Re: [ql-users] good superbasic book?
ÎÎÎ Sat, 01 Jan 2005 20:29:42 -0800,Î(Î) Timothy Swenson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Another option in the SuperBasic book issue, is to write one from scratch. Wasn't there a series of articles in QL Today on beginning SuperBasic? If so, we could use that as a start (if the author is willing) and go from there. Heck, a number of people could be volunteer to write chapters and then have somebody work as editor to link it all together. Just an idea. Tim Swenson Tim, sorry to mail this here... but did you get my email? If you did, did you try and answer? My server has a spamfilter and you need to reply to the first email that the filter will send you to register yourself with the server. (Of course sometime this email gets picked up by other spamfilters!) Phoebus ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] good superbasic book?
Another option in the SuperBasic book issue, is to write one from scratch. Wasn't there a series of articles in QL Today on beginning SuperBasic? If so, we could use that as a start (if the author is willing) and go from there. Heck, a number of people could be volunteer to write chapters and then have somebody work as editor to link it all together. Just an idea. Tim Swenson ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Tony Firshman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Surprisingly he has bought a little from me, but only chips and a membrane, and not since 1997. We are talking about the same CM I think. Yes Time to oil your bicycle, Tony (did you ever read the Third Policeman?) I haven't met him, let alone read him (8-)# Flann O'Brien, wonderful writer. It would be great to avoid the expensive bank hol weekend. That is only because you can choose you own time off. It would cost me more to take some time off. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
Malcolm Cadman wrote: In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Hunkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Personally I would like someone to add on a 3D sculptured look to the QDT windows - which are essentially flat at present. Then the 'eye candy' appeal will be even greater. Anyone else tried the QDT Demo supplied with QL Today yet ? Yes, off course. It has been running for over a week now. Installation was smooth and fast, no error messages or problems. QDT has the best installer I have seen on the 'QL': it even beats the 'Prowess' installer. I copied the files from FLP1_ to RAM1_, loaded QDTinst_bas in QD replaced all occurencies of 'win1_' with 'win2_' and ran the installer from within QD. Some comments: 1)I have a 'UNKOWN' folder that doesn't contain any object. I tried to add one in this folder(as I did in 'APPS') but QDT prompted a warning window '.. aborted.. . QDT doesn't allow to delete the folder either telling me the folder isn't empty. 2) A folder's window should be closed once an object is executed. 3) I miss an 'ESC' button in the 'About windows' and a 'Close/ESCP/ Quit' button in some 'dropdown menus'. 4) The icons are, of course, outstanding. Why not keep the same high quality standard for the icons/sprites in the folders/warning/About windows? (for example the JDH logo,ESC,?(help), W(warning),... This doesn't diminish the functionalities of QDT of course!! 5) All 'Icons/Folders/ About/Warning have the same names( Object icon/ Folder icon/ Wait/ About). This is not a good idea in case one would hang or crash: I woundn't know which one to 'rjob'. 6) If you delete an object in a folder and add a new one the space left by the deleted object remains empty. If you that a few times you will have to resize the folder's window to see the new added object. All the above comments would change my opinion about QDT: It's a great piece of software. If it had been around 10-12 years ago this list would have a few hundreds of active subscribers instead of a few tens. If available at the QL metting in Eindhoven (March?),I will buy it, together with QWORD( Dutch and French versions). Happy New Year to all of you. François Van Emelen ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] good superbasic book?
ÎÎÎ Sun, 2 Jan 2005 01:44:07 +0100,Î(Î) Marcel Kilgus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Phoebus Dokos wrote: By the way, is anybody who knows how to do text processing right up to the task of re-formatting that document? And with "right" I mean properly defined paragraph and character styles instead of manual formatting, no "formatting by multiple spaces, empty lines and manual page breaks" and also things like that the index should be auto-generated and not manually maintained. That would be me :-) I was based to a great extent on that document (well a previous version of it to be exact) but had added variations for every platform version of SMSQ/e. I stopped it when SMSQ/e was on V.3.00 because of lack of time and relevant documentation. I can complete it if you want (and produce a separate version for QPC/Q40 etc..) Actually I'd be very interested in that. Can you send an example? Marcel Sure... two pages in PDF format as well as source (Ventura-ised text) on the way Phoebus ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] ESC/P2
One more thing, is anybody here or does anybody know a real expert on ESC/P2 programming, especially when it comes to proportional fonts? If so, please contact me. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
John Hall wrote: >> Now if I only had a clue where the colour is set, this is some damn >> complicated code. > :-( Found it. >> I have a (I think yet unreleased) version 1.43 here with the note >> "Minor colour fixes", so perhaps I did already fix that. Too tired >> and lazy to do a release now, though, it was quite a long party last >> night. > Headache? :-) Actually my plan of skipping the beer and immediately starting with tequila, vodka, sparkling wine and finally Bacardi worked very well, no headache at all. Usually it's the beer in the mix that gets me. ;-) Just didn't get much sleep as I only got to bed at 8 in the morning. > BTW, you can add the Retry and Abandon items in the FILE ERROR window > to the list of items that I think use the App Win Item colours rather > than the Loose Item ones... Ok, fixed that, too. Will send test version privately. Now I think I've really have earned myself the time to watch a nice "Yes, Minister" episode. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPC2 CD player
Dilwyn Jones wrote: > Rather than pester a very busy Marcel with a trivial problem, :-) Trivial stuff at least has the advantage that I can easily answer them, unlike many mails that have been coming in the past few months that often require hours of work to answer (which I often don't have). > does anyone know if the QPC2 CD Player could either play 2 separate > CDs from 2 separate drives at the same time, or a CD and and image > on hard disk somewhere? No, there's no way to select the drive. I did the specification when even double speed drives were still pretty expensive things! > A lad at work is looking at setting up a mobile disco based on a PC > (play one CD while getting the other ready cued or even 'mixing' two > tracks, he even wants to record voice links on one CD and play the > music with voice-overs). It's just a thought in case I can impress him > with a simple SBASIC program in the new year! There's some pretty specialised PC software available for this purpose that would be hard to beat ;-) Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] good superbasic book?
Phoebus Dokos wrote: >> By the way, is anybody who knows how to do text processing right up to >> the task of re-formatting that document? And with "right" I mean >> properly defined paragraph and character styles instead of manual >> formatting, no "formatting by multiple spaces, empty lines and manual >> page breaks" and also things like that the index should be >> auto-generated and not manually maintained. > That would be me :-) > I was based to a great extent on that document (well a previous version of > it to be exact) but had added variations for every platform version of > SMSQ/e. > > I stopped it when SMSQ/e was on V.3.00 because of lack of time and > relevant documentation. I can complete it if you want (and produce a > separate version for QPC/Q40 etc..) Actually I'd be very interested in that. Can you send an example? Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] good superbasic book?
Phoebus Dokos wrote: >> This does not necessarily mean that he has not left the scene, >> because the website is so old that it doesn't even recognize >> browsers different from "Netscape 3.0 of higher" ;-)) > Maybe so, but Thierry's website entry addresses have remained the same > since 1996 (which is not bad) I did try to contact him a few weeks ago just to see what he's up to, but alas no reply. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] You can never have it all...
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 22:50:05 -, hitchies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Re: Inspired by the discussion on a "good superbasic book" on this mailing list I managed to get a second hand copy of Jan Jones "QL SuperBASIC - the definitive handbook". In my opinion this book was written in a fairly technical style, it is an excellent and comprehensive resource for reference purposes, but definitely not a good starting point for newcomers. = On this thread I've been surprised not to see a mention of what I shall now mention! ;-) Viz "Illustrating Super Basic on the Sinclair QL" Donald Alcock, Cambridge University Press, 1985, 182pp ISBN 0-521-31517-4 I was well into programming when I got the book - but I see (now) from my many annotations in it that it proved a very useful source. Yes! - for all ye olde buffs, it's the one that's handwritten but nevertheless very clear with sketches of little 'bugs' crawling here and there. Regards to all, John in Wales Damn - I've got one of those here as well !! Wonder if I've got nearly every QL book that was ever printed in my second hand list - especially when I look at the list of books John Gilpin is holding at the Northern Quanta depot. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services 26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1RQ http://www.rwapservices.co.uk/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] You can never have it all...
