Re: [Ql-Users] What would you most like to see in a new version of QDOSMSQ?
Norman Dunbar wrote: On 27/01/11 15:48, gdgqler wrote: Of course. but why at runtime? Code reuse and/or share-ability. If you have 10 applications running and each one needs the same library code, isn't it much better to have one copy used by all, rather than running the system with 10 copies of the same code? That way, the space hogged by the 9 duplicates can be used to run another application? I dont get you. Whats wrong with toolkits and Things? They work like dlls. If the punter doesnt have loaded what you need you can always load it from the program's home directory. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Android
Does anyone know if there is enough of Linux left in Android to compile and run uQLx? Has anyone tried? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Question
Rich Mellor wrote: On 10/01/2011 15:00, Rich Mellor wrote: On 10/01/2011 14:50, gdgqler wrote: On 10 Jan 2011, at 14:32, Lee Privett wrote: In QDOS/SMSQ/E the 'AT' keyword allows the print statement an imaginary y/x character cursor location to be used. Is there away of knowing where this is as a function? for example: 10 AT 10,20 PRINT FRED; 20 PRINT LOCX : remark this would return 24 30 PRINT LOCY: remark this would return 20 10 AT 10,20 PRINT FRED 20 PRINT LOCX : remark this would return 1 (or 0) 30 PRINT LOCY: remark this would return 11 I don't know of any extensions which contain functions like LOCX and LOCY. The trap #3 call SD_CHENQ returns the cursor position in characters. It would therefore be easy to produce the keywords LOCX and LOCY. George ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm I had a quick look through my SBASIC/SuperBASIC Reference Manual and can't find anything. I am sure I wrote a small function (CURSOR_POSX and CURSOR_POSY) to get at these values but which program I used it in, I can't think for the life of me!. Of course, there is an easier way... Use the CHANS toolkit from DIY toolkit (volume C) and then use PRINT CHAN_W%(#3,34) to grab the x position on channel #3 PRINT CHAN_W%(#3,36) to grab the y position on channel #3 Or try PRINT CHAN_W%(#ch; 82): rem SD_XPOS PRINT CHAN_W%(#ch; 84): rem SD_YPOS for position in cursor coordinates, which is what I think you want. It may be possible to do this without a toolkit by using the extended PEEK commands found in SMSQ/E and Minerva. I havnt tried, though. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Question
Rich Mellor wrote: On 10/01/2011 15:00, Rich Mellor wrote: On 10/01/2011 14:50, gdgqler wrote: On 10 Jan 2011, at 14:32, Lee Privett wrote: In QDOS/SMSQ/E the 'AT' keyword allows the print statement an imaginary y/x character cursor location to be used. Is there away of knowing where this is as a function? for example: 10 AT 10,20 PRINT FRED; 20 PRINT LOCX : remark this would return 24 30 PRINT LOCY: remark this would return 20 10 AT 10,20 PRINT FRED 20 PRINT LOCX : remark this would return 1 (or 0) 30 PRINT LOCY: remark this would return 11 I don't know of any extensions which contain functions like LOCX and LOCY. The trap #3 call SD_CHENQ returns the cursor position in characters. It would therefore be easy to produce the keywords LOCX and LOCY. George ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm I had a quick look through my SBASIC/SuperBASIC Reference Manual and can't find anything. I am sure I wrote a small function (CURSOR_POSX and CURSOR_POSY) to get at these values but which program I used it in, I can't think for the life of me!. Of course, there is an easier way... Use the CHANS toolkit from DIY toolkit (volume C) and then use PRINT CHAN_W%(#3,34) to grab the x position on channel #3 PRINT CHAN_W%(#3,36) to grab the y position on channel #3 Or try PRINT CHAN_W%(#ch; 82): rem SD_XPOS PRINT CHAN_W%(#ch; 84): rem SD_YPOS for position in cursor coordinates, which is what I think you want. It may be possible to do this without a toolkit by using the extended PEEK commands found in SMSQ/E and Minerva. I havnt tried, though. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Quanta mags
Tony Firshman wrote: QL-MyLink-DT wrote, on 30/Dec/10 20:50 | Dec30: I know.. I know... Dilwyn said hasn't! But, as I'm John in Wales and West of Chester. I report that I recieved my QUANTA yesterday (Wednesday), bearing an 'audit trail' - Manchester 07.08 pm. etc. etc. On which date? aaah... that's far too smudged to read - even with a magnifier. Funny that - everything else is legible. It's Quite Logical; they know you're onto it Dilwyn! :-) Happy New Year to All We need to hear from someone North of Forth (8-)# Got my eQuanta alright, but QLT has still to arrive up north! (Perhaps 'cause my family had reindeer steak for Xmas again?) A Happy QL-ing New Year to all! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Quanta mags
Dilwyn Jones wrote: As I now have mail for half my street I'd better become a postman for the day... if I've got post for half the street, who's got the other half of my mail??? G. It was Per the Norwegian who ate the reindeer, honest...I only wrote the Santa game... (there, back on topic). As to that, you have a lot to answer for, Mr Jones: I wasted nearly two hours catching reindeer in a maze! ;o) (But I swear I didnt eat any!) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Super Astrologer query
Hi guys, In connection with a recent death in the family, Id like to get the time of birth of the person in question. He gave it to me in the 80s to use in the DP's program Super Astrologer. However, I cant get the program to work right now, probably configuration issues, and I need the program to tell me what the data means. The data looks like this. ASTRO--- FIRSTNAME SURNAME *25.06.1930 17.15 +1.00 8.2000 E 49.3000 N The location is in Germany. It could be simple, the time given being 17.15 GMT+1. But I seem to recall some fiddle about sidereal time. The +1 may also not relate to the time. Does anyone have an answer or opinion, or would someone be able to check? It would be a great help, especially if the answer came soon ;o) Wishing you all happy year ahead! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Super Astrologer query
Ralf Reköndt wrote: P Witte wrote: Hi guys, In connection with a recent death in the family, Id like to get the time of birth of the person in question. He gave it to me in the 80s to use in the DP's program Super Astrologer. However, I cant get the program to work right now, probably configuration issues, and I need the program to tell me what the data means. The data looks like this. ASTRO--- FIRSTNAME SURNAME *25.06.1930 17.15 +1.00 8.2000 E 49.3000 N The location is in Germany. It could be simple, the time given being 17.15 GMT+1. But I seem to recall some fiddle about sidereal time. The +1 may also not relate to the time. Of course, the program was written (if I correctly remind) by Elmar Duensser, a german guy. Try to contact him here: elmar.duens...@t-online.de Mabe he reminds his old program...;-). Cheers...Ralf Thanks. I'll give it a try Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] TCP_ and SCK_ driver documentation?
Petri Pellinen wrote: Hello everyone, as part of my quest to create an ethernet card for the original QL I'm looking at the existing TCP implementations to get ideas about the interface to the devive driver. Looking at QemuLator's release notes ( http://terdina.net/ql/VersionHistory.html ) I see a mention of QDOS tcp_ and sck_ device drivers. Are these documented anywhere? In case anyone is interested I have a working prototype board based on the wiznet 5300 chip. Before refining the hardware implementation further I want to take a look at the software side. Fortunately, the W3500 has a rather simple (but powerful) programming model so the device driver implementation looks fairly straightforward. Is the move to IPv6 going to have an effect on current and future hardware or software for Qx systems? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] A small machine code program...
Marcos Cruz wrote: En/Je/On 2010-11-26 17:17, P Witte escribió / skribis / wrote : The rules are simple - write out the values 1 to 100 on screen If the value is divisble by 3 write 'FIZZ' after the number If the value is divisble by 5 write 'BUZZ' after the number If the value is divisble by 3 and 5 write 'FIZZBUZZ' after the number Maybe the shortest thus far? -- calcutations instead of conditional structures, kind of Forth's style: 1for i=1to 100:print i!FIZZ(to 4*not i mod 3);BUZZ(to 4*not i mod 5) (73 bytes including LF). More alternatives: 1for i=1to 100:print i!FI(to 2*not i mod 3);BU(to 2*not i mod 5);ZZ (74 bytes including LF). 1deffn m(n):ret 4*not i mod n:enddef:for i=1to 100:print i!FIZZ(to m(3));BUZZ(to m(5)) (91 bytes including LF). 1deffn t$(a$,n):ret (a$ZZ)(to 4*not i mod n):enddef:for i=1to 100:print i!t$(FI,3);t$(BU,5) (99 bytes including LF). 1deffn t$(a$,n):ret a$(to 4*not i mod n):enddef:for i=1to 100:print i!t$(FIZZ,3);t$(BUZZ,5) (95 bytes including LF). A pretty waste of time :-) Very nice ;o) I'd like to raise your 73 to 72: You dont need the line number unless you start with a def* (You could remove the lf too, but then you cant LOAD or DO it. ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] List of QLing 'Terms'
Tony Firshman wrote: Dilwyn Jones wrote, on 18/Nov/10 11:27 | Nov18: snip In time, I'd like to build a beginners section (needs a bettername as it would be for returners too) on my website with articles like this and some of the more commonly asked questions (such as how to transfer files between QL and other computers, unzipping etc etc). There are such articles on there already, but a bit scattered and not easy enough to find. Basics? Fundamentals, perhaps? Wont scare off the Knowitalls who really need it. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Hrm
Did anyone say anything? Or was that just the latest viagra spam that went through the shredder? ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Hello and a question
Urs Koenig (QL) wrote: Petri Pellinen wrote: greetings from sunny Finland. I recently found my old QL in my father's attic and am going to put in some quality retrocomputing time. It's great to see that there are still people active around this piece of hardware. Is it the Finnish or English version of the QL? A few days ago I bought a Finnish version (MGY ROM) on eBay. I made a few pictures and put them on my Windows Live Photo Gallery. See: http://cid-c250d8748980ce5a.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Sinclair%20QL/QLcomp uters There's a stricker on the bottom of my Finnish QL. It seams to have a sentence in both Finnish and Swedish. http://cid-c250d8748980ce5a.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Sinclair%20QL/QLcomput ers/SinclairQL^_Finnish^_version^_MGY^_ROM-P1050787.JPG This link doesnt seem to work It reads: SINETIN MURTAMINEN KIELLETTY FÖRSEGLINGEN FAR EJ BRYTAS The seal must not be broken Could you please translate this for me? Greetings from Switzerland, Urs Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] USB Floppy Disks and The QL Future
gdgqler wrote: On 17 Jun 2010, at 23:44, P Witte wrote: The current trend appears to be towards Cloud computing, where data storage and even processing power is an off-site, on-line service. Thats a major paradigm shift - back to square one, some three or four generations ago. Aha! But how do you program for this? George You dont. It programs you. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] USB Floppy Disks and The QL Future
