*********************
QL
CLUB
INTERNATIONAL
*********************
ISSUE 101
JULY 1997
[All addresses and phone numbers snipped for security reasons]
EMAIL.106114,710 COMPUSERVE.COM
MIKEKENNEALLY1@COMPUSERVE.COM
ALL SOFTWARE SENT TO THE CLUB IS ASSUMED TO BE PD UNLESS
OTHERWISE STATED AND WILL BE TREATED AS SUCH.
QXL2 WITH A PACKARD BELL ATTACHMENT
2XQL'S,1X3.5 DISC DRIVES,TRUMPCARD,CANON BJ4100 COLOUR
PRINTER.TRUST A4 SCANNER.
HI EVERYONE,
BEFORE I GO ANY FURTHER JUST A LITTLE MOAN ON MY
PART.WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE FOR EVERYONE(EXCEPT THOSE WHO
E-MAIL THEIR LETTERS)1.TO USE THE SAME FORMAT IN SAVING THEIR
CONTRIBUTIONS ie.QL102_DOC FOR THE NEXT NEWSLETTER AND QL103
AND SO ON FOR THE REST?THIS WILL SAVE ME TIME IN HAVING TO
CHECK YOUR DISCS TO SEE WHAT HEADING YOU HAVE SAVED IT UNDER.
2.COULD YOU ALL PLEASE SET YOUR MARGINS TO LEFT
5,INDENT 1,RIGHT 7.(EXCEPT E-MAILERS OF COURSE)
IT APPEARS AS IF WE ARE QUIET FOR PROGS THIS MONTH,BUT
EVEN I CANNOT EXPECT MIRACLES.MAYBE NEXT MONTH.
I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS
LAST MONTH,IT MADE OUR APPEARANCE ON THE COVER OF QL TODAY
ALL THE MORE INTERESTING.
AS YOU CAN SEE I NOW HAVE A SCANNER,IF ANY OF YOU WOULD
LIKE ANYTHING SCANNED IN ALMOST ANY FORMAT SEND IT TO ME AND
I SHALL SEE WHAT I CAN DO.
YES DENNIS,DID YOU SET THE CAT AMONGST THE PIGEONS THIS
TIME!BUT I WILL LEAVE MY COMMENTS TIL LATER,WHEN I HAVE READ
THE OTHERS.
AS I HAVE SAID BEFORE,I CAN SEE BOTH SIDES OF THIS
ARGUMENT.ON THE ONE HAND THE PROGRAMS THAT ARE BEING WRITTEN TODAY
HAVE MAINLY THE SMSQ/E SYSTEM IN MIND,A SHAME BUT THERE IT IS.BUT
IT MUST ALSO WORK ON OTHER SET-UPS OR THE PROFIT MARGIN IS VERY
SMALL,AS IT BECOMES A NICHE MARKET.
I ONLY WISH ALL QL USERS COULD AFFORD TO UPGRADE TO A SYSTEM
WHICH IS THEIR IDEAL,BUT ALAS THIS IS NOT SO.UNLESS DENNIS WINS
THE LOTTERY AND HE FINANCES EVERYONES UPGRADE.
LET ME RE-ITERATE,THIS IS A MAGAZINE FOR ALL QL USERS
REGARDLESS OF THEIR SET-UP,INCLUDING MICRODRIVE USERS,A LITTLE
DIFFICULT THESE DAYS FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS,BUT IT WOULD BE DONE
SOMEHOW,EVEN IF IT MEANT SECTIONING THE NEWSLETTER.
DON'T FORGET NEXT MONTH,I AM AWAY SO ALL YOUR LETTERS SHOULD
GO TO GRAHAM LUTZ,THIS IS GOING TO BE A CULTURE SHOCK TO YOU WHO
E-MAIL ME,AS IT MEANS USING THE HUMBLE DISC AGAIN.BUT WE ARE BACK
TO NORMAL THE MONTH AFTER.
MIKE.
#! John Southern Email :tarragon@dircon.co.uk
tarragon@cix.compulink.co.uk 1 Aug 1997 Main setup
:-Aurora, Super GoldCard QL, I2C, sH, 33600 modem, ED drives,
840Mb HD, Trackerball, HP500C printer
Dear All, Well it is that time again. Now that ClubQL has
been on the cover of QL Today and asked about in the qlusers
mailing list will we get any more members ?
I DON'T KNOW JOHN,NOT YET HAVING RECIEVED MY COPY,I SHALL
HAVE TO E-MAIL HIM TO REMIND HIM TO SEND IT ME.
I suppose I had better start with the overwhelming impression
I got from #100 with the following
Richard :- so you are back in the land of the living ? What
has been happening ? Have you got a fixed Email address yet ?
And next.... Dennis how patronising can you be
! Are you saying that if you cannot afford to keep up with the
latest versions of both hardware and software then you are not
welcome in the QL world ? Are you saying that if to solve a
problem you have to buy the latest, fastest, release on anything
then this should be done rather than thinking and being able to do
it by another method ? If so then I assume you will be selling
your QL's ( I'll buy ) to fund the purchase of a new DEC alpha or
Silicon G's Oxygene. You said the correct answer was to use SMSQ/E
( this is for porting over from MS-DOS disks ). Does that assume
it is the absolute correct answer or just one of a set. Surely the
correct answer was to read what the questioners equipment was and
solve it easily for him as opposed to what you do. Listing what
you do is correct in the way it is useful and others may learn but
that assumes you know best. At the time version 2.85 of SMSQ/E was
not out so there was problems that you did not mention. Of course
I may be wrong and a lone minority, there again others may speak.
It did I am sure make people think though.
Some did not write last time for the reason that it was going
to be on the cover of QL Today. Hopefully they will be back. We
have always had the policy ( As far as I know and until I am told
differently ) that we could pass on copies of ClubQL to anyone.
How do other members feel about this. Spike has the ability to
put up copies on the WWW but will only do so after removing
personal data such as addresses as this is not a good idea as the
www is accessable to all the lunatics in the world. Should this
be done ?
I FOR ONE SAY YES,LET EVERYONE KNOW JUST HOW GOOD SOME OF OUR
MEMBERS ARE!
Darren :- Good luck with the Irish show. Sadley it is timed
to fall at the most expensive weekend in holiday travel so I will
not be bringing Colin, Alison and Diana. Maybe next year.
Colin :- Sorry to hear about your problems with setting up
QPAC2 on a QXL. Just what are the problems ?
Terry :- Okay 'Q' how about a foot control for the cursors.
Using the CTRL port on a standard QL this is quite straight
forward. Mine broke after a few hours so I think it needs to be
quite strongly made. Five wires from the port. One for each arrow
key and the GND ( the space I suppose could be used but where ? )
Dilwyn :- Sorry I will eventually stop laughing about your PC
problems. Try building a system from scratch these days. DOS is
getting hard to find and Windows '95 is sold nearly everywhere as
an upgrade from Windows, yet Windows is now nearly taken off the
market. Still Windows '98 and a new NT are only around the corner
I am sure ;-) What keyboard are you using on the DiRen interface ?
I have found quite a lot do not work. The Black 'All Black'
keyboard that I like so much fails. An Alps Black natural
keyboard gives keyboard errors every 100 or so characters ( mainly
repeat characters ) and two Dell and one HP keyboards fail but an
Apricot and IBM work wonderfully. The HP First fax back service is
wonderful as it allows you to test QFAX software for free !
Dennis :- Okay project two the FaxeQL is working, Project
four I bought and works ( fitted a power socket into the box so no
trailing cable attached ), Project one I want and what was project
three ?
Ken :- the Syquest IDE drive is available in the states.
Graham :- The ASCII diagram sort of came out okay on the
QLToday issue except the last part got confused. Could you
describe in words ?
Mike :- Who doctored Dennis's letter on the QLToday issue as
opposed to those sent out by post ?
DILWYN AND JOCHEN.
