Re: [Ql-Users] C68 with asm keyword support?

2016-04-03 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks Derek,

I was kind of afraid that recompiling would be the answer - but was feeling
lazy and hoping that there was a precompiled distribution available
somewhere

Cheers,
Petri




On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 10:42 PM, derek  wrote:

> Hi,
>
> According to the C68 documention,  the asm keyword is not part of ANSI C
> and is not enabled by default. The reason that it would produce
> non-portable code.
>
> But if you recompile the C68 compiler you can enable the -asm option to
> yes.
>
>
> Regards
>
> Derek
>
>
> ---- Original message 
> From: Petri Pellinen 
> Date: 03/04/2016  20:25  (GMT+00:00)
> To: ql-users 
> Subject: [Ql-Users] C68 with asm keyword support?
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> the C68 version available on Dilwyn's site does not seem to have the asm
> keyword support configured (or I don't know how to activate it!). Tried the
> "-asm=yes" switch mentioned in the documentation but got the message:
> "option '-asm=yes' not reognised" error.
>
> Is there a version of C68 somewhere that has been built with the asm
> keyword support?
>
> Kind regards,
> Petri
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[Ql-Users] C68 with asm keyword support?

2016-04-03 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hello everyone,

the C68 version available on Dilwyn's site does not seem to have the asm
keyword support configured (or I don't know how to activate it!). Tried the
"-asm=yes" switch mentioned in the documentation but got the message:
"option '-asm=yes' not reognised" error.

Is there a version of C68 somewhere that has been built with the asm
keyword support?

Kind regards,
Petri
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[Ql-Users] QDOSMSQ Wiki - thank you!

2015-01-11 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Norman (and everybody else contributing to the QDOSMSQ wiki),

Having spent some time lately messing about with Qdos using assembly I
just wanted to take a moment and say a *big* "Thank you" for creating
and maintaining this enormously useful wiki page. The code samples are
especially good and clarify a lot of things immensely.

The wiki complements Mr Pennell's good but sometimes rather terse book
"The Sinclair QDOS Companion" nicely. Example: reading the book, I was
quite confused about how to take advantage of user heaps. Five minutes
on Qdosmsq Wiki changed that, the sample code was extremely helpful!


Kind regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] DEV_ device and Q-emuLator

2014-12-31 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Tobias,

thank you for that piece of infomation, tested and works!

Cheers,
Petri


On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 7:21 PM, Tobias Fröschle
 wrote:
> Petri,
> The dev_ device needs HOTKEY System 2 to work on bare-bone QLs. (That is 
> where the „not implemented“ comes from, and, in my opinion, an omission from 
> the manual)
> Once you load that, everything should work as needed.
>
> Happy New Year to all,
> Tobias
>
>
>> Am 31.12.2014 um 14:13 schrieb Petri Pellinen :
>>
>> Hi Wolfgang,
>>
>> many thanks, that works on the Q-emuLator!
>>
>> Happy New Year!
>>
>> Petri
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 1:58 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I forgot, it's on dilwyn's site,; toolkit section, "sub".
>>>
>>> Have fun
>>>
>>> Wolfgang
>>>
>>>
>>> ___
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Re: [Ql-Users] DEV_ device and Q-emuLator

2014-12-31 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Wolfgang,

many thanks, that works on the Q-emuLator!

Happy New Year!

Petri


On Wed, Dec 31, 2014 at 1:58 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I forgot, it's on dilwyn's site,; toolkit section, "sub".
>
> Have fun
>
> Wolfgang
>
>
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[Ql-Users] DEV_ device and Q-emuLator

2014-12-30 Thread Petri Pellinen
Season's greetings, everyone!

A quick question: has someone been able to successfully use the DEV_
device driver on the Q-emuLator? If "yes", how?

I downloaded the driver from Dilwyn's site but when I lrespr the
dev_rext extension I get the error message "not implemented" while
using the JS ROM image. Also tried Minerva 1.97 but no joy with that
ROM, either.

I also tried the REDIRECT extension to get a similar thing (DEV1_ ->
MDV7_) going but it doesn't quite seem to fit the bill since it won't
expand arbitrary additions to the alias. I.e if I do this:
REDIRECT DEV1_ TO MDV7_

I can do:
DIR DEV1_
and I correctly get the directory listing of MDV7_

but I can't do:
WSTAT DEV1_A_
Since the redirect driver only does a specific match of an alias, not
a "begins with" - the result being that wstat tries to stat a file
named "dev1_a_" in the current data_use destination.

Are there any other options to get a virtual device that I can point
to an arbitrary destination working on the Q-emuLator?

Cheers,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Paruse Partyp

2014-11-29 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Francois,

having only recently started looking into TK2 I found your question
quite interesting. The documentation in the TK2 manual is rather
spartan on the subject but to me it seems that the PARTYP function
takes a name rather than a position parameter.

Parameter substitution seems to be "interesting" in SuperBasic.
Somewhat surprisingly this is legal:
10 print t('foo')
1000 def fn t(a)
1010 print a
1020 ret 0
1030 end def

will print "foo" even though the parameter a is not declared as a string

In this case PARTYP(a) inside fn t will actually return "1" because
parameter "a" of the function at call time was substituted with a
string.

If you call t(a) like this: "t(2)" PARTYP(a) will return "2".

Need to delve deeper... More questions than answers now. But a rather
fascinating aspect of TK2 and SuperBasic for sure.

Cheers,
Petri


On Sat, Nov 29, 2014 at 4:04 PM, François Van Emelen
 wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> (Is there still someone listening here?)
>
> Three questions
>
> 1. Can someone tell me why the values printed for PARTYP and PARUSE in lines
> 240 to 350 are always 2?
>  Is there something wrong with these functions or am I missing something?
>
> 100 :REMark  test return values of par_use,par_typ,parnam$
> 110 REMark string
> 120   pay$="Belgium"
> 130 REMark array
> 140  DIM
> langue$(2,10):langue$(0)="Dutch":langue$(1)="French":langue$(2)="German":
> 150 REMark float
> 160  keyboardcode=32
> 170 REMark integer
> 180  a%=1
> 190 PRINT TEST_PARAM(pay$,langue$,keyboardcode,a%):PAUSE
> 200 :
> 210 DEFine FuNction TEST_PARAM (p$,l$,k,i%)
> 220 :
> 230 :
> 240 PRINT PARNAM$(1)  :REMark prints 'pay$' as expected
> 250 PRINT PARTYP(1)   :REMark prints 2  :shouldn't that be 1 ->string
> 260 PRINT PARUSE(1)   :REMark prints 2  :shouldn't that be 1 ->variable
> 270 PRINT PARNAM$(2)  :REMark prints 'langue$' as expected
> 280 PRINT PARTYP(2)   :REMark prints 2 :shouldn't that be 1 ->string
> 290 PRINT PARUSE(2)   :REMark prints 2 :shouldn't that be 2 ->langue$ is an
> array
> 300 PRINT PARNAM$(3)  :REMark prints 'keyboardcode' as lexpected
> 310 PRINT PARTYP(3)   :REMark prints 2: correct -> keyboardcode is a float
> 320 PRINT PARUSE(3)   :REMark prints 2::shouldn'tthat  be be 1 ->string
> 330 PRINT PARNAM$(4)  :REMark prints 'a%' as expected
> 340 PRINT PARTYP(4)  : REMark prints 2 :shouldn't that be be 3 -> a% is an
> integer
> 350 PRINT PARUSE(4)  : REMark prints 2 :shouldn't be be 1 ->variable
> 360 REMark the values for partyp and paruse are always 2:why?
> 370  RETurn "What's wrong?":
> 380  REMark the returned value is not important here
> 390 :
> 400 END DEFine TEST_PARAM
> 2. Is there a way to find out how many languages are supported
> (English,French,..)?
> 3. Once we know which language is active (with language($), can we access
> the strings containing the days of the week
> and the string with the names of the months?
>
> Some help would be appreciated.
> François Van Emelen
>
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] OUT NOW!

2014-11-03 Thread Petri Pellinen
Urs, thanks for the heads-up! Had to buy it from the US store because
for some reason the UK store does not "deliver" Kindle editions to
Finland. Amazing that she went through the trouble of retyping and
republishing the whole thing.

Petri


On Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 8:21 PM, Urs Koenig (QL)  wrote:
> http://www.qlis30.org.uk/#Jan
>
>
>
> QL forever!
>
> --
>
>   http://www.qlis30.org.uk
>
>   http://www.youtube.com/QLvsJAGUAR
>
>  
> https://plus.google.com/104042128125238901905/posts
>
> Sinclair, QL, ATARI, JAGUAR, NUON, APPLE & more...
>
>
>
> Ever wondered what QLvsJAGUAR is about?
> http://www.qlvsjaguar.homepage.bluewin.ch/QLvsJAGUAR.html
>
>
>
>
>
> ___
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLis30 attendees

2014-10-10 Thread Petri Pellinen
The funny thing about the accent here is that heard from afar it
sometimes sounds quite a bit like Finnish, but then when you walk
closer it's all garble-garble-garble. No offense meant to any/all
Scottish people, it's just me being the Johnny Foreigner :)



On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 7:00 PM, Dilwyn Jones
 wrote:
> You seriously expect the British to be able to speak English
> properly???
>
> ;o)
>
> Dilwyn
>
> -Original Message- From: Petri Pellinen
> Sent: Friday, October 10, 2014 3:57 PM
> To: ql-users
> Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] QLis30 attendees
>
>
> Just arrived in Edinburgh. Having been to the UK many many times I
> thought it would be possible to communicate using English here but I
> can't understand a word of what anyone is saying!
>
> An idiot abroad... ;)
>
> /Petri
>
>
> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 4:21 PM, Graeme Gregory  wrote:
>>
>> I should be but probably won't arrive until around midday!
>>
>> Graeme
>>
>> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 02:19:53PM +0100, Colin wrote:
>>>
>>> Could we have a list of those attending, please
>>>
>>> Colin McKay
>>>
>>> ___
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>>
>> ___
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>
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>
>
> -
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2014.0.4765 / Virus Database: 4040/8358 - Release Date: 10/10/14
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLis30 attendees

2014-10-10 Thread Petri Pellinen
Just arrived in Edinburgh. Having been to the UK many many times I
thought it would be possible to communicate using English here but I
can't understand a word of what anyone is saying!

An idiot abroad... ;)

/Petri


On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 4:21 PM, Graeme Gregory  wrote:
> I should be but probably won't arrive until around midday!
>
> Graeme
>
> On Fri, Oct 10, 2014 at 02:19:53PM +0100, Colin wrote:
>> Could we have a list of those attending, please
>>
>> Colin McKay
>>
>> ___
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLis30 pledge...

2014-10-07 Thread Petri Pellinen
Good evening,

I just sent 50% (£ 25.00) of my £50 pledge. Will follow up with the
rest of the amount if necessary.

Looking forward to meeting fellow QLers in Edinburgh.

Kind regards,
Petri

On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 8:04 PM, Dave Park  wrote:
> Hello all!
>
> The QL is 30 event is upon us and it is time for us to meet our pledge
> commitments. The good news is that the event was organized a lot more
> economically than was originally thought. For that reason, and allowing for
> the QUANTA match on donated funds, it is expected that we only need to
> raise HALF the amount we originally pledged.
>
> Here is a reminder of the pledges that were made:
>
> Sandy Electronics / Dave Park£150
> Mark Martin      £ 30
> Petri Pellinen   £ 50
> Doug L   £150
> Jiří Doležal £ 50
> Kenn Van Hauen   £ 70
>  
> TOTAL£500
> Quanta Match £500
>
> Available: £1,000
>
> I have forwarded £75 (50%) now, and if the 50% pledges fall short, I'll
> make an additional top up donation immediately after the event, when the
> donations have been tallied.
>
> Your donations need to be submitted to the following PayPal address:
> *treasu...@quanta.org.uk
> *
>
> If anyone has an objection to using PayPal, you can email
> treasu...@quanta.org.uk and make an alternative arrangement.
>
> Thank you everyone for pledging!
>
> Dave
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 10:16 AM, Dave Park  wrote:
>
>> Currently:
>> Sandy Electronics / Dave Park£150
>> Mark Martin  £ 30
>> Petri Pellinen   £ 50
>> Doug L   £150
>> Jiří Doležal £ 50
>> Kenn Van Hauen   £ 70
>>  
>> TOTAL£500
>> Quanta Match £500
>>
>> Available: £1,000
>>
>> Now, who would like to organise an event? The risk is now very low. :)
>>
>> Dave
>> Sandy Electronics
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 9:47 AM, Kenn Van Hauen  wrote:
>>
>>> I am happy to contribute the remaining £70. Kenn
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>> > On 4 Feb 2014, at 15:26, Dave Park  wrote:
>>> >
>>> > In light of this fabulous email from QUANTA, The pledge tally now
>>> stands at:
>>> >
>>> > Currently:
>>> > Sandy Electronics / Dave Park£150
>>> > Mark Martin  £ 30
>>> > Petri Pellinen   £ 50
>>> > Doug L   £150
>>> > Jiří Doležal £ 50
>>> > 
>>> > TOTAL£430
>>> > Quanta Match £430
>>> >
>>> > Available:   £860
>>> >
>>> > Thank you QUANTA and everyone else so far. Just £70 more and we'd hit
>>> £1000!
>>> >
>>> > Dave Park
>>> > Sandy Electronics
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 2:35 AM, John Gilpin >> >wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Further to your emails Re: [QL-Users] QLis30 pledge..., I have great
>>> >> pleasure in advising you as follows:
>>> >>
>>> >> At a meeting of the QUANTA Committee on Sunday 02/02/2014, the topic
>>> of a
>>> >> Workshop to celebrate QLis30 was discussed and it was decided that if,
>>> due
>>> >> to Rich Mellor's ill health, we (QUANTA) will not be able to support
>>> his
>>> >> venture in Cambridge, then we would like to add our name to the QLis30
>>> >> pledge such that we will match the fund  up to a maximum of £500. It
>>> was
>>> >> also decided that QUANTA may offer further support by attending the
>>> event
>>> >> to show a QUANTA presence.
>>> >>
>>> >> This came about after much discussion regarding QUANTA's willingness to
>>> >> support such an event and how much we should be prepared to spend in
>>> order
>>> >> to differentiate between "over-spending" and "not w

Re: [Ql-Users] Edinburgh is go!

2014-05-07 Thread Petri Pellinen
This is great news! Regarding the pledge, we need to figure out the
best way to transfer the funds. I'll be happy to send in my
contribution as soon as necessary.