Norman Dunbar wrote: George, The current trend appears to be towards Cloud computing, Aha! But how do you program for this? Cloud is the latest marketing paradigm/buzz word to hit the IT world. Like most other next great things it will pass and fade from memory. All it means is that instead of you or your company owning a pile of servers onto which you install and run stuff, like Oracle databases, WebLogic app servers and so on, huge companies like Amazon and (possibly) Google own the servers and you rent space on them as and when you need. You pay by the time used and if you need, say, to run a training course, switch on a few more processor cores (or whatever) and pay the extra for that training course only. The problem is, all your data is on Amazon's servers - do you know that Amazon are making the security work? How safe is your data? Who else can see it? It's fine under certain circumstances, but personally, I don't trust it. However, I have become very cynical with the IT business - having been in it far too long - and all these next great things that so far, have all come to nothing! Best avoided. But surely you see that it could spell then end of the Personal Computer, in which case the next great thing becomes significant and not merely a fad. The issues you raise regarding privacy and security will be solved, otherwise this idea will vanish (until needed on some other occasion). The most common devices to access these vast resources may well look very different from our standard PCs of today. They could be small, always-online mobile devices with lots of bling and little brain. In other words smartphones or iPads or what have you. Of course there will be thousands of old fogeys, like me, and perhaps you, who wont take to all that jazz, but will continue to issue our curses and incantations over strange black boxes from another era, nay, civilisation. Still, I have a DropBox account, and find it very handy. Its like a folder in Explorer except its located in the Cloud. Anything I copy there is immediately replicated across all my PCs and physically reside there, as well as in the cloud. If my house burns down with my computers and backups I can still access my data from anywhere. If the Cloud should become inaccessible, I still have copies across my computers. Privacy? I only store zipped and encrypted files in DropBox unless I decide to share. So its not all bad. It may not be the final word in computing paradigms, but you dont NOT take the ferry because youre convinced that in ten years time therell be a bridge. These DropBox guys dont at present seem to want to program you or rifle through your private papers. I suppose they make their money by getting you addicted and then selling you more space above the two Gig free bait. Seems fair enough to me. Google Docs, Calendar, etc are really a peek into a possible future of Cloud Computing. (Is it true that Google is as big as General Motors?) If it is, they must be doing something right. It is right if it makes sense, but more often it is right if it makes a profit and so you make damned sure it makes sense too, by making every other way of doing things increasingly difficult and expensive, and finally obsolete. In the end it comes down to: Eat shit! A trillion flies cant be wrong! We all do it, you know. We all finally succumb to that scatological temptation. (Hands up all here with PCs! Right! See! I rest my case.) Per (feeling a bit strange after those tablets my doctor gave me %o$ ) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] USB Floppy Disks and The QL Future
Damn, I missed all the fun as Orange havent delivered the mail for over a week ;o( Not even the message to tell me that I need to agree to their new conditions before I can use my mail account (via an email client or even their webmail interface). How dumb and unhelpful is that! Regarding floppies, No, you cant format DD disks in Vista or W7 as the native drivers dont support it. No problem reading them, though, and no problem formating HD disks from W7 or from within QPC - at least there shouldnt be. Solution: Copy your old stuff to HDDs and go on living! As for the QL future, I guess there aint any, at least not at the present (if that makes sense). Modern computers have evolved far beyond what was envisaged when the QL was young. Surely we dont need yet another way of doing the same old tired things any fool can now do with Linux, Windoze or Macs. The current trend appears to be towards Cloud computing, where data storage and even processing power is an off-site, on-line service. Thats a major paradigm shift - back to square one, some three or four generations ago. There is still the possibility that some of the seminal concepts from the QL era will come round again in a new form in the future, so its worthwhile hanging on in there and keeping it alive as best we can. And if not, weve still had our moneys worth! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] International QL-Meeting 2010 in Vienna - More News
Gerhard Plavec wrote: Hi Per :) I don't know where people coming from outside ist staying (Jochen Merz, Marcel Kilgus, Tony Tebby and Firshman, Wolfgang Lenerz, Urs König)... Worst case, you can stay in my home - there is the show location, so it is not like a hotel... more like camping :) If you tell me when your plane arrives in Vienna, may be I find someone for picking you at the airport. Thank you very much! A tough decision between conviviality, price and convenience.. I must gratefully decline being picked up at the airport as my plane arrives late (22.05 + the time it takes to negotiate the cattle run on arrival, ++ the almost inevitable delays these days) Also thanks for the very kind offer to let me stay at your place, Gerhard :o) That would be the proper and sensible thing for me to do! However, at present I live out the sticks and I feel I really need some city around me on this short break! Holiday Inn is probably Out unless a) someone would like to share a smoking double bed with me. No? I thought so, or b) someone out there would like to purchase a super QXL2 card from me, now, sadly, surplus to requirements (see separate mail) Tony, you didnt mention whether you were staying at HI City or South. Anyone else got lodgings in a more down-market central location? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] QXL for sale!
Hi all, I have for sale a QXL2 ISA card with 8Mb memory. It sports an MC68EC040RC25 CPU (25MHz, I believe) and comes with a systems disk (still readable) and the original printed manual. The only way I can justify getting rid of my dear old QXL card is to help to finance an other good (for me) QL cause! It was new in 1996 and was in use daily until retired when QPC on a PC reached higher speeds, in about 1997 or 1998. I have no way of testing whether it still works but then, what could go wrong? Assuming alls well, Im open to offers of £100 or more. Id prefer to sell to someone attending the KuEl show in Vienna as that will save on the hassles and considerable (I live in a super-high-cost country, remember) expense of PP. Also, we may then possibly be able to test it. Bidding off list (or on list if this is allowed) to end by next Wednesday. Per PS I reserve the right not to sell to the highest bidder! ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] International QL-Meeting 2010 in Vienna - More News
SMSQ - Jochen Merz wrote: Hi to all, does anybody know who will be visiting the show? Although living in Bergen, Norway is a bit like living in Timbuctoo, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, I hope to be there ;o) Flying in late on Friday and out on Monday. It would be nice to stay somewhere where other QLers are holed up; alternatively somewhere cheap (and preferably both) Whats the best advice on this, please? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Cakking Dilwyn
Dilwyn Jones wrote: ... and sorry for 'cakking' you, Dilwyn (8-)# Tony It's only taken until today for me to realise that the 'cakking' was a TF mistype of 'calling'... :-) Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm No, no. 'Cakking' means 'being shamed into disclosing your personal email address via a public forum'. It is derived from 'cacking', which is, for example, when someone is called up over the PA system at a busy airport. Would Dilwyn Ezekiel Obediah Jones please report IMMEDIATELY to Customs at gate 5. and such like. No, Dilwyn, Im afraid it is quite clear you have been cakked! Commiserations, Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QLtoday
I wrote: SMSQ - Jochen Merz writes: Hello François, great! I am glad all the mags arrive now :-) Not quite :o( The surviving reindeer must have taken umbrage QLY arrived today! (Hence the new name ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QLtoday
SMSQ - Jochen Merz writes: Hello François, great! I am glad all the mags arrive now :-) Not quite :o( The surviving reindeer must have taken umbrage Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Reindeer quiz - ANSWERS
Norman Dunbar writes: Evening all. Per (Eats shoots and leaves) Like all good vegetarians. In Scotland, where I come from, vegetarians *are* food! ;-) Not this vegetarian! I just forgot the bloody comma ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] SAV files
Dilwyn Jones writes: Does anyone have information on the format of _sav basic files (as used by Liberation Software's QSAVE utility and the equivalent command in SBASIC)? Heres (an incomplete) decode of the file structure. Below that an example file. HTH Per QSAVE file structure March 22nd 2001 * Head dc.w 'Q1'00 flag dc.w $0380 02 ? version ? This with SMSQ/E2.xx $0380 = Hex bin ? $02C0, $ from Norman - dont know what it implies, perhaps vanilla? dc.w count 04 number of names dc.w source-names06 size of name list dc.w lines 08 number of lines in program * names0A start names list For each name: dc.w type00 bits 0..11 as for name-table entry bits 12..15 ? bit #12: var is paramter bit #13: var is ? dc.w valp02 value pointer? Always 0? dc.w nlen04 name length dc.b namechars 06.. name bytes, padded to even number * source actual tokenised SB program file --- Example code of test program (SMSQ/E): 10 REMark Test 20 number=1 30 PRINT number 40 number = two dc.w'Q1'flag dc.w$0380 ? vers? Ive seen 0B40, 0100, 120,. dc.w3 count names dc.wsource-namessize of name list dc.w4 line count names dc.w$0800 dc.w$ dc.w5,'PRINT ' dc.w$0202 type Top bit or two set on some, for some reason dc.w$ dc.w6,'number' dc.w$0202 type dc.w$ dc.w3,'two ' source dc.w$0010 dc.w$8D00 line number dc.w10 10 dc.w$811E REMarkREMark dc.w$8C00 rem text dc.w4,'Test' Test dc.w$840A eol dc.w$0002 ? dc.w$8D00 dc.w20 20 dc.w$8800 namenumber dc.w$0001 name index dc.w$8401 = = dc.w$F801 dc.l $4000 float1 dc.w$840A eol dc.w$FFFE ? dc.w$8D00 line number dc.w30 30 dc.w$8800 namePRINT dc.w$ name index dc.w$8001 one space dc.w$8800 namenumber dc.w$0001 name index dc.w$840A eol dc.w$0004 ? dc.w$8D00 line num dc.w40 dc.w$8800 namenumber dc.w$0001 index dc.w$8001 space dc.w$8401 = = dc.w$8001 space dc.w$8800 name two dc.w$0002 index dc.w$840A eol ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Reindeer quiz - ANSWERS
Norman Dunbar wrote: I never said it would be a proper quiz by the way! * How many reindeer are employed by Santa? Two. Over here there are (or were) at least three * What are their names (Spelling need not be correct)? Rudolf and Olive. Yksi, Kaksi, Kolme (1, 2, 3 in Finnish) * What sex is the red nosed reindeer? Female. A female called Rudolf? * Why do you say that? Only female reindeer keep their antlers throughout winter. Actually, you can buy them down at the market over here. A media-savvy reindeer, as Santa's surely must be, would know that. Ok, maybe a bit of clarification is required for the answers to the first two questions above: Everyone knows abouit Rudolf, so that's one reindeer. The song of the same name has the words Olive, the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names - so that's two. No others are mentioned! ;-) So, two reindeer are in Santa's employ, Rudolf and Olive. All wildly off topic, of course ;o) All I said was that QLT hadnt arrived here in Norway, possibly due to one of the postman's reindeer having been eaten, and not even by me. I had nut roast, tho Ive no idea whose nuts. Bang! There probably went Olive. At least he'll have a sporting chance of keeping his antlers next year! ducks runs again Per (Eats shoots and leaves) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Happy New Year
Not arrived in Norway yet either. We had reindeer steak for Christmas, (not me personally, of course, Im a veggie) so the postman might have been one short.. Wishing us all a great 2010! Per SMSQ - Jochen Merz wrote: Thanks Dilwyn may I wish the same to you and all the others on the list too. I'm a bit surprised that there has been no comment about the QL Today issue 2 which I sent out middle of December - or was the post too slow to deliver before Xmas? Jochen Dilwyn Jones wrote: May I be the first to wish the entire QL community a very happy new year! Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
John Gilpin wrote: Is there a reliable way of listing all the 'extras' currently loaded and is there a way of getting a list of 'extras' each extension should load - say from the .bin file that is being LRESPRd?. This would be useful in determining whether an extension will overwrite a particular entry already loaded. There is no accurate way to determine which unique extensions will be loaded by any given toolkit, for mainly three reasons. 1. Extensions will overwrite any previous extension with the same name 2. A toolkit may selectively load only some extensions 3. Theoretically, (but unlikely) a toolkit could generate extension name(s) on the fly or alter the names of existing extensions! Using a program or editor to determine which extensions will be loaded may fail for the reasons above. Having said that, most toolkits are pretty straightforward, so only reason 1. above will apply. EXTRAS in job #0 is pretty reliable, except you cannot tell which keywords have been redefined. If you really need to know, youd have to load one toolkit at a time, dump the keyword list using EXTRAS, reboot and do the next. Then you could decide in which order to load the toolkits. Is there a recognised sequence that extensions should be loaded in? - i.e. TK2 before Menu_rext. Because of reason 1. given above, the order of toolkits loaded can be significant. One toolkit's PEEKS might do something completely different to another's. There is no general rule apart from testing to see what works. For the main toolkits, Id follow Dilwyn's advice, for any additional toolkits, load those that are required by the programs most important to you last! If you end up with a heart-rending conflict, youll have to resort to patching. But thats another topic ;o) Is there a way of getting say EXTRAS loaded without loading all the other 400+ 'keywords' contained in TK2? Ah, but you may need TK2 for many good reasons. Invisibly to the user, it redefines a number of existing internal keywords (such as CALL, DIR, DELETE, and many others). TK2 contains the LRESPR keyword we all find so useful, and it also contains many other useful non-keyword facilities, like bug fixes for the QL ROMs (I seem to recall). There are, however, lighter versions - and even a configurable version - out there (Dilwyn will know) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