Re: Inspired by the discussion on a "good superbasic book" on this mailing list I managed to get a second hand copy of Jan Jones "QL SuperBASIC - the definitive handbook". In my opinion this book was written in a fairly technical style, it is an excellent and comprehensive resource for reference purposes, but definitely not a good starting point for newcomers. = On this thread I've been surprised not to see a mention of what I shall now mention! ;-) Viz "Illustrating Super Basic on the Sinclair QL" Donald Alcock, Cambridge University Press, 1985, 182pp ISBN 0-521-31517-4 I was well into programming when I got the book - but I see (now) from my many annotations in it that it proved a very useful source. Yes! - for all ye olde buffs, it's the one that's handwritten but nevertheless very clear with sketches of little 'bugs' crawling here and there. Regards to all, John in Wales -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.6 - Release Date: 28/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 at 20:38:48, Roy wood wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes And there is some truth in the "hand him over to colleague" theory. Not to cause your colleague grief, but very often the problem is two people not quite getting on. A different person's different approach is often neither better nor worse, just that people hit it off together better. A person who causes you hassle might get on fine with me and vice versa. Qubbesoft handed me a customer Ron could not deal with a long time ago. I spent ages with him and then gave up and passed him to Tony, I think Tony lasted a week or so by which time he had made it to the Bristol users group and made their life hell for a while. Then he came back to me and I finally shouted at him one night. Last seen talking with Geoff (who scolded me for being so short with a customer - not knowing the 5 year history) Thought he had disappeared but I did get a rambling fax recently. Oh, I say customer, I cannot recall him buying anything much. I remember him well. I didn't quite get to shouting at him, but I certainly felt like it. I am not renowned for my patience with difficult customers (8-)# Surprisingly he has bought a little from me, but only chips and a membrane, and not since 1997. We are talking about the same CM I think. I do though feel guilty about another person who made -everyone's- life a misery. Laurence Reeves was on the receiving end of his one way conversations at a London group meeting in Paddington, and losing patience. It was the first sight of a prototype Minerva MKII I asked Lau whether he fancied a curry after the meal and xx said "Oh that sounds interesting". Lau then said that it was getting a bit late and he would leave it. I knew what he actually meant, and managed to privately say "See you round the corner". What made it worse (for my conscience) was that helped Lau carry his stuff out! Speaking of which (OK, only kidding, nothing do with it really) anyone heard from Darren Branagh lately? His move to Co. Mayo seems to have made him disappear totally! Got a Christmas Card from him - which reminds me, sorry to anyone who did not get a card from me I was rather tied up this year. - and he is threatening an Irish show this coming summer. I got one too. I started to send him one back, but I couldn't find his new address. Could you please send it to me privately. Time to oil your bicycle, Tony (did you ever read the Third Policeman?) I haven't met him, let alone read him (8-)# and get Stuart out of mothballs again. Might be difficult to cycle our way to West Ireland, but I will certainly try him. (8-) I think both of us would prefer East Ireland I think. I wonder whether he could be persuaded to spend a weekend at his old haunts. It would be great to avoid the expensive bank hol weekend. Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 01 Jan 2005 15:38:16 -0500,Î(Î) Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Started but never started (kinda like the Clintonesque "never inhaled") thing ;-) Of course that didn't come out right even for my Greeklish :-) I meant started but never touched :-) Ffibys ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes And there is some truth in the "hand him over to colleague" theory. Not to cause your colleague grief, but very often the problem is two people not quite getting on. A different person's different approach is often neither better nor worse, just that people hit it off together better. A person who causes you hassle might get on fine with me and vice versa. Qubbesoft handed me a customer Ron could not deal with a long time ago. I spent ages with him and then gave up and passed him to Tony, I think Tony lasted a week or so by which time he had made it to the Bristol users group and made their life hell for a while. Then he came back to me and I finally shouted at him one night. Last seen talking with Geoff (who scolded me for being so short with a customer - not knowing the 5 year history) Thought he had disappeared but I did get a rambling fax recently. Oh, I say customer, I cannot recall him buying anything much. Speaking of which (OK, only kidding, nothing do with it really) anyone heard from Darren Branagh lately? His move to Co. Mayo seems to have made him disappear totally! Got a Christmas Card from him - which reminds me, sorry to anyone who did not get a card from me I was rather tied up this year. - and he is threatening an Irish show this coming summer. Time to oil your bicycle, Tony (did you ever read the Third Policeman?) and get Stuart out of mothballs again. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] not QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 12:26:30 -0800,Î(Î) James Hunkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: So much for using my mail filters to sort anything with QDT in the topic :) Heey I did change it to "Firmware" ... of course I left the "was:" on it :-) ***ooopsss Ffibys ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] tsunami (OT)
- Original Message - From: "Dilwyn Jones" To: "QL Users List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, January 01, 2005 3:01 PM Subject: [ql-users] tsunami After hearing all about the natural disasters affecting the populations of some Asian countries, it was not nice to realise I have parts made by Tsunami on this PC. Without meaning to make light in any way of the awful situation those people find themselves in, it makes me wonder why anyone chose such a name for a computer company? Anyone know if it is connected - apparently the natural disaster term means Harbour (tsu) and Waves (name) in Japanese and of course is female gender like names of hurricanes and other natural disasters! Tut! Tut! Dilwyn, you old misogynist. Japanese nouns do not have a gender! There are 2 Chinese/Japanese characters for Tsu and 4 for Nami, 3 of which mean wave. Thus tsunami does not necessarily mean a destructive wave. What a good start to the year I am having! Not only off topic, but also pedantic and insulting! Best Wishes, Geoff PS all you QL-ers writing at great length on New Year's Day. Was it only the Germans who got pissed last night? ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Hopefully he will have the free QL emulator working on it soon. QemuLator for Mac Daniele Terdina style or the Mac uQLx on Phoebus's site? Getting confusing now, too many good emulators around ;-) He is trying both QLAY and Qemulator ... and there is the Mac uQLx. A rich field indeed :-) -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Launchpad-was Q60 Blues
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Launchpad is less ambitious a project than QDT but you'd be amazed how many people have managed to make a total mess of it. I went as far as to supply it deliberately misconfigured so that people would have to read the instructions as I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to use it without instructions (Launchpad doesn't work when you get it unless you read how to configure it). Umm ... I know what you are implying here. Yet probably not a good approach to take as you really want people to be able to use it as readily as possible, with a few problems as possible; and not have to do a lot of figuring out for themselves. If you can't see what I'm getting at, you've obviously never been on the receiving end of endless phone calls. When systems get easy enough ALMOST to use without a manual, people will only read the manual if you superglue it to their eyes and tie their arms behind their backs. In essence, configuration is the only thing stopping programs like Launchpad from being 'use it out of the box'. And as it was the first step which was the likeliest problem, this seemed like the best solution and it worked on the whole. OK ... the woes of being a creator of the software and also the maintainer :-) Remember that other WIMP ( Windows / Icons / Mouse / Pointer ) environments just appear ready to use on other systems to the user. No 'sweat' involved ... :-) Until you get non-technical people involved. As soon as they want to do different things it's grab an expert and make him/her sweat instead. Yes, we have all been there, and done that. Yet you do learn that way. The approach I took with Launchpad was inspired by Geoff Wicks - the "Quickstart Guide". By and large, if you've read Geoff's little Quickstart guides you won't go far wrong with his software, which is what I was trying to achieve. The only real potential problem with Launchpad is the "first step", i.e. "where am I installed and where are my setup files". Once it's set up with the correct path name for where you placed it on your hard disk it's pretty well fire it up, feel your way and only resort to manuals when you get stuck. As I recall, you didn't get many problems beyond things like the changing of resolutions and colour depths which was a bit naughty of me anyway. The Quick start guides are probably the best way with modern programs, most manufacturers issue them now. The big manual with my Epson 880 printer is pretty useless, the Quick start guide is excellent. One the whole, people want to use it out of the box and resort ot manuals only when the going gets tough. Like the little CD-alarm-clock-radio I got for Christmas, I was able to plug it in and go as far as listening to the radio, setting the time and playing a CD went, and got the 4 page manual out for setting the alarms and setting up playlist programs to play tracks in different orders. Not quite the same order of things as complex computer software like Windows, RISC OS, SMSQ?E and QDT i suppose, but you get my drift I hope. Yes, Quick Starts are good ... and an 'art' in themselves to write. I wonder how many users on this list are now happily using Launchpad ? -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Hunkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Personally I would like someone to add on a 3D sculptured look to the QDT windows - which are essentially flat at present. Then the 'eye candy' appeal will be even greater. Scheduled is a finish to implementation of full color palettes and themes, which will include more of the 3D look that Marcel has so nicely implemented in WMAN (SMSQ/E). Also, some time during the upcoming year you will have Marcel's alpha blending in the Icons plus folder and desktop graphics backgrounds. Lots of neat stuff on the way. If case anyone is curious, the upcoming release is/will be ready for normal use. For anyone who buys it, there will be upgrades at no charge throughout 2005 as the additional capabilities/tuning are added. Glad to hear it. I knew that you would be on to anyway ... :-) Anyone else tried the QDT Demo supplied with QL Today yet ? -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 12:15:40 -0800,Î(Î) James Hunkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Yes, but I won't be going quite that far with QDT. After all I am one person plus the help of a few on a fairly old OS while Apple has the latest hardware and tons of programmers :) But still -even-older software... since OS X is based on BSD (the only true Unix out there except that bastardisation from SCO) which was old even when the ZX80 was brand new Wait until he shows you that mucho cool task switcher that Apple has (simple wow... I was so jealous I nearly drilled his head ;-) hehe Actually, you did start the drill if I recall. Luckily there was nothing to leak out. Started but never started (kinda like the Clintonesque "never inhaled") thing ;-) Ffibys ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] not QDT Demo
So much for using my mail filters to sort anything with QDT in the topic :) Thanks for making the topic clear for me though! Cheers, jim On Jan 1, 2005, at 7:49 AM, Dilwyn Jones wrote: Can you do me a bit of a favor? Change the subject line if you want to keep talking about this other stuff? Trying to monitor for any QDT specific stuff but instead end up reading all about something else. Thanks! jim Of course you are right :-) Ffibys After our chat about the Welsh meaning and spelling of your name are you now resorting to the Welsh spelling when doing abit of "finger wagging" here;-) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ 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] .Fragmentation
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, P Witte <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes You may be using one of the beta versions of the updated Qpac2 suit. View the top few bytes of the binary for the version numbers. My sysmon is 2.09 and Qpac2 is v1.42 - but a number of test versions have the same version number! Get the latest from your supplier. These are the latest ones I have here. I have been running my Q40 all day today, partly to test some things in QDT and partly to see if I could get the memory to fragment. I am using SMSQ/E v 3.07 and apart from using menuconfig to configure some programs and QPAC2 to copy and update files I have also sporadically fired up QSpread, QD, DATAdesign and Disk Mate 5 and I left FiFi and some of the QPAC 1 utilities running too. I have not rebooted it at all and the green line in Sysmon is still solid so I cannot see that it is SMSQ/E that is at fault. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
On Jan 1, 2005, at 6:14 AM, Malcolm Cadman wrote: QDT takes that approach by scanning the 'windrive' contents, so that it sets up a users system for them. It tries to take away all the 'pain' from the user ! Note that, even with the pre-scanning of the drive and other work that QDT does the install, the customer still has some responsibility to make sure that QDT picked the right things. I believe that Roy properly pointed out (haven't seen the final article yet - come on international mail :) ), it is possible for QDT to setup up an object that, if picked, can crash the system. Yes, it is a good idea to help the customer get started but ultimately, the customer will need to do something on anything as helpful as LaunchPad or QDT if he wants to take advantage of it. There are ways to do things better but at the cost of restricting what the user can ultimately do too, or missing out on things. Always tradeoffs. Cheers, jim ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] QDT Demo
