On Sat, 24 Feb 2007 15:03:41 -0000, George Gwilt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > On 23 Feb 2007, at 10:53, George Gwilt wrote: > >> >>> >>> The only other way would be to find someone to volunteer to convert >>> the >>> smsq/e sources (which were originally written using QMAC) so that >>> they >>> could be compiled with another assembler. However, GWASL is the only >>> public domain assembler so this would require a lot of work and >>> may be >>> pointless after all - the resultant file sizes may be of such a >>> size that >>> it wouldn't be possible to compile it in the memory provided by a >>> Gold >>> Card anyway !! >> >> I can see that it would be nice if GWASL could be upgraded to deal >> with macros in the way that GWASS does. One of the changes to GWASS >> to allow assembly of SMSQE source was to translate macro calls >> written for Qmac to the style needed by GWASS. To transfer all this >> to GWASL would be a largish task. However, the source code for both >> assemblers is available so it is open to anyone to have a go. > > I wonder how many QL machines can run SMSQE but do not have a 68020+? > I can only think of gold card. All the other types have one of 68020, > 68040 and 68060. So how many people just have Gold cards and want to > compile SMSQE? Two, or 200 or 5,000? > I agree with your comment George, however, I wonder how many people might be interested in working on smsq/e if they could easily compile it on a non-68020+ environment. Q-emuLator can run SMSQ/e Gold Card (it does not support 68020+) at least and it could possibly generate sufficient interest to persuade people to look at changing some of the other QL emulators to support SMSQ/e. However, before you spend time on upgrading GWASL to cope with macros and smsq/e sources, maybe we should wait and see if Quanta are interested in (and can) acquiring the licence to QMAC. I am not even certain whether this is now necessary, as Quanta members can purchase QMAC with a manual at little more than the cost to Quanta (ie. £5 royalty + £10 copying of the manual + VAT) - maybe now that I have scanned the manual in and it can be supplied in pdf format, Quanta may like to offer QMAC to its members at an even lower fee. However, the main problem is that people are not willing to spend money in order to improve their systems. QPC2 is by far the best emulator available, and has the best support available, but alas, people are looking to get as much as they can for nothing and not recompense the authors for all their hard work. Maybe some of the other emulators will be adapted to support smsq/e and high resolution / colours, but somehow I doubt the free ones will. I just wish I could find a way of bringing QWord to the PC games market as people are willing to pay for good games, but they would not want to purchase a full QPC2 just to be able to run it. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services URL:http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk URL:http://www.rwapservices.co.uk _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