Only poking you a bit, John. Nothing serious ;o) Id be more than happy to look at your boot script(s) to see if I can spot any obvious flaws. Sometimes all it takes is a new Per of I's Per John Gilpin wrote: Contrary to Per's comments, I am most grateful to the many people who have posted helpful advice regarding my recent BASIC problems in transferring some programs which I wrote many years ago from an Aurora, SGC, QuBide machine to QPC2 on my PCs. I am still investigating the disappearance of EXTRAS loaded from my BOOT program - a situation which only occurs in QPC2 (not on the Aurora machines). The offered solutions to my query about being able to step through the program are, as has been noted on this list, very slow and time consuming but I have attempted them in the hopes of identifying the error(s). In hindsight, what I had in mind, was something more along the lines of the trace facility found in PSION Archive and Xchange (archive) which I use extensively. From advice offered by contributors on this list, I am currently checking the full list of EXTRAS at various points in the program to see if the missing ones all disappear together or a few at a time at various points. I may well have a few VERY BASIC questions regarding the use of EXTRAS to do this, later today. Having said all this, I have to accept that the programs concerned do work well (the first time round) and it is only on the occasion when having closed a program I need to use it again that I find that without a full power-down and reBOOT the programs will not run due to missing extensions. I thought that once loaded (LRESPRd), toolkits etc remained loaded until the machine was powered-down. Do I have this BASIC premise correct? Thank you all for your help and guidance. Regards, John Gilpin. P Witte wrote: giggler wrote: On 14 Nov 2009, at 16:04, P Witte wrote: The way the question was formulated, a line by line stepping through a program - specifically, a boot script - was wanted. This hardly adds to the responses already given, although its fine if only a few lines want monitoring. You can use QMON to step through an assembly program. But this is usually too time-consuming. It is better to go quickly to a specific place and step through a few instructions there. In aBASIC program it would be equally futile to examine the results of every single instruction. I think that it is the ability to examine each instruction which is wanted. I have certainly once or twice used my Puse after each instruction in a short stretch of code. Little point in us discussing it as the original petitioner seems to have found what he wanted and moved on to better things. Or perhaps hes still single-stepping through some endless loop his boot script! ;o) In which case your arguments certainly win the day! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
Marcel Kilgus wrote: François Van Emelen wrote: Of course this is only true for extensions/toolkits loaded in Job 0. Yes, forgot to say that. Extensions/toolkits loaded in another Job are only available in that job. 'EXTRAS' doesn't always show all the available keywords. A bug or a feature? This was a feature on QDOS based machine (EXTRAS does not list any keywords in ROM, as only the extras should be shown) which turned into a bug on SMSQ/E based machines (there it was not guaranteed that new keywords are not in the ROM address area). I fixed that in v2f99. Unless he is refering to the feature that EXTRAS in SBasic daughters only displays keywords once they have actually been used. And that includes ALL non-language keywords (ie INPUT, but not REPeat, etc) Quite neat really, but I cant remember why ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
Dilwyn Jones wrote: Contrary to Per's comments, I am most grateful to the many people who I had a look at John's boot program but lack of time prevents me from taking a very detailed look. Basically, his program revolves around code like: Sounds like the real problem here is one of complexity ;o) As others have already commented, all but the simplest boot files should be split into at least two files. One for loading the core components and another (or a choice of others) for the rest. (I use a third tier for the most dynamic components, such as default directory or win_drive selection. This is easily accessible from my Qascade Start Menu to pop straight up in an editor.) One of the problems is communicating between any secondary boot files and the primary one. This seems to be one of the issues here. There are many ways around it, and John's way of dumping EXTRAS to a file and parsing that file is valid, although perhaps somewhat slow and cumbersome. A quicker method might be for the primary boot file to create a status file on the fly and the secondaries to parse that instead. It should be a lot more concise and therefore quicker. However, there are a lot of toolkits that provide a way of checking whether keywords have been loaded, including my FINDNAME_BIN (258 bytes). Such a toolkit could be loaded by the primary, and the secondary boot script would use something like IF FINDNAME%(Q_L): DO_THIS: ELSE: DO_THAT (This works the same in daughter SBasics as in job#0, BTW) The problem with boot files is that they tend to grow and evolve, and as so much depends on these increasingly tweaked and convoluted creations, one finds it hard to tidy them up or start again from scratch. If you spend more than an hour or so trying to debug one, it is perhaps time to start afresh! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
Dilwyn Jones wrote:
The reason why John got the specific error message at line 210 of his
program is simply that MENU_REXT checks if it is being installed twice.
But that doesn't of course explain why the Q_L extension is not being
found when he looks for it, unless it's something to do with the order
of QLiberator files being installed or something like that.
Another technique for communicating between boot files is to let the
primary boot write to the secondary directly. No parsing required!
BOOT1:
optionally lrespr Prowess and set pws flag accordingly
optionally lrespr Wman/ptrgen and set pe flag accordingly
..
..
c = fopen('flp1_BOOT2')
if pws: print#c; '1 pws = 1': else: print#c; '1 pws = 0'
if pe: print#c; '2 pe = 1': else: print#c; '2 mpe = 0'
..
close#c
..
lrun flp1_BOOT2
BOOT2:
1 pws = 0
2 pe = 0
..
..
120 if pws then
130 do_this
140 else
150 if pe then
160 do_that
170 end
180 end
..
per
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQ Reference Manual and QPTR manual online
Marcel Kilgus wrote: With all the different OS and release versions it's difficult to keep everything in sync. As you say. I too have a number of corrections, but no longer know whether they apply or not, as there were so many intermediate versions. Thus sms.sevt (trap #1, $3a) A0+ all preserved. My notes says HBA 3.04 smashed! iob.elin (trap#3, $4) was a terrible mess. I wrote to TT about it and he agreed, but I dont know it was ever fixed Theres more, but this is perhaps not the time/place.. Would be great if someone were to take on to edit these manuals. Perhaps the simplest for now would be for that someone to compile an Errata database and maintain it in some public place on the web? 2. Page Section 16 15 For vector SB.INIPR A4 is altered on return As far as I see, the register is saved before the call. Or is it a QDOS bug? QPTR Manual 1. Page 60 In IOP.RPXL it seems that A1 is not preserved. This was fixed in later PE releases and SMSQ/E. Last time I checked iop.rpxl wasnt working at all! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
giggler wrote: On 14 Nov 2009, at 16:04, P Witte wrote: The way the question was formulated, a line by line stepping through a program - specifically, a boot script - was wanted. This hardly adds to the responses already given, although its fine if only a few lines want monitoring. You can use QMON to step through an assembly program. But this is usually too time-consuming. It is better to go quickly to a specific place and step through a few instructions there. In aBASIC program it would be equally futile to examine the results of every single instruction. I think that it is the ability to examine each instruction which is wanted. I have certainly once or twice used my Puse after each instruction in a short stretch of code. Little point in us discussing it as the original petitioner seems to have found what he wanted and moved on to better things. Or perhaps hes still single-stepping through some endless loop his boot script! ;o) In which case your arguments certainly win the day! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
gdgqler wrote:
On 8 Nov 2009, at 09:44, John Gilpin wrote:
Is there a way of stepping through a BASIC program, line by line, for debugging
purposes? If so how?
The way I debug BASIC programs is to use a routine called Puse, which causes a
pause.
DEFine PROCedure Puse
LOcal a$(2)
OPEN#20,con
a$=INKEY$(#20,-1)
CLOSE#20
END DEFine
By placing this inside the program I can see what's happening. For example
2000 Fling: REMark some procedure
2005 Puse:PRINT Line 2000:Puse
allows me to see if I have gone past line 2000. Pressing any key allows the
program to continue (to the next Puse).
The way the question was formulated, a line by line stepping through
a program - specifically, a boot script - was wanted. This hardly adds
to the responses already given, although its fine if only a few lines
want monitoring.
To your example I venture to suggest the following improvement:
DEFine PROCedure Puse(l%)
LOcal c%
c% = FOPEN('con_')
PRINT#c%; 'Line'! l%
or
LIST#c%; l%: rem Unless compiled, of course
PAUSE#c%; -1
CLOSE#c%
END DEFine
Call with
2005 Puse 2000
You can add a PRINT facility to Puse by:
DEFine PROCedure(b$)
.
.
PRINT#20,b$
.
.
END DEFine
This works well even inside compiled BASIC programs.
Actually,
DEFine PROCedure(b$)
doesnt work at all ;o) Probably just a ruse to see if anyone was
paying attention.
Per
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Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
Tony Firshman wrote: gdgqler wrote, On 14/11/09 08:15: On 8 Nov 2009, at 09:44, John Gilpin wrote: Is there a way of stepping through a BASIC program, line by line, for debugging purposes? If so how? The way I debug BASIC programs is to use a routine called Puse, which causes a pause. DEFine PROCedure Puse LOcal a$(2) OPEN#20,con a$=INKEY$(#20,-1) CLOSE#20 END DEFine By placing this inside the program I can see what's happening. For example 2000 Fling: REMark some procedure 2005 Puse:PRINT Line 2000:Puse allows me to see if I have gone past line 2000. Pressing any key allows the program to continue (to the next Puse). You can add a PRINT facility to Puse by: DEFine PROCedure(b$) . . PRINT#20,b$ . . END DEFine This works well even inside compiled BASIC programs. ... and of course further de-bugging info could be added, like printing critical global variables each time. Right you are. I miss Minerva SuperBasic's watch variable facility, eg: 120 WHEN x 10: PRINT X is now too big! .. 130 FOR x = 5 TO 12: PRINT x will print 5 6 7 8 9 10 X is now too big! 11 X is now too big! 12 Pity it didnt make it into SBasic Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
P Witte wrote:
John Gilpin wrote:
Is there a way of stepping through a BASIC program, line by line, for
debugging purposes? If so how?
You could try something like this:
I wrote a somewhat more sophisticated trace program in the early days,
but it relies on the SuperBasic variables to do its stuff. That no
longer works in SBasic. So, just because I felt like it, I wrote a new
version this evening. It is very simplistic, but should be adequate
for testing simple boot scripts and the like. Alter to suit your style:
100 REMark Simple TRACE V3.00
110 REMark pjwitte 20091109
120 :
130 inp$ = 'win1_someprogram_bas'
140 oup$ = 'ram1_test_bas'
150 c% = 0: REMark Trace channel
160 t% = -1: REMark Timeout
170 :
180 ci% = FOP_IN(inp$): ERT ci%
190 co% = FOP_OVER(oup$): ERT co%
200 :
210 REPeat
220 IF EOF(#ci%): EXIT
230 INPUT#ci%; l$
240 l% = l$
250 s% = (' ' INSTR l$)
260 l$ = l$(s% + 1 TO)
270 IF OK THEN
280 PRINT#co%; l%! 'T.'! l%; ':'! l$
290 ELSE
300 PRINT#co%; l%! l$
310 END IF
320 END REPeat
330 :
340 PRINT#co%; l% + 1! 'STOP: REMark TRACE'
350 PRINT#co%; l% + 2! 'DEFine PROCedure T.(n%)'
360 PRINT#co%; l% + 3! 'LIST#'; c%; '; n% : PAUSE'! t%
370 PRINT#co%; l% + 4! 'END DEFine T.'
380 CLOSE
390 :
400 DEFine FuNction OK
410 IF ('def ' INSTR l$) = 1: RETurn 0
420 IF ('define ' INSTR l$) = 1: RETurn 0
430 IF ('loc ' INSTR l$) = 1: RETurn 0
440 IF ('local ' INSTR l$) = 1: RETurn 0
450 RETurn 1
460 END DEFine OK
470 :
NB! Only SBasic accepts procedures and variables containing a dot, so
alter accordingly for SuperBasic!
