Dave, Bill of Materials: Yes Schematics: Yes Plan: This will depend upon the likely demand. My initial question was intended to gauge this ... because, honestly, I don't know how many QLs remain in circulation and, of them, how many owners would consider buying this kind of hardware. Maybe they would like to wait and see if a microdrive-emulating SD card slot comes along ... I know I would buy one of _them_ if they were available today!
Anyway, if the demand is only there for a handful of units, I will likely build them myself on an as-needed basis and then, obviously, it won't be possible to pass on the advantage of bulk pricing for the components - the most expensive of which is the USBWiz module. It's worth remembering that the single most important component of this project is the driver. Until that is completed there is really nothing viable to market. Regarding the driver, several I/O traps are still not fully implemented and proper performance and resilience testing cannot begin until that is done, but I'm making good progress. Adrian -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Plastic Sent: 07 February 2011 10:15 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] USBWiz Driver Update Do you have a BOM for the hardware? A schematic? Or is it only ready-made boards, and if so, what is the bulk cost? How do you plan to make this into a product? Is that your plan? Dave On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 2:33 AM, Lee Privett <[email protected]> wrote: > Well I am definately interested in purchasing such a device, have you > considered putting this forward to the Quanta Commitee to get it off > the ground commercially? > > Lee Privett > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > Sent from my Laptop running XP > but emulating the QL using QPC2 > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Malcolm Cadman" > <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 8:36 PM > Subject: Re: [Ql-Users] USBWiz Driver Update > > > > In message <[email protected]>, Adrian > Ives >> <[email protected]> writes >> >> Hi Adrian, >> >> Yes, using the USBWiz is a good idea. >> >> A new hardware project always creates interest. >> >> PS - This list is getting very busy, too. >> Just catching up on over 100 emails ... :-) >> >> >> I have no idea if anyone is remotely interested in this project to >> attach >>> USB devices to a QL using a small card called a USBWiz. This device >>> presents a serial interface and accepts AT style commands to >>> communicate with many classes of USB device. I started working on >>> this last year, but was delayed by some family problems and a move >>> to another part of the country. My prototype hardware is a little >>> black block that connects via a serial lead to a QL or Hermes serial >>> port. The box has an SD card slot and two USB ports. >>> >>> >>> >>> In the past two weeks I have turned my original prototype driver >>> inside out (not a trivial task, no wonder I missed an errant "me equ >>> 0" statement). >>> The >>> first version suffered from problems encountered when trying to do >>> serial I/O while in supervisor mode (in effect, a driver on top of a driver). >>> Today I successfully completed a test which involved writing a text >>> file to a native QDOS format SD card, then reading it back again. >>> >>> >>> >>> The new driver switches to user mode to do asynchronous I/O over the >>> standard serial port driver through an I/O queue which is managed by >>> a Queue Manager job. In this it is very different from other device >>> drivers and so will need a lot more testing. Not the least of which >>> under QDOS as the driver has been developed under SMSQ. The >>> framework is also in place to support real time communication with >>> the driver core through a pipe mechanism. This is intended to allow >>> queries to be sent to the driver, as opposed to its devices; a >>> variation on a paper that I read about the possibility of >>> implementing meta devices on the QL. Some time in the future I >>> envisage a USB "thing" to act as the interface to this feature. >>> >>> >>> >>> Anyway, that's where I am. >>> >>> >>> >>> The new device driver has the name USB; USB1 is the SD card slot, >>> USB2 and >>> USB3 are the ports which can mount standard external hard drives or >>> memory sticks. It reads and writes, but the format routine still >>> needs completing (formatting is currently done with a S*BASIC >>> utility) >>> >>> >>> >>> As well as the native QL driver I also have a File Manager which >>> needs no driver (only a free serial port) and can read and write FAT >>> format SD cards and USB hard drives. This software also supports the >>> automatic saving and retrieving of the QDOS 64 byte header. This >>> program currently runs in menu-driven character mode, but it is my >>> intention to migrate it to a GD2 compliant pointer app in the very >>> near future. >>> >>> >>> >>> 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? >>> >> >> -- >> Malcolm Cadman >> _______________________________________________ >> QL-Users Mailing List >> http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm >> > > _______________________________________________ > QL-Users Mailing List > http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm > _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm _______________________________________________ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