John. ------- GCv3.1 GS/B$ d++ s+++: a C++++ U* E+ W- N++ K
w--- O- M++ PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5+++ X++ R+/++ tv b++++ D G++ e++
h++/h---- r+++ y++++ -------
FROM:Jones,Dilwyn, INTERNET:dilwyn.jones@bbc.co.uk TO:MIKE
KENNEALLY, MIKEKENNEALLY1 DATE:08/08/97 08:11
Re:cover disk
I dropped a clanger with the QL Today cover disk 2 recently,
by missing a bug which ensured the disk would only start up in
SMSQ or Minerva mode, bad luck JM/JS etc users. Here's an email
from Ivan Dixon explaining how to fix the problem. I must have
only run the boot program on my QXL and forgot to run it on a
QL.
Hi,
Just recieved the latest issue, and very interesting it is
too.
There is a small bug in the control program on the cover
disk. If you press F4, you get "at 1890 bad line". Turns out
that is because it says 1890 FOR num%... That may work in SBASIC,
I don't know, but SuperBasic won't have it. If you change num%
to num on lines 1890, 1900, and 1910, the program works fine.
Haven't had time to experiment with it yet, but delighted to
see the disk includes JPEG, that's something I've wanted for some
time.
Ivan, alias I.M.Dixon@exeter.ac.uk (external), alias IDixon
(local), alias ivandixon@gn.apc.org (GreenNet)
*!
Martin Wheatley
martinw@ndirect.co.uk
QL, SuperQboard, Twin Disc Drives, Green Screen Monitor
Mersey Mouse, PC running Xchange
Hi everyone
Thanks to those who made suggestions to me about getting
files from QL to PC but it wasn't actually me who asked (I know
as much as I need to know on that subject!). The sequence of
events was as follows Someone (I can't remember who) asked about
transferring files. Dennis Smith then said 'Use SMSQ'. I then
said that this wasn't the way we usually did things on ClubQL
since there were some us who didn't want to or couldn't afford to
upgrade. Dennis then in the last newsletter launched what in
Internet terms would be called a flame and in non-Internet terms
could be called an over-the-top response which since it was
addressed directly at me was also a personal attack. In my comment
I specifically said that I was just using Dennis's comment as an
example and that it wasn't specifically aimed at him.
This was especially annoying since all I was doing was
repeating what has always been the policy of this newletter mand
which has been said many times before without any previous
controversy
Dennis as a relative newcomer to this newsletter is obviously
unaware of the circumstances of it's founding. Club QL was
founded SPECIFICALLY to help people who were not at the cutting
edge of QL technology. People were getting very frustrated at
asking perfectly reasonable questions to places like QL World and
Quanta and getting told to upgrade as the only response. This
attitude has been responsible for more people leaving the QL
community than anything else - all people want is a little
friendly advice and that is what we have tried to provide.
People who have equipment (yes, even unexpanded QLs - we have had
them)(WE STILL DO,MIKE) just want to know how to use what they
have as best they can which I do not think is at all unreasonable.
There has always been a place on ClubQL for people who are very
knowledgable and who want to talk about cutting edge things but
they do have to understand that this newsletter is not just for them but
for everyone and if they don't like talking to people who
are less technologically endowed than themselves then they are
probably in the wrong place. One person who had a letter in QL100
came to here because he found a QL in a car boot sale - it had no
progs or anything. He advertised for help and was referred here.
He was interested in computers generally and just wanted to play
around with it a bit. Were we to turn him away because he didn't
have SMSQ? I think that's the sort of person we need more of in
the QL world. We try to help everyone at the level that they
want. That is what we are about and if you aren't comfortable
about that then that is something you have to deal with not us -
we've been here for 100 issues doing this.
Two other aspects must be addressed. What position people's
finances are in and their spending priorities and the amount of
money they chose to spend or not spend on their QL or computing
generally is purely their own business and should not be the
subject for aggressive criticism in a newsletter like this.
That was out of order
Secondly your clinching argument seemed to be that I had a
PC!!! Shock horror. Well it may come as great shock to you but
most people on this newsletter have a PC! Again it may come as
a surprise but most employers don't use QLs and we have to live
in the real world. I have a PC for the same reason most people
here do. I came into contact with one at work and felt it was in
my interest to learn more about them. My PC was bought second-hand
a number of years ago at a time when I had more to spend than I do
now and at a time when most of the current QL add-ons were not
available in a finished form. Once bought however it was an
investment that could not just be slung away to sooth purist
standards. It's a matter of using what you have rather than what
is best. That's real life in a money-limited situation
I use PC Xchange which is a PC port of the QL Psion Suite. I
have a QL software emulator on my PC. I have a QL. By
everyone else's standards that qualifies me to be here.
AND WELCOME YOU HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MARTIN.
Can I respectfully suggest that you remember that QL
computing is a hobby not a religion and lighten up a bit
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE LAST BIT MARTIN,I DO BOW DOWN BEFORE
IT!
Now I will repeat what has been the longterm policy of this
newsletter and I hope Mike will confirm that this is currently
still the case.
We welcome anyone who has any sort of set up that is vaguely
QL related. We try to help them with any problems they have. If
they want to upgrade we help them - if they don't that is fine
too. We tell them what is happening in the QL world. We try to
help them do whatever they want to do with what equipment they
have. That is why at the head of most people's letters is a list
of their equipment so we know at what level they want the answer.
Most of all we try not to be technically snobbish. It is an easy
tendency that creeps into the writing of all of us and because of
that every few issues someone (usually Mike or me) issues a
gentle reminder of newsletter policy. That is all I was doing.
It can sound like I am being pompous when saying these things but
someone has to and I'm reminding myself too!
The days of people having either an expanded or unexpanded QL
are long gone. The number of different setups are myriad. Amongst
the people who have Internet connnections here I don't think there
are two that have even slightly similar setups. We welcome ALL
of them
Over to you Mike
I TOTALLY AGREE MARTIN,AS YOU RIGHTLY SAY EVERY NOW AND AGAIN
WE DO NEED A SWIFT KICK UP THE KHYBER TO REMIND US.
John S mentioned making a disc image of Toolkit2 for use by
Jerry This prompts a question from me. Is it possible to make a
disc image of TK2 just using a standard QL with a SuperQBoard such
as I have? - what would the commands be? Why do i want it - see
the comments QLAY emulator later
John S asks
------------------------------------------------------
As a final note what is the copyright concerning the QL ROMs.
uQXL and the Mac emulator use JS ROM images so I assume that these
are now public domain, or at least freely copyable.
------------------------------------------------------
The QLAY emulator comes with disc images of JL and JM Roms so
either they are PD or someone is being careless!
Answering Dilwyn's PC comments (most of which we have dealt
with off the newsletter everyone will be relieved to know) Mike
said referring to PC helplines and manuals
-----------------------------------------------------------
THEY TAKE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS AND ADD IT TO THEIR MAILING
LIST.THEN THEY SELL YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS ONTO OTHER COMPUTER
COMPANIES,SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE.THEREBY MAKING THEIR MONEY THAT
WAY AND ALSO INTRODUCING YOU TO WHOLE LOT OF NEW BUMPH THAT SOME
TREE/FOREST HAS DIED FOR!
------------------------------------------------------------
It's much more extreme than that. Most computer companies
make far more from selling support than they do from selling the
actual computers! That's were all that guff in the Computer press
about the cost of owning a computer being several times the
purchase price comes from. Most big companies are paying out in
training, employing IT staff and paying support contracts
(effectively insurance) more every year than the actual costs of
the computers themselves
The manuals are an even worse Catch 22 situation. The
manuals for PC software (indeed all commercial software except
those only aimed at the games user) have to be just easy enough
for a computer-literate private user to figure out but not easy
enough for your average businessman to handle without
professional help. There are a great many IT professionals around
the world who depend on this for their jobs (not to mention the
many writers of 'How To' books). Those same IT pros make the
recommendations about things like upgrading so since turkeys don't
vote for Christmas the computer companies can't afford to produce
simpler manuals or they wouldn't sell anything! People who have
come into contact with IT professionals know that many of them
have as their primary objective the keeping of as much
information to themselves as possible so others can't erode their
powerbase in the company. I have a very spectacular example of
this from my time on the Railways which I won't bore you with
here. Naturally all members of this newsletter involved with
computers at work are honourable exceptions to this (Phew - John
might carry on talking to me now!)