Thank you very much to everybody who are putting in the work to make
this happen. Looking forward to meeting a lot of QLers!

Cheers,
Petri


On Wed, May 7, 2014 at 7:01 PM, Geoff Wicks  wrote:
> The Edinburgh QLis30 event is booked for 11th October 2014. This was the
> date that most people wanted.
>
> The venue is the Gyle Hall of the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Glasgow Road,
> EH12 8LJ.
>
> The venue is on the main road from Edinburgh city centre to Edinburgh
> Airport and Glasgow. The bus service too and from the airport has a bus stop
> outside the church.
>
> We shall be posting a dedicated website giving details of accommodation and
> travel arrangements, but this is unlikely to be online before mid June. I
> need to go to Edinburgh to do some research and photography for the site. I
> am in Edinburgh on 31st May and 6th June so it is saves me time and money to
> wait until then.
>
> So far 17 people from 6 lands have expressed an interest so we have achieved
> our first aim of getting an international  group of QL-ers together.
>
> There are Marriott and Holiday Inn hotels on the same bus route as the
> church but we shall publish detailed information of these and other hotels
> on the website.
>
> Also travellers from the continent may like two early details. Any one
> wishing to come by car may like to consider the overnight DFDS ferry from
> IJmuiden in the Netherlands to Newcastle. This would save a long drive in
> the UK. Any one thinking of travelling by Eurostar should note that the
> London terminal is next door to Kings Cross station with trains to
> Edinburgh.
>
> We hope to have Skype at the event, but none of the organisers has Skype
> experience. I hope to have this by October,
>
> Best Wishes,
>
>
> Geoff
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ethernet chit chat...

2014-04-15 Thread Petri Pellinen
Malcolm, using the W5300 is really easy since it is a TCP stack and
not an ethernet interface. Essentially you write high level command
bytes to the command register (e.g. "open", "close", "send") and
read/write data from/to the w5300 memory buffers. The w3500 takes care
of all the rest.

On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 5:55 PM, Malcolm Lear  wrote:
> I'd agree the physical package should be fine, I've even hand soldered those
> without problems. If the Wiznet really has a socket level interface I'd
> seriously consider it. I'd have thought just about all the QL's resources
> would be used up doing what the W5300 co-processor does and may be a reason
> an ethernet interface hasn't appeared before. Although the code argument is
> persuasive is it not true that a large part of that codes functionality
> would be performed by the W5300.
>
>
>
> On 15/04/2014 15:09, Dave Park wrote:
>>
>> Yes, Malcolm, the interface is at the socket level.
>>
>> Both of the devices have some pros and cons. I am still open to
>> suggestions
>> for other options.
>>
>> One thing I am not concerned about is the pitch and number of pins on the
>> WS5300 or any other device. I don't hand solder SMD boards. I use a solder
>> mask to apply paste, position the devices then flow them in an oven. I
>> have
>> done a fair amount of QFP100 and 1mm BGA work with no problems.
>>
>> Although the WS5300 is technically superior as a device (it is more
>> modern,
>> it acts as an ethernet co-processor) the work that has already been done
>> with the CS8900A is very important. Without the work being done on
>> drivers,
>> extensions for languages, etc, it doesn't matter how fly the device is.
>> The
>> CS8900A has some support already.
>>
>> Peter, could you outline what is available for the CS8900A, please?
>>
>> This is why I have opened up the discussion. I dread these discussions :)
>> but I am sat here with two equally good choices for two very different
>> reasons. The WS5300 is a very persuasive CHIP, and the CS8900A has some
>> very persuasive CODE. Since CODE is such a big problem...
>>
>> If the CS8900A is chosen, we'll have a less capable or future-proof device
>> that has much work already done. If we choose the WS5300, it maybe has an
>> extra ten years of useful life but we have to start from scratch with
>> supporting code.
>>
>> That's the balance.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 3:48 AM, Malcolm Lear  wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I would think the most important criteria would be to choose a solution
>>> that reduces the software load on 68K. It seems after a brief look at the
>>> data sheets that the W5300's interface is at socket level, is that right?
>>> Malcolm
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 14/04/2014 22:39, Dave Park wrote:
>>>
 I have been presented with two good contenders for an ethernet solution
 for
 the QL. There might be others; I am open to suggestions and may add more
 to
 the list.

 I would like there to be a *polite, friendly, respectful,
 constructive*debate about the relative merits of the two devices. Once

 you have
 expressed a view, that's enough. No need to restate it, unless you add
 something further. It is very important that discourse be *focused
 entirely*on solving the problem of getting ethernet onto the QL.


 Please read the data sheets and form an opinion about which would
 perform
 better on a QL at 7.5MHz or a SGC system at 25 MHz. There is already a
 TCP
 stack in existence; whether you wish to use it or not is a matter for
 you
 -
 one of the chips is a microcontroller that has its own stack.

 Here are the contenders:

 Wiznet WS5300
 http://www.wiznet.co.kr/UpLoad_Files/Re ... _V128E.pdf

 versus
 Cirrus Logic CS8900
 http://www.cirrus.com/en/pubs/proDatash ... 00A_F5.pdf

 If there is a clear consensus, I will assemble some functional prototype
 boards using the favored device, then send boards and documentation out
 to
 a limited number of people who express an interest in doing development
 work with them.

 There would be some gentle conditions:

 1. You'd join a developer mailing list and report occasionally on
 progress
 you'd made to the other three people and me. Others could join the list
 to
 provide feedback, etc. The list would allow you to self-co-ordinate your
 efforts within the group. I would not be the boss of you. I would not
 own
 your work. There is no schedule or deadline.
 2. Anything you do, once reaching a state of development greater than
 "alpha", would be open source and freely distributable. A GIT repository
 or
 similar would be nice.
 3. I would, upon release, host information and downloads at
 SinclairQL.com
 so people can explore the code or develop it further.

 If anyone develops anything to a point that it becomes possible to add
 ethernet to a fut

Re: [Ql-Users] QLis30

2014-03-31 Thread Petri Pellinen
I'd love to attend.

Kind regards,
Petri

On Mon, Mar 31, 2014 at 7:11 PM, Geoff Wicks  wrote:

> However the information we would really like is an approximate idea of
> attendance,
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.

2014-01-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Tobias, that's entirely right, thanks for pointing that out!


On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 7:48 PM, tobias.froesc...@t-online.de <
tobias.froesc...@t-online.de> wrote:

> On second thought, maybe not.
> Obviosly no one will want to set a color on a TCP channel nor will anyone
> want to send a packet to a high-res screen channel.
>
> ->The overlap doesn't hurt.
>
> Tobias
>
> -Original-Nachricht-
> Betreff: Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.
> Datum: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 18:37:49 +0100
> Von: "tobias.froesc...@t-online.de" 
> An: "ql-us...@q-v-d.com" 
>
> In this case, it would be interesting to know how QPC can implement both
> TCP/IP and GD2 high-color?
>
> My QPC manual says: "This manual won't go into the details of the
> interface, however, as the interface is mostly compatible to the uQLx
> implementation"
>
> Maybe Marcel can shed some light on that?
>
> Regards,
> Tobias
>
> -Original-Nachricht-
> Betreff: Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.
> Datum: Tue, 21 Jan 2014 16:51:42 +0100
> Von: George Gwilt 
> An: ql-us...@q-v-d.com
>
>
> On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:41, Petri Pellinen  wrote:
>
> > Richard Zidlicky's document "QDOS TCP/IP and socket functionality" at
> > http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/manuals/socket.html seems to propose that
> most
> > of the POSIX-type functionality be implemented as an extension to
> standard
> > Trap #3 calls with D0 values $50-$7B inclusive mapped to socket API
> calls.
> >
> > Does anyone here on the mailing list know of possible conflicts with
> other
> > drivers if this proposed scheme was used?
>
> Trap#3 $50 to $5E, $60, $61 and $68 are used for GD2 colours.
>
> George
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>
>
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>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.

2014-01-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 6:12 PM, Peter  wrote:

> Petri Pellinen wrote:
>
> > Nice thing about the W5300 is that it has a TCP/IP stack implemented on
> the
> > chip which makes the driver *much* simpler to implement.
>
> I had a working native TCP/IP stack plus applications a decade ago, so in
> my case, the easier way is trying to reuse that.
>
That's very impressive. It's a shame that the solution was not more
widespread.


> As always, I can not promise when I can finish something. So if you have
> already implemented a lot of things around the W5300 and plan to finish
> soon, don't let my info regarding the CP2200 hinder you.
>

Ok... Based on that comment it seems that for clarity's sake I have to
state the following explicitly:

I am *not* associated in any way with Dave's project. I had two motivations
for posting my reply to Dave's message:
1) To point out a reason I personally chose the W5300 chip for a home
project - this difference between the discussed chips was not stated in
earlier emails so I thought it might add information to the discussion
2) To express my general curiosity about what a "driver" means in this case
since this was not 100% clear to me.

Also, I am NOT advocating the use of any specific chip for any purpose
whatsoever.

And following your cue, I'm also not making any promises or offering any
implementations around any chipset.
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Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.

2014-01-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thank you George, that's an interesting piece of information.

Kind regards,
Petri



On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 5:51 PM, George Gwilt  wrote:

>
> On 21 Jan 2014, at 15:41, Petri Pellinen  wrote:
>
> > Richard Zidlicky's document "QDOS TCP/IP and socket functionality" at
> > http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/manuals/socket.html seems to propose that
> most
> > of the POSIX-type functionality be implemented as an extension to
> standard
> > Trap #3 calls with D0 values $50-$7B inclusive mapped to socket API
> calls.
> >
> > Does anyone here on the mailing list know of possible conflicts with
> other
> > drivers if this proposed scheme was used?
>
> Trap#3 $50 to $5E, $60, $61 and $68 are used for GD2 colours.
>
> George
> ___
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Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.

2014-01-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Richard Zidlicky's document "QDOS TCP/IP and socket functionality" at
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/manuals/socket.html seems to propose that most
of the POSIX-type functionality be implemented as an extension to standard
Trap #3 calls with D0 values $50-$7B inclusive mapped to socket API calls.

Does anyone here on the mailing list know of possible conflicts with other
drivers if this proposed scheme was used?



On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 4:05 PM, Dave Park  wrote:

> Good questions, Petri.
>
> Given the structure of C, SuperBASIC and Minerva/QDOS in general, I think
> it's important to have at least a functional subset of the POSIX socket
> API. However, while that would bring functionality it would be strictly in
> the realm of the experienced programmer. The great thing about the QL is
> it's a wonderful tinkerer's machine. Being accessible from C and SuperBASIC
> would make use of ethernet not just for the elite, but a widespread pass
> time. We'd see a glut of multi-user games, web browsers, mail programs, web
> servers all easily accessible and modifiable. At that point, anyone can
> contribute.
>
> The addition of ethernet to the QL is as much about community development
> as it is about functionality of hardware. This is so important that if we
> reach a point where there's a workable "driver" I would build and sell
> ethernet cards for black box QLs at a loss, just to get them into as wide
> use as possible. However, until there's a meaningful expansion ROM image,
> it's a no-go.
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 7:39 AM, Petri Pellinen  wrote:
>
> > Nice thing about the W5300 is that it has a TCP/IP stack implemented on
> the
> > chip which makes the driver *much* simpler to implement.
> >
> > One interesting question regarding this whole conversation is: what is
> > meant by a "driver" here?
> > Does driver in this context mean a SuperBasic device interface? I.e.
> > something along the lines of "open #3,tcp_www.bbc.co.uk_80"
> > Or does it mean a POSIX compliant socket library?
> > Or something else?
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Dave Park  wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Peter,
> > >
> > > In all cases, I would like to go for compatibility with other systems.
> > > Drivers are a huge obstacle, so any kind of progress is a head start.
> > >
> > > I did a quick read of the datasheet, and I can see that this device
> does
> > > have a couple of advantages over the WS5300 - the onboard MAC
> eliminates
> > a
> > > serial EEPROM.
> > >
> > > Obviously, we're at the very earliest stages of development, so it's
> > quite
> > > easy to change direction at this time.
> > >
> > > Are you interested in open sourcing the work you've done?
> > >
> > > Dave
> > >
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 3:12 AM, Peter  wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 20 Jan 2014 at 20:05, Dave Park wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > We are also looking for anyone interested in working on development
> > of
> > > an
> > > > > ethernet driver. We're looking closely at the WizNet 5300. The
> > > datasheet
> > > > is
> > > > > here:
> > > >
> http://www.wiznet.co.kr/UpLoad_Files/ReferenceFiles/W5300_DS_V128E.pdf
> > > >
> > > > For your information: The Q68 already has a prototyped and finished
> PCB
> > > > using the CP2200, communication was successfully tested on packet
> > level.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/TechnicalDocs/CP2200.pdf
> > > >
> > > > The CP2200 has only 48 pins and a simple 8-bit bus suitable for QL
> > > > purposes. It is 5V tolerant. Using the CP2200 would allow similar or
> > even
> > > > identical drivers.
> > > >
> > > > Peter
> > > >
> > > > ___
> > > > QL-Users Mailing List
> > > > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Dave Park
> > > Sandy Electronics, LLC
> > > d...@sinclairql.com
> > > ___
> > > 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
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Dave Park
> Sandy Electronics, LLC
> d...@sinclairql.com
> ___
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Re: [Ql-Users] Developer assistance request.

2014-01-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Nice thing about the W5300 is that it has a TCP/IP stack implemented on the
chip which makes the driver *much* simpler to implement.

One interesting question regarding this whole conversation is: what is
meant by a "driver" here?
Does driver in this context mean a SuperBasic device interface? I.e.
something along the lines of "open #3,tcp_www.bbc.co.uk_80"
Or does it mean a POSIX compliant socket library?
Or something else?



