Hi there.
QPC2 version 3.03 and SMSQ/E for QPC v2e99 is out. Apart from the
changes in 3.02 the new version implements among other things:
- "fast" memory. You can now have (almost) as much memory as you want
(I think I limited it to 128MB) without disc accesses slowing down.
They're generally much faster now, even if you only used little memory
(like 4MB) before.
- DOS_DRIVE and DOS_DRIVE$ for DOS device control from SBASIC.
- DOS device functions now implemented as things.
- Beep emulation now configurable (especially useful for NT users like
me)
- Background colour doesn't consume any more memory
- WMAN v1.54. This is the first WMAN that actually implements the new
colour definition scheme.
The new colour format word is:
%00000000cccccccc exactly as before
%00000001pppppppp palette
%00000010pppppppp system palette
%00000011gggggggg gray scale
%01ssxxxxxxyyyyyy palettte stipple. see below (*** NEW ***)
%1rrrrrgggggbbbbb 15 bit RGB
Stipple format (as suggested by George Gwilt):
s = stipple code (0 = dot, 1 = horizontal, 2 = vertical, 3 = checkers)
x = stipple colour (one of first 64 palette entries)
y = main colour (one of first 64 palette entries)
Please note that the system palette is not implemented yet. Also note
that the arrows of scroll and pan bars can't use the new colour
definitions yet, i.e. I've still some work to do. I decided to release
WMAN as it is now nonetheless so that you programmers can already play
around with the new colourful world.
Attendants of the US-QL show: the QPC executable is the same but for
the new fast memory facility you have to update to SMSQ/E 2e99. I
found the problem on the flight to Los Angeles :-)
The files are as usual available from my site http://www.kilgus.net/
There's also an updated English manual (no new German version yet!).
All the best, Marcel
