RE: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
Putting a disk in flp2_ and none in flp1_ then trying to read flp1_ may give an indication as to whether the "addressing" is working. There is a command in the Goldcard to set the step rate which has to be set for some drives and causes them to rattle when not right. I don't have a manual to hand and can't remember the command syntax but maybe you can look it up or somebody 'listening' in knows it off by heart? Jon. -Original Message- From: Andreas Berger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 21 March 2001 08:45 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW Hi Tony, I am not too experienced with floppies. Maybe both drives are being accessed. It sounds so, but the LED of the other drive are darken. So only the motor-stepping seems to be working twice ... I assume you are using a straight through cable? I have testet both, a straight through cable wich i'm using now and a PC-style cable with some turned wires. flp1_ - DS0 connected - other three open flp2_ - DS1 connected - other three open I have on my drives, Sony MP-F17W-01, only a switch for all the 4 positions. Any Ideas? regards, Andreas
RE: [ql-users] Screen Depth
Dilwyn wrote : Minor point to note re. MAX_CON - it seems fine if used in the body of a program, I seem to get problems under some conditions (especially error conditions) if it is called from within a PROC or FN in SBASIC (not apparent in SuperBASIC), you may find occasional 'missing End Define' errors for example when there is clearly an End Define in the program. I have tried to reproduce this ever since you first reported it to me all those years ago (wasn't that a song ?) and I have been unfortunately unable to do so. That was on a JM and a QXL. I have just tried again, and still cannot get it to fail - QPC2v2 using the following (line numbers omitted) : init : def proc init local a%, b%, c%, d% print max_con(#0,a%,b%,c%.d%) print a%,b%,c%,d% end def init Running thie above, or calling init directly (both repeatedly) has no effect (nearly wore out my ALT ENTER keys !) REMming out the local definition also has no effect. Adding a line like this : call_unknown_procedure_here just before the end def simply stops with an error, but not an error looking for an end def. I can only ask that you supply me with a cut down version of a program which you know fails please and I will investigate. Could it be something else in the proc/fn is screwing the stack perhaps ? (Sorry I can help more that that at this point) Since you are an expert on maths stacks etc having found out the hard way as your articles imply, I hate to mention this - any chance there may be a stack error in there somewhere as I think the SBASIC structures are to some extent stack based. I have also looked into the code. Since I am using BP_LET (in QDOS speak) in a loop to assign the integer at the top of the maths stack into the next variable in the names list (in a loop to assign to all 4 integers) and then I return the function result on the stack, correctly tidied, I can't see anything wrong. On the other hand, to the best of my knowlege, no other assembly language book, writer or guru (not even Simon N Goodwin !) has ever described or used BP_LET, so I had to find out about that utility all by myself. This doesn't mean that I am correct, but so far, no errors on JM, QXL or QPC 1 or 2 or 2v2. Unless anyone out there knows better . Regards, Norman. PS. Well done Wales on Saturday (V France) :o) :o) :o) Norman Dunbar EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Database/Unix administrator Phone: 0113 289 6265 Lynx Financial Systems Ltd. Fax:0113 201 7265 URL:http://www.LynxFinancialSystems.com
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
On Wed, 21 Mar 2001 at 09:34:08, Dent Jonathan [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: (Ref: [EMAIL PROTECTED]) Putting a disk in flp2_ and none in flp1_ then trying to read flp1_ may give an indication as to whether the "addressing" is working. There is a command in the Goldcard to set the step rate which has to be set for some drives and causes them to rattle when not right. I don't have a manual to hand and can't remember the command syntax but maybe you can look it up or somebody 'listening' in knows it off by heart? FLP_JIGGLE 1 is also worth trying. but I doubt if it is step rate or jiggle, as each individual drive works on its own. No - it does look as if both drives are being accessed. -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:257/67) +44(0)1442-828255 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.firshman.demon.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG
RE: [ql-users] Calling Photon from Hyper Browse
The next challenge now that Photon is here : to make the most useless and "incontournable" program that waste a lot of disk space on PC, less on QL I think, that is a screensaver with a (configurable) collection or compiled jpeg images. Anybody interested ? Claude (I think it is not very difficult program to do with Photon) -Message d'origine- De : Dilwyn Jones [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Envoy : dimanche 18 mars 2001 22:51 : [EMAIL PROTECTED] Objet : Re: [ql-users] Calling Photon from Hyper Browse Assuming Dave Westbury gets Photon to work with GIFs as well as JPEGs as per his photon_txt then it will make an even more useful graphics viewer. (Any news on that front Dave?) -- Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.soft.net.uk/dj/index.html
