In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes >Hi Per > >I think you miss the point sometimes. > >You said > > "The QL was never only about hardware for quite a number of enthusiasts, >and therefore it is still going strong in its emulated form. If you want >the best QL platform money can buy, get QPC2 and stick it in your PC." > >For quite a number of enthusiasts t it was not and still is not about >emulators, especially those who love and are sticking to original >hardware and >those who have no easy upgrade route now if they do not have a PC at home. Actually the point is in what Per said. He said 'quite a number of enthusiasts'. The number of native QL users has been dropping slowly over the years and begins to consist of those who know how to use the older software and don't want to move on. Those who have Auroras and the attendant expansions and those who ventured into the Q.xx territory are few but they do tend to be hardware enthusiasts I agree. If, however, there was a healthy software development scene they would be hard pushed to use this hardware to run better programs based on higher graphics and needing better hardware. A reasonable PC now costs the same as the price a replacement SGC would cost. > >As for QPC2 dont forget that there are 2 critical spofs (single points of >failure) for QPC2 - > >1. the PC and its OS That is a rather blinkered argument. PC hardware is pretty efficient. Almost every aspect of it is superior in performance to any QL hardware. It may not be efficient or as well designed in some ways but it is hardly a 'critical spot'. Windows may be bloated and have lots of security holes but I built a PC 2 years ago for a customer who just runs the Office Suite and email. It is still running perfectly and does not crash. It is when you start levering in all the other rubbish that people put on systems that they fall over. She is doing no more with her PC than most QL users and it works for her. >"Wot SMSQ/E license issue?" Not my personal issue here but the very real >fight that despoiled this list some time ago. It needs to be recognised >that the >consequences of that argument was a critical point in the future development >of the QL community. As for SMS/E I have compiled my own SMSQ/E for my Q60 >since 3.03 and tried to show how easy it is to do in QLToday, but the >argument >about "licence" itself seems to have killed off hardware development. Without re-igniting the 'licence issue' argument I would like to say that, if you bought your Q.xx with SMSQ/E on it in the first place the upgrade to the latest version is free (apart from postage etc.) and the latest version works on the Q.xx because Wolfgang takes the trouble to make it so. It was stubbornness and a blinkered attitude that caused the problem. Not the licence. > >"However, the second major module of the Aurora project, the mythical >Goldfire, is still outstanding. That is the project that is furthest >advanced. If >it cannot be made to succeed what chance does any other project have?" > >I agree with you there is absolutely none if everyone has your attitude. >The question to me is why did it stall, was the project too ambitious in its >scope - using a Coldfire processor or did personal circumstances for the >prime mover result in its end? I dont know. I do not think that Nasta has the time to develop it any more and, as Tony said, who would write the firmware and drivers to make it work? > >What I am suggesting is that those with hardware skills left the community >should be encouraged (financially) to look at simpler projects that need less >development time and are affordable for a larger number of the group or if >that is not possible that as a group we should consider projects with >outsourcing of development in an affordable way perhaps to eastern >europe as suggested >by Rich Mellor. I would very much have liked a new SGC replacement and the demonstrations that Nasta gave in the US a few years ago were very impressive. But what would you use all the extra power for? What software would drive it. The only two programs that have pushed at the envelope in the last few years have been QWord and QDT. We would need more than that. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030 fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 skype : royqbranch web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk
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