To test it try using the program as its own input!
Per
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Re: [Ql-Users] More BASIC Queries
John Gilpin wrote: And here's yet another one for you:- Having LRESPRed various extensions in my Boot program, what would cause some or all of the resulting EXTRAS to disappear from the EXTRAS list? Having run the boot, I have checked the EXTRAS list and been happy that what I wanted is there. Then, after allowing the boot program to call the next program in the sequence using ex 'win1_next program.exe' which subsequently returns on completion, I find that re running the same boot Do you seriously mean RE running the same boot program after LRESPRing the extensions? Some extensions may not like being LRESPRed more than once! program fails since some of EXTRAS are no longer there. What sort of error should I be looking for? If you mean that you continue running the boot program after executing some other program, you may be looking at some dodgy extensions or corrupt files Is there a way of stepping through a BASIC program, line by line, for debugging purposes? If so how? You could try something like this: (assumes no gotos etc or RENUM source file first and save) set line_number% to 10 open_in#input file_to_debug open_new#output debug_file loop until end of input file: input#input line$ remove line number from line$ print#output: line_number%! list! line_number%! :pause:! line$ increment line_number% end loop close all Then run debug_file Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] qxl.win
Dilwyn Jones wrote: I've run into an unusual program with my WIN1_ (a QXL.WIN) which I have been unable to resolve. DIR WIN1_ gives 84847/1048560 sectors, it's a 512MB QXL.WIN, with 11,716 files on it. Despite reporting 84847 sectors free it says Drive Full. Deleting one file will let me save one file normally, then it runs into Drive Full next time I try to save anything. So it's not as if it's write protected, for example. Anyone any idea what's happening? Could I have run into the maximum number of files a QXL.WIN file might hold, for example (directory full)? Ive got a disc 63943/655358, with 13,023 files and 859 directories. Perhaps you have a lot of files in a single directory? It was running on a pen drive, so I tried copying it to C: drive and using it from there with QPC's win1_ pointing to C:\QXL.WIN. Same result. Next step will be create a new blank QXL.WIN and copy everything there to see if that gives the same result (i.e. checking for fragmented qxl.win?) Thats what Id try. Even if you copied all your files into the root directory they should all fit! I just tried: for i = 1 to 99: save 'win5_t'i: at 0,0:print i, on a blank qxl.win file. Its still going strong at 16000 files plus! I'll let you know the final answer unless Marcel gets there first ;o) Per Help! Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] qxl.win
James Hunkins wrote: I have had that happen occasionally in the past, especially when I was doing a lot of developing for QDT which generated a lot of files every time I rebuilt it. My guess is that it is some sort of fragmentation or less likely a file system table corruption. What I did to resolve it was to recursively copy all directories and files to a brand new drive and then, after exiting QPC, rename the original as a backup name (just in case) and rename the new one as the original name. In QPC you can also just change the names in the configuration for each drive. I used the 'cp' command (I think that it came with some Unix command set) to do the copying. One time hint, do not run it in verbose mode or else, depending on how many files, it will seem to take forever. Once you verify that the new drive is good, then you can get rid of the original that you backed up. I have never had a failure in doing this. Copying the entire qxl.win file takes the entire directory data structure with it so if it had a problem before, it will still have one. Exactly right Jim. Way to go! I presume cp maintains the file dates, etc? Otherwise I have a home grown routine for this if anyone needs one. On 08-11-2009, at 6:42 PM, P Witte wrote: Next step will be create a new blank QXL.WIN and copy everything there to see if that gives the same result (i.e. checking for fragmented qxl.win?) Thats what Id try. Even if you copied all your files into the root directory they should all fit! I just tried: for i = 1 to 99: save 'win5_t'i: at 0,0:print i, on a blank qxl.win file. Its still going strong at 16000 files plus! I'll let you know the final answer unless Marcel gets there first ;o) Cant wait for the final result as after about 16k files in one directory things really start to slow down! No wonder, as for each save the filing subsystem has to check every entry before the next save can occur. Having determined that there is no arbitrary limit, I presume that the max number of files in one directory is probably around 32k (though it could be 65k) However, the practical limit at present is about 16k - 20k as after that, even on a 2.66 GHz Core Duo, things slow down unbearably. Qpac absolutely hates having to read such a large directory, and if a Sort is switched on it takes forever! A theoretical answer would be much quicker to obtain, but Im rather rusty at the moment and would know where to look for the data. But this way of finding out also gives some practical insights. The final figure at closing time is: 27490 files in the root directory! and that took almost one hour to complete. Good night! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Further BASIC Question.
Marcel Kilgus writes: John Gilpin wrote: Having changed window sizes (and other parameters) in my program, I have written a procedure to reset all the devices/parameters etc to their default settings before returning. I have most of the other defaults but not the three windows #0, #1 and #2. Is this information recorded anywhere? If so, where? Just use the WMON command, it will do everything for you. As usual, Marcel is spot on ;o) However, (on larger screens under SMSQ/E) I prefer to have my main console window on the right hand side of the screen, as the older programs tend to pile up on the left covering the command console. Normally, I also want to leave some space for the Button Frame on top. Therefore Ive set up two hotkeys on 'B' and 'b' which put the console where I want it. (The listings below should be concatenated with colons to put them on a hotkey.) Incidentally, this also answers your question ;o) Set windows top right, leaving room for BF: OUTLN#0,512,242,SCR_XLIM-512,14 WINDOW#0;512,62,SCR_XLIM-512,194:BORDER#0;1,255 WINDOW#1;256,178,SCR_XLIM-256,14:BORDER#1;1,255 WINDOW#2,256,178,SCR_XLIM-512,14:BORDER#2;1,255 CLS#0:CLS#1:CLS#2 Reset windows, but place them top right: OUTLN#0,512,256,SCR_XLIM-512,0 WINDOW#0;512,52,SCR_XLIM-512,204:PAPER#0;0:INK#0;4:BORDER#0;1,255:CLS#0 WINDOW 256,202,SCR_XLIM-256,0:PAPER 2:INK 7:BORDER 1,255:CLS WINDOW#2,256,202,SCR_XLIM-512,0:PAPER#2;7:INK#2;2:BORDER#2;1,255:CLS#2 Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Further BASIC Question.
Marcel Kilgus wrote: P Witte wrote: Just use the WMON command, it will do everything for you. As usual, Marcel is spot on ;o) However, (on larger screens under SMSQ/E) I prefer to have my main console window on the right hand side of the screen, as the older programs tend to pile up on the left covering the command console. Normally, I also want to leave some space for the Button Frame on top. Per, use the WMON ,SCR_XLIM-512,14 command, it will do everything for you :-) (note the comma as the first parameter, it's no typo!) Not quite ;o) But that doesnt mean that most of us shouldnt find it sufficient Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QPC2 screen size
Giggler writes: I would be happy myself with a 2048x2048 limit. I suppose I was just testing that some of my programs actually take whatever size is presented without limit (except of course ram size). Perhaps others might want an even bigger limit for QPC2! There are some other unexpected limits though. FILL appears to have a problem at higher resolutions. I havent tested what the limits might be, I only know that there doesnt seem to be any problem with FILL on my 1280x768 screen, while on a 1640x1050 it certainly crashes QPC. This is probably downt to a Qdos/Smsqe issue. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] XTC68 Status Report
Adrian D. Ives writes: ToolWatcom Name MinGW Name ~~~ ~~ Assembler as68qas Compilerc68 qc Front End qcc qcc Linker qld qld Pre-Processor qcppqpp Make Utilitymakeqmake I dont have much of an idea of what all this means, but FYI there already is a widely distributed and popular program called Qmake. Please consider whether this might cause confusion Seems like youve done some great work there, Adrian! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] [Fwd: Re: Help with BASIC/SBASIC WINDOWS]
Marcel Kilgus writes: Ive had a blocked pipe in my qlusers system somewhere. Just had the odd mail until today when I got 107 all at once! P Witte wrote: Of course this isnt half as clever as it looks, as nowadays you arnt guaranteed (AFAIK) that ALCHP wont return a negative address. Is that so? ALCHP returns a memory address, so at least on QPC you would have to have more than 2GB of memory to achieve this. On MMU based systems it could be possible in theory, but I'm not aware that it's the case. Id swear that on one (or more) of the systems Ive used over the years Ive had to watch out for negative addresses. Whether it was on a QVME or QXL, I dont recall, only Ive been shy of them ever since. Probably mere superstition. The much more grave problem is the other one you mention yourself, namely that ALCHPed memory is discarded upon release of a job, so you're returning an illegal pointer. Please never ever anybody use this method. If you insist, use RECHP. This introduces a small memory leak, but that's preferable to having a race condition. My intention was to warn, as the technique of producing your own error messages is quite legal, but it breaks down in the case where it is a job's dying croak. However, for the purpose of interactively testing small scripts, there is usually never a problem. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Question regarding the expected behaviour of the SBASIC cmd MRUN in a program...
Hi Martyn, Could your problem have to do with line numbers? Per Message Received: Oct 11 2009, 10:17 PM From: Martyn Hill martyn.joseph.h...@googlemail.com To: ql-users@lists.q-v-d.com Cc: Subject: [Ql-Users] Question regarding the expected behaviour of the SBASIC cmd MRUN in a program... Hi again Could anyone say whether the behaviour that I'm seeing when using MRUN in a running SBASIC prog is expected? As part of my initial SB boot prog, I include an MRUN statement that successfully merges some useful SB definitions (only). I expect the boot prog to continue to execute the next statement, but it simply stops after merging the DEFs. I'm running this in QPC. Is this expected behaviour? I read in the manual that MRUN in a program _should_ continue with the next runnable statement in the program. Regards, Martyn Hill London. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QUIT (was something else)
Tony Firshman writes: Dilwyn Jones wrote, On 5/10/09 11:31: Gee Dee Gee QLer - sounds like something from a nursery rhyme :o) Sounds better than Supreme Toady which I got called when I was QL Today editor - I think that one was down to Per as well. Per Witte - Wet tripe Dilwyn Llewellyn Jones: Linen jolly lewdly sewn Tony Firshman - Mannish forty (only 24 years out!) George D Gwilt - Giggled or wet My mind runs along different lines. I often find myself nick-naming people, although Ive never analysed the underlying rules too carefully. Thus Per Vert, Tory Freshman, Billy Bones and, as weve seen, Giggler. Mostly I keep them to myself. (No offence intended or given, I trust ;o) Ive been given many names by others too. When I worked for HP I was known as Twisted Per by the guys in the networking department. I hope Wet Tripe wont catch on, though, as the very thought makes me sick ;o) Any other DNA (National Dyslexic Association) members here, BTW? (If you missed the joke, the answer is Yes ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] QUIT (was something else)
gdgqler writes: On 3 Oct 2009, at 17:03, P Witte wrote: As it is not widely advertised and the documentation is hard to find, I thought I should just mention that as of SMSQ/E 3.06 the QUIT keyword takes an optional longword parameter. Earlier versions will simply ignore this A useful bit of information. Where is this recorded? I suppose you go to the witch's wood and find the parchment under the third stone from the left. Or is it in one of the QL Today's? It would be good to know. Its RTFB, George ;o) I only happen to know cause I snuck the feature in myself. When researching for my reply, I couldnt find a trace of it in the documentation, but perhaps I just missed it. BTW, how do you pronounce your nom de guerre? My dyslescia nags me to think of you as Giggler ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] [Fwd: Re: Help with BASIC/SBASIC WINDOWS]
Bob Spelten writes:
Op Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:37:11 +0200 schreef John Gilpin
thegilp...@btinternet.com:
I understand that there is no need to compile BASIC programs when using
QPC2 (SMSQ) - the SBASIC code can be EXEC'd without TURBO or QLIBERATOR.