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
I have on my drives, Sony MP-F17W-01, only a switch for all the 4 positions. Any Ideas? Explain that in more detail. I will try it ... What you said, in English, could mean all the 4 are connected. I have 2 drives connected, one switched to ds0 the second switched as ds1. there are only on switch with 4 positions, so a jumpering as ds0 AND ds1 at the same time is not possible Did you mean to say 'each' of the 4 positions, and what do you mean by 'switch'? It could be a DIP switch with 4 switches - marked ON/OFF? No, it slides from positon ds0 to ds3. Sugessted by Dent Jonathan [EMAIL PROTECTED]: If i insert only in flp2_ a disk and do "dir flp1_" the flp1_ LED is activated and i get a "Nicht gefunden" (not found). But if i insert in flp1_ a disk and do a "dir flp2_" first the flp2_ LED was activated, after that the flp1_ spins on and i get the floppy-name of flp1_disk and the sectors but no directory. Maybe the cable had a fault, i will try another one. regards, Andreas
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ 2.98-Q40 patch
Can you explain a little more on what the glitch is with SMSQ/E 2.98 on the Q40 and exactly what the patch fixes? Also, will this fix be in a future release of SMSQ/E? Tim Swenson
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ 2.98-Q40 patch
On Wed, Mar 21, 2001 at 08:58:41AM -0800, Timothy Swenson wrote: Can you explain a little more on what the glitch is with SMSQ/E 2.98 on the Q40 and exactly what the patch fixes? it is this nice move.l instruction, anyone who has ever programmed m68k assembler will have similar experiences. What TT wanted it to do is load the value 0xc000 into d0 and subsequently tc (translation control register), instead it loads random garbage located at address 0xc000. 518:2039 c000 movel 0xc000,%d0 ; 0xc000 = enable MMU, 8K pages 51e:4e7b 0003 movec %d0,%tc The 68040 then reacts in interesting ways because several unimplemented bits are set. Btw the disassembly is generated by binutils, objdump --target=binary --architecture=m68k \ --show-raw-insn --disassemble-all -S thus the unusual syntax. Also, will this fix be in a future release of SMSQ/E? sure, if it actually fixes something. What it does now is enable code that was effectively disabled previously and may contain more bugs. There will be more changes, partly to support more memory (for now only physical but who knows) and also to cleanup the code dealing with pagedescriptors. It won't break by itself but makes use of some 68040 instructions dangerous and sooner or later programs using this instructions will appear. Bye Richard
RE: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
Sounds like a Power Supply problem to me. Are these drives +5V only or are they +5V +12V If they are +5V only you may need a bigger PSU. RON -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Andreas Berger Sent: 21 March 2001 07:45 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW Hi Tony, I am not too experienced with floppies. Maybe both drives are being accessed. It sounds so, but the LED of the other drive are darken. So only the motor-stepping seems to be working twice ... I assume you are using a straight through cable? I have testet both, a straight through cable wich i'm using now and a PC-style cable with some turned wires. flp1_ - DS0 connected - other three open flp2_ - DS1 connected - other three open I have on my drives, Sony MP-F17W-01, only a switch for all the 4 positions. Any Ideas? regards, Andreas
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
In article [EMAIL PROTECTED] , Dent Jonathan [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes Putting a disk in flp2_ and none in flp1_ then trying to read flp1_ may give an indication as to whether the "addressing" is working. There is a command in the Goldcard to set the step rate which has to be set for some drives and causes them to rattle when not right. I don't have a manual to hand and can't remember the command syntax but maybe you can look it up or somebody 'listening' in knows it off by heart? Yes, there are the 2 commands in TK2 that are of interest :- FLP_TRACK n The tracks are set when disk is formatted, if there are at least 55 tracks it is assumed to be 80 track; otherwise assumed to be 40 tracks. 40 tracks drives are now relatively rare, although they were popular at one time, and cheaper than 80 track. With QL dedicated drives you can assume that they will be 80 track anyway. If not sure then put the command FLP_TRACK 80 somewhere early on in a boot file. The other one is FLP_STEP n Which controls the steps. I've used FLP_STEP 96 for a Cumana set of twin drives. If you don't set the steps then there is a usually a whir from the drives whilst it is automatically identified by the TK2 disk driver and settles down. TK2 is included on the Gold Card, of course. So a line in a boot file like - FLP_TRACK 80 : FLP_STEP 96 - is useful to set the type of drive, as is saves wear and tear on the drives. Also the following information is on page 16 of the Miracle Systems User manual. ( Which is not always a model of clarity ! ). Disk Drive Specification 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 disk driver will automatically adjust itself to use any mixture of disk drives, 40 or 80 track, single or double sided. In addition it will adjust itself to use slow step rates drives. ( There then follows a compatibility table ) Disk Format - 40T SS40T DS80T SS80T DS 40T SS OK ? X X 40T DS OK OK X X 80T SS RO ? OK? 80T DS RO RO OKOK Key - OK = compatible, RO = read only, ? = incompatible but may be detected on some drives. There is also a FLP_START command in TK2 which sets the start up time of a disk in 1/50ths of a second. -- Malcolm Cadman