Ken wrote rather puzzlingly
-------------------------------------------------------------
IOMEGA won't be selling IDE ZIP DRIVES directly to the
public.
You can't get hold of them unless you are a computer
manufacturer.
-------------------------------------------------------------
There are two sorts of Iomega Zip Drives. A SCSI one which
runs from a card in the computer (or if the motherboard has a
SCSI connector) amd these are usually the internally fitted
drives. Also there is the parallel port ones. These are
actually the SCSI ones with a plugged-in connector (plugged-in by
the maker not the user) which converts from SCSI to IDE. The
problm for the QL is that it is not straight IDE but a sub-set
called ATAPI. Most people with CD-ROMs on a PC will recognise
this because ATAPI is the standard for connecting IDE CD-ROMs to a
PC
In order to run an ATAPI device such as a zip drive or an IDE
CD-ROM from a Ql someone has to write an ATAPI driver and there is
currently no great rush of volunteers to do this
I know all the above because firstly I have a zip drive on my
Pc (and before I get castigated for spending money on this
rather than SMSQ let me say that it was given to me by an American
friend in exchange for some help I gave him - I did not buy it).
Secondly there has recently been a discussion on this matter in
an Internet newsletter that I see and I know the above info must
right because it came not from me but from Nasta - the fountain of
all knowledge on QL hardware!
Ken's list of types of QL related systems is not complete.
There is now a software PC Emulator called QLAY. At the moment
it is under construction - not finished and is available as a beta
on the Internet (for those who don't know a beta is a test
version released to the public for feedback - come to think of it
a concept not unknown to the early QL user although there it was
the finished version!). It works by using an image of the QL
ROM and images of microdrive cartridges containing the progs
(120k not 720k as I told john yesterday!) Images of disc drives
are to come as are things like printer access. Getting progs in
and out is still puzzling but no doubt I'll understand it
eventually - the writer's native language is not English and it
shows in the instructions or more probably I am just thick!
MAYBE YOU COULD GIVE US THE INTERNET ADDRESS FOR THOSE WHO
MAY WISH TO DOWNLOAD?
Spike wrote about the possibility of a ClubQL Web Page and
Mike replied
-------------------------------------------------------------
that it is possible to get Web pages for free, because I
know a few someones who have. And if it doesn't cost anything, it
can't hurt, can it? The way I'd do the web page thing is to
introduce everyone on ClubQL, and have maybe 5 back issues of
ClubQL on the page, updating it once a month by adding the new
issue and deleting the oldest one. (It doesn't HAVE to be
interactive. It just has to attract attention).
THERE YOU GO SPIKE,WELL VOLUNTEERED.WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR
EFFORTS WITH ANTICIPATION.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Hold on there Mike - it's not that simple. Firstly there is
no such thing as FREE Web space - it is part of the facilities of
a paid for account. It cannot just be taken for granted - it
belongs to somebody Someone has to have such space that they have
no possible use for and be prepared to make a longterm
commitment to let ClubQL use it (I have some space but also some
plans to go with it!)
The second point is that upload access to someone's Web space
requires the use of their password (normally the same password
that gives access to their e-mail). This password should not be
given out lightly. It therefore follows that in practice it
probably means whoever volunteers the space will also have to do
the uploading and administration. Someone else such as Spike or
me can of course write the page but that's the least of the snags!
SPIKE HAS DONE IT AS YOU WILL READ IN HIS LETTER,HE NOW HAS
TO GET TO GRIPS WITH HTML FOR THE PAGE.
Martin Wheatley
FROM:"Spike", INTERNET:u5a77@elec.keele.ac.uk
DATE:01/08/97 13:02
Re:Well... Here it is.... QL101
Andrew Halliwell
E-mail:- u5a77@uga.keele.ac.uk
u5a77@teach.cs.keele.ac.uk u5a77@elec.keele.ac.uk
spike1@cyberspace.org AND NOW... Ta-daaaaa....
clubql@geocities.com
Equipment: Standard trump card QL with Minerva 1.97, Enhanced
atr_dev Toolkit II, QubIDE 1.53, Various pointer thingummibobs, 24
pin DMPrinter, and a few ideas.....
Well... It's that time again. And now, the news.... First, a
quick warning to QubIDE users. In the past month, I've lost the
contents of my Hard disk twice. Both times my computer had run out
of memory before the event, even though the second time I'd
managed to release over 100K before resetting.... I've been in
contact with Phil (QubIDE) Borman, and he's at a loss to explain
it, but suggested I set my partitions for Checksumming mode. This
checks the map each time it is updated, and ensures no corruption.
If there is, an older backup map automagically replaces the new, corrupted
one. To do this, you use the CSUM command. e.g. CSUM 1,1
will switch checksumming for win1_ on, CSUM 2,1 for win2_,
etc.....
I'm going to check this over the weekend by FORCING my
computer to run out of memory, resetting the machine and seeing if
everything is infact intact, or if the "Not a QubIDE partition"
message comes up again....
If it DOES still cause a problem, I'm going to have to write
a small program that will beep when memory gets below say 50K,
just to be on the safe side.
Also from Phil, I got the following information, which might
be of particular interest to John (and other people wanting to
produce hardware projects for the QL that don't clash with
existing hardware.)
Fastnet uses addresses FB00 to FB03 for registers,
and FA00 to FAFF for transmit (no read/write line on the rom port,
so it transmits using the address lines) The rest of the space
from FB03 to FFFF is free for use.
You will have problems writing to a read-only port. Aurora
adds a read/write line, but apart from that you have to use nasty
tricks.
So, what this means is, the QL ,which I previously thought
had no address space free for such things as sound cards,
scanners, etc, does in fact still have quite enough for a lot of
things. The driver software would, however, have to be loaded into
RAM.
(This is all for the vanilla QL, without the added address
space of the SuperGold card of course....).
More news. Last time, someone suggested the possibility of a
ClubQL homepage on the internet, and I pointed out that it is
quite easy to get a free web page. This I have now done. The
address of this page, if you have internet access, is:
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4807/
At the moment, there's nothing special there. Just a comment
about me moving in the furniture, and a picture of a QL. Once I
get around to it, I'll do more. As it is for ClubQL though, any
suggestions on uses for the 2 Megs of memory the page has been
allocated? Ideas, flames, suggestions????
SEE DENNIS FOR YOUR FLAMES!
One thing that I suggested for the page was a few past
postings from CLubQL. However, one thing that I STRONGLY suggest
when I do that, is a slight amount of censorship. (No Mike, not
snipping rude bits), Our addresses and phone numbers should be
removed. I think E-mail addresses should remain however. The
reason for this is simple.
On usenet one of the unwritten (although I'm sure it IS
written in many places) rule is never EVER publish personal
details on usenet. It's a public forum, and anyone can pop in and
read what you post. The same goes for the World Wide Web. Any Tom,
Dick or Harriet can browse the internet, and ClubQL has always
published the systems we have. This is begging to be burgled.
Oh, and some news has just popped up on the ql-users e-mail
list.
(again) Hi happy QLers !
FileInfo II v3.00 (full english version) is available from my
Web site at:
http://www.imaginet.fr/~godefroy/english/donwload.html
Enjoy !
QDOS / SMS forever !
Thierry Godefroy.
I'll send a copy for Mike to include on this months bumper
edition....
WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM THERE SPIKE,IT WAS SENT AS A .TXT FILE
AND IT DOESN'T LIKE IT.MAYBE YOU COULD RE-SEND IT AS A .ZIP FILE?
One final thing Mike, before I continue..... I think you need
to do something about your documents before you e-mail them.
You're sending out control codes that get converted VERY
messily.... Here's an excerpt from QL100 to show you what it
looked like at my end...
help Well, thats my lot. Happy 100th aniversary
to you all0D especially Mike for all his hard work over the
years.0D 0D And remember -
______________________________________________________
THE FIRST IRISH QL SHOW EVER !!!0D 0D IRISH AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY
WEEKEND - AUGUST 30TH, 1997.0D 0D AT THE VILLAGE COMMUNITY
HALL, LARAGH, CO.WICKLOW.0D IRELAND.0D 0D LESS THAN ONE MILE
FROM HISTORIC GLENDALOUGH - ONE OF0D THE BIGGEST TOURIST
ATTRACTIONS IN IRELAND !!!0D 0D MANY QL TRADERS AND
PERSONALITIES WILL BE THERE ON THE DAY.