Personally I would like someone to add on a 3D sculptured look to the QDT windows - which are essentially flat at present. Then the 'eye candy' appeal will be even greater. Scheduled is a finish to implementation of full color palettes and themes, which will include more of the 3D look that Marcel has so nicely implemented in WMAN (SMSQ/E). Also, some time during the upcoming year you will have Marcel's alpha blending in the Icons plus folder and desktop graphics backgrounds. Lots of neat stuff on the way. If case anyone is curious, the upcoming release is/will be ready for normal use. For anyone who buys it, there will be upgrades at no charge throughout 2005 as the additional capabilities/tuning are added. For that you probably have to change the system palette a bit. Marcel has a nice set of two (or more now?) basic files that will do that for you QDT is not yet set to use the system palette (had some difficulties with that part of the implementation so put it aside for an upgrade once the basic stuff is finished. QDT at this point is using its default color palette. There will be many options (take a look in the Desktop Configuration notebook to give you some idea - hooks are there, just fish on them yet (sorry - it is very late for me over here :) ). The latest IMac interface makes yet another step forward with its use of transparency and translucency. You mean of course Aqua and OSX :-) Which you Jim will know all about :-) Yes, but I won't be going quite that far with QDT. After all I am one person plus the help of a few on a fairly old OS while Apple has the latest hardware and tons of programmers :) Wait until he shows you that mucho cool task switcher that Apple has (simple wow... I was so jealous I nearly drilled his head ;-) hehe Actually, you did start the drill if I recall. Luckily there was nothing to leak out. Cheers, jim ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Launchpad-was Q60 Blues
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 at 16:10:07, Dilwyn Jones wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) > >The Quick start guides are probably the best way with modern programs, >most manufacturers issue them now. The big manual with my Epson 880 >printer is pretty useless, the Quick start guide is excellent. One the >whole, people want to use it out of the box and resort ot manuals only >when the going gets tough. Printers is a big topic right now with me. I got an HP4250dtn (via Roy and www.hamiltone.co.uk). An excellent printer - pity about the after sales 'help'. I have not had -one- satisfactory exchange with HP, or indeed solutions (from them). This printer is so good, it sends emails. "How do I stop it sending XML emails" ---> "It doesn't send emails" "Urmm, I got the three test emails" ---> "It doesn't have Digital Services" "What are Digital Services?" ---> "Sending emails" "Well unless it has a Little Green Man inside the printer typing away, it DOES send emails" ---> "It doesn't" I wasn't sure whether he was referring to Little Green Men or emails! At this point I realised there was no point in carrying on, and I told him I would ring back to find someone who knew the product. It was only after I put the phone down, I remembered this help desk was in Northern Ireland! I much later discovered the configuration item in the excellent browser help interface. Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPC2 CD player
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 17:07:20 -, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Rather than pester a very busy Marcel with a trivial problem, does anyone know if the QPC2 CD Player could either play 2 separate CDs from 2 separate drives at the same time, or a CD and and image on hard disk somewhere? Dilwyn - I have 2 CD drives - just can't find Marcel's CD Player... I think though that the CD commands in QPC2 can only access the first CD drive it comes to - not even an image on the hard disk. A lad at work is looking at setting up a mobile disco based on a PC (play one CD while getting the other ready cued or even 'mixing' two tracks, he even wants to record voice links on one CD and play the music with voice-overs). It's just a thought in case I can impress him with a simple SBASIC program in the new year! I don't have 2 drives on my PC to try this out, and don't know how to create an image on hard disk unless it's as simple as copying all .cda audio files to a folder on hard disk. Given my background in broadcasting some years ago, it's a little project which got my interest even if I don't want to get too involved!!! He's using MP3 tracks and two copies of windows explorer or windows media player to cue and play the tracks, don't know how he mixes things so that only the correct audio comes from the correct drive while he cues the other tracks (assuming of course he bothers to listen to cue them, or prehear or PFL or whatever headphone cueing was called). New year madness...don't worry, ignore me, I'll (probably) go away. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services 26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1RQ http://www.rwapservices.co.uk/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] QPC2 CD player
Rather than pester a very busy Marcel with a trivial problem, does anyone know if the QPC2 CD Player could either play 2 separate CDs from 2 separate drives at the same time, or a CD and and image on hard disk somewhere? A lad at work is looking at setting up a mobile disco based on a PC (play one CD while getting the other ready cued or even 'mixing' two tracks, he even wants to record voice links on one CD and play the music with voice-overs). It's just a thought in case I can impress him with a simple SBASIC program in the new year! I don't have 2 drives on my PC to try this out, and don't know how to create an image on hard disk unless it's as simple as copying all .cda audio files to a folder on hard disk. Given my background in broadcasting some years ago, it's a little project which got my interest even if I don't want to get too involved!!! He's using MP3 tracks and two copies of windows explorer or windows media player to cue and play the tracks, don't know how he mixes things so that only the correct audio comes from the correct drive while he cues the other tracks (assuming of course he bothers to listen to cue them, or prehear or PFL or whatever headphone cueing was called). New year madness...don't worry, ignore me, I'll (probably) go away. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
Oh Dilwyn - you should have asked my advice - I was even a solicitor in them days !! At the end of the day, the program would not have breached the Sale of Goods Act, as it was fit for its purpose, just provided the user actually read the manual !! Technically, yes. For the sake of Â10 though it wasn't worth the effort and hassle. I sometimes ended up with the view (and still do at work) that if a customer causes me major hassle, I may as well be rude to him and do something to lose him as a customer as he's more trouble than it's worth since apart from one organisation we don't do enough business with any one person for losing one difficult customer to hurt us. And the benefit for me is that he becomes someone else's customer, so inflicts pain on the competitor instead! And there is some truth in the "hand him over to colleague" theory. Not to cause your colleague grief, but very often the problem is two people not quite getting on. A different person's different approach is often neither better nor worse, just that people hit it off together better. A person who causes you hassle might get on fine with me and vice versa. And anyone who doesn't believe some of these things i say is welcome to come to this part of Wales to find out what objectionable sods so many are around here. Golden rule seems to be that the only ones confident enough to set up in business are the overconfident, rude, arrogant, oneupmanship kinds of people. Often get the feeling that all the nice people have upped sticks and left. Staff turnover at Carters and other places I've worked in is consistently very high with the boss often being cited here at Carters at least. If he reads this, fine, you don't pay me wnough to worry about losing the job and all the grief that comes with it. Speaking of which (OK, only kidding, nothing do with it really) anyone heard from Darren Branagh lately? His move to Co. Mayo seems to have made him disappear totally! Can't say I've ever really had a problem customer in my years of trading - damn now they will all start getting in touch with me! Quick touch wood Damn Roy you're too far away That Wood'nt be a good idea(Groan) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] email attachments
With junk mail and email I take the attitude that if they have to reach out to me in this way, their product is obviously such a lot of crap that nobody in their right mind would buy it of their own free will. Even worse are junk phone calls. I am sure you are pestered by these, including recorded voices announcing me as a 'winner'. Tony I did get one which announced me as winner - prize dinner with Tony Firshman after a Quanta Workshop. Sadly, that was a joke by another QLer! I'm registered with Telephone Preference Service so don't get many at home, but we do get them quite a lot at work. The most annoying part is the silence at the start of a call while the computer generating the call desperately tries to find a free call centre operative who barely speaks English or plays the recorded voice. Always amazes me that these companies think you'll buy from them if you don't even understand the caller speaking Stuff them, put them on hold to run up their bills, their computer flags it as a long call, so "successful" so they keep trying you and you do the same to them over and over again to waste their time and money, with them on hold there's plenty of lines to allow other calls to continue being received. Alternatively, just route them direct to my boss's mobile to annoy him and run up their costs even more ;-)) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
Hopefully he will have the free QL emulator working on it soon. QemuLator for Mac Daniele Terdina style or the Mac uQLx on Phoebus's site? Getting confusing now, too many good emulators around ;-) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] You can never have it all...
"The QL has an astonishingly varied repertoire of sounds and a powerful speaker through which to play them." That sounds like usual Sinclair hooey to me :-) I guess at the time (around 1985) Jan had somewhen already seen/heared a C=64 in action? Because her statement sounds almost as ridiculous as the following (imaginary) statement: "The Commodore 64 has an extremely powerful and versatile Basic interpreter that allows effective control of all its resources." That's not far from the truth. It is known that Commodore's Basic is a piece of crap BUT you can actually access all the C64's resources from it (POKE, POKE, POKE :-)) I think that mentioning it as an "extremely powerful etc..." BASIC Jan Jones was probably avoiding a suit for defamation by Commodore Inc :-) He he, if you ever saw a program written in C64 basic you'd have nightmares. It looked like PEK and POKE and use obscure control code characters was ALL you could do on a C64!!! Remember ZX80 and ZX81 listings with machine code in REM statements anyone??? -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Launchpad-was Q60 Blues
Launchpad is less ambitious a project than QDT but you'd be amazed how many people have managed to make a total mess of it. I went as far as to supply it deliberately misconfigured so that people would have to read the instructions as I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to use it without instructions (Launchpad doesn't work when you get it unless you read how to configure it). Umm ... I know what you are implying here. Yet probably not a good approach to take as you really want people to be able to use it as readily as possible, with a few problems as possible; and not have to do a lot of figuring out for themselves. If you can't see what I'm getting at, you've obviously never been on the receiving end of endless phone calls. When systems get easy enough ALMOST to use without a manual, people will only read the manual if you superglue it to their eyes and tie their arms behind their backs. In essence, configuration is the only thing stopping programs like Launchpad from being 'use it out of the box'. And as it was the first step which was the likeliest problem, this seemed like the best solution and it worked on the whole. Remember that other WIMP ( Windows / Icons / Mouse / Pointer ) environments just appear ready to use on other systems to the user. No 'sweat' involved ... :-) Until you get non-technical people involved. As soon as they want to do different things it's grab an expert and make him/her sweat instead. The approach I took with Launchpad was inspired by Geoff Wicks - the "Quickstart Guide". By and large, if you've read Geoff's little Quickstart guides you won't go far wrong with his software, which is what I was trying to achieve. The only real potential problem with Launchpad is the "first step", i.e. "where am I installed and where are my setup files". Once it's set up with the correct path name for where you placed it on your hard disk it's pretty well fire it up, feel your way and only resort to manuals when you get stuck. As I recall, you didn't get many problems beyond things like the changing of resolutions and colour depths which was a bit naughty of me anyway. The Quick start guides are probably the best way with modern programs, most manufacturers issue them now. The big manual with my Epson 880 printer is pretty useless, the Quick start guide is excellent. One the whole, people want to use it out of the box and resort ot manuals only when the going gets tough. Like the little CD-alarm-clock-radio I got for Christmas, I was able to plug it in and go as far as listening to the radio, setting the time and playing a CD went, and got the 4 page manual out for setting the alarms and setting up playlist programs to play tracks in different orders. Not quite the same order of things as complex computer software like Windows, RISC OS, SMSQ?E and QDT i suppose, but you get my drift I hope. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Marcel Kilgus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Malcolm Cadman wrote: ... And just when we thought it was safe to have v1.39 ... :-) Is that on your web site ? Nah, cannot. I did the updates for free but its basic status is still commercial. It can however be updated from the usual sources. I will have to now have a look at all these colour experiments that you have being doing. I've been preparing a demonstration .WIN file for years now, but I never seem to find the time to finish it. Umm ... the common problem, eventually we all seem to run out of time. -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] versions, was QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Perhaps QL Today could print a little regular item listing the latest versions available, and what they are required for. As a prompt to us to keep as up to date as we can. -- Malcolm Cadman I doubt we could be fast enough to keep up with Marcel and Wolfgang. He he ... yes, but worth the try :-) -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