Re: [ql-users] Image-Viewer
In article 009001c0b1de$11cd57e0$1e01a8c0@asusp5a, Andreas Berger [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes what is the best, and where to get, image-viewer for the classic QL? (jpeg, gif ect.) I have now seen an JPEG-viewer for my C64 with a usefuel dithering (IFLI), i assume a QL can do that better/faster? Look on Thierry Godefroy's site for many QL programs, and then check the compatibilty with your system requirements. OpenWorld is one that was written some time ago and caters for 3 different image formats - but not JPEG. JPEG expects a minimum of 256 colours, I believe, although it can be 'dithered' to render with less colours. The 2 new programs - Photo and Photon ( very similar names ... ) - both need extended software / hardware, I believe. I've just started using Photo myself, and I can highly recommend it. It deals with TIFF and JPEG, yet you need to be running SMSQ/E and GD2, which are available with QPCv2 or a QXL Card. A nice feature is that it automatically centres the image in the area defined. Not sure what the specification required for Photon is, as I have not used it. -- Malcolm Cadman
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
Sounds like a Power Supply problem to me. Are these drives +5V only or are they +5V +12V If they are +5V only you may need a bigger PSU. Yippie!!! That was the problem. I have now exchanged the power supply and i get working drives :) Thanx for the help!!! regards, Andreas
Re: [ql-users] Image-Viewer
what is the best, and where to get, image-viewer for the classic QL? (jpeg, gif ect.) I have now seen an JPEG-viewer for my C64 with a usefuel dithering (IFLI), i assume a QL can do that better/faster? OpenWorld is one that was written some time ago and caters for 3 different image formats - but not JPEG. too bad. JPEG expects a minimum of 256 colours, I believe, although it can be 'dithered' to render with less colours. i think so. the C64 had also only a limited palette and the 0.9 MHz CPU is also not that runner The 2 new programs - Photo and Photon ( very similar names ... ) - both need extended software / hardware, I believe. I would like to use it on an GoldCard-Classic QL Not sure what the specification required for Photon is, as I have not used it. I will try this. regards, Andreas
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
I assume you have Toolkit II enabled (TK2_EXT): I get the same results below ONLY if TK2 is enabled. If i insert only in flp2_ a disk and do "dir flp1_" the flp1_ LED is activated and i get a "Nicht gefunden" (not found). Seems a right error msg: no disk in drive error But if i insert in flp1_ a disk and do a "dir flp2_" first the flp2_ LED was activated, after that the flp1_ spins on and i get the floppy-name of flp1_disk and the sectors but no directory. Doing a 'DIR FLP2_' here tries to read FLP2_. Finds no disk and so TK2 tries to locate the file "FLP2_" on the default data drive of "FLP1_", ie it does a 'DIR FLP1_FLP2_'. Finding a disk, it displays its name and sectors, but then fails to find any file starting "FLP1_FLP2_" and hence no directory listing. Check out 'PRINT DATAD$,PROGD$,DESTD$': DATAD$ - default dir for most commands (eg DIR - DIR FLP1_) set by DATA_USE dir, eg DATA_USE FLP1_DATA_ PROGD$ - default dir to look for commands on EX/EXEC (eg EX FRED - EX FLP1_FRED) set by PROG_USE dir, eg PROG_USE FLP1_UTILS_ DESTD$ - default dir/device for copy, etc (eg COPY RAM1_FRED - COPY RAM1_FRED TO SER) set by DEST_USE dir, eg DEST_USE RAM1_TEMP_ also set by SPL_USE dev, eg SPL_USE SER wrt putting a disk in both drives causing both drives to die, no idea: I have a twin disk unit with a single cable from it to my Gold Card.
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
There is a command in the Goldcard to set the step rate which
has to be set for some drives and causes them to rattle when
not right. I don't have a manual to hand and can't remember the
command syntax but maybe you can look it up or somebody
'listening' in knows it off by heart?
FLP_JIGGLE 1 is also worth trying.
FLP_JIGGLE fixes probs on Mitsubishi ED disk drives (according to my
Gold Card manual - in Super Gold Card suppliment section!; which also
mentions AUTO_TK2F1, AUTO_TK2F2, AUTO_DIS which work on my Gold Card)
Extra FLP commands are:
FLP_JIGGLE [#,]s
- Set jiggle state all or specified (#=1,2,...) drive
s = 0 - jiggle off, s = 1 - jiggle on.
If set on a drive which don't need it can cause 'not
found'
or 'bad or changed medium' errors.