_______________________________________________________
CONTACT DARREN BRANAGH ON
As you can see, it's VERY untidy and almost unreadable in
places.... Also, for some peculiar reason, my post in QL100 was
all in one big paragraph, even though I formatted it with lots of
line breaks for ease on the eyes.... Please. If you reformat a
post, reformat in a tidy manner. Thanks... And now.... On with
the question/answer and comment/response bit.....
I THINK I KNOW WHAT CAUSES THIS,IT IS ON DARREN'S
LETTER,WHICH I HAVE TO RE-FORMAT,MARGIN WISE,AND I THINK THOSE ARE
SPACE THINGIES!ie.WHEN IT MOVES THE MARGINS IT LEAVES
'SPACES'BEHIND AND I PRESUME THESE ARE THOSE!
Michael Kite. You mentioned that your printer was no longer
working on your PC, but it still worked on your QL. (Thinking the
printers parallel port had failed).
How did you connect it up to your QL? Most printers either
have a serial port OR a parallel port and not both (unless you
fork out extra dosh). Are you using the Miracle serial to parallel
card that plugs into the printer port? If so, then the printer
port is fine. Mike said that Epsom printer drivers are hard to
come by for the PC. I really do find this hard to believe. Epsom
and it's compatibles is one of the commonest brands of printer out
there.
Even without an epsom driver, the printer should do SOMETHING
when connected to the parallel port on your PC. Even if it only
prints junk.
Maybe it's the parallel port in the computer that's knacked,
and not the printer one???
John S asked about Minerva ROMS. I was flicking through
maus.sys.ql.int last week when someone was asking about the
possibility of using Minerva images with QLay. I can't quote,
because the message has since expired, but I >>>*THINK*<<< (note
the overemphasis on that word) Tony Firshman said he's release one
of the earlier Minerva images for it..... I'm probably wrong, but
it's possible.....
Jeremy Davies was talking about Electronic Circuit
simulation.... Now, I've been thinking something like this would
be very nice to have on the QL. (We use PSpice here at Keele,
which is ever so slightly crap). Perhaps a few people should
collaborate to produce a program that can do schematic capture,
layout and then simulate the circuit. (A very big project, I know,
but it'd be worth it. It could be done in parts with the Schematic
capture first, followed by the layout (possibly even autorouting)
and lastly the simulation.
The QL's powerfull enough to handle this. Even the Trump Card
QL could do it. (Although the separate parts of the program might
need to be run separately, using the same file format....)
My problem is I always come up with ideas and then rarely get
a round toit. I need one of those. I've seen round toits in shops,
but never got one....
I totally agree with you about anything Micro$$$oft throws at
us. I just hope someone comes up with an EZ install routine for
Linux, so that we can ween all this M$ addicts onto a decent
machine. (Did you know that some of the principals of Unix were
used in the writing of QDOS???)
#1/ You also asked about "Ridiculously highly paid jobs"...
I get a magazine monthly from IEEE (Institute of Electronic &
Electrical Engineers). Along with that there's a Recrutment
newspaper thing, chock full of jobs. If you can contact me, I
might be able to arrange sending the next one to you.....)
WHY IS IT NO GOOD TO YOU?
#2/ Congratulations.
Dilwyn Jones said "Please, please, everyone, no more messages
telling me0D how to get channel 5 on satellite TV. " So, to get
Channel 5 on satalite TV you..... Only kidding... Apart from
Poltergiest the Legacy, it's really not worth the effort anyway.
Channel 5 is nothing compared to even the worst of the other 4
channels put together (With the very rare exception).
As for your tales or Win95 woe Dilwyn, all I can say is, I
never had the inclination to buy a PC anyway. And if I did get
inflicted with a Win95 PC, the first thing I'd do if reformat the
Hard Disk and install something that works.... Something that's
free and something that's actually FASTER on a lesser machine than
WINDOZE is on a more powerfull one.... I think Jerry would vouch
for this as well.... I am of course talking about Linux here....
Which distribution would you recommend by the way Jerry?
Slackware? Red Hat?
And now for the controversial post of the month.... Dennis
Smith....
***** Engage outraged flame mode... ***** Outraged flame mode
engaged.....
AAAAARGH! Dennis. The QL is not the PC. Many people have
"Vanilla" QLs without the 99 flake and strawberry sauce. You say
you supplied "The correct answer" when you answered Martin
Wheatleys query about how to read PC disks. No. You didn't. You
just said that YOU used SMSQ/E to do it, which WAS totally
unhelpful. Then, to make matters worse, you had the nerve to
say...
"we have all moved on. Note the 'all' used here meaning
general majority. If you stay with old hardware you will have to
stay with old software!"
What on EARTH were you thinking? Majority? I don't think so!
I think people with QXL/QXL2/Gold and Super Gold/Aurora are VASTLY
in the minority. There are far many more people still using trump
cards and similar non CPU enhanced cards!
Also, if you have pointer environment, ONE HELL of a lot of
"New" software will still run quite nicely thankyouverymuch.
To make things even worse, you then went on to say....
"Now we have multi processors coming, its called progress.
Progress is based on previous financial support, your financial
support. Verbal support is worthless when you come to make your
next purchase during development. And so we move on, to not do so
is to become stagnant. To all those that have not put money back
into the0D QL community in the past few years thanks for
nothing, leave it to the rest of us, we'll do that."
WELL! I'm so sorry I'm not rolling in the money the way you
obviously are. Some of us make do with the best we can! This is
NOT the PC we're talking about, and as far as ClubQL is concerned,
the STANDARD QL has been set to be a QL with 512K RAM and at least
one floppy. Verbal support is NOT worthless, because it means
people who can't afford all the bells and whistles HAVE NOT
abandoned the QL! This leads to later things still WORKING on the
original QL!
Then, and this could be construed(sp) as amusing, you
said....
"Martin note; there is no expense involved in upgrading
software, SMSQ/E upgrades are free and your old software will run
on it, so no expense there. 60 quid for a Gold Card takes care of
the hardware. If that doesn't wake a few up to the truth the next
step involves a large red hot steel poker, the choice is yours."
So, what you're claiming is that SMSQ/E if FREE?????
Puhleese! The ACTUAL expense you'd need to go through is:
Gold Card: 60 (ish) pounds. SMSQ/E: How much did you say it
costs John? 75 pounds, wasn't it?
More than the actual Gold Card in fact.
I'm sure Mr Tebby and Co would be very interested in where
you got the idea that it was "FREE".
As for the very large red hot steel poker... I've be very
careful where you sit down in the near future. Someone might
decide it's time to wake you up.
And to add insult to injury, was it ABSOLUTELY essensial that
you had to post it on the QL100 cover disk edition????
I just hope your attitude didn't drive any potential members
away!
***** Disengage outraged flame mode ***** Outraged flame mode
disengaged
I think I need a sit down after that.... Oh.... Er... I
already am sat down....
(Note to non-internet people out there. A flame on usenet is
a personal attack on someone. These usually escalate into "Flame
wars", but this is just a little flame battle. Not even that, just
a volley. Mr Smith started by attacking every Trump card user out
there, and I imagine everyone else will jump up and down on him
repeatedly in this issue.... That's the end of it.....
Unless you know different.
Ken Brickwood. You mentioned CD-ROMS for the QL. In actual
fact, there are several reasons why these won't work for the QL.
The main reason, in the case of IDE ones, is that they use a
different protocol. In order to make use of CD-ROM drives, the QL
would need a new device driver to run them. The standard QubIDE is
for Hard Disks only.
I think the other media you mentioned have similar
problems....
Colin Baskett... You say you have problems with Minerva and
Supergold not working well together in double screen mode.... Is
this common, or a standard problem???? I have Trump Card and
QubIDE and experience no problem. Why should SuperGold be any
different? (If anything, SuperGold should be better, because it's
got more free address space and memory.