Phoebus Dokos writes: > > The last version of SMSQ/E which was 'approved' for the Q40 / Q60 by its > > builders was, I believe, patched to remove problems with the caches. > > Again, I am out of the loop with this now and the Q40 is rarely switched > > on so I am not sure but I ran it all day today on v 3.07 and saw no > > fragmentation on my sysmon. > > > Maybe my Sysmon or QPAC2 version is what's causing the problems. I don't > know if it has changed since last year. You may be using one of the beta versions of the updated Qpac2 suit. View the top few bytes of the binary for the version numbers. My sysmon is 2.09 and Qpac2 is v1.42 - but a number of test versions have the same version number! Get the latest from your supplier. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Wolfgang Uhlig wrote: > > No, I'm not talking about QCoCo but the QPAC2 "action > > confirmation" window, which is a little bit more buried and > > complicated. > > Okay, I confused the writer of this (also had a long night last > night ;:) > But even so, John could set the two colours to something he likes by > editing them in his colourway/theme, couldn't he? Yes, I could (and will) edit the theme file to reinstate the shaded area and vertical fill colours. However, Marcel is/was referring to a different point that I mentioned in one of my earlier messages and which appears to have uncovered a bug in the Files V1.26 "action confirmation" window item colours... Perhaps New Years Day is not the best day to be discussing such mind-bending topics :-) John ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 at 03:57:22, Dilwyn Jones wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) >Back in DJC days again, I was threatened with being sued for that >tactic, over a £10 program refund. I paid up the £10 refund to avoid >costs, scandal, fuss, wasted time and so on after being told that even >if I was technically right they'd still make it such a long drawn out >painful time wasting experience for me for the sake of 10 pounds. A few >months later at a workshop I spotted the silly pillock concerned >running the same program he'd been given a refund for. At Freddy's >suggestion IIRC I quietly took a picture of him at his computer running >the program - the late Joe Haftke saw what I was up to (we used to >share tables at workshops and I used to take a camera to get pictures >for show reports in IQLR at the time) and thankfully kept quiet about >it.Then when I'd developed the film I sent the customer a copy with a >brief note saying "my turn to sue I think since you obviously kept and >used a copy despite the refund". I kept quiet about it at the time to >avoid too much trouble, although a then committee member did find out >about it somehow and challenged me later as to what the hell was going >on. Needless to say I have never heard from the customer since and >haven't seen him at workshops in recent years either. Can you email us traders privately so that we can be pre-warned should he reappear. >P.S. I've just read this email a second time and wonder why I'm still a >QLer after all that? I have only had one really bad QL customer (and cheque) in all my year's of trading. > >P.P.S. Attempting to challenge Nasta for longest emails No chance > >P.P.P.S. Having an insomniac night!!! Ben went to bed at 5am he said. Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
No, I'm not talking about QCoCo but the QPAC2 "action confirmation" window, which is a little bit more buried and complicated. Okay, I confused the writer of this (also had a long night last night ;:) But even so, John could set the two colours to something he likes by editing them in his colourway/theme, couldn't he? Wolfgang ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Wolfgang Uhlig wrote: >>> Now if I only had a clue where the colour is set, this is some damn >>> complicated code. > But that's very easy, actually :) No, I'm not talking about QCoCo but the QPAC2 "action confirmation" window, which is a little bit more buried and complicated. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Now if I only had a clue where the colour is set, this is some damn complicated code. But that's very easy, actually :) As I already said, "Shaded area" and "vertical area fill" are number 48 and 51 in the list, what I mean with "list" can be seen on: http://home.tiscali.nl/wuhlig/ql/syscolours.html So If you've made a theme with QCoCo, then you only have to edit the lines 48 and 51 in this theme, in order to get the colours you want. No need to have to understand "some damn complicated code" :)) Wolfgang ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Marcel Kilgus wrote: > Hmmm, doesn't look like "shaded area" can be separately set in > QCoco. Probably because this QPAC2 menu is the only application that > made ever use of it. Yes, I'd come to the same conclusion after saving and comparing a couple of "before" and "after" palettes. > > However, when I corrected this, I lost the Copy text in > > the No/Yes/ESC/All confirmation window (white-on-white)! > > Right, that's a bug. :-) > Now if I only had a clue where the colour is set, this is some damn > complicated code. :-( > I have a (I think yet unreleased) version 1.43 here with the note > "Minor colour fixes", so perhaps I did already fix that. Too tired > and lazy to do a release now, though, it was quite a long party last > night. Headache? :-) BTW, you can add the Retry and Abandon items in the FILE ERROR window to the list of items that I think use the App Win Item colours rather than the Loose Item ones... Happy New Year and... QL Forever John ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Wolfgang Uhlig wrote: > If there will be other applications using these two, I will update > QCoCo. One (small) thing I've noticed while messing about with the palette colours - if you hit the SAVE_TH item and then ESCape from the File Select window, the item text changes to "save". Also, the About window says Version 1.52 11-01-04 but the config. block says V1.53... John ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] not QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 16:55:03 +,Î(Î) Roy wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Nah... I just use for everything... a touch of Welsh is always cool I guess ;-) (At least to my Greek eyes) Only the Greek could find the Welsh cool ! (no I have offended two races and it is only January 1st) I guess its the English in you :-P hehehe (Paid back in full :-) Happy new year) Ffibys ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] not QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Nah... I just use for everything... a touch of Welsh is always cool I guess ;-) (At least to my Greek eyes) Only the Greek could find the Welsh cool ! (no I have offended two races and it is only January 1st) -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] tsunami
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005, Dilwyn Jones wrote: > Harbour (tsu) and Waves (name) in Japanese and of course is female > gender like names of hurricanes and other natural disasters! Hurricanes are alternately named after male and female names. Even years are male, odd years are female. I know this is completely off-topic, but... I have two friends who are professional aid workers and they are heading out there this week on a 6-month contract paid for by the US. They tell me the counting systems used to arrive at fatality totals, and infer that the real total is nearer 300,000 - 500,000 dead already, and possibly another 100,000 to 200,000 in the coming weeks, from disease. They showed me a photo that brought home the scale of the devastation to me. There was a bay filled with wreckage and trash, but as I looked closer, the wreckage was human bodies. Hundreds of them. As I looked into the distance I realised there were thousands of bodies in this one photo. "Ok, now, imagine this just happened to 4,000 miles of coastline, to every single town and village on a coast," he said. Humbling... ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
John Hall wrote: That's the "Shaded area" colour. Hmm... when I change things via QCoCo, it appears to pick up the App Win paper colour instead! Hmmm, doesn't look like "shaded area" can be separately set in QCoco. Probably because this QPAC2 menu is the only application that made ever use of it. That's true. I just looked that up and found that "Shaded area" and "vertical area fill" (nr. 48 and 51 in the list) are set to a background (paper) colour of the Infowindow or the Application window by QCoCo. This is not the best solution, but as I didn't know of any use except for 1 case (QPac2 using the vertacal fill area) I couldn't even test it ;) If there will be other applications using these two, I will update QCoCo. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] not QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 15:49:23 -,Î(Î) Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Can you do me a bit of a favor? Change the subject line if you want to keep talking about this other stuff? Trying to monitor for any QDT specific stuff but instead end up reading all about something else. Thanks! jim Of course you are right :-) Ffibys After our chat about the Welsh meaning and spelling of your name are you now resorting to the Welsh spelling when doing abit of "finger wagging" here;-) Nah... I just use for everything... a touch of Welsh is always cool I guess ;-) (At least to my Greek eyes) Ffibys -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] versions, was QDT Demo
Perhaps QL Today could print a little regular item listing the latest versions available, and what they are required for. As a prompt to us to keep as up to date as we can. -- Malcolm Cadman I doubt we could be fast enough to keep up with Marcel and Wolfgang. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] not QDT Demo
Can you do me a bit of a favor? Change the subject line if you want to keep talking about this other stuff? Trying to monitor for any QDT specific stuff but instead end up reading all about something else. Thanks! jim Of course you are right :-) Ffibys After our chat about the Welsh meaning and spelling of your name are you now resorting to the Welsh spelling when doing abit of "finger wagging" here;-) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] AVG7
There's no way that AVG dumps anything into Documents and Settings... I'd be careful about blanket statements like that about AVG7, after my well documented WinTV problems which seemed to do anything and dump things anywhere and however it felt like and uninstall files it had nothing to do with so that other programs then kindly fell over. AVG7 is a first release as a free version. I don't know if it's exactly the same as a previous AVG7 Pro (or whatever the commercial one was called) but it's probably fair to assume there's at least token changes which would make it a 'new' program to some extent, so you'd be finding problems in early releases (old programmers saying, "by the time it works the retail guys have decleared it's out of date" That's all I need is a flat contradiction ! Thanks so much. Check Grisoft forum for more prob's I did get problems first time I installed it, and the installation didn't complete. At the time, I was having WinTV problems as well so I assumed it was to do with that. After the reformat which cleared out all remnants of WinTV, I've had no problems with AVG7, although a colleague where I work knows of people who have had problems. So I don't really know more than to say that people have had problems and sooner or later got round them one way or another, although it's required patience and wasted time in some cases. I was lucky, my second attempt was trouble free. I've read somewhere recently that a lot more PC programs dump a lot more information in places you don't normally become aware of them, because of some desktop.ini (or something like that, can't remember the proper name) files normally causing individual files or even whole folder contents to be hidden and so you are never really aware of them. And this is one of the way that "experts" can tell what you've been up to because although you've deleted files and emptied the recycle bin and cleared the documents menus etc etc there are still traces hidden away where you can't find them unless you know how to expose of them. AFAIK we have yet to get to this level of paranoia with hidden files on a QL! Of course some people are bound to get caught out by Q-Trans's Trash Can one day I suppose but that's another story. Back to AVG7, my experience of it under XP has been nothing short of pleasant once I got rid of that awful WinTV card. And the documentation was great for helping me to smooth things out when I added Service Pack 2 which was, errr, an experience. Once you manage to get AVG7 installed properly you won't regret trying it. All I can suggest I'm afraid is to try out the related PC forums for any help you can extract from them. John Hall wrote: If the issue has been raised in the (PC software) supplier's forum, why complain here? Stuff like this is of course usually best sorted out in the PC forums. I can say from experience though that if it's related in any way to QL problems or something the average PCing QLer could sort out quickly (QPC2 users tend to operate fairly similar systems on the whole or run into the same type of problems) so I wouldn't definitely say it's a taboo subject here if it interferes with your QLing as long as you don't mind too much having other people object to the presence of your question if their viewpoint is not the same as yours. Another reason for raising it here (apart fromt he fact that helpful replies are often so quick here) is that we as QLers aren't always that confident on PC forums and the like, so it's sometimes worth a quick try here before resorting to the great big not-so-PC world out there if you think other QLers might have run into such QL-thwarting problems. (not really criticising either of you, just trying to point out the situation with PC problems being relevant or not isn't always that clear cut) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] tsunami
