change, if you want. That bit is dead easy to overcome yes, and for a while I had the main program for QL Pawn loading off disk - the problem was the data microdrive if I recall this correctly - bits of the adventure were loaded from specific microdrive sectors methinks!! Rich Mellor RWAP Software 7 Common Road, Kinsley, Pontefract, West Yorkshire, WF9 5JR TEL: 01977 614299 http://hometown.aol.co.uk/rwapsoftware
RE: [ql-users] Recent Acquisitions
Nostalgia. If it's in good nick, I might have it off you then ! Regards, Norman. - Norman Dunbar Database/Unix administrator Lynx Financial Systems Ltd. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 0113 289 6265 Fax: 0113 289 3146 URL: http://www.Lynx-FS.com - -Original Message- From: Roy Wood [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, June 28, 2002 10:54 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ql-users] Recent Acquisitions In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Norman Dunbar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes > >You didn't get a 'Spectrum ROM disassembly' by Dr Ian Logan by any chance >did you ? Yup - why ? This email is intended only for the use of the addressees named above and may be confidential or legally privileged. If you are not an addressee you must not read it and must not use any information contained in it, nor copy it, nor inform any person other than Lynx Financial Systems or the addressees of its existence or contents. If you have received this email and are not a named addressee, please delete it and notify the Lynx Financial Systems IT Department on 0113 2892990.
RE: [ql-users] SMSQ Source...
Marcel, thanks ! They get a mention in Tony's 'list of directories' file, so I assumed that they should exist. Not to worry. Regards, Norman. - Norman Dunbar Database/Unix administrator Lynx Financial Systems Ltd. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Tel: 0113 289 6265 Fax: 0113 289 3146 URL: http://www.Lynx-FS.com - -Original Message- From: Marcel Kilgus [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2002 5:06 PM To: ql-users Subject: Re: [ql-users] SMSQ Source... Norman Dunbar wrote: > win1_iod_con2_8 > win1_iod_con2_qxl8 > win1_iod_con2_gold8 > win1_dv3_atari_fdold > win1_dv3_ram > win1_dv3_milan They don't exist. At least not to my knowledge... Marcel This email is intended only for the use of the addressees named above and may be confidential or legally privileged. If you are not an addressee you must not read it and must not use any information contained in it, nor copy it, nor inform any person other than Lynx Financial Systems or the addressees of its existence or contents. If you have received this email and are not a named addressee, please delete it and notify the Lynx Financial Systems IT Department on 0113 2892990.
Re: [ql-users] [OT] Making business with Roy Wood
On Sun, 30 Jun 2002 at 23:19:06, Roy Wood wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) > >Well that was an interesting tirade. I have no intention of going into >a lengthy discussion of this in deference to those of you who have >become as heartily sick of the whole thing now as I was in trying to >deal with Peter in the first place. I do feel, and I apologise in >advance here that there are a few inaccuracies that should be stated. I >will keep this as brief and blame free as I can. I too hesitate to join this, but I can't see I can avoid it. > > >In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Peter >Graf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes >>I will not explain here all the lengthy details how much effort and >>prefinancing it required until I could find any commitment from established >>QL traders in the production. I found only vague forms of interest, nothing >>I could count on, although I had written software to show that the hardware >>works, and several operating systems were under construction. Suddenly after >>Tony Tebby had already finished a running SMSQ/E, financed by me, >>at my own risk, and Tony Tebby expressed his enthusiasm for my development, >>I had the surprise to read in the public, that Qbranch and TF Services >>had made a decision towards Q40 production. I am puzzled by this. Right up to the point of my production decision, Peter and I were negotiating by email. Quite a few times I wanted to pull out, but Roy kept me on the hook. I don't know if Peter ever knew this. QUOTE (23 Aug 98 email from PG to me) Roy Wood has signaled he is willing to help me organizing the production, but I fear this could become a heavy burden for him because of his lack of hardware knowledge. It could also become a bit difficult for me, if I am involved in explaining hardware production issues, looking for the right components, testing, doing repairs and so on. Now here comes my idea: Why not ask Tony Firshman if he is interested in producing the Q40? Obviously this would also mean the right to sell it. I have not talked to Roy about this idea yet, because I want to see if you are interested at all. If your answer is Yes, I would like to talk to him first before we go into the details. ENDQUOTE The decision between Roy, Peter and I came after long and protracted discussions between me and Peter following this initial email. Up to then I knew nothing about the Q40, and had not even seen it or Peter, other than from a distance at Eindhoven. There had never been any private arrangements with Roy up to this point. >I expressed directly to Peter at an Eindhoven meeting, long before any >mention of development of SMSQ/E for the Q40, my wish to sell the >machine for him. My offer was, if I recall correctly (and it was a long >time ago) to sell the finished working boards. I would never have >offered to make them because I lack the knowledge and experience to do >so. It was Stuart Honeyball, who had been looking at the boards for >Peter, who suggested that I would build them and finance the whole >deal. I was informed of this at an Indian restaurant prior to a QL show >in Nottingham. Those present included Jochen, Tony Firshman, and D&D >who were organising the show. It was Tony who came up to me and said >'Did you know that you were financing and building the Q40 - Stuart >says it should only cost around 10 grand'. I remember this very clearly >because it was a bit of a shock. I talked Tony into coming on board >because I knew I could not build them. As Roy says it is a long time ago, and I really cannot remember the details at all - at least this part of it. >> >>My objective was a coordinated effort to cut costs by finding cheap >>sources. I estimated, that with quantity discounts for 50 boards, and >>someone who has access to larger parts distributors, DM 350 costs could >>be reached. I proposed 70% profit for the trader and DM 150 licensing fee >>for me, which gives a retail price of DM 745. The license fee was originally >>supposed to finance my development costs, but back then I already had >>expenses that could not be covered by this licence fee from 50 boards. >>I clearly stated that my fee would rise rapidly with higher retail prices >>because that means less produced units. As a trader, Roy Wood should >>know that my profit is not turnover (my fee), but turnover less expenses. >I am not too sure what this sentence is saying but Tony and I would >have been glad to see 70% profit. As it was we could not find parts at >a price to match Peter's and we argued for a long time about the costs >and end sale price. During the argument Tony said on more than one >occasion that he would quit and I had to talk him into staying on >board. Cheap sources = 'pulls' i.e. second hand parts. I was very >unhappy about using second hand processors and even more unhappy about >only getting 20 of them up front I was therefore willing to buy 50 new >ones from one of my Super Gold Card sources. This would, at the very >least, have guaranteed 50 identi