Do I take this to mean that I just Ex win1_program_bas?And if it's
as easy as that, what are the benefits and drawbacks of doing this?
It's as easy as that.
One small drawback can be that when a Qliberated program crashes there
usually is the infamous red screen with an error message.
This is not always the case with executed SBasic, it just disappears.
That's why I always write and test my SBasics in QD and use the
qd/sbas thing to execute from there. Then QD will report the error.
As it is not widely advertised and the documentation is hard to find,
I thought I should just mention that as of SMSQ/E 3.06 the QUIT
keyword takes an optional longword parameter. Earlier versions will
simply ignore this
QUIT error_code
where error_code are the usual suspects. If you EW program_bas, and
program_bas terminates with a QUIT error_code parameter, the calling
program will receive the error message.
Below follows an example using a home made error code. (The Home made
error codes principle has always been part of SMSQ/E (and if IRRC,
Qdos) but most people, I suspect, will have forgotten all about it ;o)
1 REMark Example of QUIT
2 REMark Using own error message
3 REMark by pjwitte 2009
4 :
100 addr = ALCHP(100)
110 erm$ = 'something got seriously buggered here..' CHR$(10)
120 POKE_W addr, LEN(erm$), erm$
130 er = BIN('1' BIN$(addr, 32)(2 TO))
140 REMark La di da
150 QUIT er
160 :
If the program snippet above is saved as ram1_Test_bas (for example)
then if
EW ram1_Test_bas
is executed from another basic console it should return the error
message something got seriously buggered here..! (pardon my Latin!)
Of course this isnt half as clever as it looks, as nowadays you arnt
guaranteed (AFAIK) that ALCHP wont return a negative address. Another
potential pitfall is if you use
er = FEW(ram1_Test_bas)
and try to work out the error message from there, as the location of
the error message is no longer defined since the job that owned the
space has disappeared!
However, the concept is valid. Youll just have to find a workaround
for those issues.
Per
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Re: [Ql-Users] [Fwd: Re: Help with BASIC/SBASIC WINDOWS]
I wrote:
1 REMark Example of QUIT
2 REMark Using own error message
3 REMark by pjwitte 2009
4 :
100 addr = ALCHP(100)
110 erm$ = 'something got seriously buggered here..' CHR$(10)
120 POKE_W addr, LEN(erm$), erm$
130 er = BIN('1' BIN$(addr, 32)(2 TO))
140 REMark La di da
150 QUIT er
160 :
Line 120 should actually read something like
120 POKE_W addr, LEN(erm$): POKE addr + 2, erm$
I was using one of my own keywords to test and then edited it out in
the email before sending it off in a hurry without re-testing! Just as
well I was bleating in the wilderness, otherwise Id have had a torrent
of protests!
QUIT -10
Per
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Re: [Ql-Users] Next issue/volume of QL Today
Hi all, Just to say Ive moved again. If anyone needs my physical address just mail me ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] International QL Mac are 25 event will be hosted in Lucerne, Switzerland on Sat/Sun Oct 31-Nov 1, 2009
Tony Firshman writes: gdgqler wrote, On 4/07/09 15:42: On 3 Jul 2009, at 00:40, Tony Firshman wrote: and I will probably bring my Macbook Pro rather than QL hardware. I have given most of my QL stuff to Rich Mellor. My MacBook Pro runs Windows XP and so, of course, QPC2 too. ... so does mine, and Qemulator. Whew! Glad to hear it ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] I need help!!!
Bob Spelten writes: What are these popup help routines? They sound interesting. It is an example routine, how to make Hint windows popup in EasyPtr programs. It was described in QL Today volume 10, issue 3. It was on one of the QLT disks and can also be found on Per's site. (http://www.witteware.com/knoware/) Sorry, the site is currently down while I search for a cheaper host. My articles Taking a Hint (pop-up hints and reading lines longer than can be displayed in a regular grid), and Pox (using pop-up windows larger than, or outside, the main program outline) were intended to demonstrate that much of the stuff weve become accustomed to in modern mainstream programs are relatively easily achievable on QL systems too. Most of the techniques used wont be news for many of the contributors to this thread. Anyone else can simply use and modify the S*Basic routines listed. An upcoming article (Ive been told it will appear in the next QLT), Resz, is about interactive resizing of windows It was inspired by Ralf Reköndt's comment on this list: ..how nice [it would be] to use the Windows facility of changing a window size in the lower right edge of a window.. - and the subsequent discussion. My demo in the latter article shows up an annoying (lack of?) feature in ptrgen that it doesnt recognise that a mouse button is pressed when it initialises: it assumes buttons are up :o( And while we are at it: It would be great if ptrgen would be extended to allow registering a keystroke modifier, such as ALT, CTRL and SHIFT together with a mousebutton press. A couple of spare bits in the pointer record might be available for this? That would allow mass selects and toggles, as in Windows etc. Thanks to Dilwyn and others for the brief demo on using scrollbars! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] I need help!!!
I wrote: An upcoming article (Ive been told it will appear in the next QLT), Resz, is about interactive resizing of windows That should be Wresz, not that its important.. Thanks to Dilwyn and others for the brief demo on using scrollbars! By others I meant Bob Spelten, of course ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] uqlx-win32
Id be interested in such a package. Had a go with Cygwin/uQLx some time ago but had only limited success. Getting rid of the debris was a pain, iirc. Per Dilwyn Jones wrote: I did get an earlier version running once, of uQLx-Win32, on a WIN98 machine, with the help of Phoebus at that time. I think this is the point - without help it can't be got running if you don't know about Cygwin environment. As only 6 files are needed, surely it would make more sense to just provide these? Probably not strictly legal packaging up 6 files from the package I guess but what fool is going to download hundreds of megabytes just to get 6 files to get a single emulator running? ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] QL is 25 bash
Well? How did it go? Where can we view the pics? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QL Today article.
Thanks for the clarification, Roy. And sorry you had to make it. Thanks for the service, subsidy and fun you have provided over the years! I wish you better satisfaction with your other ventures. Per Roy wood wrote: I have spent the last week deliberating about whether to write anything here about the article in QL Today. In some ways I was very disinclined to do it because I did not want it to turn in one of those acrimonious arguments that run on these pages. I would, however, like to run in a little background information. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Last chance saloon?
Did I just hear the sound of another nail going in the coffin or was that just my drunken neighbour falling down the stair again ? Per Geoff Wicks wrote: The Just Words! website is due to close in a weeks time. The site host, Lycos, is cutting out all unprofitable activities, and although they promised site hosting would remain until at least the end of March they have now brought the closure forward to 15th February. I have been investigating alternative hosts with the intention of making the site a little more professional and until this weekend was intending to relaunch the site as soon as possible. I am now having serious second thoughts and may keep the site permanently closed. Rewriting the site for a new host will be a time consuming task given the numerous links that have to be changed and I have to consider whether the usage of the site - 9 people per week - justifies this time investment. QL activities take up much of my time that could be devoted to other things. In particular I have a number of family history projects that are on permanent hold. I have still not kept a promise to a niece that I made 3 years ago. It is very tempting to abandon the QL to be able to spend more time on family history. The last time I wrote anything for one of the family history magazines I was paid generously for my work. The article produced a large number of reactions including one from a distant relative I had never heard of before and who had masses of family photos. In return she got a mass of detail from me that peviously she had known nothing about. The QL prevents from doing more work like this. If you want something from the Just Words! website, download it in the next 7 days, Best wishes, Geoff ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] slowdown
I prefer Process Explorer, available from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx or www.sysinternals.com. Its a more advanced version of the built-in one. Perhaps more palatable for sub-planet-sized brains ;o) It usually does the job for me Per Dilwyn Jones wrote: Dilwyn Jones wrote: Help. My laptop has been driving me mad today with the constant disk activity. I've spent most of the day trying to find out what is going on and drawn a blank. Check out ProcMon, it will perhaps tell you what caused the activity: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx Marcel Wow, creates a HUGE amount of data, most of it meaningless to me. The FileOpen etc activity seems to be caused by a 'softmodem' and the wireless RaLink card. Even when turned off and not connected to the router. Regular QueryOpen, CreateFile, QueryNetworkOpenInformationFile, QueryStandardInformationFile, CloseFile Masses of RegOpenKey, RegCloseKey etc. (don't know what they all mean). Nothing that really ties in as far as I can tell. No toolbars or anything new installed in the last couple of days. Even sound gets affected, a simple system Ping sound gets broken up into P-i-n-g sounding like an underwater bubbling sci-fi sound! ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Pointer test
I suppose what TT calls Window Request (see way down below) is the QL equivalent of a 'desktop' type job in this case. Anyway, thats the sort of thing that appears to be missing here. Im glad to hear that you have managed to work around the issue in your super QDT. But Im unsure whether you have also solved the problem I mentioned initially? Hmm, Ive just checked a solitaire-type card game Im (theoretically) working on. I use drag and drop there, which involves, among other steps, creating a window, outline and all, containing the card I want to move. Amazingly, it works just as it should! I right-click on a card to pick it up, drag it to some other location and let go of the button to drop it. So I may have found a workaround after all! (One can see an illustration at my website under Games/Cabal). I'll have to investigate.. Per James Hunkins wrote: Exactly - if you are moving icons between windows, you need to take control of it all. I actually got carried away as I was dragging between desktop and separate windows, all with different jobs. All I can say is that database sharing the the QL message passing stuff works quite well. We have to do a bit more on the QL than for example Windows as we don't seem to have a separate 'desktop' type job (which is why the icons in QDT do not automatically redraw in all cases) but it still works quite well. jim On 26-Jan-09, at 3:07 PM, P Witte wrote: James Hunkins wrote: You will have had better success than me, then. But I find that unless I have exclusive rights to the screen it is easy to loose the sprite and mess up the operation. It is many years since I worked on this problem, so I cant remember what I tried. I suppose one could OUTLine the whole screen.. Per I do custom sprites for copy and moving with QDT, using the different pointer routines. Maybe not usable from within an existing call but doable. jim On 25-Jan-09, at 1:14 PM, P Witte wrote: gdgqler wrote: On 25 Jan 2009, at 13:18, P Witte wrote: Ive been fiddling with a program of mine, wondering why I cant make it work. The problem boils down to the following: The code below does exactly what it should, EXCEPT the first time it is run! To test it do the following: (You need ptrmen, the EasyPointer [EP] toolkit, loaded). Fire up a SB daughter job (the example expects at least two QL windows #0 #1.) LOAD the program, type run and then press and hold ENTER or the RMB (ie DO) to execute. The first time it runs it displays Key up although a key is actually down! You need to release the key and then depress it again to get the correct result. Subsequent execution also gives the right result. To reset it, you need to start it in a pristine SB job again (ie one that has not yet had its OUTLine set). I suspect the problem lies with the PI rather than EP. Its annoying because it prevents some fine tweaking of a user interface Im working on - and because its just plain wrong. Ive spent more time than I can afford on trying to work around the problem, to no avail. Any ideas? Per 1 DIM pv%(15) 2 x% = -1: y% = -1 3 mv% = 1 + 2 + 4 4 : 5 OUTL#0 6 CLS 7 RDPT#0; 48, x%, y% 8 : 9 PRINT; 'HIT or DO. ESC to quit' 10 : 11 REPeat loop 12 RDPT#0; mv%, x%, y%: PVAL#0; pv% 13 AT 2,0 14 IF pv%(7) 4: PRINT 'key up',: ELSE : PRINT 'key down', 15 IF pv%(6) = 27: EXIT loop 16 END REPeat loop 17 : ___ This looks like the trouble I had with the resizing by outline program. When the second program starts, although I am holding down the mouse button, the PE software does not acknowledge this. I had to test first for a mouse button being down. Once the PE software accepts this then I can test for button up. George Exactly! So much for drag'n drop on the QL. Bummer ;o( Another pity is that the so called Window Request (bit #7 set in termination vector) only allows a limited number of pointer sprites to be used (move, resize and empty window). It would have been nice to be able to use any sprite, thus allowing, for example, a sprite (representing some object) to be dragged from one window and dropped on another. When I retire in about 2025 I'll take a look at these issues ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Pointer test