After hearing all about the natural disasters affecting the populations of some Asian countries, it was not nice to realise I have parts made by Tsunami on this PC. Without meaning to make light in any way of the awful situation those people find themselves in, it makes me wonder why anyone chose such a name for a computer company? Anyone know if it is connected - apparently the natural disaster term means Harbour (tsu) and Waves (name) in Japanese and of course is female gender like names of hurricanes and other natural disasters! Would be nice to know if the computer company's name means something different in Korean or whatever language it is, it might give me some comfort that I won't be sat here staring at a word on the keyboard which keeps reminding me of the misfortune of thousands of people. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
John Hall wrote: >> That's the "Shaded area" colour. > Hmm... when I change things via QCoCo, it appears to pick up the App > Win paper colour instead! Hmmm, doesn't look like "shaded area" can be separately set in QCoco. Probably because this QPAC2 menu is the only application that made ever use of it. >> > 2) The View window ink is black (on black paper!) >> Probably application window colours. > Yes, you're right. > > However, when I corrected this, I lost the Copy text in the > No/Yes/ESC/All confirmation window (white-on-white)! Right, that's a bug. Now if I only had a clue where the colour is set, this is some damn complicated code. > Re. the Sort by window (and also the Print window), further > experimentation suggests that the App Win Item colours are used > rather than the Loose Item colours, making it impossible to recreate > my "old" colour scheme :-( I have a (I think yet unreleased) version 1.43 here with the note "Minor colour fixes", so perhaps I did already fix that. Too tired and lazy to do a release now, though, it was quite a long party last night. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] infozip
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 04:05:02 -, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Does anyone know why unzip is looking for the signal extensions and what they add? It would be nice to have a copy available or a command line option that would totally avoid this minor inconvenience, especially in this case or for new users. People tend to panic over notes like this ;) Some versions of Unzip issue an error message but proceed to work perfectly well for common tasks without Signal Extensions present. I had a correspondence with Jonathan Hudson about this some time ago. He said there are situations where it tries to use SigExt but the message could be safely ignored. If so, it shouldn't have been issued to worry users needlessly was my argument. Yes I agree, but then Linux programmers expect their users to be fellow linux programmers, so never think about user friendliness in my experience. IIRC it was v5.32 or the version before that (or a small cluster of versions around that version number). Later and earlier versions did not issue the message. Nope - current version v5.40 still issues this warning. Nobody has come forward offering to compile and test v5.50 yet I see <> -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services 26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1RQ http://www.rwapservices.co.uk/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 03:57:22 -, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <> With Launchpad, 9 out of 10 problems are installation directory. Since QDOS or SMSQ don't tell programs which directory they were executed from (if you EXEC win1_programs_MYPROGRAM_exe the poor program doesn't know it came from win1_programs_ so can't find its own files unless it's configured with the name win1_programs_). In other words, all you have to do is configure Launchpad to tell it where it's been installed (i.e. where the LAUNCHPAD_dat and LAUNCHPAD_pwl files are) and 90% of problems are gone just like that. Sadly, even using Config is beyond some people without precise step by step instructions, never mind MenuConfig and level 2 configs etc etc. Yes this is a problem - our QWord installer sets up the config block automatically however :-) In DJC days people used to just ring me in the middle of the night for help rather than read instructions so I no longer have a number people can call me on. It was one of the reasons why DJC was shut down as I was going through a bad patch after the death of a child in 1994. So of course what was then happening was people sending the disk back (often keeping the printed instructions) with an angry letter demanding a refund as it doesn't work, even though reading the 2 page instruction slip would have got them going. If a disk reads OK, the version of the program has no known bugs preventing it from installing and starting I send an equally snooty letter back without a refund asking for a written assurance they haven't kept a copy, especially if the manual wasn't returned with the disk (the usual real reason was that the Jiffy bag had been thrown away by then and they had no large enough envelope to send the manual back, but how was I to know that?) Oh Dilwyn - you should have asked my advice - I was even a solicitor in them days !! At the end of the day, the program would not have breached the Sale of Goods Act, as it was fit for its purpose, just provided the user actually read the manual !! Back in DJC days again, I was threatened with being sued for that tactic, over a Â10 program refund. I paid up the Â10 refund to avoid costs, scandal, fuss, wasted time and so on after being told that even if I was technically right they'd still make it such a long drawn out painful time wasting experience for me for the sake of 10 pounds. A few months later at a workshop I spotted the silly pillock concerned running the same program he'd been given a refund for. At Freddy's suggestion IIRC I quietly took a picture of him at his computer running the program - the late Joe Haftke saw what I was up to (we used to share tables at workshops and I used to take a camera to get pictures for show reports in IQLR at the time) and thankfully kept quiet about it.Then when I'd developed the film I sent the customer a copy with a brief note saying "my turn to sue I think since you obviously kept and used a copy despite the refund". I kept quiet about it at the time to avoid too much trouble, although a then committee member did find out about it somehow and challenged me later as to what the hell was going on. Needless to say I have never heard from the customer since and haven't seen him at workshops in recent years either. Can't say I've ever really had a problem customer in my years of trading - damn now they will all start getting in touch with me! Quick touch wood Damn Roy you're too far away -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services 26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1RQ http://www.rwapservices.co.uk/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] email attachments
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 at 03:10:15, Dilwyn Jones wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) > >Amazes me that people are prepared to waste their time pestering people >like me who have never and never will knowingly respond to junk >mail/email/texts. Always amazes me how people take the attitude that >they'll do something just because it can be done, and no though >whatsoever to right, wrong or morality! Mind you, many people have been >gullible enough to fall for Nigerian email scams, ebay "I'll send you >cheque for 10 times the price, you send me 9 times the price back" and >sure enough the cheque bounces and gets charged against the customer's >account even though it appeared in the customer's account 4 days after >being banked as though it had been cleared. The banks have finally admitted there is no such thing as a cleared cheque. There are well documented cases of them debiting people's accounts up to 2 years after a cheque has been 'cleared'. This was reported on R4 'You and Yours" and "Money Programme". A interviewee from the banks admitted this. They reserve the right to claim money back on bad cheques without time limit. They say in some circumstances, with complicated fraud, it can take years to come to light. The only way I would accept a large amount of money by 'cheque' is a banker's draft or building society cheque. However there are plenty of examples of people using stolen building society cheques and banker's drafts, so they need clearing too. At least once they have cleared, they are sure to be OK. > >With junk mail and email I take the attitude that if they have to reach >out to me in this way, their product is obviously such a lot of crap >that nobody in their right mind would buy it of their own free will. Even worse are junk phone calls. I am sure you are pestered by these, including recorded voices announcing me as a 'winner'. Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Malcolm Cadman wrote: > ... And just when we thought it was safe to have v1.39 ... :-) > > Is that on your web site ? Nah, cannot. I did the updates for free but its basic status is still commercial. It can however be updated from the usual sources. > I will have to now have a look at all these colour experiments that you > have being doing. I've been preparing a demonstration .WIN file for years now, but I never seem to find the time to finish it. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] You can never have it all...
- Original Message - From: "Phoebus Dokos" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I think that mentioning it as an "extremely powerful etc..." BASIC Jan Jones was probably avoiding a suit for defamation by Commodore Inc :-) Oh I have to apologize - this was my failure: the second statement was not from Janet, but just an (imaginary) example how a statement from the other side could have been like... In my opinion both computers had one ingredient (good sound, good basic interpreter) but lack of the other ingredient... Greetings! Michael ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Marcel Kilgus <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Ok, second easiest: use QPAC2 v1.40 ;-) I mainly just changed the colour system anyway. ... And just when we thought it was safe to have v1.39 ... :-) Is that on your web site ? I will have to now have a look at all these colour experiments that you have being doing. -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Sat, 1 Jan 2005 13:28:37 +,() Malcolm Cadman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> /wrote: I solved the installation difficulty by starting QPC2 v.3.23 without running my normal boot sequence at all. Just went straight to the Demo disk. Ran the installation from there, used the 'Easy' option to write to the boot file present ( after taking the precaution of saving a backup copy of the boot, just in case ). You actually didn't have to do this as it saves a backup copy of your bootfile OK .. noted. Personally I would like someone to add on a 3D sculptured look to the QDT windows - which are essentially flat at present. Then the 'eye candy' appeal will be even greater. For that you probably have to change the system palette a bit. Marcel has a nice set of two (or more now?) basic files that will do that for you Good. I can now look them up ... :-) ... and make use of them. The latest IMac interface makes yet another step forward with its use of transparency and translucency. You mean of course Aqua and OSX :-) Yep ... :-) Ken Brickwood always brings his IMac portable to the London QL and Quanta Group meetings. So we all get to see and sometimes use that computer interface. Hopefully he will have the free QL emulator working on it soon. Which you Jim will know all about :-) Wait until he shows you that mucho cool task switcher that Apple has (simple wow... I was so jealous I nearly drilled his head ;-) hehe Yes ... I guess I know what you mean ... :-) PS - The icon creator is nicely implemented QDT Demo. -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] You can never have it all...
Michael Berger wrote: > In my opinion this book was written in a fairly technical style, it > is an excellent and comprehensive resource for reference purposes, > but definitely not a good starting point for newcomers. Right, but then it was never intended to be one. > (Chapter 14: The QL Sound) > > "The QL has an astonishingly varied repertoire of sounds and a powerful > speaker through which to play them." > > I guess at the time (around 1985) Jan had somewhen already seen/heared a > C=64 in action? There's almost a whole chapter about turning the sound off, including the tip to reset the QL to get rid of it as quickly as possible. So I don't think she liked it too much, either. ;-) Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] You can never have it all...
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 15:19:06 +0100,Î(Î) Michael Berger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Hello! First off I would like to wish you all a happy and healthy 2005. Inspired by the discussion on a "good superbasic book" on this mailing list I managed to get a second hand copy of Jan Jones "QL SuperBASIC - the definitive handbook". In my opinion this book was written in a fairly technical style, it is an excellent and comprehensive resource for reference purposes, but definitely not a good starting point for newcomers. However it is not only technical stuff. By reading across the book I ran into an excellent example of the world famous British humor which I would like to share with you: (Chapter 14: The QL Sound) "The QL has an astonishingly varied repertoire of sounds and a powerful speaker through which to play them." That sounds like usual Sinclair hooey to me :-) I guess at the time (around 1985) Jan had somewhen already seen/heared a C=64 in action? Because her statement sounds almost as ridiculous as the following (imaginary) statement: "The Commodore 64 has an extremely powerful and versatile Basic interpreter that allows effective control of all its resources." That's not far from the truth. It is known that Commodore's Basic is a piece of crap BUT you can actually access all the C64's resources from it (POKE, POKE, POKE :-)) I think that mentioning it as an "extremely powerful etc..." BASIC Jan Jones was probably avoiding a suit for defamation by Commodore Inc :-) Pah politics! Phoebus ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] You can never have it all...