I think the PEEK you perform is just a system variable that
stores the current video mode the QL is in. Pressing F1 always
starts the machine in Monitor mode 4, whilst pressing F2 always
starts in TV mode 8. If you managed to get the F3/F4 operations
working, then you could tell them apart with a combination of the
PEEK (which would need to be changed to the Minerva PEEK
alternative that allows PEEKING the system variables no-matter
where they are (PEEK (!!20) I think is an example. It's in the
Minerva Manual. In order to tell the difference between F1 and F3
you would need to use the extended Minerva VER$. I can't remember
which is which, but one of them returns the BASE of the system
variables. Of course, these get shifted up in RAM by the second
screen in dual screen mode....
Why not just print up a menu in Basic after start-up using
INKEY$?
Well.... That would APPEAR to be it for this month.
I've waiting in a kind of morbid anticipation to see how
everyone else reacts to the Dennis Smith post...
^^ .... Evil Grin.....
See you... Andrew....
Darren Branagh,
Rep. Of Ireland. 28th July, 1997.
QL & COMPUTER GEAR INCLUDES: 2QL's one JS and one Running MINERVA
v1.97, Miracle Trumpcard, Microvitec CUB 653 Monitor, Twin NEC
3.5" DS/DD Drives & Twin Miracle DS/DD Drives both joined by a
Miracle Disk Adaptor (flp1_ to flp4_), 150+ Disks of Software,
Epson EPL4000 Laser Printer, Serial 8056 Thermal Printer, Brother
M-1109 9-Pin Dot Matrix Printer, Joysticks, SERmouse, Tandata 3
stack Modem, American Megatrends 386 Power PC (Hard Drive gone
Wallop), Zenith Minisport 286 Laptop PC, Cambridge Z88 Laptop,
Sinclair ZX Spectrum 128K +2a, Sinclair ZX81.
(And a Pentium P100, and a huge hole in my wallet)
Dear Mike & Sinclairites(!),
I HATE PC'S!!! Ah, That feels better, I needed to get that off my
chest. First of all, Apologies Mike, as this will be late - I just
got a letter from Dilwyn saying a few things about PC's that are
better off not mentioned in these pages - and also reminding me to
write to QL101. I'll not usually late, but I've had good reason
this month..........
Last Saturday, My entire hard drive on my 386 got corrupted. I use
the QL for all my personal correspondence, but due to the need for
100% compatibility, all my business is done on PC's, as I need to
switch data between here and the office regularly. It was a 150Mb
hard drive, and was virtually full to the brim. And yes, before
all of you ask, I only had about 40% odd percent of it backed up!
SERVES YOU RIGHT DARREN,YOU SHOULD HAVE USED XCHANGE AND EXPORTED
YOUR FILES,THAT WAY YOU WOULD HAVE HAD A QL BACK-UP AS WELL.
So, as a result, I figured repairing a 386 in this day and age was
pointless - they're virtually worthless moneywise. I put up with a
couple of days "floppy-hopping" (i.e. booting via the A: drive,
then switching disks) before I got sick of it. I therefore bought
a shiny new Gateway 2000 Pentium P100 - a nice tool, with a price
to match. It boasts a 1.5Gb hard drive (10 times my previous one)
16Mb RAM, SVGA, 16x CD-ROM, and is very boring - so I've just
ordered a QXLII off Roy Wood a few minutes ago!! I'll play with it
until Roy comes over for the QL Show, and may change it for QPC
instead.
Therefore all my time of late has been spent re-entering vast
amounts of client Names & Addresses into MS Works - now running
under Windoze 95 (I'm still not sure if this is for 1995 or 1895).
So, Apologies for this arriving late.
As for the QL show - You'll be glad to hear I booked up for the
Show. Roy and Steve of QBranch, Dilwyn, Bill Richardson, and Ian
Pizer and his Wife (coming from Switzerland) are all staying up
here. I haven't heard from anybody else, so PLEASE let me know if
your coming - either by post card, phone call, letter, or even
carrier pigeon - I don't care - you could even E-Mail me via
QBranch if you want. I really want this to be a raging success,
and would hate for all those nice QL trader fellas to come all the
ways over here for a less than abundant turnout. I'm now full as
regards accomodation - however there are plenty of other B&B's
locally, especially Grade A Hostels - Ideal if your single - TV
Room, Showers, Private Rooms, Kitchens etc - from as little as
6.00 per night!!
If your even half interested - come over - you'll have a whale of
a time - I guarantee it. Ireland is a great place - especially if
you like booze!!!
I CAN VOUCH FOR THAT!
Before I forget - Many thanks to everyone who wrote for QL100 - It
was the best QLCI for some time - hopefully all the old QL users
who wrote thanks to Mike's contacting them will continue to write,
even if they've moved onto PC's (though with my recent trouble, I
can't see why) Still, I need help with my PC as well as the QL, so
I think they're most welcome - just as mike said in QL100. BTW,
the front end by Graham was Terrific.
Well, I'll have to go. I have lots of responses to queries from
QL100, but I don't have the time now, so If they got unanswered by
everyone else, I'll do them next month (SORRY) So until then,
All the Best,
DARREN OF THE LATTER DAY SINCLAIRS (Ask Dilwyn about this!)
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+
#! Colin Baskett
29 July 1997
EQUIPMENT: QL FITTED WITH SUPERGOLD CARD; MkI MINERVA -
version 1.82;
SUPERHERMES; 170 MB HARD DISK; SINGLE 3.5" HD DISC DRIVE;
PHILIPS COLOUR MONITOR; SERIAL MOUSE; PRINTER BJ10sx; XCHANGE
3.90L; various other pieces of QL equipment (eg BJC4200, Z88)
shared with daughter, Wendy.
Dear Mike,
QUANTA MAGAZINE
One of my aims as editor of QUANTA is to determine whether
there would be any support for a questionnaire to be sent to
Quanta readers. It might help QUANTA meet the needs of its
members and it could be useful to traders and developers. A
lot depends on getting the questions right. The following
straw poll has been tried out on London Group.
I would welcome suggestions or comments about the questions.
Probably there should not be too many but, on the other hand,
it is important to cover all the important points, because we
could hardly repeat the exercise in the near future. So,
suggestions would be welcome about (a) the general design of
a questionnaire, (b) questions that should be included and
(c) questions, from the straw poll, that should be left out
or that need to be clarified.
I shall be glad to get any input either through the post or
through CQLI, especially offers of contributions or better
still contributions themselves. As always, I should be glad
to hear your ideas, your hopes and your gripes about QUANTA.
STRAW POLL FOR LONDON GROUP
1. Are you a member of QUANTA? - y / n
NO.
2. If not, what changes, if any, might lead you to join?
PEOPLE OFFERING HELP,INSTEAD OF INSULTS!IN LANGUAGE I CAN
UNDERSTAND.
3. How many QL-users do you know who belong neither to
QUANTA nor to a Group? - none 1 2 a few many
A FEW.
4. What changes in QUANTA might lead others to join?
A MORE USER FRIENDLY MAGAZINE.
5. Please indicate what you like to read in QUANTA. {e.g.
News, reviews (software, printers etc), tutorials, tips,
programmes}
ALL OF THE ABOVE,IN A SUITABLE LANGUAGE.
6. And those that you find of no interest.
7. Please describe your main set-up. Are you connected?
YES.QXL AND PACKARD BELL P100,BJC4100 PRINTER,TRUST SCANNER.
8. And any other set-ups.
2 QL'S AND USUAL ADD ON'S.
9. What alien systems (e.g. Windows95) do you regularly
use? - none or specify
WINDOZE 95 A LITTLE,MAINLY QL PROGS.
10. Do you prefer your QL system? - y / n If yes, why?
YES.BECAUSE IT IS A GREAT PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY AND VERY EASY
TO USE.
11. What software do you regularly use? Ring which you most
like?
(XCHANGE,DTP,LINEDESIGN)
12. What shortcomings in your system or your software bother
you?
AS OF THIS MOMENT,NONE.
13. What new hardware/software are you considering buying?
UNKNOWN AS OF YET.
14. Have you enough information about these products?
NOT USUALLY.