On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 3:22 PM, Dave Park  wrote:

> Hi Peter,
>
> In all cases, I would like to go for compatibility with other systems.
> Drivers are a huge obstacle, so any kind of progress is a head start.
>
> I did a quick read of the datasheet, and I can see that this device does
> have a couple of advantages over the WS5300 - the onboard MAC eliminates a
> serial EEPROM.
>
> Obviously, we're at the very earliest stages of development, so it's quite
> easy to change direction at this time.
>
> Are you interested in open sourcing the work you've done?
>
> Dave
>
>
> On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 3:12 AM, Peter  wrote:
>
> > On 20 Jan 2014 at 20:05, Dave Park wrote:
> >
> > > We are also looking for anyone interested in working on development of
> an
> > > ethernet driver. We're looking closely at the WizNet 5300. The
> datasheet
> > is
> > > here:
> > http://www.wiznet.co.kr/UpLoad_Files/ReferenceFiles/W5300_DS_V128E.pdf
> >
> > For your information: The Q68 already has a prototyped and finished PCB
> > using the CP2200, communication was successfully tested on packet level.
> >
> > http://www.silabs.com/Support%20Documents/TechnicalDocs/CP2200.pdf
> >
> > The CP2200 has only 48 pins and a simple 8-bit bus suitable for QL
> > purposes. It is 5V tolerant. Using the CP2200 would allow similar or even
> > identical drivers.
> >
> > Peter
> >
> > ___
> > QL-Users Mailing List
> > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Dave Park
> Sandy Electronics, LLC
> d...@sinclairql.com
> ___
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>
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLis30 pledge...

2014-01-06 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Mon, Jan 6, 2014 at 5:02 PM, Mark Martin  wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 5, 2014 at 12:39 PM, Dave Park  wrote:>
> *List of pledges:*
> >
> > *Sandy Electronics / Dave Park£150*
> >
> Mark Martin    £30


Petri Pellinen£50

I wish it was as easy as throwing money at the problem but I know that
there is unfortunately a very substantial amount of work that needs to be
done in addition to securing the financing. Being stranded here in the
European version of the Outer Hebrides I feel awkward not being able to
contribute something concrete (such as actual work) but I do hope that
these pledges would function as a motivation for some group of people to
organize an event because I would love to attend.
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ql is 30

2013-11-11 Thread Petri Pellinen
I would be very tempted to come over for a QL30 event in Edinburgh.

/Petri



On Mon, Nov 11, 2013 at 8:01 PM, jms1  wrote:

> SQLUG could probably find a location and maybe pay for the hall in
> Edinburgh or even possibly Glasgow.
>
> Would be somewhere different and attract people both from the continent
> and Britain?
>
> Who would come?
>
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL Today + DVD

2013-09-19 Thread Petri Pellinen
Received over here in Finland as well. Having been away from the QL scene
for many, many years it is wonderful to have a comprehensive library of all
back issues. Also, QPC2 is amazing, never tried it before.

Thank you very much to everybody involved!

Best regards,
Petri



On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Geoff Wicks  wrote:

> On 19/09/2013 18:17, Dilwyn Jones wrote:
>
>>
>> On a personal note, as the first editor of the magazine, it was so nice
>> that the last words on the back cover of the very last issue were in Welsh,
>> not sure of that was a subtle and personal note or not, but in case it was
>> (and knowing Geoff it might well have been) thanks for that and for the
>> number of times my name appears in this last issue.
>>
>> Dilwyn Jones
>> #
>>
> It was Jochen you have thank.
>
> I objected to the last two words on the grounds that there were no known
> QL-ers in Wales,
>
> Best Wishes,
>
> Geoff
>
> Posted from a reinforced bunker at an undisclosed destination.
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLwIP

2013-09-15 Thread Petri Pellinen
Mark, if you are interested I have a prototype board for the original QL
that runs TCP/IP. Due to time constraints with my company I have not been
able to work on it for the past year. It uses a chip that has the TCP/IP
stack embedded so there is no need to implement that part on the QL. Before
working on the adapter I ported http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UIP_(micro_IP) on
the QL and ran it over a serial connection. The serial ports on the QL
being what they are I quickly wanted to explore other options.

I have tested the prototype board by implementing a DNS lookup client for
name resolution and a NTP client to synchronize QL's clock from a network
time server. Both work well.

There's quite a bit of work to be done and if someone is willing to
contribute I will be happy to share what I have done so far. I have *no*
commercial interest whatsoever and am happy to open-source everything.

Feel free to email me if you would like some further information.

Best regards,
Petri



On Sun, Sep 15, 2013 at 2:07 PM, Peter Graf  wrote:

> Mark Martin wrote:
>
> >>> Could it be licensed under an open source license?
> >> GPL planned.
> >
> > That's hopeful. What can I do to encourage or support that?
>
> Thank you. Unless you are a very familiar with drivers, C language and
> networking, owning a native hardware with ethernet - I have no idea what
> you could do.
>
> Even digging QLwIP out, making myself familiar with it again, and
> introduce someone else costs so much time that we'd have to forget the
> other projects I mentioned.
>
> >> There are ethernet cards for Q40 and Q60.
> >> QLwIP supports them.
> >
> > I was hoping for broader support of hardware. It's a broad base to begin
> > with, though, isn't it? There's QL original hardware, QXL, Q40/Q60,
> > Amiga/Atari emulators. Software emulators.
>
> Software emulators use the TCP/IP stack of their Windows/Linux host, so
> don't need QLwIP.
>
> Original QL and QXL have no ethernet hardware, they could use QLwIP with
> SLIP over the serial line, but that's not of much practical use.
>
> About Amiga/Atari emulators I have no idea. I doubt there is even a
> single user who would use internet on that.
>
> Peter
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] A few short topics...

2013-05-29 Thread Petri Pellinen
Evening Norman,

thank you for the chance to read your articles about assembly language
programming also in the future! I have a strange fascination for the
subject and it's wonderful that you have the stamina to share knowledge.

Best regards,
Petri



On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 4:12 PM, Norman Dunbar wrote:

> Afternoon all,
>
>
> 1. Assembly Language Mailing List.
>
> With the coming demise of the printed version of QL Today, and the fact
> that I'm part way through the Assembly Language series, I've set up a
> mailing list on my web site so that anyone wishing to complete the series
> can sign up and I'll email you when I have an article ready to download.
>
> The plans at the moment are:
>
> * Upload a PDF of the series so far, in one PDF book. However, because the
> tools I use can also create html, ePub and such like, I might be convinced
> to add a couple of extra formats. This work is pretty much done, and the
> main "book" may be appearing soon.
>
> * Upload each new chapter as and when I complete it.
>
> There will be no spam on the mailing list, the only emails you will get
> will be to advise you of a new chapter being available.
>
> You can sign up at 
> http://qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.**uk/mailinglist.
> Indeed, you can unsubscribe as well. You will be required to enter your
> forename and surname please. This isn't going to be used against you, only
> to try and stop spam-bots signing up. (I get a lot of that I'm afraid!)
>
>
> I've updated by website http://qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.uk with the details
> of the mailing list, so there is a link there as well - just in case.
>
> My final article in (the printed) QL Today has details as well.
>
>
>
> 2. Does SMSQ Need a Monitor Built in?
>
> On a completely different matter, I'm thinking that it might be a good
> idea (depends on your point of view of course) to have a built in "monitor"
> system in SMSQ/QPC etc. Ok, I can hear the screams from the developers even
> as I type, but I think it would be useful to have something along the lines
> of QMON or JMON built in to the OS, so that any time something went belly
> up in an exception(al) manner, we'd get some clue as to why. Just a thought
> - I appreciate that a certain (a lot) of work would probably be required,
> but to be honest, I don't see why it was never actually part of the OS to
> begin with.
>
>
>
> 3. Dave Park, Joomla QL Today "replacement".
>
> Has anyone heard anything more about Dave Park's new venture in setting up
> a Joomla system so that QL Today could carry on as an electronic system
> instead of paper? Last I heard he had Joomla set up on one of his servers
> and hadn't yet made the URL available.
>
>
> Right, that's me done.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Norm.
>
>
> --
> Norman Dunbar
> Dunbar IT Consultants Ltd
>
> Registered address:
> Thorpe House
> 61 Richardshaw Lane
> Pudsey
> West Yorkshire
> United Kingdom
> LS28 7EL
>
> Company Number: 05132767
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Re: [Ql-Users] Test email

2013-05-14 Thread Petri Pellinen
Speaking of recursion... This is probably old news to everybody but there
is a nice Google Easter egg: Googling "recursion" gives you a "Did you mean
'recursion'" link :)


On Tue, May 14, 2013 at 6:12 PM, George Gwilt  wrote:

>
> On 14 May 2013, at 16:06, Norman Dunbar wrote:
>
> >>
> >> More or less. I was really wondering why QDOS doesn't have a vector
> setting long words to ASCII when suddenly - ping! - there was this
> ignorable email which I inadvertently sensed out of my eye's corner.
> >
> > Aha, I see. You inadvertently sensed it, and accidentally replied! :-)
> >
> > I think the problem is because the instruction to ignore it is at  the
> bottom. However, it matters not. If you obey the instruction to ignore it,
> then obviously, you didn't ignore it.
> >
> > Thus, we enter Dilwyn's recursive ignoring it scenario!
> >
> > I'm having a bad day!
>
> Ah! I now see the problem. I must have ignored the instruction to ignore
> the email - or part thereof. Does that count as recursion?
>
> George
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Re: [Ql-Users] Caps Lock

2013-02-14 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Tobias,

You are right, that is the way that works in quite a few environments but
apparently not everywhere so it is not entirely reliable.

Petri
 14.2.2013 21.48 "Tobias Fröschle"  kirjoitti:

>
> Am 14.02.2013 um 20:15 schrieb Wolfgang Lenerz:
>
> > Le 14/02/2013 19:57, Petri Pellinen a écrit :
> >> Yeah Java is kind of ugly in that sense, unless one is willing to take
> the
> >> hit of using JNA <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Native_Access> to
> get
> >> access to KeyboardUtils<
> http://jna.java.net/javadoc/platform/com/sun/jna/platform/KeyboardUtils.html
> >which
> >> supposedly gets the job done in a fairly portable way.
> >>
> >
> > ** shudder **
> >
>
> Öhm,
>
> it's quite some time when I was working as a Java developer, but how about
>
>
> Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getLockingKeyState(KeyEvent.VK_CAPS_LOCK);
>
> ??
>
> Tobias
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Re: [Ql-Users] Caps Lock

2013-02-14 Thread Petri Pellinen
Yeah Java is kind of ugly in that sense, unless one is willing to take the
hit of using JNA  to get
access to 
KeyboardUtilswhich
supposedly gets the job done in a fairly portable way.

Petri


On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 8:22 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:

> Le 14/02/2013 17:21, Dilwyn Jones a écrit :
>
>  SMSQmulator doesn’t seem to change sv_caps at all.
>>
>> Means standard QL caps lock indicators don’t work on those systems.
>>
>>
> Yup.
>
> There's no reliable way to get the caps lock status from Java, sorry.
>
> Wolfgang
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Plastic Feet for Sinclair QL

2013-02-02 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Sat, Feb 2, 2013 at 11:04 AM, Rich Mellor wrote:

> Does anyone have spares of the plastic feet used to raise the back of the
> QL ?
>
> I keep being asked for these, but unfortunately I don't have any left (and
> neither do Quanta)...
>

Do people want original parts or would a copy of the original be
sufficient? I'm wondering how much it would cost to 3d-print copies of the
feet...

/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-24 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Wolfgang,

the demo can be downloaded from http://smsq.j-m-s.com/qdt/qdt.htm

/Petri


On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 10:07 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz <
w...@scp-paulet-lenerz.com> wrote:

> Hi Petri,
>
>
>  it's a very nice looking QL desktop project:
>> http://www.jdh-stech.com/QDT/**qdt.html
>>
>>
> Ah, of course, yes, thanks.
>
> Where can one get the demo?
>
>
>
> Wolfgang
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-24 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Wolfgang,

it's a very nice looking QL desktop project:
http://www.jdh-stech.com/QDT/qdt.html

and Ian,

thanks for the info. I'm trying to install the demo version right now.

Best regards,
Petri


On Thu, Jan 24, 2013 at 9:50 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:

> Hi
>
>>
>> The simple answer is yes. I have been running the full version of QDT
>> with no problem. Just a little slow but usable, at least on my system.
>>
>>
>
> What is QDT?
>
> Wolfgang
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-24 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hello everyone,

is it possible to run the trial version of QDT under SMSQmulator ?

Best regards,
Petri


On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 7:41 AM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> SMSQmulator, the SMSQ/E machine emulator under Java is now out.
>
> You can find it at :
>
> www.wlenerz.com/SMSQmulator.
>
> (Please note that, the site running under linux, this address is case
> dependent - g!).
>
> Have fun with it.
>
> Wolfgang
> __**_
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> http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/**smsqe.htm
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLay Linux

2013-01-22 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 5:08 AM, Timothy Swenson wrote:

> Another option is for the user to try the DOS version using DOSBOX on
> Linux.  DOSBOX is great for running old DOS software.  I've run stuff that
> was created in 1986 and it ran fine.
>
>
That's a great idea, I tried it on xubuntu 12.04.1 dosbox and it ran fine.

/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLay Linux

2013-01-22 Thread Petri Pellinen
I looked into this on xubuntu 12.04.1. Long story short: needs a recompile
against current libraries.

A bit more detail if someone is interested:
"readelf -a QLAY | less"
tells us that the binary needs /lib/ld-linux.so.1

  INTERP 0xd4 0x08d4 0x 0x00013 0x00013 R   0x1
  [Requesting program interpreter: /lib/ld-linux.so.1]

and "ldd QLAY" shows that an older libc shared library is requested.
libc.so.5 => not found

I then checked if the current versions work with the binary by creating
symlinks with old version names to current libraries:
"sudo ln -s /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 /lib/i386-linux-gnu/libc.so.5"
"sudo ln -s /lib/ld-linux.so.2 /lib/ld-linux.so.1"

Trying to run QLAY now produces the following error:
./QLAY: symbol lookup error: ./QLAY: undefined symbol: __setfpucw

which makes sense as __setfpucw does not exist in current glibc versions:
http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/online/pages/man3/__setfpucw.3.html

So, the current library distributions won't work with the old binary and a
recompile is necessary.

The source package does not seem to contain a Linux Makefile so some work
would be needed to recompile.

Best regards,
Petri


On Tue, Jan 22, 2013 at 5:08 AM, Timothy Swenson wrote:

> I just downloaded QLAY and tried it on my Lubuntu 12.4 system.  I'm
> getting the same odd error that the user reported.
>
> I made sure that the file was executable, so I did a 'chmod 777 QLAY'.
> When I did './QLAY', I got the same "no sure file or directory."  The
> command 'strace ./QLAY' did not show much.  Basically, an execve call was
> made and it returned ENOENT, which is the same as "no such file or
> directory".  There was an llseek system call that returned ESPIPE or
> "Illegal seek".
>
> I've never seen Linux or Unix not find a file like that.  The file system
> can see the file.  I can chmod the file.  I can cat the file.  I can rename
> the file, but trying to execute it, the file can't be found.
>
> One suggestion is that the user download the source code and see if he can
> build it himself.  I just tried it and had a number of compiler errors.  If
> the user is not a C person, he may not get it to compile. Has anyone
> successfully compiled QLAY lately?  The source code was last touched in
> 1999, so it might be a little rusty.
>
> Another option is for the user to try the DOS version using DOSBOX on
> Linux.  DOSBOX is great for running old DOS software.  I've run stuff that
> was created in 1986 and it ran fine.
>
> Tim Swenson
>
> __**_
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Wolfgang,

yes unfortunately I still see the same problem BUT I also see the same
problem with another piece of java software that I just downloaded so it
starts to look like it really is some kind of a JRE configuration problem
on my machine. This is very weird since some packages work well while
others don't. I'll take a look later and see if I can find the culprit.
Thank you for taking a look and apologies for bringing this up before doing
a more thorough check on my machine with other SW.