Hello! First off I would like to wish you all a happy and healthy 2005. Inspired by the discussion on a "good superbasic book" on this mailing list I managed to get a second hand copy of Jan Jones "QL SuperBASIC - the definitive handbook". In my opinion this book was written in a fairly technical style, it is an excellent and comprehensive resource for reference purposes, but definitely not a good starting point for newcomers. However it is not only technical stuff. By reading across the book I ran into an excellent example of the world famous British humor which I would like to share with you: (Chapter 14: The QL Sound) "The QL has an astonishingly varied repertoire of sounds and a powerful speaker through which to play them." I guess at the time (around 1985) Jan had somewhen already seen/heared a C=64 in action? Because her statement sounds almost as ridiculous as the following (imaginary) statement: "The Commodore 64 has an extremely powerful and versatile Basic interpreter that allows effective control of all its resources." With kind Regards, pls. don't get me wrong ;-) Michael ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Black to the QL
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes I like to have a basic BOOT program to get a working system, and everything else into a 'boot1'. I don't really see the point in that unless you are using the JM Ok, so I was using the JM ROM, but I had a BOOT file that loaded some extensions which then ran a BOOT_BAS program to do normal stuff - that way I could re-run the BOOT[_bas] without having to try to reload the extensions, etc. Which reminds me - must contact you Tony regarding my [currently] ex-QL. Was the change of subject line deliberate or an apt mistype (back and black) Yes ... 'Black to the QL' would make a nice film title ... :-) ... a good pun on 'Back to the Future' ... :-) -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Well I am not so sure that QDT would be right if it weren't preinstalled. Moreover, I have found SMSQ/e 3.07 to be extremely unstable on the Q40 and Q60 and QDT doesn't work that well with older versions of (stabler) SMSQ/e. QDT is a very complex piece of software engineering (kudos to Jim of course) and as such is sometimes more difficult to tune than X-Windows. For a novice I am not so sure that it would be suitable at least not right away... maybe something like Launchpad... Launchpad is less ambitious a project than QDT but you'd be amazed how many people have managed to make a total mess of it. I went as far as to supply it deliberately misconfigured so that people would have to read the instructions as I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to use it without instructions (Launchpad doesn't work when you get it unless you read how to configure it). Umm ... I know what you are implying here. Yet probably not a good approach to take as you really want people to be able to use it as readily as possible, with a few problems as possible; and not have to do a lot of figuring out for themselves. Remember that other WIMP ( Windows / Icons / Mouse / Pointer ) environments just appear ready to use on other systems to the user. No 'sweat' involved ... :-) I have spent a couple of hours or more ... configuring Launchpad to match my own 'windrive' contents, and the way that I want it to be used. It has got a lot of potential. This has made my computing life with the QL / SMSQ nice and easy since. Yet many users, I am sure won't be at all bothered to do this, or even want to work out how; and it is those users that really should be a larger part of your market. Personally, I believe that you should supply Launchpad pretty well configured for the 'average' system contents that you can best anticipate most users possessing. A well educated guess at about 20 odd icons, and at least 2 directories, for example. In that way Launchpad would be 'GO' as soon as it was set up ! Users would appreciate the potential of what Launchpad does, and can achieve for them. Simple instructions about how to get rid of unwanted icons or alter the path names to make them work on the users own system should be highlighted. QDT takes that approach by scanning the 'windrive' contents, so that it sets up a users system for them. It tries to take away all the 'pain' from the user ! Obviously QDT is also much more ambitious in its overall intention that Launchpad, as you say. Yet I believe you could promote Launchpad's potential even more if it were pre-configured to a much higher extent. Because most users either don't know how or are too lazy to do all the configuring for themselves. Which then means it becomes an expert users only programme, whereas it should be easily accessible to all, or as many as possible. Anyway, keep up the good work :-) I use Launchpad all the time now. 'Easy peasy'. Yet I had to put the effort in to make it that way ... -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
ÎÎÎ Fri, 31 Dec 2004 04:07:12 -,Î(Î) Dilwyn Jones <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: Oh please go ahead... comment (You owe me that much after the drill thing ;-) heeheeehee) Referring to the caption compo in QL Today? We never did get any serious entries for that, sadly. Reason being of course that it was a silly picture to begin with ;-) Ffibys -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 13:28:37 +,Î(Î) Malcolm Cadman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: I solved the installation difficulty by starting QPC2 v.3.23 without running my normal boot sequence at all. Just went straight to the Demo disk. Ran the installation from there, used the 'Easy' option to write to the boot file present ( after taking the precaution of saving a backup copy of the boot, just in case ). You actually didn't have to do this as it saves a backup copy of your bootfile Personally I would like someone to add on a 3D sculptured look to the QDT windows - which are essentially flat at present. Then the 'eye candy' appeal will be even greater. For that you probably have to change the system palette a bit. Marcel has a nice set of two (or more now?) basic files that will do that for you The latest IMac interface makes yet another step forward with its use of transparency and translucency. You mean of course Aqua and OSX :-) Which you Jim will know all about :-) Wait until he shows you that mucho cool task switcher that Apple has (simple wow... I was so jealous I nearly drilled his head ;-) hehe Ffibys ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
John Hall wrote: > Yes... but, as I pointed out in my follow-up message, the "old" QPac2 > has both a "main border" colourway and a "menu window" colourway, > whereas the current version uses a single palette number :-( Actually I did check that both options are still available but now that I check again you're right. That's what you get when you answer in a hurry. And thinking of it, I had to remove the option as it's technically not doable. You can however find the complete old colour definitions in ee_wman_syspal_asm. >> Or, simplest solution actually, just don't start in high colour mode >> ;-) > But that would be tooo easy :-) Ok, second easiest: use QPAC2 v1.40 ;-) I mainly just changed the colour system anyway. Marcel ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Hunkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes On Dec 31, 2004, at 3:16 PM, Malcolm Cadman wrote: I actually did try it from the Demo floppy as it has LRUN "flp1_QDINST_BAS" printed on it. Although it didn't seem to want to start from there. Did the basic program not run? If it did run, what did you type in when it asks where the installer programs are? If running from the floppy you would need to enter: flp1_ See other recent email as to how I proceeded. Thanks for your help. -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, James Hunkins <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Guys, Can you do me a bit of a favor? Change the subject line if you want to keep talking about this other stuff? Trying to monitor for any QDT specific stuff but instead end up reading all about something else. Indeed :-) Back on the topic ... with a new day, new year ( ! ) and a fresh brain :-) I have now been able to install QDT Demo successfully from the Demo disk supplied by QL Today. Nice to see what it is ... and well done to yourself for producing it. I solved the installation difficulty by starting QPC2 v.3.23 without running my normal boot sequence at all. Just went straight to the Demo disk. Ran the installation from there, used the 'Easy' option to write to the boot file present ( after taking the precaution of saving a backup copy of the boot, just in case ). I did this on the main 'win1_' drive. It all ran smoothly and installed fine. QPC2 just needs to be in the High Color mode, which for me is either 640 x 480, or 800 x 600. Which is the limitation of the graphic card that I have in the PC. As Rich Mellor correctly pointed out my misgivings about the Wman present being the problem, were unfounded, as the High Color version it is built into SMSQ/E. Previously, with the 'QDTINST_BAS' programme I was getting this error after entering 'flp1_' as the source location : InfoZip 5.21b (jh) - cannot find QDTINST_ZIP. Which is why I also previously had to copy the files across to a hard drive directory of 'QDT_', and proceed to install from there. I have had time too, to check the previous 'manual' installation that I did to 'win2_', the Zip Drive; and get this working. Using 'Rjob' I could see that 'QDT_EXE' was actually present in memory. It just hadn't started after the 'EX' command. For some reason. Just a cursor in an empty SBASIC window. All I needed to do was to issue the 'RUN' command. Subsequently I have created a separate 'boot_QDT' as an option from my boot file. As I don't necessarily wish to have the QDT Demo as the desktop at present, the Demo is limited in what it what it can do, inevitably. QDT is a very nice interface, even at this development stage - 'a work in progress' - and works very smoothly and quickly. So, if you are reading this - give a go ! Ideal for all the users who are familiar other WIMP environments ( Windows / Icons / Mouse / Pointer ), like Windows, IMac, etc. Can they be tempted back to a SMSQ/E + QDT environment too ? As ever it is good software that makes users like and want to use a system. Hopefully having QDT as a desktop will encourage this. Personally I would like someone to add on a 3D sculptured look to the QDT windows - which are essentially flat at present. Then the 'eye candy' appeal will be even greater. For example, on my old RISC OS system I have an add-on called '!NewLook' which gives that flat WIMP appearance the 3D treatment.. Which still looks as good as anything on Windows, although '!NewLook' was done over 10 years ago on RISC OS. Which was at the time of Windows 3.11 ( remember that interface ? ). The latest IMac interface makes yet another step forward with its use of transparency and translucency. Which you Jim will know all about :-) -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] email attachments
I also get these, as they usually have an empty subject line I tried to block them via OE's filters by rejecting an empty string in the subject line, wouldn't work though, same thing in Thunderbird you can mark them as junk but it wont work with the next one to arrive, it a dodgy strategy anyway as sometimes genuine sender forget to fill the subject line. All the best - Bill OE's filters are a bit hit and miss anyway. I've never really understood the mechanism, because I have certain phrases and keywords set up to delete spam, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Example: if the subject line is "free porn" it should delete it off the server and not even bother sending it to me. Sometimes it does, sometimes emails with exactly that line appear. Weird. Should invest in a decent anti spam, but even the Symantec one at work doesn't do very well, so I doubt anything I can afford will be of much use. The majority of spam has the same or similar subject lines with the only real changes being the occasional deliberate misspelling or insertion of an accented character or something. I could probably do better by taking Geoff's idea of rejecting anything that hasn't got QL or Quanta in the subject line. Blank ones get deleted without a second glance here. AVG7 does a decent job of catching the viruses as they arrive, between AVG7 and having the preview pane disabled, M$ security patches and a bit of common sense with emails from people I don't know and not getting too hot under the collar about general spam (as opposed to drugs and porn ones which do annoy me) I seem to be doing OK at the moment. My mobile has been getting some silly texts from some under-18s disco club or something called KAOS lately. As they seem to be bona-fide (I know someone who knows of them), I asked via their website for them to remove me from their lists as I am not under 18, am not in the area of the gigs they advertise, have never so much as shown an interest in them, the texts are pointless to me and so on. I still don't know if O2 gave them my number, or if they simply bombard all possible numbers with their junk or if I now have a mobile number which used to belong to someone who was a customer of theirs. Or maybe one of the disgruntled former colleagues whom I gave evidence against when they were sacked for theft have done this in revenge. The texts do seem to have stopped, but whether that's just because it's the quiet christmas period I don't know. Amazes me that people are prepared to waste their time pestering people like me who have never and never will knowingly respond to junk mail/email/texts. Always amazes me how people take the attitude that they'll do something just because it can be done, and no though whatsoever to right, wrong or morality! Mind you, many people have been gullible enough to fall for Nigerian email scams, ebay "I'll send you cheque for 10 times the price, you send me 9 times the price back" and sure enough the cheque bounces and gets charged against the customer's account even though it appeared in the customer's account 4 days after being banked as though it had been cleared. With junk mail and email I take the attitude that if they have to reach out to me in this way, their product is obviously such a lot of crap that nobody in their right mind would buy it of their own free will. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] infozip
Does anyone know why unzip is looking for the signal extensions and what they add? It would be nice to have a copy available or a command line option that would totally avoid this minor inconvenience, especially in this case or for new users. People tend to panic over notes like this ;) Some versions of Unzip issue an error message but proceed to work perfectly well for common tasks without Signal Extensions present. I had a correspondence with Jonathan Hudson about this some time ago. He said there are situations where it tries to use SigExt but the message could be safely ignored. If so, it shouldn't have been issued to worry users needlessly was my argument. IIRC it was v5.32 or the version before that (or a small cluster of versions around that version number). Later and earlier versions did not issue the message. Signal Extensions, Environment Variables and other commonly required free extensions are available from the Toolkits page on my software download site http://www.dilwyn.uk6.net/tk/index.html or on disk from my PD library if anyone has problems getting hold of them. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Black to the QL