15. Are you prepared to write, or be interviewed, for QUANTA
about:
Y (a) your QL system - y / n
Y (b) any item of software that you use - y / n
Y (c) your printer, modem, or other peripheral
- y / n
N (d) problems you have encountered - y / n
Y (e) help that you have received - y / n
Y (f) your special interests or concerns - y / n
Please give your name if you are prepared to write a
contribution for QUANTA or to be interviewed on some subject
of your choice.
16. If a questionnaire were to be sent to QUANTA members are
there any questions that you would like to see included?
ARE YOU WILLING TO SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHERS,INSTEAD
OF TREATING YOUR KNOWLEDGE AS IF IT IS COPYRIGHTED?
17. Or do you think this is all a waste of time? - y / n
NO.
Incdentally, Mike, when I wrote QUILL, I meant XCHANGE_QUILL,
sorry!
OTHER MATTERS
I liked Ken Brickwood's piece about "What is a QL".
Something along thes lines for QUANTA would be good to have.
I particularly like Dennis's Project four:
"in working prototype stage. A 'black box' that pretends to
be a telephone exchange. This is for Quanta sub groups. One
QL runs Pbox and is a BBS. Another QL on the next table
'dials in' to the BBS and can practice uploading,
downloading, message receiving, leaving a message for
everyone, sending or receiving private files or messages and
anything else you can think of. All sub group members can
have a go for hours on end until they are confident to try a
real BBS. Not only do you receive training in comms you are
supposed to 'plug in' your own equipment and set up your
modem and QTPI to ensure that everything works ok. There is a
new version of 'Chat' the QL to QL (via Phone) communications
program. This drives QTPI during connection to ensure the
correct link is established - QTPI to QTPI. To sum up the
'Black box' can be used to test sending and receiving faxes,
Chat, logging on to a BBS and other things that are coming
along in the future, as well as YOUR OWN hardware."
Just what I want to find at a Workshop!!
IT WOULD BE HANDY FOR ME TO,I HAVE LOGGED ONTO NENE
VALLEY,BUT AFTER GETTING TO THE MENU AND PRESSING ONE OF THE
NUMBERS FOR A LIST OF FILES.WHERE DO I GO AFTER THAT?
I do, however, have some sympathy for those who, either
because of retirement or unemployment, find it difficult to
upgrade. I have just been talking to a retired QUANTA member
who is coming reluctantly to the conclusion that a secondhand
PC is the only practical route ahead for him, as his QL
system begins to slip away to that great Workshop in the Sky.
He feels the additional cost of a QXL card would be beyond
him. I wonder if there are any ways in which the QL
community could help QL users in his position by recycling
products more positively as the rest of us upgrade. Can
QUANTA do anything to help?
THATS NOT A BAD IDEA COLIN,WE ALREADY DO THIS IN A SMALL
WAY.YOU COULD TAKE A PERCENTAGE OF THE ASKING PRICE AND ADD
IT TO THE COFFERS.
Thanks also to John Southern and to Darren for their
suggestions about rechargeable batteries for the Z88 and to
Dilwyn for his lead to the Z88 Sourcebook by Timothy Swenson
and to Darren's review thereof.
Best wishes
Colin B
Dilwyn Jones,
Email : dilwyn.jones@bbc.co.uk
GEAR: JM/Minerva QL+Gold Card+ED drives; Aurora, Super Gold
Card v2.49, Qubide 1.37, 420MB Conner Hard disk, ED and DD drives,
HP Deskjet 320; Amstrad ALT286+QXL+Zoom modem+Canon BJ10sx.
Thank you to all the members past and present who contributed
to the 100th issue. Wearing my QL Today hat for a moment, it was
great that the 100th issue made such a good cover disk. How many
people who got the cover disk spotted that the labels on the disks
didn't quite match the ones printed on the magazine cover. I also
left a reference to the non-existent article about my DISPLAY_CDE
zip file on the disk in the editorial column, thanks Mike and Graham
for putting it on the cover disk and saving my bacon. Thanks
especially to Graham for his hard work in getting the disk together
and providing the front end, loved the backing screen!
After my anti-PC tirade in the last issue, I got a few helpful
replies about the ZIP drives in particular. Martin Wheatley sent a
very helpful email which got me going on one machine, but so far I
haven't had the time to tackle the Windows 95 solution.
rom DOS on the 286, the problem was that the scanning routine
which tests for which version of ZIP drive you have and selects the
appropriate driver fails on my machine, and causes a lockup. I
called Iomega's help line (very long wait for answer, but it's an
0800 number, so they paid for the call) and they talked me through
manually editing the file to get it to work. Very helpful, but it
shouldn't have been necessary in the first place! The easiest way is
just to use the GUEST.EXE program as and when the drive's needed, or
make a conditional batch file containing this.
The Windows 95 problem was harder to solve and once I've
entered Martin's solution onto my PC properly, I'll document it and
pass it on in a later newsletter.
Ron Dunnett advised me that the drive letter problem could be
cracked in the DOS environment by adding a LASTDRIVEG (or whatever)
statement in the startup files, and the line which starts the driver
can have a LETTERE (or whatever) parameter. Not tried this yet, but
seems obvious enough.
Martin's explanation for the drive letter change for the CD-ROM
was basically down to the way DOS and Windows allocates drive
letters. Windows 95 finds the DOS TSR driver for the ZIP drive
first, as it goes through the tartup files, then gives it the next
available letter, D, then finally loads its own CD-ROM driver and
gives it the next available letter (E). There are workarounds, as
Martin told me, but they involve a bit of fiddling.
Mike, the option to make startup disk from the start window in
Win95 isn't there on mine. Have you dragged it there from somewhere
else? There is an option to make a startup disk (one disk) in the
Control Panel on my setup.
NO MATE,WHEN YOU PRESS START IN THE BOTTOM LEFT OF SCREEN,IT
COME'S UP AT THE TOP OF THE MENU IN ITS OWN BLUE BOX AND ITS ALWAYS
BEEN THERE.I CAN ALWAYS MAKE SOME FOR YOU FROM MINE?
Sorry to take so much space on Windows. For a theoretically
user friendly machine, the PC ain't half complex for a dunce like
me. Still, once I've cracked it, my QDOS/SMSQ activities will
benefit.
Disk problems - if DSDD disks are recorded on a higher capacity
drive, the recorded tracks are narrower or less dense, so although
they are theoretically compatible, in practice, many DSDD drives
will give up trying to read DSDD disks recorded on a HD or ED drive.
Long painful experience of this in my trader days taught me a
lesson, if a disk is going to someone with DD drives, record it on a
DSDD 720K drive.
Transferring QL files to PC etc - in addition to the programs
listed by John Southern, watch out for QLTools from Jonathan Hudson.
I think it runs on a PC (I have never used it). There is also a
program on one of Ergon Development's disks which does a similar
function (I think it was on the Open World disks).
uQLX emulator - Jonathan Hudson uses it. The author is Richard
Zidlicky in Germany, he is on email and if you get in touch with me
I'll pass on his email address to you.
Most EPROMs can be linked in with CALL base+PEEK_W(base+6).
"base" is the address at which the ROM code is loaded. At the sixth
byte from the beginning of the ROM, there is an initialisation
offset pointer (word value).
Darren - I'm afraid that Jeremy's sound card is now likely to
not appear, as he's re-joined Miracle and is working on their next
project, a 68060 processor board (needs Super Gold Card installed as
well) which as one of its main functions will have high quality
digital audio facilities, of great interest to me as I work with
audio recording and broadcasting and currently use some rather naff
PC based gear. So although Jeremy's card may not appear, the music
facilities will probably be far better on the Ultra Gold Card.
Regarding Darren's Irish QL show, I got the shock of my life
when I went to ask about ferry prices for taking my car over. 300 to
400 pounds for a car and a few passengers. Absurd - Dave Walker says
you can fly from a London airport for less than 40 pounds. It costs
33 pounds as a foot passenger, so maybe the best idea is to ask
Darren and Hilary if they can arrange transport from Dun Laoghaire
to Glenmacnass or Laragh for us on that side. I prefer 33 pounds to
100 pounds each, even if it means we haven't got transport over
there. If anyone wants to go, my offer still stands, contact me and
we'll meet at Bangor and Holyhead and travel together to Ireland one
way or the other. Of course, all this assumes that my boss will let
me have that weekend off, the sods have threatened to ban all leave
in July and August because there's a mass invasion of PCs this
summer at work, no wonder they all took their leaves in May and
June. To add to that, one of my 3 colleagues broke his leg while
working away from home recently and will be out of action for nearly
2 months.