Best regards,
Petri


On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 4:41 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:

> Hi Petri,
>
> I've uploaded a new version, could you check whether the same problem is
> still there?
>
> Thanks
>
> Wolfgang
>
> __**_
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
A quick update: I verified that the same JRE installation does run another
java based GUI program out of a jar correctly so it seems that the JRE
environment itself is not corrupted.

Best regards,
Petri


On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 3:33 PM, Petri Pellinen  wrote:

> Hi Wolfgang,
>
> I was using the Java7 version. The stack trace is attached. Seems to be
> somehow related to loading a default font. I guess it could also mean that
> my JRE installation is broken somehow.
>
> From the trace:
> Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.Error: Probable fatal
> error:No fonts found.
> at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
> .. a ton of heap . and then ...
> at smsqmulator.MonitorGui.initComponents(MonitorGui.java:2123)
> at smsqmulator.MonitorGui.(MonitorGui.java:130)
>  at smsqmulator.SMSQmulator.(SMSQmulator.java:62)
> at smsqmulator.SMSQmulator$1.run(SMSQmulator.java:111)
>
> On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz <
> w...@scp-paulet-lenerz.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Petri,
>>
>> well that's a first.
>>
>> THanks.
>>
>> Since I have the JDK on all machines, I never even thought about testing
>> that.
>>
>> Did that happen with the version compiled for Java 6 and the one for Java
>> 7?
>>
>> What font(s) did it complain about? I didn't use anything special, am not
>> even sure I actually explicitly use a font somewhere.
>>
>> (Now trying to figure out a way to reproduce that error here).
>>
>> Wolfgang
>>
>>
>>
>>  Hi Wolfgang,
>>>
>>> thank you very much for making this available!
>>>
>>> Just a note: I was not able to run this under JRE on Windows 7, got error
>>> about not being able to load fonts when starting. With a full JDK
>>> environment I had no problems.
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>> Petri
>>>
>>>  __**_
>> QL-Users Mailing List
>> http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/**smsqe.htm<http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm>
>>
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Wolfgang,

I was using the Java7 version. The stack trace is attached. Seems to be
somehow related to loading a default font. I guess it could also mean that
my JRE installation is broken somehow.

>From the trace:
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.Error: Probable fatal
error:No fonts found.
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
.. a ton of heap . and then ...
at smsqmulator.MonitorGui.initComponents(MonitorGui.java:2123)
at smsqmulator.MonitorGui.(MonitorGui.java:130)
at smsqmulator.SMSQmulator.(SMSQmulator.java:62)
at smsqmulator.SMSQmulator$1.run(SMSQmulator.java:111)

On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 3:21 PM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:

> Hi Petri,
>
> well that's a first.
>
> THanks.
>
> Since I have the JDK on all machines, I never even thought about testing
> that.
>
> Did that happen with the version compiled for Java 6 and the one for Java
> 7?
>
> What font(s) did it complain about? I didn't use anything special, am not
> even sure I actually explicitly use a font somewhere.
>
> (Now trying to figure out a way to reproduce that error here).
>
> Wolfgang
>
>
>
>  Hi Wolfgang,
>>
>> thank you very much for making this available!
>>
>> Just a note: I was not able to run this under JRE on Windows 7, got error
>> about not being able to load fonts when starting. With a full JDK
>> environment I had no problems.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Petri
>>
>>  __**_
> QL-Users Mailing List
> http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/**smsqe.htm
>
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.Error: Probable fatal error:No 
fonts found.
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findOtherDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.findFont2D(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.getDefaultPhysicalFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.SunFontManager.initialiseDeferredFont(Unknown Source)
at sun.font.Sun

Re: [Ql-Users] SMSQmulator

2013-01-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Wolfgang,

thank you very much for making this available!

Just a note: I was not able to run this under JRE on Windows 7, got error
about not being able to load fonts when starting. With a full JDK
environment I had no problems.

Best regards,
Petri



On Sun, Jan 20, 2013 at 7:41 AM, Wolfgang Lenerz  wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> SMSQmulator, the SMSQ/E machine emulator under Java is now out.
>
> You can find it at :
>
> www.wlenerz.com/SMSQmulator.
>
> (Please note that, the site running under linux, this address is case
> dependent - g!).
>
> Have fun with it.
>
> Wolfgang
> __**_
> QL-Users Mailing List
> http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/**smsqe.htm
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] .co.uk domain, where to register?

2013-01-14 Thread Petri Pellinen
We use gandi.net at work. .co.uk domains seem to cost 7 euros per year
through them.

Cheers,
Petri


On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 11:56 AM, Urs Koenig (QL)  wrote:

> Morning all,
>
>
>
> I intend to register a .co.uk domain and host the site at my swiss hosting
> partner.
>
>
>
> Questions:
>
> 1)  Is there an official .co.uk domain name registrar or is any
> company
> allowed to "sell" .co.uk domain?
>
> 2)  If there's more than one (which I assume), which one would you
> propose.
>
>
>
> Many thanks for any feedback.
>
>
>
> Cheers, Urs
>
> -
>
>   http://www.youtube.com/QLvsJaguar
>
> Sinclair, QL, ATARI, JAGUAR, NUON, APPLE & more...
>
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Sinclair QL running a qualification test for a space component

2012-11-23 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thank you for sharing this, Francois. It was a very interesting read! I
studied space hardware technology as a secondary subject at the university
so this story brought a smile to my face. I recall thinking at the time
that space hw engineering must be a glamorous field. Having read your
story... well, it seems I already had all the necessary glamorous tools at
home :)

Have a great weekend!

/Petri


On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 8:13 AM, Francois Lanciault <
francoislancia...@hotmail.com> wrote:

> Hi group, here is a short story for you this morning:
>
> My trusty QL is controlling a test setup built to qualify a new component
> for space use as we speak.
>
> To make the story short, I work for a company that build satellite and
> other space hardware. Two weeks ago, one of our design failed during an
> official life test in the lab. We made some changes to the design and we
> are about to restart the test soon.
>
> But I found out that changing the material of the failed part for a
> different type might be an even better solution. After talking to my boss,
> he said that we have no time to qualify that new material before the
> official test. His other objection was that a new test setup was needed to
> mechanically bend the part made of the new material for many thousand
> cycles before he would even consider it. There was no time, and no money.
> You need to understand that a setup like that usually cost a few $1 and
> take about a month to built, program the test computer etc.
>
> The day after I told my boss: I WILL test this solution. Give me 24 hours
> to built the test setup, and it will cost you nothing. I agreed with a
> smile. 24 hours later, the test was running.
>
> I use scrap flight parts, a couple of brackets and a lot of Meccano parts.
> For the actuator, I use a small $20 servo-motor that I had for a robotic
> project of mine. I also had the controller for the servo. This controller
> can be attached to a simple serial port. That is where the QL comes into
> play. I needed a computer to control the amount of bending, the timing, the
> large quantity of cycles and able to log everything. I also needed a
> computer that was easy to program, as I started to work on the program at
> 23h00. Because the QL is the computer I know best, the program was finished
> 2 hours later.
>
> The next day, when I installed everything in the thermal chamber, I must
> admit that it looks a bit foolish. But it did work. I closed the door and
> set the temperature to -50degC. Everybody knew it would not last through
> the night. But this morning I opened the chamber and it was still running
> great, 25000 cycles later. When I left work it was at 4 cycles.
>
> Anyway, It is fun to see my QL in a lab running this test, and I thought
> you might like it. The other thing that I like is that I can work on my 3D
> game at lunch time :-)
>
> Have a nice day!
> François
> ___
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLToday arrived

2012-06-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Arrived in sunny Espoo, Finland this afternoon.
21.6.2012 22.07 "Ralf Reköndt"  kirjoitti:

> Not here in Germany...8-(.
>
> - Original Message - From: "peet vanpeebles"
>
>  Mine arrived today, I liked the little joke on the front cover! :)
>>
>
> __**_
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL Today arrived today

2012-03-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hello,

the latest issue made it to Finland today. The content was great! Lots of
very interesting pieces and  Norman's article on Gwasl libraries was
exactly what I needed as I was too lazy to sort out the details myself :)

Thank you to all of you who put the issue together!

Best regards,
Petri

On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 6:48 PM, thorsten herbert <
thorsten_herb...@hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> just got my issue of QL Today this morning. Great issue with plenty of 42
> pages !!
> Thanks to all involved ..
>
> Best,
>
> Th
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL Ethernet/TCP/IP card prototype version 2

2012-02-15 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks Dave, I sure will need help with the PCB so your offer is much
appreciated!

/Petri


On Thu, Feb 16, 2012 at 12:13 AM, Dave Park  wrote:

> This is fantastic. If you'd like any help with the PCB, let me know :)
>
> Dave
>
> On Wed, Feb 15, 2012 at 4:10 PM, Petri Pellinen  wrote:
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > in case anyone is interested, there's a pic of the second prototype
> version
> > of an ethernet / TCP/IP expansion card for the QL available on Flickr:
> > http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrip/6883064083/
> >
> > Fresh off the production line, it was finished tonight :) And the amazing
> > thing is that it actually works. To me, the hardware side of things was
> the
> > scary/educational part of the project. Now I feel confident that this
> > prototype can be used as a nice starting point for prototype v3 with an
> > actual printed circuit board.
> >
> > I was forced to take a long (10 months!) break from all hobbies due to
> > hectic personal/business life but finally had some time to put this
> second
> > version together. Now that I have hardware that can actually be handled
> > without fear of tearing a wire loose I can concentrate on the software
> side
> > of things. I have the source code for a rudimentary socket layer
> interface
> > for the WizNet module (the TCP-IP-on-a-chip on the board) and will try to
> > compile something with it. A very simple command line HTTP client would
> > probably be an interesting starting point as that would open up all kinds
> > of possibilities (file download, REST client, etc).
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Petri
> > ___
> > QL-Users Mailing List
> > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
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[Ql-Users] QL Ethernet/TCP/IP card prototype version 2

2012-02-15 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi everyone,

in case anyone is interested, there's a pic of the second prototype version
of an ethernet / TCP/IP expansion card for the QL available on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrip/6883064083/

Fresh off the production line, it was finished tonight :) And the amazing
thing is that it actually works. To me, the hardware side of things was the
scary/educational part of the project. Now I feel confident that this
prototype can be used as a nice starting point for prototype v3 with an
actual printed circuit board.

I was forced to take a long (10 months!) break from all hobbies due to
hectic personal/business life but finally had some time to put this second
version together. Now that I have hardware that can actually be handled
without fear of tearing a wire loose I can concentrate on the software side
of things. I have the source code for a rudimentary socket layer interface
for the WizNet module (the TCP-IP-on-a-chip on the board) and will try to
compile something with it. A very simple command line HTTP client would
probably be an interesting starting point as that would open up all kinds
of possibilities (file download, REST client, etc).

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Qimi schematics + board

2012-02-11 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Dave,

I converted the pic file in the zip into a bmp, see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrip/6858386833/

But it would be interesting to see what the circuit board layout is.

By the way, if the picture is not in the public domain then please let me
know and I'll remove it. I'm just assuming it is since it can be downloaded
from Dilwyn's (old?) site.

Cheers,
Petri


On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 7:16 PM, Dave Park  wrote:

> I didn't see a schematic in that zip file... What is the filename?
>
> Dave
>
> On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 5:04 AM, Petri Pellinen  wrote:
> > Good afternoon everybody,
> >
> > Qimi schematics seem to be available online at
> > http://dilwynjones.topcities.com/qldocs/qimi.html . Is the board layout
> > also available somewhere?
> >
> > Best regards,
> > Petri
> > ___
> > QL-Users Mailing List
> > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
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[Ql-Users] Qimi schematics + board

2012-02-11 Thread Petri Pellinen
Good afternoon everybody,

Qimi schematics seem to be available online at
http://dilwynjones.topcities.com/qldocs/qimi.html . Is the board layout
also available somewhere?

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLToday V16 I2

2011-12-12 Thread Petri Pellinen
Arrived in Finland today.

Thanks!

Petri

On Mon, Dec 12, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Gerhard Plavec wrote:

> Same for me :)
>
> Gerhard
>
> 
>
> François Van Emelen schrieb:
>
>  Hi Jochen,
>>
>>
>> Found QLToday V16 I2 in my letterbox this morning.
>>
>> Thanks Jochen.
>>
>> Have a fine day,
>> François Van Emelen
>>
>> __**_
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>>
>>
> __**_
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>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Huge Sinclair repository on DVD out now!

2011-09-19 Thread Petri Pellinen
Finnish Postal Service delivered today. My first ever QL Today. Now I
have 15 years of catching up to do :)

Great magazine, thank you to everybody involved!

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] well, it's finally gone!

2011-05-04 Thread Petri Pellinen
And when exactly did you join this "CompuServe" you speak of?

The Internet is cool and everything but nothing beats the handshake
sound of a 300 baud modem :)

Cheers,
Petri


On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 11:56 PM, paul  wrote:
> I finally let go my CompuServe account, after being 'connected' from before
> the Internet was as we know it now. Back then it was strictly text based!
>  No Pretty pictures! no www,
>
> So ends an era for me!
>
> --
> Paul Holmgren
> Mine: 2 57 300-C's in Indy
> Hers: 05 PT GT R/T HO Stage 1
> Hoosier Corps L#6
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Re: [Ql-Users] QLSD (WIP): ROM board featuring a SD socket to allow the QL to use SD/MMC cards

2011-04-28 Thread Petri Pellinen
That is very, very impressive. Was that QL running a GoldCard?

Is Minerva a requirement or will this thing support QDOS?