I like to have a basic BOOT program to get a working system, and put everything else into a 'boot1'. I don't really see the point in that unless you are using the JM ROM Ok, so I was using the JM ROM, but I had a BOOT file that loaded some extensions which then ran a BOOT_BAS program to do normal stuff - that way I could re-run the BOOT[_bas] without having to try to reload the extensions, etc. Which reminds me - must contact you Tony regarding my [currently] ex-QL. Was the change of subject line deliberate or an apt mistype (back and black) Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
Well I am not so sure that QDT would be right if it weren't preinstalled. Moreover, I have found SMSQ/e 3.07 to be extremely unstable on the Q40 and Q60 and QDT doesn't work that well with older versions of (stabler) SMSQ/e. QDT is a very complex piece of software engineering (kudos to Jim of course) and as such is sometimes more difficult to tune than X-Windows. For a novice I am not so sure that it would be suitable at least not right away... maybe something like Launchpad... Launchpad is less ambitious a project than QDT but you'd be amazed how many people have managed to make a total mess of it. I went as far as to supply it deliberately misconfigured so that people would have to read the instructions as I wouldn't expect anyone to be able to use it without instructions (Launchpad doesn't work when you get it unless you read how to configure it). With Launchpad, 9 out of 10 problems are installation directory. Since QDOS or SMSQ don't tell programs which directory they were executed from (if you EXEC win1_programs_MYPROGRAM_exe the poor program doesn't know it came from win1_programs_ so can't find its own files unless it's configured with the name win1_programs_). In other words, all you have to do is configure Launchpad to tell it where it's been installed (i.e. where the LAUNCHPAD_dat and LAUNCHPAD_pwl files are) and 90% of problems are gone just like that. Sadly, even using Config is beyond some people without precise step by step instructions, never mind MenuConfig and level 2 configs etc etc. In DJC days people used to just ring me in the middle of the night for help rather than read instructions so I no longer have a number people can call me on. It was one of the reasons why DJC was shut down as I was going through a bad patch after the death of a child in 1994. So of course what was then happening was people sending the disk back (often keeping the printed instructions) with an angry letter demanding a refund as it doesn't work, even though reading the 2 page instruction slip would have got them going. If a disk reads OK, the version of the program has no known bugs preventing it from installing and starting I send an equally snooty letter back without a refund asking for a written assurance they haven't kept a copy, especially if the manual wasn't returned with the disk (the usual real reason was that the Jiffy bag had been thrown away by then and they had no large enough envelope to send the manual back, but how was I to know that?) Back in DJC days again, I was threatened with being sued for that tactic, over a Â10 program refund. I paid up the Â10 refund to avoid costs, scandal, fuss, wasted time and so on after being told that even if I was technically right they'd still make it such a long drawn out painful time wasting experience for me for the sake of 10 pounds. A few months later at a workshop I spotted the silly pillock concerned running the same program he'd been given a refund for. At Freddy's suggestion IIRC I quietly took a picture of him at his computer running the program - the late Joe Haftke saw what I was up to (we used to share tables at workshops and I used to take a camera to get pictures for show reports in IQLR at the time) and thankfully kept quiet about it.Then when I'd developed the film I sent the customer a copy with a brief note saying "my turn to sue I think since you obviously kept and used a copy despite the refund". I kept quiet about it at the time to avoid too much trouble, although a then committee member did find out about it somehow and challenged me later as to what the hell was going on. Needless to say I have never heard from the customer since and haven't seen him at workshops in recent years either. Even in the QL scene, there'll always be the one who spoils it for the decent majority (and we are so lucky as QLers that such a high percentage of us are decent human beings). Freddy Vachha and I (and some other traders at the time I think) had problems with one guy who'd send us long rambling letters about everything under the sun EXCEPT QL software. Or the QL problem would be one line buried deep in a 20 page letter. Freddy did something which stopped the letters overnight (don't know what he did) - boy did Freddy have a way with problems like that! But the regular ones which really got to me were the letters from people having problems with disks of programs they'd got from Richard Alexander of CGH Services. I'd try to explain I didn't even do PD software on the whole (apart from the occasional disk as a favour to someone), but the answer was always (and I really do mean always) "you're in Wales, it must be from you". Which was rather a strange thing to say because Richard Alexander rarely if ever attended QL shows, so they must have written to him to get the disk from him through the post ruling out a case of poor memory or nameless traders at shows. Jim has been really
Re: [ql-users] Back to the QL
>Have a read and see what you think. I would welcome any other >suggestions for material to help those returning to the QL scene >and possibly those who are into retro-computing in general and >perhaps approaching the QL for the first time. I don't know if Jochen has mentioned this but I am working on a series for QL Today with just this in mind I sent Jochen a list of topics I have found that people have trouble with when either returning to the QL after a long absence or upgrading from a QL with SGC to a Q60 / QPC2 etc. I should have the first one of these articles in the bag for the next issue. I am hoping that some other people will contribute articles too. This is a quote from the email I sent to Jochen the other day: 'This is a list of some of the issues I think we should cover : > Use of Hard drives > Use of P.E. > Use of DOS disks > Screen Resolution > BOOT files > Colour Drivers > Printing > Network ? SERnet, QL and TCP/IP > Internet > Programs ? File handling / utilities /word processing/graphics Yes, all problematic fields. text87 is one of the things to tackle as well.' He didn't mention it, but he's busy and knows I rarely get time to discuss anything in any great length. QL Today is a bit "skin of the teeth" some months. It really is something that should be done. It needs to be in print and on the web, as so much initial contact now is by people finding the QL websites via search engines etc. Quanta reprinted the first part of my Software Sources article because Roy felt it would be a useful source of information. Second part of that should be in a QL Today soon, assuming Jochen and I remember to include it! If there's any material on the page which might help with your article, just use it. I've kept the page simple apart from the links to other pages, so by copying and pasting the text from the html source or in your browser you should be able to grab the chunks you want pretty easily. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Name calling
Use the Welsh version, Ffibys for variety. Or even just ask people to call you Dokos as you seem to be the only one on this list, just as I think I'm the only Jones (for once). == Dilwin - should that Dukos be Dulos!? Aaarghhh...even fellow Welshmen get my name wrong now :-) And Ffibys thinks he's got problems! At least spelling his name "Ffibys" is sufficiently badly wrong and different that he knows I'm taking the Michael ;-) -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QL Today - David McCann - Q60 Blues
Oh please go ahead... comment (You owe me that much after the drill thing ;-) heeheeehee) Referring to the caption compo in QL Today? We never did get any serious entries for that, sadly. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Back to the QL
Very well done - you have spent some time on this. Just took a quick scan and nothing really bad stood out. If you get carried a way, a couple of small graphics at the top might help the initial look (to keep the casual browser's attention long enough to start reading it) but that is a very, very minor nit. Cheers, jim Well, I thought content first, flashy design later. Kept as simple text like this will make it easier to update as and when new ideas pop up. If no major changes needed after a few days, will "pretty" it up a bit. If anyone (Quanta, traders, friends of ex-QLers etc) wishes to make use of this page in any way feel free. There's a lot of links in it, so probably not very good as a text file, but anyone is welcome to use the page in any way they want. As far as changes go, I'd rather people sent me alterations/additions to get it updated in one place in the short term rather than posting copies on their sites and updating their copy, but once it's stable (after a couple of weeks maybe?) anyone can do what they like with it in the interests of helping ex-QLers and new QLers. -- Dilwyn Jones -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.298 / Virus Database: 265.6.5 - Release Date: 26/12/2004 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Firmware. Was: QDT Demo
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 at 06:14:28, Phoebus Dokos wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) >> Whe he said "Firmware is on the board" he was talking Eproms, logic >> chips etc. > >Yes but these are two different things. Firmware is NOT logic chips - >unless these logic chips are complete CPUs- Then we are talking cross purposes. Lets stop getting tied up in definitions of 'firmware. I am talking about all designer code on boards, whether it be in eproms, logic chips, or whatever. That is the issue, not a silly to and fro on the definition of 'firmware. -That- is what Roy was on about, I think. Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QPac2 Colourways vs System Pallete
Marcel Kilgus wrote: > > 1) The "empty" device name loose items in the Source/Destination > > Directory window are solid black rather than a white/green stipple > > That's the "Shaded area" colour. Hmm... when I change things via QCoCo, it appears to pick up the App Win paper colour instead! > > 2) The View window ink is black (on black paper!) > > Probably application window colours. Yes, you're right. However, when I corrected this, I lost the Copy text in the No/Yes/ESC/All confirmation window (white-on-white)! Re. the Sort by window (and also the Print window), further experimentation suggests that the App Win Item colours are used rather than the Loose Item colours, making it impossible to recreate my "old" colour scheme :-( > > Also, at the risk of upsetting Phoebus and Marcel, does anyone > > know how I can replace the colourful new system sprites with the > > boring old ones? :-) > > You could add the smsq_gold_sysspr module to the SMSQ/E file, it > should override the other one, or use the code therein to create a > LRESPR extension. I think just the header has to be cut away for > this to work. > > Or, simplest solution actually, just don't start in high colour mode > ;-) The trouble is that this option does not exist on the Qx0, which is what started me off down this road... Happy New Year and... QL Forever John ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/e v3.07 on the Q40/Q60, was QDT Demo
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 11:14:53 +, Roy wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Rich Mellor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Roy, please do not start this up all over again - I was not trying to start anything up just correcting your statement. I will shut up about it now. Good - time to move forward :-) Yes, Wolfgang has a Q60, but it is not up to Wolfgang to identify why software is incompatible and most certainly he cannot always verify reported problems with smsq/e on a Q40, Q40i, Q60, Gold Card and Super Gold Card - especially when very little detail is provided of the system make up, the version of smsq/e being used (and whether it is an official release or self-compiled) and also what versions of the programs are being used that show a problem. All that plus the problem of having access to all the various hardware makes it extremely difficult for operating system designers to identify potential problems without the actual hardware specs and co-operation of someone with in-depth knowledge of the hardware. Well that is the reason I still have a Q40 and Aurora system running. If people report problems exist we can effectively test them to see if we can a> reproduce the problem b> find the cause c> fix it For my part I can really only do the first one since I am no programmer and, now that SMSQ/E is no longer the province of one person, we do have to rely on the beneficence of others in providing their time checking and re-writing code but this has worked, on the whole, much better since the licence was adopted than it did when it was all down to TT who, quite often, had severe time restraints. Now we can have a few people looking at things and they get found and sorted quicker. Yes but unfortunately, as the amount of hardware options increase, the traders and those who support the o/s struggle to keep up with it - this is why its so important to keep the hardware designers on board too :-) Put all this to one side it is now 2005, quite a few years since you Roy and Tony F produced the Q40s. SMSQ/e has also now continued to be developed quite successfully under the new licence for a couple of years (>) and those who produce the hardware should not be involved in arguments over the terms under which an operating system is released. I agree with that so, why is it we still get the ''v2.98 was the last real SMSQ/E for the Q40/60' comments as last week ? This is unhelpful to the users and not true as many people with these systems and later versions of SMSQ/E will testify. You have to remember this is a public forum and anything here will affect people's decisions on whether or not to adopt hardware or software. Definitely - for myself, I have not come across any real problems or issues with hardware or the operating system throughout the QL's long history - the main problems appear to be in the software itself (which does not always get updated to take account of changes in hardware and o/s). Any bugs I find I generally report as soon as I can and they normally get fixed in the next release. My main moans about smsq/e in December all really boil down to the poor documentation which exists for smsq/e for programmers to use and did not really affect the users. I know that Dilwyn is starting to collate this all together for me to cast my eye over and hopefully merge into a new programmers documentation which would resolve much of this. <> Woe betide that Nasta produces a Coldfire which has even more incompatability issues, if people are not willing to work together to try and resolve them. Nasta and Marcel (who has done a lot of work on SMSQ/E and probably understands it better than anyone) are already discussing this. As always it will be device drivers that cause the problems not the O/S That is good news indeed - however, incompatabilities in smsq/e can be resolved - it is the software incompatabilities which may colour people's views of Coldfire Trouble is that when users buy a new piece of hardware and suddenly an old program no