Does Darren really drive and operate his Z88 from the cigarette
lighter socket at the same time. Tut tut!
Colin Miller - SMSQ/E has pointer environment built in (the
equivalent of ptr_gen, wman and hot_rext on a QL), but no QPAC2.
You'llhave to buy that extra from Jochen Merz or QBranch. It
contains a files menu, jobs menu, channels menu, buttons etc etc.
Well worth it for serious QL computing. It's hard to get going it
with it because there's simply so much to learn. It's not
particularly hard, just takes a while to absorb all the things you
can do with it. QBranch supply a little 'get you started' booklet
with it free of charge which describes how QBranch set up their
system with QPAC2 and explains what all the features they use do.
While this means everyone starts off using it the same way, it does
get you started and you can tinker with it later as you get to know
the system. Don't forget that if you don't want the expense of a
QXL, try QPC, which is a software based emulator also running
SMSQ/E, and is quite fast on a 586 PC. There is a demo version
available from Jochen Merz and the PD library which has the SAVE
commands disabled, but it will run a few programs, let you edit
basic and so on for you to try it out.
Darren sent me some HD disks he'd carefully drilled and made
into ED disks. As he said, use good quality disks, and they'll work
(these certainly did), but we don't know yet how well they'll last
long term. Short term, they seem to have worked well.
Darren also sent me some rather nice PC jokes to make me feel
better. Hope he includes them in his contribution this month, some
of them were quite good. After muttering about not getting Channel 5
and Channel 4 Wales (S4C) in some parts of Wales, it made me sick
that he can get many British terrestrial channels in Ireland with a
good aeriel.
Nice to realise that Colin Baskett is new editor of Quanta.
Since we're both Club QL members as well, hope we can work well
together for the benefit of the QL community.
NICE THOUGHT,MAYBE AFTER ALL THESE YEARS QUANTA WILL ACKNOWLEDGE CLUBQL
EXISTS.
I disagree a bit with Dennis Smith's letter where he implies
that everyone has a duty to buy all the latest goodies for the QL in
order to support it. While anyone has a right to plod along with
their old gear, they also shouldn't complain when they suddenly find
themselves unable to use the latest software or whatever. The point
surely is that you pays your money and takes your choice. Dennis is
as entitled to ask why you don't keep up to date, but equally he
shouldn't be as aggressive in his argument as he was, since this
smacks of in-fighting or whatever. I guess that means the red hot
poker is heading in my direction now (oops).
Cancel the PC throwing contest, Dennis, no problem, I'll win
EASILY! Mind you, if you want to sell a few plastic windows, just
pick the houses of QL users with PCs. At the rate they go flying out
of windows, you'll get rich quickly!
Richard of Merano, yes I could do with an ALT286 battery if
possible. Like all NiCads, the batteries suffer from memory effect
unless you completely discharge them every now and then. The more
recent NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) batteries are a bit better in
this respect. In case anyone thinks that all rechargeables need to
be discharged periodically, don't try this on a lead-acid (e.g. car)
battery, it'll damage them (and you maybe if you discharge it fast
enough to explode or spill acid into your face).
Those able to send ZIPped files via email (e.g. of QL program
files), here's a little hint on how to get them to a QL. I use
MSMail at work and this may not apply to all such systems. Our
system is set up so that I can use the Save As command to separate
the email and the zipped files, then I make a note of the filename
and directory where it was kept and transfer the file onto a floppy
using File Manager or Explorer, then take it home and copy it to a
QL disk. Our IT manager goes ballistic when he finds us taking disks
in and out of the place (good reason if it's likely to infect the
system with a virus), so what I tend to do is format a PC disk with
Discover on the QL and so always take a clean freshly formatted disk
into work, that way I can still get fired for abusing the system,
but at least they can't accuse me of putting a virus on their
precious PCs.
Euroenglish - great, really great. I saw a memo somewhere about
European metric time which was quite funny and convincing. If I can
find it, I'll submit it to the next newsletter.
Can we do Graham Buck for killing his QL? To those of us for
whom the QL has been a large part of our life for over a decade, the
idea of killing a QL (for whatever reason) seems like a cardinal
sin. But PCs... Oh, and why is a picture of the Queen meant to
impress me (unless you imply a stamped addressed envelope)?
Graham Lutz - yes the Aurora does spot writes to the old QL
screen area and transpose or copy them to the top left of the new
screens, that's how your first effort seemed to work. Try this on a
QXL or QPC, if you're lucky it will fail to appear, otherwise CRASH!
I went to the London workshop on July 19th, great fun. Not as
well attended as previous years, but the weather was hot and sticky
and there were public transport difficulties in parts of London, so
perhaps no great surprise. All the usual traders were there,
including three from Germany. We met up with several old faces, and
for some reason a number who said they'd quit the QL but had found
out about this show and come along to see what the QL was up to
nowadays, and got to hear of QXL and QPC so made a beeline for those
stands. Hope the traders did well out of it, and that we've got
those users back in the fold by now. Strange, but they all seemed to
agree that the PC was a pig of a machine compared to the QL they
used to know, but it was the same story - had to get a PC for work
reasons, wish I could run QL software on it. SO we told them,
hopefully they're back to QDOS/SMSQ by now.
WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF WE COULD SELL A QXL OR QPC TO ALL PC
USERS,NOW WOULDN'T THAT BE ONE IN THE EYE FOR MICROSOFT!
Regards to all,
Dilwyn Jones
#! Martin Burke,
27th July, 1997.
Dear Mike and Friends,
JM version + Trump 768 + twin 3.5" disks, Philips CM8833
colour monitor (under repair) and its Tandy twin, 8056 printer,
Epson RX80 F/T, and Brother HR10 daisy-wheel printer; PSION3a,
Z88.
Congratulations to Jerry ... and to Rebecca (or should she
have commiserations?). Jerry was going it a bit about all those
long hours in front of a computer rather than being in the pub.
But he obviously found time to pursue other activities!!
NO MATE,I BET SHE DID MOST OF THE PURSUEING!
As usual I loaded Taskmaster, with PERFECTION and QUILL to
read QL100 and write QL101. Trying to save ql101 to disk I typed
"ql100" by mistake (saving to two separate disks). The
"overwrite?" query came up, I hit "ESC" and corrected to "ql101"
and saved. I then decided to boot from the ql100 disk. This
failed at line 70 ("copy_O flp1_clubql_scr ...", with the message
"device in use". A quick look at the program suggested that I
might be out of my depth in trying to resolve the matter (or that I
would at least have to splash about a lot). So I gave that up and
commanded "exec unzip". This produced the "introductory page" and
put me back to the superbasic/qdos line. My feeble attempts to
unzip files failed from there. Should I have "CTRL C"d to proceed
or am I missing something else. I have possibly used an unzip
program twice (one being attached to DP's program collection).
I exec'd XCHANGE to include these problems on my ql101
submission, to discover that it had twice overwritten ql100 and had
not been saved at all as ql101. I overwrote these copies with the
original ql100 and shall again try to save this as ql101, in case
something else is wrong before I try to get to grips with unzip.
Yours,
Martin Burke.
#!
FRANK MERRISON,
25-7-1997
GEAR includes 2 x JM QL's: Gold Card: DMP: Epson Stylus 800
printer:
2 x HD disc drives. Knee deep in paper & problems!
Once again I seem to have nothing to write about - it is only
my conscience that drives me on. Having been in from the start I
am reluctant to miss out on too many issues but it does get harder
and harder to think of something to talk about that will not bore
you all to death!
FOR SOMEONE WHO HAS NOTHING TO WRITE ABOUT FRANK,2 PAGES
AIN'T BAD!