/Petri


On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 8:16 PM, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Jodar
 wrote:
> Hi! I've working on it the last two weeks. The hardware is almost finished
> (I may be switching to another, more capable, CPLD if the current one
> doesn't fit all my needs).
>
> It's an external ROM board, with EPROM for firmware (to be written), CPLD
> configured to act as an SPI interface, and a SD/MMC socket. Miscellaneous
> electronics include an integrated oscillator (50MHz at present), and a 3.3V
> LDO regulator.
>
> I'm finishing low-level routines so once they are well tested, I will move
> on to the next software level (filesystem, driver access, etc).
>
> Until now, I present to you a demo of the read speed achieved with a
> white-brand SD card, and a 640KB (should work on an unexpanded too) QL with
> Minerva 1.98 .
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78xtsEKW4Lw
>
> This video is the last one uploaded to Youtube up to now. Previously I have
> uploaded two more videos showing basic read tests using different speeds,
> and comparing the results with the one obtained using a regular floppy
> drive.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0XvKy8wb-g
>
>
> --
> McLeod_IdeaFix (www.zxprojects.com)
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Re: [Ql-Users] ser-usb

2011-04-27 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Tony Firshman  wrote:
> I am keen to see this put into production.  Adrian has done a great deal of
> (frustrating) work on it, and feels that there is no real interest in it.  I
> hope he can be proved wrong.

I second that. I participated in the beta and must say that Adrian has
produced an impressive piece of software. It's really unfortunate that
he had a rough time struggling with the limitations of the plain old
QL. I believe this greatly added to his frustration. But he managed to
come up with innovative ways of working around the limitations and
produced a useful set of tools that now sadly will not see daylight
unless there is more interest in his solution.

Being able to read/write usb memory sticks formatted with QDOS was
really useful at least for me. The slow speed of the native serial
port was not that big of a deal since my use cases were essentially
transferring small files between a PC and the QL.

I should also add that all through the beta period Adrian was very
helpful and responsive. He literally fixed bugs within hours of
discovery.

Now, if anyone has a spare Hermes up for grabs please let me know :)

/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Finland User Group

2011-04-27 Thread Petri Pellinen
Wow, the RAM piggyback job on the QL he has acquired is a mess. It's
going to be a *lot* of work to remove those babies :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9020837@N07/5657527093/sizes/l/in/photostream/


On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 10:30 PM, Lee Privett  wrote:
> Hi Petri, there is another of your countrymen on the QL forum who is having a 
> few problems with a recently purchased QL, I said I would see if there was 
> someone close who might be able to help. Here is the link.
>
> http://www.qlforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=134&sid=382cea9389c7989d5bbb29f3cdd66baa
>
>            Lee
> -: Back to the QL :-
>  ----- Original Message -
>  From: Petri Pellinen
>  To: ql-us...@q-v-d.com
>  Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2011 8:28 AM
>  Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] Finland User Group
>
>
>  Hi, I'm a Finn but I'm not aware of an active User Group over here.
>  Anything I can help you with? :)
>
>  /Petri
>
>
>  On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 12:28 AM, Lee Privett  wrote:
>  > Does anyone know if there is a QL Finland User Group?
>  >
>  > Lee
>  > -: Back to the QL :-
>  > ___
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>  >
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Re: [Ql-Users] Finland User Group

2011-04-27 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi, I'm a Finn but I'm not aware of an active User Group over here.
Anything I can help you with? :)

/Petri


On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 12:28 AM, Lee Privett  wrote:
> Does anyone know if there is a QL Finland User Group?
>
>            Lee
> -: Back to the QL :-
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Re: [Ql-Users] One for the QL Collectors out there

2011-03-29 Thread Petri Pellinen
Norman,

your brain agrees with the QL User Guide Concepts section. I wish I
had a memory like that.

/Petri


On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 9:48 PM, Norman Dunbar  wrote:
> If my brain hasn't let me down again, I'm pretty sure that 'k' defines the
> length of the keyboard buffer for this channel.
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Re: [Ql-Users] One for the QL Collectors out there

2011-03-29 Thread Petri Pellinen
Indeed it was :) They are the guys who brought Genuine People
Personalities to the market, i.e. Marvin, the Paranoid Android :)



On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Dilwyn Jones
 wrote:
> Something just occurred to me - wasn't Sirius Cybernetics some company in
> Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy or something like that?
>
> Dilwyn Jones
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Happy St Davids Day

2011-03-01 Thread Petri Pellinen
As a former Dragon 32 user I can only say: Cymru am byth!

Doesn't help much in the getting-back-on-topic-department, I'm afraid. Sorry :D

/Petri


On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 8:03 PM, Dilwyn Jones
 wrote:
>> At 13:25 01/03/2011 +, you wrote:
>>>
>>> Happy St Davids day to everyone. I hope we are all wearing daffodils or
>>> leeks and eating 'cawl' soup or Welsh Rarebit to celebrate.
>>
>> So today's (not Toasay) the Dai, I occasionally wondered.
>>
>> I suppose it's not the right season for lava bread ?
>
> Might be, if I actually liked the stuff (which I don't). I'll stick to Bara
> Brith, Cawl and other Welsh icon foods I guess.
>
> Anyway, most of the laver (from seaweed) comes from west of Scotland these
> days, so you probably couldn't call it Welsh Laver Bread anyway, anymore
> than a Londoner make Cornish pasties, or whatever.
>
> Anybody who wonders what the heck we're on about, see the Food & Drink
> section of http://www.welshicons.org.uk/
>
> Now how the hell do I get anywhere near back on topic from here???
>
> Dilwyn
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] [ql-users] Backplanes...

2011-02-22 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Tobias,

thanks for your thoughts on this. And your guess on Pennell's solution
is correct :) Very interesting piece of information about driver
shadowing. Obvious, once you think about it but I hadn't thought
about it :)


Cheers,
Petri


On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 11:20 PM, Tobias Fröschle
 wrote:
> Well, I don't have the Pennel book, so don't know his recipe - But would
> expect he recommends scanning the potential expansion port ROM start
> candidates for a valid ROM header and mimicking the correct initialisation
> sequence (i.e calling initialisation routine at x+6 and linking in Basic
> procedures at x+4.
> So what could go wrong: Waste of memory - All drivers need to allocate at
> least a 40+ bytes driver linkage block plus any additional scratchpad memory
> they need. So if you initialize a driver twice, memory of the first is
> potentially lost. (The driver as such won't be called twice, because drivers
> may very well "shadow" each other, only the first one that tells the system
> it has recognized its device name will actualy be called (This is one of the
> mechanisms used by the PE to 'hide' the original con_ driver)
> Waste of CPU: Drivers linking in a polling or scheduler loop might very well
> do that twice, same for an external interrupt routine.
> Polling or scheduler loops just waste CPU. External interrupt routines
> hooked in twice shouldn't hurt (but probably wasting CPU as well), as an
> interrupt routine should really clear the interrupt source befor it returns.
> BTW all of the link traps have no failure exit - they will just link in
> whatever routine they're asked for.
> Same goes with SuperBASIC extensions - just a waste of memory - the last one
> hides the others.
> This would be one typical usage of a thing: When a driver is initialized, it
> could check for existance of its correspondent thing and gracefully exits
> without further initialisation if it's already there.
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Re: [Ql-Users] Memory

2011-02-22 Thread Petri Pellinen
peek_l(163872) I believe contains address of end of RAM.

/Petri


On Tue, Feb 22, 2011 at 4:27 PM, Lee Privett  wrote:
> I have a JM basic system and I am trying to check the memory it has before 
> and after I plug the expanderam card in. No joy as far as I can determine, 
> keywords in QDOS but I seem to remember a Peek somewhere, anyone?
>
>
>
> Lee
> - Back to the QL-
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Re: [Ql-Users] [ql-users] Backplanes...

2011-02-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 9:05 PM, Daniele Terdina
 wrote:
> Didn't Sinclair ROMs have a bug preventing usage of all expansion slots 
> except for the first one?

Being a re-newbie I also have (I hope!) a few related questions : This
might be a FAQ so apologies in advance if this subject has been beaten
to a painful death many times before

Is the section "Peripheral ROM problem" in chapter 9 of "The Sinclair
QDOS Companion" still relevant? Andrew Pennell outlines a procedure to
work around the early QDOS bug where only the first peripheral routine
is discovered. Should this workaround still be applied to make sure
all peripheral drivers get initialized properly? Does the workaround
actually *break* things with newer QDOS versions and more recent
peripherals?

Cheers,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] A Landmark Moment for the Ser-USB Driver!

2011-02-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thank you, Adrian. I think I'll get the necessary components so that I
can participate in the beta program :)

/Petri


On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 3:08 PM, Adrian Ives  wrote:
> Yes, that's the one.  You also need some circuitry to translate RS232 to TTL
> levels.  A MAX232 chip and a handful of capacitors is what the Ser-USB
> prototype uses to do this.  If you search on eBay you can often find
> ready-made RS232/TTL converter modules intended for programming satellite TV
> boxes.
>
>
> Adrian
>
> -Original Message-
> From: ql-users-boun...@lists.q-v-d.com
> [mailto:ql-users-boun...@lists.q-v-d.com] On Behalf Of Petri Pellinen
> Sent: 20 February 2011 12:03
> To: ql-us...@q-v-d.com
> Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] A Landmark Moment for the Ser-USB Driver!
>
> Congratulations Adrian. Is this the USBWiz module you are writing the driver
> for?
> http://www.crownhill.co.uk/product.php?prod=
>
> Best regards,
> Petri
>
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 1:06 PM, Adrian Ives  wrote:
>> This morning at 10:50 GMT the latest version of the driver, running
>> under a QDOS JM ROM, successfully loaded a file into the MasterSpy
>> editor without crashing.  This issue has been bugging me for days, but
>> was finally traced to some errant mode swapping code that allowed an
>> IOSS retry to happen when the process that was being retried hadn't
> actually surrendered control.
>>
>>
>>
>> Now, all I have to figure out is why an S*BASIC INPUT statement causes
>> a hang under QDOS but not under SMSQ . unless the driver's
>> Asynchronous Read facility is turned on. ;)
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm still planning for a test release mid March, when anyone who has a
>> USBWiz that they can connect is welcome to try it out.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Adrian
>>
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Re: [Ql-Users] A Landmark Moment for the Ser-USB Driver!

2011-02-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
Congratulations Adrian. Is this the USBWiz module you are writing the
driver for?
http://www.crownhill.co.uk/product.php?prod=

Best regards,
Petri



On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 1:06 PM, Adrian Ives  wrote:
> This morning at 10:50 GMT the latest version of the driver, running under a
> QDOS JM ROM, successfully loaded a file into the MasterSpy editor without
> crashing.  This issue has been bugging me for days, but was finally traced
> to some errant mode swapping code that allowed an IOSS retry to happen when
> the process that was being retried hadn't actually surrendered control.
>
>
>
> Now, all I have to figure out is why an S*BASIC INPUT statement causes a
> hang under QDOS but not under SMSQ . unless the driver's Asynchronous Read
> facility is turned on. ;)
>
>
>
> I'm still planning for a test release mid March, when anyone who has a
> USBWiz that they can connect is welcome to try it out.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Adrian
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] [ql-users] Backplanes...

2011-02-16 Thread Petri Pellinen
I would be interested in buying one. The DIN connectors seem to be
rather expensive so I'm a bit concerned about the price. A kit instead
of a finished assembly would also be nice. Four slots would probably
be optimal for my use. Can't answer your other questions since I have
never used one before :)

/Petri

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 5:26 PM, Plastic  wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I have been asked off-list if I could make some backplanes. I have a stack
> of the connectors already, so, if there was demand, I could do this quite
> easily.
>
> The questions are:
>
> Is there any demand for this?
> Is there any deficiency or design issue with previous ones that needs
> correcting? (clearances? support? clean power?)
> How are they normally used/oriented? How could they be improved?
> How many expansion ports does your backplane have, how many do you use, and
> how many do you wish you had?
>
> Maybe people could send me photos off-list of their backplane set-ups so I
> can see what people are doing!
>
> Dave
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Re: [Ql-Users] SGC's and availability? (was Re: Gold card battery...)

2011-02-15 Thread Petri Pellinen
Yeah, a SGC would be a nice item to have. There was one up on ebay
some weeks back and the winning bid was a ridiculous amount of money.
Something along the lines of 200 GBP if I recall correctly.

I like the idea of a ql network interface on a PC, especially if there
was QemuLator support for it...

/Petri


On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 9:20 PM, Mark Martin  wrote:
> It seems like, from reading the previous thread, that quite a few
> folks out there have GC's and SGC's.  Q40's and Q60's as well.  Is
> anyone selling a SGC by chance?  Or a Q40/Q60?
>
> Also, on an unrelated note, I've been trying to find details on the QL
> network (QLAN) interface -- I was thinking about building an interface
> from one of my other computers to transfer files to/from.  Does anyone
> have any detailed schematics or protocol specifications they could
> share?  Has anyone made anything in this regard already?
>
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
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Re: [Ql-Users] USBWiz Driver Update

2011-02-01 Thread Petri Pellinen
Adrian,

I realize the speed of the serial port is indeed a limitation but to
me the real value would be the ability to access files through USB.
I'm willing to wait for the data transfer and the stuff I would be
transferring is not that big anyway. For other people, the speed might
be a more important factor.

Thanks for the update, I think it is a very interesting project.

/Petri


On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 8:46 PM, Adrian Ives  wrote:
> Petri,
>
> My aim is to support a standard QL, but I don't want to mislead anybody:
> there are obviously many limitations of the standard serial ports, not the
> least of which being the maximum speed!  On an Aurora QL with superHermes I
> was getting reliable working at 56Kbps and intermittent working at 115K - on
> a standard QL  9.6K is the practical maximum. There will also be limitations
> caused by the lack of memory on an unexpanded QL, limiting the amount of
> buffers that the driver can allocate to keep things moving.
>
> otoh The standalone File Manager works quite well on a bog standard QL and,
> with the USBWiz native support of the FAT file system, is ideal for
> transferring files between machines (QL, PC or Mac).
>
>
> Adrian
>
> -Original Message-
> From: ql-users-boun...@lists.q-v-d.com
> [mailto:ql-users-boun...@lists.q-v-d.com] On Behalf Of Petri Pellinen
> Sent: 01 February 2011 18:30
> To: ql-us...@q-v-d.com
> Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] USBWiz Driver Update
>
> Hi Adrian,
>
> if this would work on a standard QL I would very interested in a commercial
> product.
>
> Best regards,
> Petri
>
>
> On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Adrian Ives  wrote:
>> So, my question is this: Is anyone actually interested in me devoting
>> more time to finish this project? If (and it is still an if) the
>> driver can be brought to a release-stable state, is there interest in
>> a commercial product based around this?
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Re: [Ql-Users] USBWiz Driver Update

2011-02-01 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Adrian,

if this would work on a standard QL I would very interested in a
commercial product.