James Hunkins wrote: You will have had better success than me, then. But I find that unless I have exclusive rights to the screen it is easy to loose the sprite and mess up the operation. It is many years since I worked on this problem, so I cant remember what I tried. I suppose one could OUTLine the whole screen.. Per I do custom sprites for copy and moving with QDT, using the different pointer routines. Maybe not usable from within an existing call but doable. jim On 25-Jan-09, at 1:14 PM, P Witte wrote: gdgqler wrote: On 25 Jan 2009, at 13:18, P Witte wrote: Ive been fiddling with a program of mine, wondering why I cant make it work. The problem boils down to the following: The code below does exactly what it should, EXCEPT the first time it is run! To test it do the following: (You need ptrmen, the EasyPointer [EP] toolkit, loaded). Fire up a SB daughter job (the example expects at least two QL windows #0 #1.) LOAD the program, type run and then press and hold ENTER or the RMB (ie DO) to execute. The first time it runs it displays Key up although a key is actually down! You need to release the key and then depress it again to get the correct result. Subsequent execution also gives the right result. To reset it, you need to start it in a pristine SB job again (ie one that has not yet had its OUTLine set). I suspect the problem lies with the PI rather than EP. Its annoying because it prevents some fine tweaking of a user interface Im working on - and because its just plain wrong. Ive spent more time than I can afford on trying to work around the problem, to no avail. Any ideas? Per 1 DIM pv%(15) 2 x% = -1: y% = -1 3 mv% = 1 + 2 + 4 4 : 5 OUTL#0 6 CLS 7 RDPT#0; 48, x%, y% 8 : 9 PRINT; 'HIT or DO. ESC to quit' 10 : 11 REPeat loop 12 RDPT#0; mv%, x%, y%: PVAL#0; pv% 13 AT 2,0 14 IF pv%(7) 4: PRINT 'key up',: ELSE : PRINT 'key down', 15 IF pv%(6) = 27: EXIT loop 16 END REPeat loop 17 : ___ This looks like the trouble I had with the resizing by outline program. When the second program starts, although I am holding down the mouse button, the PE software does not acknowledge this. I had to test first for a mouse button being down. Once the PE software accepts this then I can test for button up. George Exactly! So much for drag'n drop on the QL. Bummer ;o( Another pity is that the so called Window Request (bit #7 set in termination vector) only allows a limited number of pointer sprites to be used (move, resize and empty window). It would have been nice to be able to use any sprite, thus allowing, for example, a sprite (representing some object) to be dragged from one window and dropped on another. When I retire in about 2025 I'll take a look at these issues ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Pointer test
gdgqler wrote: On 25 Jan 2009, at 13:18, P Witte wrote: Ive been fiddling with a program of mine, wondering why I cant make it work. The problem boils down to the following: The code below does exactly what it should, EXCEPT the first time it is run! To test it do the following: (You need ptrmen, the EasyPointer [EP] toolkit, loaded). Fire up a SB daughter job (the example expects at least two QL windows #0 #1.) LOAD the program, type run and then press and hold ENTER or the RMB (ie DO) to execute. The first time it runs it displays Key up although a key is actually down! You need to release the key and then depress it again to get the correct result. Subsequent execution also gives the right result. To reset it, you need to start it in a pristine SB job again (ie one that has not yet had its OUTLine set). I suspect the problem lies with the PI rather than EP. Its annoying because it prevents some fine tweaking of a user interface Im working on - and because its just plain wrong. Ive spent more time than I can afford on trying to work around the problem, to no avail. Any ideas? Per 1 DIM pv%(15) 2 x% = -1: y% = -1 3 mv% = 1 + 2 + 4 4 : 5 OUTL#0 6 CLS 7 RDPT#0; 48, x%, y% 8 : 9 PRINT; 'HIT or DO. ESC to quit' 10 : 11 REPeat loop 12 RDPT#0; mv%, x%, y%: PVAL#0; pv% 13 AT 2,0 14 IF pv%(7) 4: PRINT 'key up',: ELSE : PRINT 'key down', 15 IF pv%(6) = 27: EXIT loop 16 END REPeat loop 17 : ___ This looks like the trouble I had with the resizing by outline program. When the second program starts, although I am holding down the mouse button, the PE software does not acknowledge this. I had to test first for a mouse button being down. Once the PE software accepts this then I can test for button up. George Exactly! So much for drag'n drop on the QL. Bummer ;o( Another pity is that the so called Window Request (bit #7 set in termination vector) only allows a limited number of pointer sprites to be used (move, resize and empty window). It would have been nice to be able to use any sprite, thus allowing, for example, a sprite (representing some object) to be dragged from one window and dropped on another. When I retire in about 2025 I'll take a look at these issues ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QL Today Merry X-Mas
Norman Dunbar writes: Ok, mine arrived today at about 14:30. I have just about finished reading it and it is now 16:34! Thats the downside to being a contributer ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Program updates
Hello Norman Prowess is an alternative window manager. We were discussing an idea for simulating outline dragging in Wman. Yes, I know. My point being that Prowess was built on top of WMAN wasn't it? I'm sure that in order to run Prowess, WMAN had to be loaded. If so, and they managed this new border-dragging-resize then surely, WMAN must have had something to do with it under the covers? Im far away from home right now, so cant check, but I think not. Prowess is an alternative to Wman and therefor had the freedom to do things differently. I was trying to push the envelope of Wman to see whether it could be pressed into behaving as weve come to expect from the competition. I found the Application (sub) Windows to be the most versatile, although very clumsy to use. Using AWs you can simulate stretch bars of all kinds / Corner (2 AWs) +-+ | |- Side | | - Divider | | +-+ ^ | Up/Down To do all of those at once requires about 13 of them, so its really fiddly business. Some reasons to use AWs are that the PI will do the work of detecting the window in focus and any buttons pressed, as well as displaying the pointers of your choice, eg resize up/down or sideways or corner. Using an AW as a title bar simplifies simulating the effect of moving a window by dragging it via its titlebar. Its not perfect, as it complicates having other objects there as well. So you either have to make your own display routines, use multiple AWs, or accept a patchy titlebar. You can also use AWs to create the effect of different layouts, etc. But its all rather cumbersome. EasyMenu can only work with 32 AWs, if I remember correctly, so you may soon run out of slots.. Info Windows can also be used in many non-obvious ways for all kinds of decoration. You can use them to create lines and shadows, and also use them to fake states, hide stuff, etc. I dont suppose weve ever seen a program that uses Wman to its full extent, mainly because its 1) difficult to get to grips with (complex and lacking in documentation) 2) Fiddly and inflexible, and 3) doesnt lend itself to objectifying: Due to the data structures it is virtually impossible to create re-usable object libraries. Still, it is reasonably compact (as these things go) and fast, and I suppose those where more important criteria at the time of design. Its possible to write pointer-driven programs that dont use Wman at all. I have written a few myself in S*Basic. They can be much more flexible, but tend to look rather clunky unless you are prepared to use lots of resources and effort on the pixel-, rather than character- level. Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong, but with WMAN I can set the OUTLN of my window initially, then when doing a move, I can set it to the new location and preserve the contents. In addition, I can tell when the pointer goes onto the border (can't I?) and when a mouse is down. The internal window move routine only returns on completion so you cant (easily) read the pointer record at the same time. Seasons best and all that, Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Program updates
Actually it is quite possible to do what Dilwyn says, as I demonstrate in my FastFind program, released in 2002. You simply set the outline to the whole screen without clearing the window. You have to provide your own drawing routine, of course, to draw the interactive outline. Once the user is satisfied, the outline is set to the desired size and the application window is redrawn. In fact, FF demonstrates a number of techniques I, at least, have never seen on the QL before, such as dropping the Move icon in favour of using most of the title bar, resize, as described, MRU lists, etc. This was my first attempt at a program that put form over functionality, so its main function, finding stuff quickly, as the name suggests, was/is a bit patchy and incomplete, although there is some internal stuff too, that you wont find elsewhere, such as date input menus, sophisticated wild card searches, my Memory Manager (allowing for reserving and releasing tiny amounts of memory without the heap fragmentation penalties of QDOS) etc. I dont think anyone except Marcel ever bothered even to try it, so I cant be bothered to waste any more time on improving it. Per Dilwyn Jones wrote: Although I haven't tried it, I daresay that if the outline is a thin application window to the left and another above the icon you mention, it might be possible to click on this and to drag the outline horizontally or vertically (instead of diagonally). Additionally, if a different pointer (e.g. small double arrow) is defined for these thin windows the pointer could change as it moves into these windows. The problem with this is that you are confined to the current PE outline which is the current size of its main window. So you can print an outline which can be altered but not made bigger than the current window. This means that you can reduce the size of window by this means but cannot increase it. My solution is to use another program altogether to draw the outline which can be made as large as the whole screen. Ah, yes, the outline size limit of course. Ah well, nice idea while it lasted :-( ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] stop printing
The first thing I do is remove the paper from the input tray. Then cancel the print job in Windoze. Then switch the printer on and off until its print buffer has emptied. Eventually all parts of the chain error out or give up in exhaustion. The details depend on your OS version, printer and setup, of course. Its a horrible business. Cant think why M$ and the printer makers havent been able to find a solution to this in all these years, but I suppose they dont really mind: Our pain is their gain. Per Dilwyn Jones wrote: I accidentally started an enourmous SDUMP printout from QPC and can't stop it! I've used PAR_ABORT and PAR_CLEAR in QPC2 and tried deleting the print job in Windoze. No joy - it looks like Winodze will only stop it at the end of the print job. Closing down Windoze and switching off the printer just makes it resume when the computer's restarted. I forgot I was sending an SDUMP print for Epsons to a HP printer which ain't Epson compatible. So it prints every byte of graphics data as text, about 2 or 3 characters per page. At this rate the house will be buried in paper. Anyone know how to force Windoze to stop??? Help! (Put Windoze on pause for now, but it will stop anything else printing until I can clear it) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] *** SPAM *** EasyPEasy et al
George Gwilt wrote: EasyPEasy is intended to make it easier to write PE programs using Assembly Language. Had a little peek and it seems promising ;o) I have sooo little time for any programming myself at the moment that it will be a while before I get to use it ;o( Just dont stop developing because you think theres no interest! Yes, we are dwindling in number, but who knows what the future holds? And if that future never arrives, us hangers-on will not live to know it. In the mean time, theres still a lot of intellectual stimulus, useful work and not least, good fun, to be had from the old QL! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Loose Items and sprites.