Last month; Michael Kite spoke of troubles he was having when
trying to print from his 486 and at first reading I thought I
could see a possible reason for the problem. Unfortunately; the
more I read the more I got confused so I did a hard copy so that I
could go over the problem at leisure. Forgive me if I sound
critical Mike but this was a typical poorly worded letter that I
have remarked on on a number of occasions in the past. While you
know exactly what you are talking about but I am sure that I am
not alone in not being sure what you had done! When you speak of
.."the parallel port on the Epson..." does this mean that you are
connecting the QL, from it's serial port, to this port? Are you
doing so by means of a Miracle Systems interface lead? As I
understand it; with a serial port card plugged into the PC the
parallel port fails to work although all is well with it
unplugged. Have you got the printer set-up correct telling the PC
which port to use? What software are you using? Windows? Word for
Windows or WordPerfect? Are you sending your drawing through a
graphics program? if so which one?
SOME SOFTWARE APPLICATIONS ON THE PC NEED TO HAVE THEIR OWN
SPECIFIC PRINTER DRIVERS AND THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN FIND OUT IS BY
RINGING THE SOFTWARE PRODUCER,THEY WILL THEN TELL YOU,YOU NEED
SUCH AND SUCH DRIVER FROM WHOEVER.THIS I HAVE FOUND OUT TO MY
COST,HAVING BOUGHT A PROGRAM FOR MARGARET'S COLLEGE WORK,ONLY TO
FIND I NEED ANOTHER DRIVER FROM CANON!SO PERHAPS THE DRIVER FOR
THAT PROG IS NOT ON THE DISC HE GOT WITH THE PRINTER AND HE NEEDS
TO UPGRADE HIS DRIVERS?
John Southern asked how I managed to blow both my QL and the
Gold Card.
In about 1984/5 when Sinclair sold out to Amstrad I happened
to switch on my printer one day and the QL went for a Burton which
I believe was cured by the fitting of a new 68000 micro-processor.
Enquiries to the makers of both Microvitec and the Printer led to
the answer that when I was using a TV as a monitor this had no
earth connection at the mains plug - in other words a twin cored
mains lead. My recently purchased Microvitec Cub did have such a
connection and this allowed a mains surge from the printer to
enter the QL via the monitor. I purchased a Tony Firshman spike
supressor and had no more troubles. Although I normally switch on
ALL my system together there are odd occasions when I might switch
on the printer at some later time. For ten years I have had no
problems doing this,but recently, as I have said, the QL & the GC
went dead. A new GC was purchased and Tony fitted a replacement
chip to the QL (I don't know which one). This failed to cure the
problem and a second go by Tony discovered some dis-colouration on
the QL's 64 way connector. Cleaning this up appears to have
effected a cure - or so I thought. This evening I switched my
printer on and the screen went white with the reset button not
working. Power off and on again at the mains and all returned to
normal. For a few minutes I felt sick thinking that I had "Gone
and done it again"
Over recent months a number of new items have appeared on the
scene and there appears to be an assumption that everybody knows
what they all are, what they do and how! Well I for one do not
know and I am certain that there are many more novices like me who
find this assumption on the part of the experts annoying.
QUITE RIGHT FRANK,MAYBE ONE DAY THEY WILL ACKNOWLEDGE WE ARE
USERS AND NOT PROGRAMMERS.
Specifically I refer to such as a 12C socket, SMSQ/E, Qbide,
Aurora, Goldfire etc. Simple explanations please! With the loss of
QL World regular reviews of new software and hardware are no
longer available. I believe this void should be filled by our
resident experts lightening our darkness about new items.
COME ON EXPLAIN ALL OF YOU WHO ARE IN THE KNOW!
Each Thursday the Guardian has a tabloid section called On
Line which is about various subjects to do with computers. A
couple of weeks a go it reported:
"Dummies Daily is a free service from PC World Online and IDG
Books which publishes the 'For Dummies" series of computer
books. Sign up for one or more topics on the site at
www.dummiesdaily.com and you'll be emailed a useful tip each
day. Subjects include Microsoft Word, Quicken and the
Internet"
The internet is a total mystery to me and I'm far to old to begin to
fatham out what all the jargon means so I phoned Martin and he
suggested that I report this item in this newsletter - I only hope
someone can make use of it - even possibly reporting any useful tips
to our club. The word that got me excited was "free" I can't resist a
bargain!!!!
Well I'm blowed! I've managed to fill over a page. All I have to do now
is find out where to send it with Mike away.
Best wishes to all.................... Frank Merrison.
#! Dennis Smith,
NET1(downstairs) (installed in a mini tower) Aurora, Super
Gold card, SuperHermes, Qubide, 420Mb hard disk, 2 ED drives,
(SER3)US Robotics 14.4 modem, (SER6)3 button serial mouse,
Printers: (SER1)Star LC10, (PAR)HP 540 Deskjet, 15 inch SVGA
monitor. Operating system Minerva 1.97, SMSQ/E.
NET3(upstairs) (installed in a mini tower) Gold card,
Hermes, Qubide, 540Mb hard disk, 1 HD drive, 2 DD drives. Printer:
(SER1)Brother HR5 thermal with fax roll paper.
Operating system SMSQ/E.
Hi,
Mike, well did it work then? Was last months offering
contovertial enough? Has anyone stirred? I suspect so. It might
fill the pages up a bit more, give you something to talk about.
YES IT WORKED,WHERE DO I SEND THE MONEY?
Enough frivolity, down to business. Our local Sub Group has
now completed its first hardware project which is now on sale.
It's the pretend to be a Telephone Exchange in a box project. As
described earlier its purpose is to connect two computers that are
adjacent to each other via modems to test hardware and software,
learn how to use QTPI and PBOX without the expense and
embarrassment associated with 'learning on line'. Cost `22.50.
GOOD IDEA,I HOPE EVERY USER GROUP IN THE COUNTRY BUYS
ONE.THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO WITH A WHIP ROUND AMONGST THE PEOPLE
WHO TURN UP EVERY MEETING.
Andrew Halliwell: You asked about the Aurora and Goldfire.
Since the 1983 QL has more or less finished we are lucky to have
the 1997 replacement which consists of two parts the Aurora is one
half and the Goldfire is the other. It was built in two halves
because of Ron Dunnett not being a millionaire and able to fund a
complete single board replacement in one go. Yes the Goldfire will
plug into a standard QL motherboard but with no incredible
advantages over a Super Gold card. The incredible advantages
become apparent when coupled to the Aurora, that's how it's
designed to be. This backward compatibility may be dropped if it
proves to be a nuisance. The specification changes now and again
as decisions are made. For instance the maximum ram available was
128 then 256 now its back down to 128!
Graham Buck: You mentioned about pathetic (that's my word for
it) attendances at sub groups. You run around for a month or two
organise everything spend your own cash knock yourself out and
nobody's interested, I know. My first meeting was well attended,
the second was not so good. As the group makes a loss I have to
make up the short fall and pay out of my own pocket. I'm sure the
people that don't turn up do not realise the pressure it puts on
the organiser(s). The profits fund our hardware and software
projects so all QL users benefit in the end that is my purpose
behind it all. I have said I will fund the sub group for one year
and then decide if it is to continue. We have some cracking ideas
coming up and do not want to loose development because of lack of
funding. Attendances will be good I'm sure, it's a good group.
Graham, that program, you are doing something different to me.
I'll try and guess what it is.
FaxeQL: The complete fax program. This is finished but will
not be released until the colour drivers are here. It may be one
of the first programs in full colour.
Talking of colour, 256 colours maximum. Yes, for now, but
later...
To those who write in here and attend our Sub Group please do
not mention our future projects until they are released as it
causes problems. Ask me about it at a meeting if you want to know
more.
A word about not being able to read files on Mike's disks. I
have always been able to read Mike's disks. I wonder if the people
that are having trouble are just deleting all files or formatting
the disk before they send it? Formatting leaves it in a 'cleaner'
state which is what I do.
SMSQ/E is now at version 2.85. This is a fairly stable
version. Avoid versions 2.80-2.84. Problems so far are some
consoles are thought to be unknown devices and the device drivers
are still shaky. e.g. I have just had to go to basic to format
this disk, Qpac2 would not do it!
I think I'll write something controversial next time or do
you prefer your cages unrattled?
YOU CAN RATTLE ALL THE CAGES YOU WANT DENNIS,BUT TRY TO KEEP
IT IMPERSONAL,PLEASES.
Bye, Dennis.