Best regards,
Petri


On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 8:13 PM, Adrian Ives  wrote:
> So, my question is this: Is anyone actually interested in me devoting more
> time to finish this project? If (and it is still an if) the driver can be
> brought to a release-stable state, is there interest in a commercial product
> based around this?
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Re: [Ql-Users] OT - News clip - free Wi-Fi hotspots

2011-01-31 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 1:11 PM, Rich Mellor  wrote:
> I am lucky to get 2GB download speeds, so if someone else was using that,
> and it halved to 1GB that would be very noticeable!

Holy smoke, Rich! I thought my 100 Mbps drop to the house is fast ;)

/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Air Traffic Control Sim

2011-01-31 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Dave,

being a private pilot and an ATC sim fan myself this is a very
interesting project. Looks like a nice initial concept. Are you going
to share the source code for this somewhere (github, sourceforge, ...)
?

Maybe couple of different types of aircraft and related performace
values. Would add nice flavour when you can't tell a Cessna to
maintain a 2500 fpm climb ;) Or tell a LearJet to slow down to 80 on
the final.

Best of luck with the project and especially your recovery!

Cheers,
Petri


On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 12:49 PM, Plastic  wrote:
> So, I have started on my ATC project.
>
> I thought I'd document here my struggles, learning, and how I did it. I'm
> hoping it'll engage other BASIC programmers in discussion, and maybe you
> (yes, YOU!) will help me if you can see me getting stuck. Please remember
> this is primarily an exercise in improving and restoring my mind after a
> bump on the noggin. I'm fighting against some short term memory problems.
>
> I'm using the Mac version 1.0 of Q-Emulator, and SuperBASIC on JS ROMS with
> TK2. I'm writing it to run at standard QL speeds, and to run at a consistent
> speed on faster hardware.
>
> So far, I have written out a table of some of the variables I need, and
> their valid ranges, and how I will auto-generate pseudo-random flight
> numbers, altitudes and speeds for various aircraft profiles.
>
> Next, I will work out a co-ordinate base for a local airport. I have chosen
> Bergstrom because it is local to me, and I know where all the beacons and
> VORs are.
>
> I have decided that there are "hard bits" (it's a technical term) in this
> project for me (I know to some of you, these will be trivial, but to me, the
> solution isn't obvious):
>
> 1. I'll be keeping the aircraft, their altitude, speed, direction, intended
> alt, speed and direction, etc, in a large DIMmed array that can hold 10
> aircraft. Landed or departed aircraft will be removed from the array and any
> newer aircraft will be scrolled up one spot. Like in real life, the oldest
> aircraft is always at the top of the stack. There will be inbound and
> outbound aircraft. Inbound aircraft will be announced and placed at the edge
> of the screen, and outbound aircraft will originate from the runway when
> given flight instructions and clearance to take off. The aircraft must
> always maintain "separation" of 1000 feet altitude and 3 miles horizontally.
> Checking all the aircraft against each other to see if any violate airspace
> of others, or have collided, might be hard to code.
>
> 2. I need to write a command parser to accept input from the user, namely
> instruction for flights. There is a standard way of doing this and I will
> follow this. This means I need to accept input and add it to a stack, then
> when it is "entered" I need to parse it to ensure valid, rational input.
> Once I know it is within bounds, I need to carry out the action, i.e.
> instruct the aircraft to follow the instruction.
>
> 3. I need to write routines for landing aircraft. Once instructed to land, I
> need to detect when they cross the glide-slope, and get them to follow it to
> landing, land, then remove themselves from the stack.
>
> 4. I need to write a "ticker"... No matter the speed of the hardware, the
> game should run at the same speed. This means events should be triggered at
> an interval, complete (even on the slowest hardware) before the next
> interval. This interval should ideally be 1 second, but could be 2 seconds.
> Despite the ticker, the input routines need to continue unaffected.
> Responsiveness of keyboard input is essential.
>
> 5. I need to plot this on a 512x256 screen. I can't let flights go off the
> edge of the screen.
>
> 6. I need to detect valid landings of arrivals and proper exits of
> departures.
>
> 7. I'd like to add an element of realism where planes, including departures,
> can declare emergencies.
>
> Well, those are the "hard bits" I can see up front.
>
> I can foresee earning a little money next week, so maybe a compiler will be
> in my future? I'd prefer an easy compiler over a good compiler. I would also
> love to have an external USB floppy so I could save my stuff somewhere other
> than my OS X HD... Maybe later...
>
> In the mean time, I'll work on this and keep sharing. Hopefully it'll work
> out.
>
> Dave
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Re: [Ql-Users] GWASL and LIB instruction?

2011-01-31 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thank you, Norman, much appreciated! I guess I need to start
subscribing to QL Today...

It suddenly makes perfect sense :) I guess I can edit the SYM file to
only "export" the labels I want to expose to other modules to hide
internal-use-only labels?

Best regards,
Petri


On Mon, Jan 31, 2011 at 10:47 AM, Norman Dunbar  wrote:
> Morning Petri,
>
>> Ummm how would I calculate an offset to a routine compiled inside
>> this _BIN from the _ASM I'm copying it into?
> Include the SYM file created when the lib file was assembled.
>
> here is an example from a recent article on Easy PEasy (QL Today V15
> issue 1):
>
> ;
> ; Pull in the Easy PEasy stuff next - code routines and sprites.
> ;
> in win1_ass_pe_peas_sym_lst
> lib win1_ass_pe_peas_bin
>
> in win1_ass_pe_csprc_sym_lst
> lib win1_ass_pe_csprc_bin
>
> The SYM file defines the offsets into the LIB'd file as offsets from the
> current location.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Norman.
>
>
>
> --
> Norman Dunbar
> Dunbar IT Consultants Ltd
>
> Registered address:
> Thorpe House
> 61 Richardshaw Lane
> Pudsey
> West Yorkshire
> United Kingdom
> LS28 7EL
>
> Company Number: 05132767
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[Ql-Users] GWASL and LIB instruction?

2011-01-30 Thread Petri Pellinen
Good evening everybody,

what is the correct way to use the LIB instruction with GWASL (the
"lite" assembler) ?

>From gwasl_text in the zip archive:
"LIB
 This copies the (binary) file  to the _BIN file."

Ummm how would I calculate an offset to a routine compiled inside
this _BIN from the _ASM I'm copying it into?

I would like to break down my project into several _ASM files and
compile these separately into _BIN files and then create a "main" _BIN
that includes the other ones and orchestrates.

Or would it be a better idea to ditch GWASL and go for "as68" from the
c68 package?

Many thanks in advance for any advice.

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL SD/MMC-Card interface survey

2011-01-17 Thread Petri Pellinen
> --- On Mon, 17/1/11, Peter  wrote:
> To those who prefer option D:
> * How important would it be to keep an original microdrive functional?
I would very much like to have one functional microdrive.

> * How important would be speed?
Not important for me. But would be *very* nice to have something that
works without GC/SGC on the original machine.


Cheers,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL SD/MMC-Card interface survey

2011-01-11 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Peter,

very interesting idea. I think someone on this thread said it well
that anything is better than nothing but to me option D) sounds most
compelling.

Best regards,
Petri


On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 1:15 PM, Peter  wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> what would be your favorite style for an SD/MMC card "harddisk" for the
> QL?
>
> I can _not_ promise to really make a piece of hardware available, but it
> would be nice to know, just in case...
>
> A) External interface, plugs into parallel port of SuperGoldCard
>
> Pro:
> - Interface also works on Q40 and Q60
> - QL Case doesn't need to be openened
> - Easy reconnect from one machine to another
> - Hot-plugging might work
> - ROM-Port remains usable
> Con:
> - Slow data transfer through parallel port handshake lines
>
> B) External interface, plugs into QL ROM port
>
> Pro:
> - QL Case doesn't need to be openened
> - Faster data transfer
> - Onboard Driver ROM
> - Works on QL without GoldCard / SuperGoldCard
> Con:
> - ROM-Port occupied
> - Complex hardware
>
> C) Internal interface, plugs into CPU socket
>
> Pro:
> - Fastest data transfer
> - ROM-Port remains usable
> Con:
> - QL Case needs to be openened
> - Only GoldCard/SuperGoldCard machines
>
> D) Internal interface, replacing a microdrive(!)
>
> Can easily be bolted inside the case, after a microdrive was removed
> Plugs into CPU socket or maybe other place
>
> Pro:
> - SD/MMC-card can be plugged in like a cartridge
> - Looks cool
> - Very "QL-style"
> - ROM-Port remains usable
> Con:
> - QL Case needs to be openened
>
>
> All the best,
> Peter
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] TCP_ and SCK_ driver documentation?

2010-12-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Tue, Dec 21, 2010 at 1:43 AM, Peter Graf  wrote:
> I would proably use cheaps EEPROM with registered MAC from Maxim oder
> Dallas to obtain unique addresses.

This was a great tip, thank you Peter!

For a hobby project, registering an OUI is prohibitively expensive but
a 0.50 euro ID chip with a manufacturer-registered MAC address is a
nice solution.

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] TCP_ and SCK_ driver documentation?

2010-12-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Peter,

the plan was to use locally administered MAC address space (bit 2 of
the first octet set to 1) which can be assigned by a local network
administrator. But maybe this is not the case?

Cheers,
Petri


On Mon, Dec 20, 2010 at 7:03 PM, Peter  wrote:
> Petri Pellinen wrote:
>
>> On a related note, does the JS ROM contain a machine-specific unique
>> identifier somewhere? Would be helpful for MAC address generation.
>
> To roll your own address might not be a good idea. For each Ethernet MAC,
> the address has to be unique worldwide, and should therefore be
> registered. If I remember correctly, the IEEE charges a one-time fee of
> more than $1500 to provide address space.
>
> So you probably want to look for a chip where the manufacturer has already
> done the registration and provides the MAC address for you. I use the
> CP2200 for this reason. And external network cards for the Q40/Q60.
>
> All the best,
> Peter
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] TCP_ and SCK_ driver documentation?

2010-12-20 Thread Petri Pellinen
HI Anton,

thank you for your kind words. If I actually get this to work then it
will be all open source / open design so anybody can build one :)

Cheers,
Petri


On Sun, Dec 19, 2010 at 1:23 PM, Anton Preinsack
 wrote:
> Hi Petri,
>
> interesting project, please keep us informed. I would definitely buy such an 
> ethernet card!
>
> Anton
>
> Am 18.12.2010 um 16:13 schrieb Petri Pellinen:
>
>> 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.
>>
>> On a related note, does the JS ROM contain a machine-specific unique
>> identifier somewhere? Would be helpful for MAC address generation.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any help/pointers!
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] TCP_ and SCK_ driver documentation?

2010-12-18 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thank you Marcel!

/Petri

On Sat, Dec 18, 2010 at 5:35 PM, Marcel Kilgus  wrote:
> Petri Pellinen wrote:
>> 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?
>
> http://www.kilgus.net/qpc/socket_toc.html
>
> First implementation was in uQLx source code, which is freely
> available.
>
>> On a related note, does the JS ROM contain a machine-specific unique
>> identifier somewhere? Would be helpful for MAC address generation.
>
> No.
>
> Marcel
>
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[Ql-Users] TCP_ and SCK_ driver documentation?

2010-12-18 Thread Petri Pellinen
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.

On a related note, does the JS ROM contain a machine-specific unique
identifier somewhere? Would be helpful for MAC address generation.

Thanks in advance for any help/pointers!

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] C68 from 1994?

2010-12-16 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Peter,

did you try emailing Dave Walker directly and asking for the older
binaries? He was extremely helpful when I had a question about a
compiler option.

All the best,
Petri

On Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 2:02 PM, Peter Graf  wrote:
> Hi again,
>
>> does someone still have C68 binaries and libs from around 1994?
>> A private email with ZIP-file(s) would be great.
>
> ... or better: Does someone still have the PDQ C compiler?
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Peripheral of the day

2010-10-27 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 3:14 PM, Tony Firshman  wrote:
> Norman Dunbar wrote, on 27/Oct/10 13:03 | Oct27:
>> On 27/10/10 10:59, Tony Firshman wrote:
>>> http://uk.farnell.com/multicomp/mc-nove/board-atmega328-arduino-duemilanove/dp/1813412
>>
>> Not a bad price! I got mine and a "starter kit" for about £50 all in. I
>> always wanted a breadboard when I was younger and playing with
>> electronics, couldn't ever afford one back then.

The Arduino stuff is amazing, I really can't wait to start playing
with those. I share Norman's history with breadboarding: always wanted
to do it but first couldn't afford it and then didn't have the time.

> superHermes looked very like Petri's for a long time.  Considering how
> critical and fast the main data link to the QL was, it was quite amazing it
> worked at all.

It's actually very comforting to hear that comment about superHermes!
So I'm not the only person fooling around with a jumble of jumper
wires before committing to PCB:s.

I also was concerned about the relatively high clock speed on the QL
expansion bus when connected to the breadboard but quite a few people
on various discussion forums seemed to agree that a breadboard should
be able to handle approximately 10 MHz before the capacitive effects
of the rails on the breadboard start to kick in.



/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Peripheral of the day

2010-10-26 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 12:44 AM, Tony Firshman  wrote:
> I am *sure* you know the significance of '42' - the answer to the ultimate
> question of life, the universe and everything.

Well I had to think of a number for the demo, didn't I ;)

> Douglas Adams was approached by a student who said he had found out the
> logic behind it.  42 in base 13 *is* 54 in decimal.
> "What a coincidence" said Douglas Adams

Hah, hadn't heard that one before! Good one, Tony.
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[Ql-Users] Peripheral of the day

2010-10-26 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hello everyone,

just to lighten the mood here with all the talk about doing the taxes
and so forth... I thought to amuse you with something totally
ridiculous.

Here's a pic of of a prototype of a wonderful new peripheral for the
QL: http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrip/5118906714/

And yes, it actually does something. This bad boy can display a byte
decoded as BCD on its glorious two digit LED display:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petrip/5118293873/

Showing the result of "poke 99072,66" :-D

Learning electronics with the QL is loads of fun. There was a *lot* to
learn for a software guy just to be able to do this one simple thing
in hardware. Now that the hard part of interfacing with the QL is
halfway there (no reads yet, just writes...) rest of the way to a
fully working ethernet adapter should be easy ;-) Really looking
forward to replacing pretty much all of the 74xx logic circuitry with
a single Xilinx CPLD and starting to work towards hooking this baby to
an Arduino microcontroller. Next week's agenda is building a JTAG
adapter for the Xilinx chip so that I can program it. Whoops, need to
learn Verilog first. Well, that's part of the fun :)

Cheers,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Cumana disk interface pinout?

