Hi Norman, I've only been on the QL 'scene' for a couple of years whereas some of the guys here have been here since day 1, back in 1984 which is pretty eye opening. At least I had an original QL which i waited months for for it to die within an hour of receiving it ( it was a very early machine ). Sadly, the QL was doomed from the start, Sinclair made some drastic errors of judgement IMHO by aiming the machine as a 100% business machine and why oh why didn't he fit a 68000 instead of the 68008. Anyway, he did, it failed... but it lived
through hobbiests which is where the guys here come in...... back to your question.. Personally, I've amassed quite a lot of QL equiplment in a very short space of time. 2 QL's , 1 Trump Card, 1 GC, 2 SGC, 1 full spec AURORA, twin ED drives, loads of software etc etc and can say that Id skip the Trump Card and look for a GC or SGC, they are worth the extra money. Only concider a Trump card if your a bit of a games player and don't want the games running too quickly. Good Luck Neil >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 19 March 2008 00:25 >>> Hi Norman, The Trump Card will give you bags of extra memory (an extra 640k on top of the base 128k IIRC), the ability to plug in DD floppy disks (720k/disk), and the always-useful Tony Tebby Toolkit II (aka Toolkit 2, or TK2). If you're currently lacking any expansion on your QL, then a Trump Card is worth having for the disk interface & memory. A Gold Card (or Super Gold Card, if you're one of the lucky few) will not only bring you bags of extra RAM (2MB or 4MB for GC or SGC respectively), a disk interface capable of driving DD, HD and ED drives (720K, 1.44MB (?) and 3.2MB per disk) - but most importantly it also replaces the CPU with (if I remember correctly) a 68020 or 68040 (GC, SGC) - or maybe it's a 68000/68020, I forget. At any rate, it goes a lot faster... GCs and SGCs are (rightly) considered the Rolls Royce of original equipment upgrades, before you get into the various QL-on-a-PC-card systems (sorry, can't remember it's name) and QL emulators. Other things you might find useful to expand/improve your QL: Minerva ROMs (which make many improvements over base QDOS); SuperHERMES which IIRC much improves serial i/o & keyboard response (and also IIRC allows you to add an IBM type keyboard with relatively little aggro). Then there's QBIDE - a hard-disk interface; no longer manufactured, and I'd like one of those myself... Considering the relatively low level of sales Sinclair suffered (despite apparent evidence to the contrary on eBay - there's always plenty of QL stuff on sale there), it's remarkable just how much add-on hardware, and software, was - and in some cases still is - developed for it. Cheers! Ade. (using QLs since 1984!) -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 19 March 2008 00:45 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] (no subject) Thanks for all your advice, guys. I missed the Gold Card auction :( but I have seen this one http://uk.four.ebid.net/perl/auction.cgi?auction=1200854905-28140-8&mo=aucti on for a Trump Card? I can see it isn't as much of an uprade as the Gold Cards, but is it worth having? Cheers, Norm >Hello Norman (Cook) > >Welcome to the list. Exciting days lie ahead for you and your QL! > >Re your question - Is this (Gold Card) the sort of thing you need to >beef up your QL? > >[Short] Answer: yes! But be aware that there is another and better >version - 'Super Gold Card'. > >Is there a list member who can point Norman to the current web-pages of >QL tech info - rather than me re-inventing the wheel for him? :-) Please. > >Have fun Norman(C) ... and, of course, all other #Normans hereabouts - >and especially, do I like the 'kilter', of the newest web-site - just >announced here ;-) Look forward to more @ same. Thanks. > >Regards to all > >John (in Wales) > > > >_______________________________________________ >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 No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.7/1331 - Release Date: 16/03/2008 10:34 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.519 / Virus Database: 269.21.7/1331 - Release Date: 16/03/2008 10:34 _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm *********************************************************************************** The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient. It may not be disclosed to or used by anyone other than the addressee, nor may it be copied in any way. If received in error, please contact the company on 01793-715380, then delete it from your system. Please note neither the company nor the sender accepts any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan attachments (if any) for viruses. No contract may be concluded on behalf of the company by means of email communications. BC Services (UK) Limited (trading as Boxclever), Technology House, Ampthill Road, Bedford, MK42 9QQ. Registered No. 5290544 England www.boxclever.co.uk *********************************************************************************** _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