FLP_USE dev - (eg FLP_USE MDV) convert all dev's to FLP
(using above, eg DIR MDV1_DATA_ - DIR FLP1_DATA_)
FLP_TRACK [#,]n - Specify number of tracks (n) on all or specified (#)
drive
FLP_DENSITY ??? - It shows up on EXTRAS and I can't find it in the
manual
(I suspect it allows you to specify the density of
the
disk in the drive, overriding any direct detection
(3.5"
drives) or for using a SD disk in a DD disk 40
track Drive
(5.25" drives?). I have no idea how the arg(s)
is/are
specified.)
FLP_STEP [#,]n - Set step rate to n millisecs for all or specified (#)
drive.
Default 3ms for 80 track, 6ms for 40 track
FLP_START [#,]n - Set time to allow disc to spin upto speed in 20ms
units
(1/50's secs). Default 0.6 sec (n=30)
FLP_SEC lev - Set data integrity check level:
0 - Check disk change on Open only if disk stopped
and no
files open
1 - Check disk change on Open, data/map write if
disk
stopped
2 - Check disk change on Open, data/map read/write
if disk
stopped (default)
The lower the level, the less checking so faster
the
disk access, but higher the likelihood of data
corruption
if disk changed by user without proper closing of
files.
FLP_EXT - Pass...it appears twice on the 'EXTRAS' list, the 2nd
time
just after TK2_EXT - this 2nd entry, like the 2nd
TK2_EXT
entry being there to prevent adding the extras
twice. Can
anyone enlighten me?
Individual drive assingments ('#,' arg) are lost each reset of machine.
Global settings (no '#,' arg) are remembered between resets/power offs.
Hope this is of help.
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
Maybe your power supply is not able to cope with this. This was the reason!!! Too stupid but now it works fine :) Thanx for your help, Andreas
Re: [ql-users] Screen Depth
Using SMSQ
I presume from the implication in your email that SMSQ does and always will
return 'HBA' for VER$ ?
yes
If so, then scr_xlim and scr_ylim are correct for what I need.
If not, then DJToolkit can check to see if these functions exist before
calling them : if CHECK('scr_xlim) then
As you say, a black box is always 256 by 512, but I was interested in having
other emulators, Amiga's etc run correctly as well.
Do the Amiga emulators run in higher screen modes. I thought that the
only higher resolutions were those available from SMSQ/E. Correct me if
I am wrong. Sorry to state the obvious.
--
Roy Wood
Q Branch
20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex BN41 2LB
Tel : +44(0)1273-386030 / Mobile : +44 (0) 7836-745501
Fax +44 (0)1273-381577
web site : http://www.qbranch.demon.co.uk/
Re: [ql-users] GoldCard and Floppy-LW
Andreas Berger makes some magical things to make me read [Charset Windows-1252 unsupported, skipping...] The fact that "dir flp2_" will motion the flp1_ floppy after trying the flp2_ floppy is normal, it's part of the TK2 behavior (When "dir something" fails, TK2 next try "dir DATAD$'something'", where DATAD$ is the value for default data (DATA_USE set it to whatever you want, default is flp1_ ) As you probably have no file named flp2_ on the flp1_ disk, the dir result is empty. Have a nice day.
Re: [ql-users] New Hyper Browse release
On 20 Mar 2001, at 18:31, Mills wrote: Dear QLers Would people be prepared to pay for HB and if so how much, or would you only use it if was freeware? Would it need certain features before you would be prepared to buy it? As CSS1/CSS2/XSL are unlikely to be implemented, does this effect your decision? Independent of the cost question, how do you feel about open source? Yes I would pay for it, provided there was some assurance of a bug correction guarantee from you... I'd be willing to pay up to 40 euros. Now it's 77KB Try to keep it under 500 K :-)) Wolfgang PS : I'd also like the source code to be available...
Re: [ql-users]QLiberator
On 20 Mar 2001, at 19:00, Marcel Kilgus wrote: That's right but shouldn't pose a problem to QPC. Marcel Oh, but it does: a jmp then give a wrong address error. Wolfgang
Re: [ql-users] Q60
On 20 Mar 2001, at 22:20, Peter Graf wrote: 128 MB RAM / 60 GB for example. But it wouldn't make sense. And let us pray that it never will Wolfgang
Re: [ql-users]QLiberator
On 20 Mar 2001, at 19:48, Geoff Wicks wrote: I have not come across this problem in practice, but is it something which only affects older (or badly written) QL-Liberated programs? Could it be something to do with the original basic? For example assuming that system variables begin at 163840? Or am I being too simple? SMSQ-E was fairly tolerant about this, but this could have changed with the colour drivers. I hjave noticed it with QLIB itself, and with Lonely Joker, and (much rarer) with e freshly compiled prog of my own. Wolfgang