2010-10-05 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks, I actually had some 720k disks from way back so didn't have to
use the tape trick.

I salvaged yet another floppy drive from one of the old carcasses at
the office and this one actually works! It seems that the cumana
interface is very finicky about the kind of drive it talks to (which
is totally understandable for a board from the 80's).

So it seems that pin 16 indeed is "motor on" on the cumana interface
and the problem was not the pinout.

I don't know what the moral of the story is but I'm a happy
floppy-drive using qler :)

Thanks to everyone for tips and suggestions!

Best regards,
Petri


On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Al Feng  wrote:
> FWIW.  I think that you will probably be able to FORMAT the 3.5" disk via
> the Cumana interface if you _cover_ the indexing hole and thereby ensure
> that the dumb device isn't confused when it tries to format the HD disk
> as a 720K disk ...
>
>
> On Tue, 5 Oct 2010 10:52:05 +0300 Petri Pellinen  writes:
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> I received my shiny 23 year old Cumana disk interface for the QL
>> yesterday and am now trying to wire it up to a 'modern' 3.5" pc
>> floppy
>> drive... So far, the results have been mediocre at best. I have
>> QDOS-formatted a DD floppy on the Q-emuLator but when I hook up the
>> drive to the Cumana interface on the QL I can't read or format the
>> floppy disk. The drive is obviously selected when I do a "dir
>> flp2_"
>> (or "dir flp3_" depending on whether I use untwisted or twisted
>> slot
>> on the cable)  because the indicator light in the front panel goes
>> on
>> but I get a "not found" error when doing a "dir" and "format
>> failed"
>> when trying a "format".
>>
>> I did a bit of research on the pinouts and it seems that the
>> "standard
>> shugart" interface is anything but standard, There seem to be quite
>> a
>> few variations of the signal assignments in the machines of the
>> eighties. One interesting article by a fellow Finn is over here:
>> http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/diskstepper.html
>>
>> On Dilwyn's site there is a Cumana manual which does not document
>> the
>> pinout on the i/f card and a "Generic disk interface manual" which
>> does have a pinout diagram. The interesting bit in this diagram is
>> pin
>> 16 which is listed as "load head" whereas on the pc floppy drives
>> pin
>> 16 is used for "Motor on B". Even more interestingly, the generic
>> pinout diagram does *not* have a "motor on" pin at all !
>>
>> Does anyone know if the pinout in the generic document also applies
>> for the Cumana interface and whether pin 16 really is "load head"
>> on
>> the QL?
>>
>> If this is indeed the case and there is no separate "motor on"
>> signal
>> on the QL interface then I guess I need to do a bit of wiring to
>> enable "motor on" when I get a "drive select" signal.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Petri
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>>
>
> 
> Mortgage Rates Hit 3.25%
> If you owe under $729k you probably qualify for Gov't Refi Programs
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Re: [Ql-Users] Cumana disk interface pinout?

2010-10-05 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 2:09 PM, Tony Firshman  wrote:
> I reckon you would be *far* better off if you could find a Gold Card or
> SuperGoldCard. They were much superior, with faster processor and added ram.

Yeah, I know... On the other hand, I'm looking at this as a
retrocomputing hobby and part of the fun is just messing around with
the original hardware. The disk interface would really just be a
convenience.

At some point in time I might be tempted to obtain a second QL and go
crazy with all the mods and expansions including some variant of the
gold card :)

> Tony

/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL to VGA, Ethernet

2010-10-05 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Peter,

thanks for sharing your experiences, very interesting stuff. There
also seems to be an ethernet "shield" or a daughterboard module for
the Arduino microcontroller platform which is based around the Wiznet
W5100 chip which Miguel mentioned. This combination would be an
interesting prototyping environment since it has all the ethernet
circuitry and a TCP stack out of the box. The only real integration to
the QL would be the bus interface electronics between the QL expansion
slot and the arduino board, a bit of microcontroller s/w for the QL
side, and the card driver which would be a fairly straighforward bit
pushing engine because all of the configuration and h/w control is
done on the microcontroller.

It's going to be very interesting to try out, there is still a lot to
do but it should be good fun :)

Cheers,
Petri


On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 5:03 PM, Peter  wrote:
> Hi Petri,
>
> thanks for sharing your experience with the GBS-8220 video converter. I
> have ordered it myself now. The vertical jitter seems common to all
> external converter solutions I have seen or heard of. To overcome that
> problem we'd probably need a QL specific development.
>
> A few remarks regarding ethernet:
>
> If you go for a solution without Microcontroller, I would not recommend
> the Microchip ENC28J60, but the Silabs CP2200, which has less power
> consumption, and seemed easier and more robust to implement from both
> driver and hardware side. I tested both, but this info is about three
> years old, so there might be even better chips by now.
>
> Before you put much work into the hardware, try to make sure what your
> goal is on the software side. Eight(?) years ago I implemented a full
> multitasking native TCP/IP stack for the QL and ran it on Q40/Q60 with
> NE2000-compatible chip. This software called QLwIP (derived from lwIP,
> other free software, plus self-written code) provided a full-featured
> sockets library which contained enough functionality to actually run
> native email, webbrowser, webserver etc. I proved that the above
> applications worked in real life, but I did not finish and release my work
> because of licensing issues that prevented me from adding that (open
> source) code to the (proprietary) operating system SMSQ/E. For a long time
> I waited for a Minerva port to the Q40/Q60 so I could complete the job, in
> vain. Adding support for the CP2200 IOT support the old QL would be small
> in comparison to the overall work already done.
>
> Nowadays I doubt how much of the knowledge I still have left. So many
> years - and I get older :-) Also I doubt wether I still have the time. So
> my work is not totally lost, I considered a QLwIP release with QDOS
> Classic, but that's a dead end and has severe disadvantages compared with
> Minerva. One of them is, that QDOS Classic doesn't run on the QL.
>
> I conclusion, your approach to run the TCP/IP stack on an external
> microcontroller which then allows a simple, stream-oriented approach on
> the QL side, seems much more realistic than the ones which involve a
> native TCP/IP stack. It might not be very "stylish" to run the stack
> outside the QL, but still better than having nothing.
>
> All the best
> Peter
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Geek Time! Linus Torvalds and Jeremy Allison talk on the Sinclair QL

2010-10-05 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks for sharing, this was very interesting.

LT is a really one-of-a-kind person. My only touch with him was in
very odd circumstances. We were both doing our military service and in
the reserve officers' school at the time (yes, he has a reserve
officer rank :) ). Both of us were in the (very small) computer club
of the school. This was in -90 slightly before he came up with Linux.
His attitude of "I can do anything" was very obvious even then :) As
Linus said, there were not very many QL:ers around in Finland so it
was kind of strange to run into someone else who had that strange
beast of a machine.

Cheers,
Petri


On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 1:17 PM, gdgqler  wrote:
>
> On 3 Oct 2010, at 17:21, Tony Firshman wrote:
>
>>
>> I particularly like LT's throw away answer -  "Did you use GST Macro 
>> Assembler"  "No I wrote my own".
>>
>
> I understand that. Writing your own assembler is (a) more fun and (b) does 
> what you want it to do.
>
> George
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Re: [Ql-Users] Cumana disk interface pinout?

2010-10-05 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks Tony

> You are right in assuming modern drives are seen as flp2_.
> It may have a DS jumper somewhere if you want flp1_.  These now are
> generally solder jumpers on the pcb, but it may have external links.

One of my three drives does have the solder pad to change the setting
but I would be perfectly happy with a flp2_ :)

> Maybe the interface is simply not working or (more likely) does not like the
> drive.  It also is worth trying with an old drive - I bet London Quanta have
> some, but maybe you are in Italy!

I tested with three quite recent drives and none of them worked
properly in either slot so it might very well be the case that the i/f
card doesn't like the drives. I guess I'll have to try to find an
older drive somewhere or sort out the pin assignment and see if there
is something that can be done on that front.

The Cumana manual does offer this bit of information which may or may
not be relevant with the new floppy drives but I'm not yet sure what
the implication is:
"It is a requirement that disk drives used with this version of the
disk driver should be set to have the motor on when provided with a
'motor on' signal and there is a disk in the drive. Drives which turn
the motor off when the drive is not selected will not give reliable
service."

The above paragraph is the reason why I would be interested to know
which pin on the Cumana i/f provides the "motor on" signal :) I'll see
if I can plug in a multimeter to see what happens on the pins when the
card accesses the drive.

Cheers,
Petri
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[Ql-Users] Cumana disk interface pinout?

2010-10-05 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hello everyone,

I received my shiny 23 year old Cumana disk interface for the QL
yesterday and am now trying to wire it up to a 'modern' 3.5" pc floppy
drive... So far, the results have been mediocre at best. I have
QDOS-formatted a DD floppy on the Q-emuLator but when I hook up the
drive to the Cumana interface on the QL I can't read or format the
floppy disk. The drive is obviously selected when I do a "dir flp2_"
(or "dir flp3_" depending on whether I use untwisted or twisted slot
on the cable)  because the indicator light in the front panel goes on
but I get a "not found" error when doing a "dir" and "format failed"
when trying a "format".

I did a bit of research on the pinouts and it seems that the "standard
shugart" interface is anything but standard, There seem to be quite a
few variations of the signal assignments in the machines of the
eighties. One interesting article by a fellow Finn is over here:
http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/diskstepper.html

On Dilwyn's site there is a Cumana manual which does not document the
pinout on the i/f card and a "Generic disk interface manual" which
does have a pinout diagram. The interesting bit in this diagram is pin
16 which is listed as "load head" whereas on the pc floppy drives pin
16 is used for "Motor on B". Even more interestingly, the generic
pinout diagram does *not* have a "motor on" pin at all !

Does anyone know if the pinout in the generic document also applies
for the Cumana interface and whether pin 16 really is "load head" on
the QL?

If this is indeed the case and there is no separate "motor on" signal
on the QL interface then I guess I need to do a bit of wiring to
enable "motor on" when I get a "drive select" signal.

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] QL Today Volume 15 Issue 1

2010-10-04 Thread Petri Pellinen
On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 7:39 PM, Jochen Merz  wrote:
> Hard to deliver to the UK by WALKING ONLY ...

There's a tunnel nowadays ;) Which means that since we drive on on the
wrong side of the road here on the continent we should probably soon
switch to the left :D

/Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ethernet adapter for QL ?

2010-09-27 Thread Petri Pellinen
Nasta,

thank you for taking the time to write this - wonderful information!

On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 3:09 AM, Z N  wrote:
> Maximum data throughput on 10Base ethernet approaches about 800-900k
> bytes/second.

Well, the good thing is that it takes around 0.1s to fill up the main
memory of the original hardware at this speed :) Anyway, seriously
speaking - what I really had in mind is a replacement for the PPP over
serial connection setup which I currently run. Main use for me would
be non-throughput intensive applications like a small web server, web
clients and interactive applications like telnet.

> less than half if it's done by an ordinary 68008 CPU. Unless a very simple
> communication protocol was adopted, the ethernet would run quite slow and
> while doing that, bog down the CPU considerably.

I agree, that's why I thought a microcontroller based board would be
optimal, essentially hooking up a more powerful cpu to do the heavy
lifting and leave a very thin driver layer on the ql side. This guy
has a nice writeup which might serve as one possible starting point:
http://www.tuxgraphics.org/electronics/200606/article06061.shtml


> that a packet has been sent or received. Here we get back to the
> inadequacies of the ROM port - no interrupt line. There is one on the
> expansion port

Based on all the information from you and Miguel the expansion port
definitely looks like the way to go.

> DSMCL can over-ride any decoding internal to the QL, on ANY address.

This was really interesting stuff that defnitely was not in the
documents I found so far.

> which are actually used by the software to access these registers - if I
> recall correctly, it's 64 bytes at the very beginning, starting from address
> 18000.
"The Sinclair QDOS companion" seems to agree with you :)

> However, the choice of address is not straight-forward. Hardware like the
> TC, GC, SGC use some addresses in this area to decode their own on-board
> hardware. Unfortunately I do not recall off the top of my head exactly which
> ones but something about the top 256 bytes rings a bell.

Hopefully someone has the details on the addresses in use by those.

> 3) Mimic the OS initialization scheme using the initialization data normally
> found at the beginning of a (presumed) ROM in the ROM slot. It may be
> possible to do this by manipulating register values passed in the
> initialization of the external interface, but I would not recommend it as
> the init code is different in various OS versions - besides, what the OS
> does on init is quite well documented and not too difficult to emulate, so
> better keep things clean and compatible.

There seems to be a writeup on this in "The Sinclair QDOS Companion".
Don't know if the procedure outlined there still applies with the
newer ROMs, etc.

> Done!

With your instructions, easy as pie :)


Cheers,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ethernet adapter for QL ?

2010-09-26 Thread Petri Pellinen
Excellent writeup, thanks Miguel! Your explanation does make it very
clear why it is a read-only port :)

I was guessing the double read mechanism would be something like you
outlined below. It's actually a very clever trick.

If you want help with the software side of things I'll be glad to help
where I can. I don't have tons of 68k Asm experience but have written
some stuff on it.