Just a quick answer: Are yoiu aware of the document called display_txt in the extras/doc folder in the SMSQ/E sources? It explains the new (and old) sprite formats in great detail. I think you may finbd some mopre answers there.. Per Norman Dunbar wrote: Is there any way to use one of the predefined sprites as a loose item object in a manner similar to how we can set the window sprite to 0 and get the default arrow pointer etc. I want to put the default sprites for move, sleep, wake, resize etc into loose items so that I don't end up having the clunky mode 4 sprites showing when I'm in high colour and so on. I've set up a loose item and used all values between 0 and 20 - so far - and got a few hits, but it doesn't match up to the various pointer sprite values. So far I have these values : 0 = blank (or something white - I have a white background so I may not see it!) 1, 4, 5, 10, 15, 18, 17 = a Red 'X'. 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, 19, 20 = Fatal error. 6 = a magenta 'CF1' 8 = a green bent arrow pointing to the left and down. 16 = a small '8', green on a black background. What I'm after is to set up loose items with a non-pointer to the internal sprites rather than me designing something that is going to look daft in high colour mode, for example, when I activate MOVE by a CTRL+F4, say, I get a nice pair of interlocking 'windows' which looks nothing like the sprite I'm currently using. I'd like my loose items' sprites to look like the pointers that appear when activated. Thanks. Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] SQLUG Website
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have 125 MB of space although currently about half of that is in use but as the initial rush to use the QL Forums has died off and no-one has been there for over a fortnight, I'm seriously considering removing the forum again as a non-starter. Norman, your documentation site is great! It must have been painstaking work! Much too good for the likes of us ;o) I hope people will support it and add to it. There are already pockets of such information available on various sites. I wish the people behind would help to add their information to your site. Perhaps some prompting from you if you see anything appropriate might do the trick? Regarding the forum, AFAIC, the ql-users list serves most of my needs. With communications as sparse as they are at the moment is there really a need for another forum? Of course, if it were to stimulate a renewed enthusiasm, I certainly would welcome it ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] sub-£100 notebook
After using the eeePC 701 for a while, I gave it up as too limiting for my purposes. The battery life is crap, the fan whirres incessantly because the thing produces far too much heat. It also seems stupid to put up with a 7 screen when the box is more like 10. So all in all, after the initial rush I find I need something a little more sophisticated to get by on the move whilst having a real PC at home. The 901 seems a lot more promising but theyre still flogging the inferior 900s here, so itll have to wait. On the other hand, a couple of hundred ££ more will get you a real sub notebook.. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] hypertext query
Dont know if it ever materialised for the QL. There was a program for the Atari ST called Hypertext. Perhaps your correspondent was thinking of that? Per Dilwyn Jones wrote: Can anyone help with this query I've just received? Dilwyn Jones I'm trying to locate information about software I used on a QL in the mid-80s. As far as I remember it was called something 'Hypertext'. It offered hypertext jumps in documents and ran via a C compiler. I'd welcome any information on it that you know about or any pointers to other that might know more. TL ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Random
Andy Barber wrote: Can I use z%=RND(-1,0,1)? RND takes the parameter(s) RND([[min%] TO ] max%) to return a quasi random integer between min% and max%. Or you can use RND on its own, in which case it returns a fp number between 0 and 1 Will this give me a 33.3...% chance of giving a random number? What are the remaining 66.66..% to be? Is this what youre trying to achieve: SELect ON z% = 1: PRINT 1: = 2: PRINT RND: = 3: PRINT 3 or something different? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] I want a NEW QL
Andy Barber writes: I have decided that I'll get my old Pentium 1 computer out of my Lock-up, Format the HD, Install Ubuntu Linux, emulate the QL on that machine. I have the QL Emulators' CD, which has TK2 on it, has it also got Minerva on the CD as well? The best QL emulator is undoubtedly QPC2, (commercial). But sadly it doesnt run under Linux. Also it doesnt run very satisfactorily under Wine ( - although it almost does!). If you have an old copy of Windows kicking around, you should be able to run it in a virtual machine under Linux and run QPC2 on that (Ive tested the free VirtualBox on a Vista machine and run QPC2 quite happily on a virtual W2k. VirtualBox runs under Linux too. I havent tested Qemulator, another, excellent commercial emulator, in the same way. It should be interesting to see whether it runs under Wine. I couldnt get QL2k to run under Wine, but I havent yet thoroughly debugged my setup and the boot process - there is still hope. Last but not least, theres uQLx, which runs under Linux and is free. Not much development seems to be happening on that front at the moment. It doesnt do hicolor and Im not sure it will run SMSQ/E, the latest, and some would say the best, incarnation of Qdos. However, it is very much to the taste of old Linux aficionados, Qdos purists and SMSQ/E license dissenters (Im not commenting, only referring ;-) Hardware purists, of course, excluded. And this is where you may have to choose. Where lies your identity in QL-hell? Only joking. Welcome to the group(s)! Now what I would like to know is how does QDOS/SuperBasic interface with the Linux TCP/IP ports, are their any Internet related QL programs existing, (Browser, Mail, News, RSS, FTP, etc.)? We all write our own here. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Asus EeePc Benchmarks
Jimmy writes: Hi Per, Stock speed of the EEE PC is 630 Mhz as Asus decide to downgrade bus speed to 70 Mhz instead it's nominal 100 MHz speed. This can be tweaking by overclocking as I've do it under Windows. But there is some problems doing this : - Battery life is incredible less (about half an hour) - Temperature of the EEC PC goes from 45°C to 55°C Aah, thats why.. :( Your bench is interesting... Thanks. Id be interested to hear about the modifications you made.. I will test QL2K too, but Ive run out of time for now. Just noticed an error in my figures: The VAXmips line in GCC Dhrystone was wrong: eee Comparative Benchmarks 20080512b 1 2345 | eee | NB | PC | QXL | SGC/Au| # C68 Dhrystone v2.1 ms/DS | 47| 24|10.6| - |- | DS/s| 21,115| 41,632| 93,985| 8,892| 5,000| VAXmips | 12,018| 23,695| 53,492| 5.1|- | # GCC Dhrystone v2.1 ms/DS | 37| 19| 8.5||| DS/s| 26,724| 53,419| 118,204||| VAXmips | 15,210| 30,403| 67,276||| # Bogomips v1.4 bogomips| 28 | 58 | 165 | | 13.8| 1) eee PC, 4Gb Surf, 630MHz, running the inbuilt Linux, latest Wine and QPC2 2) Notebook, 1.2GHz, 600MHz FSB, WXP 3) PC, 2 Core duo, 2.66GHz, Vista 4) QXL 20 MHz under W98 DISP_UPDATE 1,0 (D Santachiara, 28/08/1999) 5) SGC/Aurora/24MHz/4Mb/SMSQ/E2.90/Cache on (JG P Witte, March 1999) 9 years ago it seems we were happy to put up with a fraction of the speed of the eee PC! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Xchange with HP Laserprinter
Christopher Cave writes: In-Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I have just collected my LaserJet 6P from the repairers and would like to be able to use it with PSION programs. So, if anyone has already set up the Psion driver for this, or similar LJets, I too would very much like to know. In the meantime, does anyone have a driver for a DeskJet 500? For this machine I don't even have a user's manual. Ive got Psion XChange drivers for HP Deskjet. Think it was for a 500 or 550. I seem to remember the settings for many early DeskJets and LaserJets were more or less the same. Mail me off-list if you want a copy of the xchange_dat, or download and install PED off my website (www.witteware.com/knoware, Programs/Utilities/PED); an XChange deskjet driver is included there. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Asus EeePc
Hi Fabrizio and anyone else whove tried the Asus EeePc. Is it any good? Can you happily run a QL emulator on it (particularly QPC2)? My notebook has to be retired a year or so early due to a cracked hinge and I need to find a temporary replacement. Per Fabrizio Diversi wrote: Ciao, maybe could be of interest that, as Per request, I tested Qpc on my new Asus EeePc . It works perfectly with an amazing speed index of 84 with Qpc under WinXp Not tested under linux (uqlx) or qpc under wine. This piece of hardware is really value added for what provide respect to the cost. Ciao Fabrizio - Messaggio originale - Da: George Gwilt [EMAIL PROTECTED] A: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Inviato: Venerdì 18 gennaio 2008, 6:44:40 Oggetto: Re: [Ql-Users] List problems On 16 Jan 2008, at 17:58, Per Witte wrote: Who the hell is [EMAIL PROTECTED] I never sent anything to them. And where's the mail been these past 8 days? And how come they arrived on the list, but I didnt get a copy? Apart from changing my address and resubscribing a few days ago, Ive done no wrong. Uuugh! Just now 4 more mails were returned, some of them including a copies of mails sent - and seen - on the list in November 2007!! Is the list host spinning out or what? A baker's dozen of my old emails also have been returned. One was sent in October 2007. George ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ L'email della prossima generazione? Puoi averla con la nuova Yahoo! Mail: http://it.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Sprites
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Hi Wolfgang, OK, I had a look at it. It seems that the sprite definition is not quite correct: blank_sprite dc.w 1,0 this should be $0100, 0 I think. SNIP Not sure whether that really is important now. Well it might save me problems when I get around to discussing sprites and pointers in my articles - so thanks. And maybe Rich will appreciate it as well! If theres still a problem try making the size 2x1. (PI v2.x can cope with a 0x0 sized sprite.) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Qdos Internals - rises again!
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: The web site formerly known as 'Qdos Internals' has been off line for some time but now it is (almost) back again! I have apparently got 5 sub-domains at dunbar-it.co.uk so I've paid a hosting company the massive sum of £2.00 per month (or £22.00 per year) to give me 125 MB and a decent bandwidth, plus I can just about install anything I want with very few restriction. (www.5quidhost.co.uk) They have a free option too - pay them a visit, you might be pleasantly surprised. Anyway, I've created a Wiki on my sub-domain and I'm in the process of converting my old HTML pages into a Wiki format. Once I'm done with the conversion, I'll be opening the Wiki up to all and sundry (well, to subscribers only) so that we can collectively create the definitive online QDOS SMSQ/E repository of knowledge! (or something like that anyway). The web site is www.qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.uk - remember it is under construction but I find a Wiki easier to create and change as I'm behind a huge firewall at work, so lunch time updates as in the past, are no longer possible as FTP etc is restricted. Maybe one day I'll actually finish it! Potentially stunning! ;o) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] IOP_RPTR event vector - where is it documented.