Best regards,
Petri



On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 9:27 PM, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Jodar
 wrote:
> El 26/09/2010 19:40, Petri Pellinen escribió:
>>
>> Hi Dilwyn,
>>
>> on the ROM connector. My initial assumption was that a manner of
>> memory mapped I/O would be possible through the slot.
>
> Of course, but you mast take into account that:
> - The ROMOEH signal goes active only with read bus cycles, not write cycles.
> - There's no R/W signal on the ROM expansion connector (although it would be
> possible to wire that signal on one of the unused pads).
>
> If you would decide to forget about the ROMOEH to perform true writes, you
> would find that there's no AS or DS signals available too, so you would only
> rely on the value of address lines to know when your device is being
> addressed. Besides, there's no way to signal the end of the bus cycle, as
> DTACK is not available too.
>
> So there's no way (AFAIK) a card plugged into the ROM expansion would know
> when a write bus cycle is about to happen. This is because odd techniques
> must be applied to perform a write using reads.
>
> One of them is, as explained, to reserve a region of the ROM address space
> (0C000-0) which will hold your device hardware registers. That region
> cannot be the last 512 bytes, i.e. 0FE00 - 0, because that region will
> be reserved for our write scheme. Let's assume you will need at most 256
> hardware registers for your device (surely you will need far less than
> this).
>
> Let's say you want to put a value "dd" (8 bits) into the register numbered
> "aa" (8 bits). You first make a read bus cycle from address FEaa (and
> discard the result). Your device captures the LSB of that address from the
> CPU address lines and store it in an internal 8 bit "address" latch. Then,
> you make a read from address FFdd (and again, discard the result). Your
> device will take the LSB of the CPU address (actually the data you're going
> to write) and will write it into the device register pointed by the
> "address" register.
>
> Something like (not sure if this is correct assembly for 68000):
>
> move.l #$FEaa,a0  ; Where "aa" is the register number we want to write into.
> move.b (a0),d0    ; Discard the result in D0.
> move.l #$FFdd,a0  ; Where "dd" is the 8-bit value we want to write
> move.b (a0),d0    ; Discard the result in D0.
>                  ; Value "dd" has been writeen into register "aa".
>
> For normal reads, we'd just use a standard approach. Let's say your hardware
> registers are mapped into addresses 0FD00-0FDFF . So, this will do the job:
>
> move.l #$FDaa,a0  ; We are going to read from register "aa"
> move.b (a0),d0    ; Read it and store the result in D0.
>
>> If someone has any h/w designs lying around I would be happy to
>> colllaborate and pitch in on the dreaded driver side of things. I can
>
> I've some ideas but I lack experience on writting 68k assembler and writting
> directory drivers. I've just bought the "Advanced QL User Guide", and hope
> to have enough time to read it carefully and start making experiments.
>
>> but, bitten by the retrocomputing bug, I would love to implement
>> something on the original hardware.
>
> I have three original QL's, and no "modern" QL's, so if I do something, it
> will be for the original hardware.
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ethernet adapter for QL ?

2010-09-26 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Dilwyn,

the bit about the EPROM slot being read-only is very interesting. The
documentation in the technical guide and service manual are a bit
vague around this subject but I didn't realize that the data lines on
the connector would be one-way. The block diagram suggests that the
slot's data lines would be one-way but the circuit diagram shows both
the J1 and J2 slots' data lines directly connected to the CPU which
would lead one to believe that the data lines would be two-way active
on the ROM connector. My initial assumption was that a manner of
memory mapped I/O would be possible through the slot.

If someone has any h/w designs lying around I would be happy to
colllaborate and pitch in on the dreaded driver side of things. I can
definitely see why the Qx0 platform is interesting to a wide audience
but, bitten by the retrocomputing bug, I would love to implement
something on the original hardware.

Being a S/W engineer by profession I'm very much in the dark about the
whole microelectronics side of things so I have no idea whether this
whole project is at all feasible but it's an interesting subject,
nonetheless :)

Cheers,
Petri


On Sun, Sep 26, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Dilwyn Jones
 wrote:
>
> - Original Message - From: "Petri Pellinen" 
> To: "ql-users" 
> Sent: Sunday, September 26, 2010 4:42 PM
> Subject: [Ql-Users] Ethernet adapter for QL ?
>
>
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> hopefully everybody is having a great weekend.
>>
>> Might be a FAQ, but... has anyone developed an ethernet adapter for
>> the original QL either as a commercial product or a hobby project? I
>> am studying if it would be feasible to use the EPROM slot and create a
>> module with something like Microchip ENC28J60 Ethernet controller and
>> a microcontroller e.g. the ATmega168 to interface with a device driver
>> on the QL side.
>>
>> I have essentially zero experience in building any kind of hardware
>> interfaces but I think it would be a great hobby :)
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Petri
>
> If using the EPROM slot, you need to bear in mind that this slot is
> read-only - it is designed just for EPROMs to plug in.
>
> That said, people like Miracle Systems (and others) have used it as a write
> interface by using a special technique like a double read - the first read
> is an address (to write to) and the second read puts data on the address
> line somehow. I don't pretend to even half understand it, but I'm sure there
> are others on this list with more knowledge of the QL hardware than me.
>
> Do bear in mind that some QL add-on interfaces like Trumpcard use pretty
> much all available addressing space to provide more than the original design
> limit of 640K RAM.
>
> I think Nasta (Zeljko Nastasic in Croatia) once proposed a QL ethernet
> interface, and I think Peter Graf once suggested the possibilities of such
> an interface for Q40/Q60.
>
> Dare I mention the dreaded word... "drivers" ? This is where so many
> proposed hardware add-ons have fallen down over the years.
>
> Dilwyn Jones
>
>
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[Ql-Users] Ethernet adapter for QL ?

2010-09-26 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hello,

hopefully everybody is having a great weekend.

Might be a FAQ, but... has anyone developed an ethernet adapter for
the original QL either as a commercial product or a hobby project? I
am studying if it would be feasible to use the EPROM slot and create a
module with something like Microchip ENC28J60 Ethernet controller and
a microcontroller e.g. the ATmega168 to interface with a device driver
on the QL side.

I have essentially zero experience in building any kind of hardware
interfaces but I think it would be a great hobby :)

Best regards,
Petri
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Re: [Ql-Users] Connecting a QL to a VGA Monitor

2010-09-21 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi everyone,

thanks to Miguel's example I ordered a GBS-8220 rgb converter from
jammaboards.com. I received the unit yesterday ten days after ordering
and managed to build a cable and try it out. 512x256 works fine.
Unfortunately my Samsung display has a 1280x1024 native resolution
with no letterboxing available so the picture is not as perfect as it
could be. The converter board's closest resolution match is 1024x768.
Overall image quality is fair. There seems to be some vertical jitter
every now and then but it could be either the cable (not premium and a
very average soldering job...) or my QL which does not display a rock
solid picture through SCART to a tv.

My first impression is that the board is well worth the 39 USD it
cost. The automatic scan worked perfectly once I figured out to
connect composite, not vertical, sync from the QL to the sync input on
the RGBS connector :) The occasional jitter does not bother me too
much, the overall experience is still better than on the TV since I'm
able to use 512x256. With a monitor that supports letterboxing the
experience might be slightly better.

I'm using an original QL with no extensions running a JS ROM.

Cheers,
Petri



On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 4:05 PM, Miguel Angel Rodriguez Jodar
 wrote:
> El 15/09/2010 14:17, Peter escribió:
>
>> Miguel Angel Rodriguez Jodar wrote:
>>
>>> On the other way, I've managed to work it out using a RGB-to-VGA
>>> converter, as used for connecting JAMMA boards to VGA monitors.
>>
>> Did you have to use the QL in TV mode or did full 512x256 work?
>
> Mmmm... I cannot remember... will try again this weekend, and will tell you.
>
>> Which QL did you use?
>
> A standard QL, english keyboard, Minerva 1.98.
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Re: [Ql-Users] Supercharge

2010-09-16 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks for the information, Dilwyn!

Best regards,
Petri



On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 12:31 AM, Dilwyn Jones
 wrote:
>> does anyone happen to have a copy of the Supercharge compiler? I have
>> the original but it seems that 24 years have not treated the
>> microdrive cartridges kindly. Both the original and the backup come up
>> with "bad or changed medium" :(
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Petri
>
> Supercharge was superceded by a compiler called Turbo, from the same
> publisher.
>
> However, after all these years, Turbo compiler is now freeware and
> maintained by George Gwilt - download Turbo, the toolkit, and manuals from
> http://www.jms1.supanet.com/SQLUG/gwilt/gwiltturbo.htm
>
> Dilwyn Jones
>
>
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[Ql-Users] Supercharge

2010-09-16 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi everyone,

does anyone happen to have a copy of the Supercharge compiler? I have
the original but it seems that 24 years have not treated the
microdrive cartridges kindly. Both the original and the backup come up
with "bad or changed medium" :(

Best regards,
Petri
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[Ql-Users] For your information: C68 documentation bug related to _Cinit

2010-09-13 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi everyone,

the C68 compiler for QDOS is the bee's knees and I love it. I stumbled
into a minor problem with it the other day and I thought to post this
just in case someone else happens to run into it also.

C68 compiler documentation mentions that it is possible to reduce
binary size by about 12k if one doesn't need things like environment
variables, command line parameters, etc. The documented way of
achieving this is to declare the following at global scope:
(*_Cinit)() = main;
Well, since I'm targeting the original QL and want to squeeze out
every kb possible I gave this a go and ended up with illegal
instruction trap every time...

I contacted Dave Walker who is one of the authors and he was extremely
kind and helpful and took a look. It seems that this is a
documentation bug. The correct vector to override is actually _Cstart:
(*_Cstart)() = main;
does the trick.

Best regards,
Petri


A more detailed explanation from Dave below:

==
What I found is that your problem is actually a mistake in the
documentation.   The vector that is meant to be initialised to point to
main() is the _Cstart one and not _Cinit as the documentation says.   After
making that change your program works as expected.

I think that the reason for the confusion is that if you do not explicitly
provide a value for the _Cstart vector, then the default for the _CStart
vector is to point to the _Cinit label (which is the beginning of the code
that carries out the initialisation of the full C environment - exactly the
code you are trying to omit!).
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Re: [Ql-Users] Hello and a question

2010-09-13 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi Urs,

indeed it does say "Don't break the seal" or literally translated "It
is forbidden to break the seal". Top line is Finnish and bottom line
Swedish as you guessed.

My machine is the UK version, I didn't dare to get the Finnish version
as I was afraid of compatibility problems. I didn't know that they
actually also translated the error messages as evident in one of your
pictures.

As a curiosity, it seems the Alt key has been translated as "transfer"
on the Finnish keyboard.

Nice to see that a Finnish QL has found a good home :)

The seal on my machine is broken, I wonder if I voided the warranty ;)

Best regards,
Petri


On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 9:48 AM, Urs Koenig (QL)  wrote:
> Per Witte wrote:
>
>> http://cid-c250d8748980ce5a.photos.live.com/self.aspx/Sinclair%20QL/QL
>> > comput ers/SinclairQL^_Finnish^_version^_MGY^_ROM-P1050787.JPG
>>
>> This link doesnt seem to work
> Try this one which links to the folder with the pictures:
> http://cid-c250d8748980ce5a.photos.live.com/browse.aspx/Sinclair%20QL/QLcomp
> uters
>
>> > It reads:
>> > SINETIN MURTAMINEN KIELLETTY
>> > FÖRSEGLINGEN FAR EJ BRYTAS
>>
>> The seal must not be broken
> Thanks!
>
> I assume the 2nd line is Swedish which is not that far from Norwegian.
> Right?
> A 1:1 translation to German shows that with some inspiration one could
> translate without asking ;-)
> "VERSIEGELUNG DARF NICHT BRECHEN"
>
> Urs
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ql-Users Digest, Vol 79, Issue 9

2010-09-12 Thread Petri Pellinen
Thanks for the pointers, Dilwyn. And by the way, your web site is
absolutely marvellous, a treasure trove of information! I think I will
try the SCART connection just to see if I get a better picture and
also to see if the picture changes when the QL warms up.

I must say, 25 years ago  I couldn't appreciate how advanced QDOS was
for the time (multitasking, pipes etc). Then again, the local computer
stores over here didn't carry the necessary books to learn all of that
stuff and ordering them from abroad was a nightmare so it was next to
impossible to find out about the inner workings of the machine. Last
week, I managed to purchase a copy of "The Sinclar QDOS companion" - I
wish I had had that book all those years back :)

Thanks,
Petri


On Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 1:01 PM, Dilwyn Jones
 wrote:
>> I'm currently using the RF output but I ordered a converter board from
>> Jammaboards to be able to hook the RGB output to a VGA monitor so that
>> should help isolate the problem. Well, actually I won't be needing the
>> TV output anymore if the converter board works as advertised but it
>> would be nice to be able to fix the problem anyway.
>>
>> Petri
>
> Does your television have a SCART/Peritel connector? While you wait for the
> RGB converter board and take time to experiment with it, you might be able
> to get a slightly better picture via the SCART/Peritel connection to the
> television if you have suitable plugs (QL 8-pin DIN plug and a Peritel or
> SCART connector for the TV)
>
> There's an article about how to do this on my website at:
> http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/hardware/index.html
>
> Tony Firshman (TF Services) has in the past supplied me with a ready-made
> suitable lead for the QL. I forget the price, although I think it was about
> 10 or 12 pounds plus our Value Added Tax (VAT). For me, anyway, this type of
> connection didn't give as good a picture as a proper monitor connection, but
> it was better than the RF picture.
>
> There is also the possibility of getting a second-user QL monitor.
> Microvitec in England have some refurbished QL monitors, according to a
> member of this list in March this year - the contact email address given was
> sales AT microvitec DOT co DOT uk . They have TTL-compatible LCD displays,
> though these cost a thousand pounds or more, and also have some of their old
> QL monitors.
>
> And I guess that both eBay and Rich Mellor's "Sell My Retro" sites might
> have QL monitors from time to time too.
>
> Dilwyn Jones
>
>
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Re: [Ql-Users] Ql-Users Digest, Vol 79, Issue 9

2010-09-10 Thread Petri Pellinen
> From: Gennaro Montedoro 
> To: ql-us...@q-v-d.com
> Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] Hello and a question
> Message-ID: <429866.15184...@smtp114.mail.ne1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
> Are you using RGB output or RF output?
>
> Gennaro

Hi Gennaro,

I'm currently using the RF output but I ordered a converter board from
Jammaboards to be able to hook the RGB output to a VGA monitor so that
should help isolate the problem. Well, actually I won't be needing the
TV output anymore if the converter board works as advertised but it
would be nice to be able to fix the problem anyway.

Petri
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[Ql-Users] Hello and a question

2010-09-09 Thread Petri Pellinen
Hi everyone,

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.

I would appreciate any help or hints on a hardware problem... After
the machine warms up the display starts to degrade especially near the
bottom of the screen. It seems that the bottom fifth of the picture is
not stable and there is a definite skew to the picture. Also, the
colours are a bit off. I found the service manual online and managed
to get some spare parts from Rich @ RWAP Services (wonderful service,
by the way!). Specifically, I changed IC 22 and IC 28 (the 8301 ULA
and the MC1377P). That didn't help so now I'm thinking maybe I should
swap the relevant capacitors (C23, C24, C25) as per the service
manual's suggestion.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? Any ideas on what to try next?

By the way, I was amazed that the microdrives worked and I was able to
load stuff from the cassettes...

Thanks in advance for any help :)

Best regards,
Petri
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