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: However, when that was drafted (at least the copy I have), the job event byte (sending events to jobs) didn't exist yet, I presume it is NOT zero'd on exit, but am not sure. Well my experiments, granted very simple, show the LSB ony is non-zero the remainder are zero. Mind you, how exactly do I send an event to a job? If I PICK the job, or button frame it, then DO it's button, I get the same event both times - $2D with a Key Stroke of $08. These are a different kind of event. You need to use a trap (sms.sevt)to send a job event. Used for jobs communication. Eg job A, a game say, is at the top of its program loop waiting for either user input or a job event (using mcallt in EP). Another job, job B, running an independent timer asynchronously, sends a pre-arranged event to job A signifying Time's up!. This triggers job A's call and drops into the program's time-out handling code. The above it what I do in D-Miner. The Timer toolkit (source code included on www.witteware.com/knoware toolkits/Timer) demonstrates a use of job events. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QL2K
Dilwyn Jones writes: Has anyone had any experience in getting QL2K or QLay2 emulators to print from the parallel port of a PC? My printer is connected to USB, so I can't test the printing. I suppose youve considered using QPrint..? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Windows, Linux and QPC
Wolfgang Lenerz writes: Hi Malcolm, How exactly did you get Linux to co-exist with Windows XP ? No rocket science there. There appears to be a problem with your clock, though, as that is about a month behind the times! I had a number of dual-booted setups some years ago, in the time of W95..W98 and RedHat Linux V1.x..3.x. It was a bloody nightmare! Frequently the accumulated crash mess could only be resolved by a clean install of everything, and it could take days to put the system together again. In the end I gave up and stuck with Windows, as the only OS that could run my favourite QL emulator: QPC2. From what people have said on this list, Linux/Wine/QPC2 is not (yet) a very comfortable solution, so Im stuck with Windows a while yet, it seems. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] List problems
Tony Firshman writes: P Witte wrote: Per/ PS: Did my mail re VirtualBox arrive? I sent that about 24hrs ago, before reverting to my old email address. This one? Date: Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:11:51 +0100 From: Per Witte [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yes. Thanks. All appears to work now after changing back from googlemail. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Portable computers - experiences
Tony Firshman writes: My backup is my old notebook, and I aim to be able to use it at a moments notice. Thats how I like it too. Presumably you mirror your data on the other machine? Do you use any particular tools for that, like a backup or version control program? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] List problems
I wrote: P Witte wrote: Further to my list problems, Im reverting to my old address (luckily I managed to revive it while I was in the UK for the holiday) to see if it helps. Ie, this is a test. It took 1 hour, but at least it arrived! While I was subscribed via my googlemail account, no mail from me to this list ever arrived in my own inbox. Perhaps its just something clever going on? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] List problems
Tony Firshman writes: P Witte wrote: I wrote: P Witte wrote: Further to my list problems, Im reverting to my old address (luckily I managed to revive it while I was in the UK for the holiday) to see if it helps. Ie, this is a test. It took 1 hour, but at least it arrived! While I was subscribed via my googlemail account, no mail from me to this list ever arrived in my own inbox. Perhaps its just something clever going on? Google (amongst others) often blacklist whole ISPs if they detect any one of the ISPs customers is the source of spam. Of course this is usually because their machines have been hijacked. This kind of unintelligent blocking is compromising the whole email system. I for one now *never* rely on email for important info. Youre right. email reliability has dropped for me too this past year or so. But people dont help either. They expect you to receive mails they send and react accordingly when you dont reply! Per PS: Did my mail re VirtualBox arrive? I sent that about 24hrs ago, before reverting to my old email address. -- P ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Changes
After the next five days, Im told, I can no longer use my fsbusiness.co.uk email account. My new email address is pjwitte at googlemail dot com. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] macros
Dilwyn Jones wrote: Ah, this looks very promising - thanks. I would welcome ideas for other simple facilities to include. It was a 1) Please let the macro file be human-readable rather than a binary dump. Easy to hand alter and debug! 2) Next version to include mouse-clicks too, eh ;-) I can think of ways to read them, but not to stuff them back into the inter-face. Regarding the other side of your project: what to do once youve recorded the data, I wrote a keyword that stuffs the keyboard queue. The syntax for STUFF is: STUFF -timeout% | code% | string$ [, -timeout% | code% | string$ ] * (optionally repeated) where: -timeout% is a negative integer from -1..-32k frames code% is a character code from 0..255 string$ is a qstring It uses legal traps and is supposed not to get confused by you changing keyboard queue midways.. You can find a copy on my website under Programs/Utilities/LX2. The zip file contains the STUFF_bin toolkit. Let me know if you can use it, with or without some modification. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Whos a nerd?
There are only 10 kinds of people: nerds, and the rest Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Whos a nerd?
P Witte wrote: There are only 10 kinds of people: nerds, and the rest Or more precisely: There are only 10 kinds of people: Nerds and NOT nerds Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QL on a stick
I wrote: Dilwyn Jones writes: The web page with information about QL On A Stick is now online: www.dilwyn.uk6.net/qos/index.html Nice piece of work that, Dilwyn! A round of applause, please, gents and ladies. Ok, ok. Im sure we can stop now and get back to writing.. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] QL on a stick
Dilwyn Jones writes: The web page with information about QL On A Stick is now online: www.dilwyn.uk6.net/qos/index.html Nice piece of work that, Dilwyn! A round of applause, please, gents and ladies. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Tea for two?
gwicks writes: Just a reminder that the Birmingham workshop is this weekend. Im devastated, but I wont be able to attend this time :o( Wish you all a jolly time! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Using different devices
Malcolm Cadman writes:
Can anyone help me with using a portable Zip Drive as a source, running
QPC, and being attached to 2 different PC's ( not at the same time ) ?
Once QPC2 is running you can use the SBasic function QPC_NETNAME$ to
find out which machine youre running under (provided youve set this
under Windows first). I have different directories for the different
platforms SMSQ/E runs under, containing the different
platform-specific configuration files such as printer drivers,
FileInfo2_cfg, MenuConf_inf, etc. On my QPC2 systems I use the net
name to tell them apart.
Umm ... can you explain more about how to set up a net name ? I've not
used that feature. That is interesting.
Right click on the My Computer icon on the desktop, or open the System
module in the Control Panel. Select the Computer Name tab and click on
Change... then give your computer a nice name ;o) That name, which
should be unique on your LAN, is returned by the function QPC_NETNAME$.
Going back to what I said earlier ... having more that one boot file,
one loading another, using LRUN, seems to clear the BASIC memory area of
a windrive$ variable that I have just obtained from user input.
I was hoping for a way of preserving that value, so that the next boot
file could then use the variable.
There are different ways of passing information to SBasic jobs:
o You can MRUN (or MERGE) stuff, of course. That retains the values of
any variables set prior to MRUN.
o You can also use the EW/EX progname_bas; 'data' to pass
information to a program or module, which in turn can read that
information from the pseudo variable CMD$. Try this (call it
ram1_test_bas):
100 open#1; 'con': cls#1: print#1; CMD$: pause#1: quit
thus:
EX ram1_test; 'data'
It should print 'data' to the screen. (Note you dont have to specify
the _bas unless you also have a ram1_test_exe!)
o You can also use QUIT number to return a value from a sub program:
100 open#1; 'con': cls#1
110 IF CMD$ == 'data' then
120 print#1; 'ok!': pause#1; 100: quit 1000
130 ELSE
140 quit -15
150 END IF
Test with:
print FEW('ram1_test_bas'; 'data')
and
print FEW('ram1_test_bas'; 'x')
o You could also use the environmental varables, as implemented in
Richard Zidlicski's(?) ENV_BIN
There are other ways too, but this should be a good start.
Bestaluck!
Per
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Re: [Ql-Users] Using different devices
Marcel Kilgus writes: I can configure the shortcut to start in %CD%\QPC2\ (%CD% being a system variable for the current directory). However the target and icon locations appear, stupidly, to have to be specified exactly: K:\QPC2\QPC2.exe. Is there a way around this? Probably not, but why exactly do you have the shortcut? Depending on why you use it, a batch file instead might be an option. I thought it nicer just to have an icon in the root of the device rather than opening a folder first to locate the executable.. A batch file does the trick: /qpc2/qpc2.exe Problem is the console wont go away until I quit QPC2.. Thanks for the tip anyway! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Using different devices
Marcel Kilgus writes: I thought it nicer just to have an icon in the root of the device rather than opening a folder first to locate the executable.. A batch file does the trick: /qpc2/qpc2.exe Problem is the console wont go away until I quit QPC2.. Using start \qpc2\qpc2.exe in the file instead should do the trick. In the end I settled for a QPC2.bat containing: @echo off title QPC2 Shortcut start /d qpc2 /b qpc2.exe rem Bell chr(7)) exit Thanks again, Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Mailing list [OT]
Bruce N writes: Per, The list has been running on a US Web hosting account since 2003 run by a company called www.dreamhost.com . Bruce Thanks for the information! Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] Using different devices
Malcolm Cadman writes: Can anyone help me with using a portable Zip Drive as a source, running QPC, and being attached to 2 different PC's ( not at the same time ) ? On the first computer it is seen as a source - win2_ - on the second computer it is seen as a source - win4_ The software - like QDT and Launchpad - is configured to recognise the win drive source as - win2_ Which means when the source is seen as - win4_ - this is not correct. Also, rather than have one very long boot file to load everything, I have a number of small boot files that load one after the other, depending on what configuration I am using. Is there an easy way to preserve the value the physical source - in this case either as win2_ or win4_ across the different boot files ? Can DEV_USE do this ? Or an Environment variable ? At present my initial, short, boot file just gets input from the user as to which computer is being used, which sets windrive$ to either be - win2_ or win4_ However, the value is not being held when the next boot file is loaded with an LRUN. Ive made a QPC2 system to run off a USB memory stick. This should be pretty much the same for a zip disk, but I'm not sure.. On the USB disk I have the following structure: QPC2.lnk; Shortcut to QPC2 - QPC2 ; QPC2 program directory QPC2.exe; QPC2 executable .. ; other stuff - win1 QXL.win ; win1_ - win2 QXL.win ; win2_ .. Ive configured QPC2 to use the following devices: \win1\QXL.win for win1_, \win2\QXL.win for win2_, etc That means that whatever drive letter Windows issues for the USB drive QPC2 will always find my QXL.win files. Once QPC2 is running you can use the SBasic function QPC_NETNAME$ to find out which machine youre running under (provided youve set this under Windows first). I have different directories for the different platforms SMSQ/E runs under, containing the different platform-specific configuration files such as printer drivers, FileInfo2_cfg, MenuConf_inf, etc. On my QPC2 systems I use the net name to tell them apart. Thats all you really need to do to get QPC2 to work on different systems. However, in my case I wanted to configure the Windows shortcut (QPC.lnk as above)to be drive letter-independent too, but that only partially worked. Perhaps someone knows a way of doing this? I can configure the shortcut to start in %CD%\QPC2\ (%CD% being a system variable for the current directory). However the target and icon locations appear, stupidly, to have to be specified exactly: K:\QPC2\QPC2.exe. Is there a way around this? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[Ql-Users] Mailing list [OT]
Im with another group who are considering a mailing list. This list has worked very well in recent years (regular, free, no spam, no ads). But I cant find out whos hosting it, unless it is QVD himself. So, how /where do I set about setting up such a list? TIA Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [Ql-Users] SBASIC extras
Dilwyn Jones writes: Looking at a list of SBASIC extensions created with an EXTRAS command, there are 3 extensions I noticed that I don't know what they do. Not in my (admittedly old) manual. Anyone know? CHK_HEAP (Some form of heap check suggested by the name) HOME_CSET (presumably something to do with Home Thing) PAR_WAIT (presumably something to do with parallel port) HOME_CSET [job_ID], directory$ Part of SMSQ/E, documented in extras_new_home_info_txt in the SMSQ/E source files: Set the current directory for the job. The directory must the a valid directory. CHK_HEAP Part of SMSQ/E, documented in QPC_Keywords and possibly elsewhere: This enables debugging routines in the SBASIC core for SBASIC development and should not be used by any users. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] OLPC
Nice to see that The [$100 One Laptop Per Child laptop model] XO will be produced in Taiwan by Quanta (see BBC news story http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6908946.stm). But why have they kept it under their hat(s?), and why did they procure a new, non-QDOS OS for the project? Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] New here....
Rich Mellor writes: On Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:17:15 +0100, Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Yes 3.01 is an early version - I have been trying to help this user off the list, but I'm darned if I can remember how to get plus4setup to work from win1_ - it looks for its configure files on flp1_ As I remember, for the plus4 version 3 I have here: Execute text87 select the New command, then ESC to kill that menu. Once in text87 (if it hasn't found its files, it'll revert to defaults) press F3 for the commands, then Config and Parameters. Next, select the (storage:) Text command, then select 'Other' where you can type in something like win1_t87_ or wherever you store your copy. It will then revert to the original menu, where you should select Save Settings and offer the configure_c91 file to the default location. If this was on say flp1_ you should now be able to move it all to win1_t87_ and it will look for its files there - but I suppose it must also patch its own binary somewhere or it wouldn't know where to find configure_c91 in the first place. As I say, this is largely from memory and looking at the manual, so (knowing my brain) there's probably at least one step missing somewhere :-( OK thanks - that seems to ring a bell, but it presumes that you have Text 87 on floppy disk in the first place ! Certainly this is the problem here as the user has a laptop without a floppy disk !! I would have thought that the WIN_USE flp workaround might have been helpful, but that doesnt seem to work on QPC2 V3.33: WIN_USE ram: DIR ram1_ displays the directory of win1_ but WIN_USE flp: DIR flp1_ just returns Not found. Even WIN_USE rat: DIR rat1_ works fine! Is this an error? (I dont normally have an flp attached to my laptop either (USB ones can be had for under £20, though)) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