longer works, they are too quick to blame the operating system or the hardware, rather than thinking that maybe the software they have (which may not have been updated for 15-20 years) might actually need amending. -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services 26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1RQ http://www.rwapservices.co.uk/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/e v3.07 on the Q40/Q60, was QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Rich Mellor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes Roy, please do not start this up all over again - I was not trying to start anything up just correcting your statement. I will shut up about it now. There are incompatabilities due to the different processors used and the fact that people can use the CACHE modes to improve performance. However, that will also be true if a Coldfire expansion board is produced by Nasta - the big difference, I feel, is that this ill feeling and constant slating, coupled with arguments over the licence has caused Peter Graf to abandon support for smsq/e. I will ignore the excellent opportunity that that statement offers me - see above not starting something else up. Yes, Wolfgang has a Q60, but it is not up to Wolfgang to identify why software is incompatible and most certainly he cannot always verify reported problems with smsq/e on a Q40, Q40i, Q60, Gold Card and Super Gold Card - especially when very little detail is provided of the system make up, the version of smsq/e being used (and whether it is an official release or self-compiled) and also what versions of the programs are being used that show a problem. All that plus the problem of having access to all the various hardware makes it extremely difficult for operating system designers to identify potential problems without the actual hardware specs and co-operation of someone with in-depth knowledge of the hardware. Well that is the reason I still have a Q40 and Aurora system running. If people report problems exist we can effectively test them to see if we can a> reproduce the problem b> find the cause c> fix it For my part I can really only do the first one since I am no programmer and, now that SMSQ/E is no longer the province of one person, we do have to rely on the beneficence of others in providing their time checking and re-writing code but this has worked, on the whole, much better since the licence was adopted than it did when it was all down to TT who, quite often, had severe time restraints. Now we can have a few people looking at things and they get found and sorted quicker. Put all this to one side it is now 2005, quite a few years since you Roy and Tony F produced the Q40s. SMSQ/e has also now continued to be developed quite successfully under the new licence for a couple of years (>) and those who produce the hardware should not be involved in arguments over the terms under which an operating system is released. I agree with that so, why is it we still get the ''v2.98 was the last real SMSQ/E for the Q40/60' comments as last week ? This is unhelpful to the users and not true as many people with these systems and later versions of SMSQ/E will testify. You have to remember this is a public forum and anything here will affect people's decisions on whether or not to adopt hardware or software. At the end of the day, PCs are so successful because if there is a problem with Windows running on the latest Intel or AMD processor, Intel / AMD do not tell Microsoft to go sort it out themselves cos "there is nothing wrong with our hardware - your operating system must wrong, but because it's not released on our terms, we won't help you to find out why". I don't really think that is why it is so successful - that is a whole different arena. The point is that hardware and software are all beta tested and refined long before they public even get an inkling they might be released. Even then they get it wrong a lot because the whole thing is now so complex and there are so many variables to take into account. I don't think we have seen a motherboard arrive at our place which has not had to have at least one BIOS revision - some even before they are released. But of course these little spats between corporations do happen. Look at Microsoft versus Sun and Intel versus Via in the past few years. Both arguments over the terms of a licence. 2005 should be a time for the QL community to join together once again - no-one has to work under the smsq/e licence if they don't want to, however, we should be able to expect the hardware designers to help the o/s designers That is what usually happens and what is happening with Nasta at the moment. (why do I feel that if Tony Tebby was still responsible for smsq/e that is exactly what would be happening). Because you are wearing your 'look back with Rose tint' spectacles I suppose. SO HOW DO WE GO FORWARD FROM HERE ? === 3) Roy - bury your ill feelings and accept that what happened with the Q40 is over. People just want to move forward and resolve any problems they are having with software on those systems. I do not have any ill feelings - I do feel that we cannot make bald incorrect statements here that is all. Woe betide that Nasta produces a Coldfire which has even more incompatability issues, if people are not willing to work together to try and
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes You obviously have it confused... I do not see how any of what you wrote makes what I said confused.. The controller chips on I/O boards are firmware by the definitions you gave. (And which I have removed so no one has to read it all twice- can we try to do this please?) As you can see by definition Firmware has nothing to do with "hard coded" logic embedded into chip designs (logic gates etc). Pedantic - that was not what I was saying. One can argue that this is firmware but the definition of Firmware also means "software". By the classic definition of software you need some kind of CPU to run it (ie Control Unit, ALU, Memory) which hardware doesn't have. Also rather pedantic. Your example of the Super Gold Card is wrong of course because the SGC is a full computer that HAPPENS to have a multi i/o chip on it. The CPU on the SGC needs some software (included in the ROM - the SGC ROM that is) together with logic circuits provided in hardware (but that could be theoretically software) and which is the GLUE chip. The glue chip has NO firmware. It has logic burned into it. It cannot be changed like software. And also that logic by itself can do nothing. It's the SGC's firmware (the ROM) that makes it work (that and the rest of the system). OK the SGC is not a full computer because it can only read an O/S in from an external source and I did not say that the Glue chip was firmware but that the device controller chip was. It was bought pre-programmed and the Glue chip provided the drivers that allowed communication between that and the QL in order to make the drives work. Remember for the SGC example the rest of your QL is nothing but a serial, video, kbd and microdrive IO board for the *real computer* that is the SGC. Even the ROM is really not needed as the SGC patches it and creates a new rom version in RAM. It is needed because it would have nothing to start up with if it was not there. If your example were true we would not need anything else except a Qubide and a superHermes for the I/O - should be an easy board to make. I look forward to you making one for us. Anyhow let us stop this sill pedantic argument about what is or isn't a definition of firmware. All I was saying was that the logic or whatever you want to call it on the I/O board may have trouble dealing with drives of a size for which the original programmers could not have foreseen. Many BIOS's have problems with today's drives. Well at least I remember that v.2y99 was the first one that could get Prowess that had a lot of trouble with the cache to work properly. Before that only the patched 2.98 (courtesy of RZ) could work properly where cache was concerned. I got ProWesS to work by turning off the caches completely. They may have had a good effect of shaving a few seconds off a benchmark but I wanted the software to work and that was why I wanted the Q40. At the time it was the fastest thing around. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] Firmware. Was: QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 09:51:41 +,Î(Î) Tony Firshman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 at 21:18:05, Phoebus Dokos wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) Sat, 1 Jan 2005 01:48:33 +,() Roy wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> /wrote: What are you talking about ? Firmware is what is on the board itself. Each Chip has a set of instructions built into it and you have to interface with the controller to talk to the hardware. How else could you do it. Really this is silly. Every device has to be able to talk to the controlling software. I am sure Roy's firmware definition tied in with this. He was not talking about the processor. Absolutely, however this was not firmware he was talking about :-) He talks about two different things and he rolls them into one. Also originally he was talking about Multi I/O firmware... Qx0 compatible cards have none. Whe he said "Firmware is on the board" he was talking Eproms, logic chips etc. Yes but these are two different things. Firmware is NOT logic chips - unless these logic chips are complete CPUs- I am -sure- he was not talking about "logic embedded into chip designs". But that's what he said unless I completely misunderstood in which case let's just forget the whole thing :-) If you are going to 'argue' about semantics, it is probably best left to private emails. Hehe that is one way to look at it. However semantics is important to the issue of compatibility, bug reporting etc. It's not an issue of "You say potato, I say potato(h) :-)" The problem is that if we confuse even basic terms, then in a public forum such as this we will never understand each other which is is detrimental to the development of software and debugging of existing one :-) There *is* a good reason why semantics is a whole linguistic field... we do need to understand each other :-) Ffibys ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Firmware. Was:QDT Demo
ÎÎÎ Sat, 1 Jan 2005 09:45:29 +,Î(Î) Tony Firshman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ÎÎÏÎÏÎ/wrote: ... ah and that reminds me of one major 'firmware' deficiency. The PC I/O cards send an IRQ pulse only. The on-board firmware as supplied had no way of registering these. Which on-board firmware? You mean the ROMs of the Q40? or the software on the cards? ...because they have none Peter said he could trap these, but there was no room in the firmware to add the code. Oh you mean trap it in hardware (in the Lattice chips) right? That may be right. AFAIK the Lattice chips are filled up to the neck The parallel printer therefore had to be run by software timing (TT code) only and therefore slowed down. We had to remove the relevant IRQ jumper from the I/O boards. IIRC Peter's driver (QDOS Classic but also usable under SMSQ/e) doesn't use polling anymore -but I would have to look at the code of course - I will get back to you on that :-) I don't know, but I suspect running more than one I/O card, for extra serial ports, was a similar issue. That used to be the problem with some cards. I am running 4 serials without a problem. Ffibys -- Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 01:40:00 +, Roy wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: <> In that case get the writing right and don't just lump it all in one sentence. I2C is not a part of Minerva but the Minerva board (the MKII one) to use I2C you need to load the extensions which are nice enough to work as a module under SMSQ/e too. And you need I2C for? We want I2C to allow QWord to play proper music on the Aurora + SGC version, same as it does on QPC2 :-) -- Rich Mellor RWAP Services 26 Oak Road, Shelfield, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 1RQ http://www.rwapservices.co.uk/ ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] SMSQ/e v3.07 on the Q40/Q60, was QDT Demo
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 01:40:00 +, Roy wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes For the most part minus some problems with older very early Qx0 machines, Qx0s are quite unproblematic and their hardware is quite well documented. So if the hardware is working properly (as it is) why should a hardware designer fix a problem that it is in software? For example it wasn't the hardware's problem that the Q60's couldn't work with SMSQ/e... it was the software that had the MOVEP instructions built in. Wrong again I am afraid. There were many problems with the hardware itself some of which were, I believe, corrected in 'stealth mode'.. Hence the 'Q40 is no longer' supported tag. Tony Firshman identified a number of problems which Peter would not acknowledge and the serial ports were a source of several problems for TT. Software was just a fraction of it. Roy, please do not start this up all over again - there are bitter feelings on this on all sides and the Q40i is now a very stable platform. What caused the problems on the original batch of Q40s, should remain in the annuls of history. Unfortunately, the Q40i and Q60 continue to get a bad press despite the fact that the hardware itself is now very stable and provides an excellent QL replacement. There are incompatabilities due to the different processors used and the fact that people can use the CACHE modes to improve performance. However, that will also be true if a Coldfire expansion board is produced by Nasta - the big difference, I feel, is that this ill feeling and constant slating, coupled with arguments over the licence has caused Peter Graf to abandon support for smsq/e. Yes, Wolfgang has a Q60, but it is not up to Wolfgang to identify why software is incompatible and most certainly he cannot always verify reported problems with smsq/e on a Q40, Q40i, Q60, Gold Card and Super Gold Card - especially when very little detail is provided of the system make up, the version of smsq/e being used (and whether it is an official release or self-compiled) and also what versions of the programs are being used that show a problem. All that plus the problem of having access to all the various hardware makes it extremely difficult for operating system designers to identify potential problems without the actual hardware specs and co-operation of someone with in-depth knowledge of the hardware. Put all this to one side it is now 2005, quite a few years since you Roy and Tony F produced the Q40s. SMSQ/e has also now continued to be developed quite successfully under the new licence for a couple of years (>) and those who produce the hardware should not be involved in arguments over the terms under which an operating system is released. At the end of the day, PCs are so successful because if there is a problem with Windows running on the latest Intel or AMD processor, Intel / AMD do not tell Microsoft to go sort it out themselves cos "there is nothing wrong with our hardware - your operating system must be wrong, but because it's not released on our terms, we won't help you to find out why". 2005 should be a time for the QL community to join together once again - no-one has to work under the smsq/e licence if they don't want to, however, we should be able to expect the hardware designers to help the o/s designers (why do I feel that if Tony Tebby was still responsible for smsq/e that is exactly what would be happening). SO HOW DO WE GO FORWARD FROM HERE ? === 1) Phoebus - it appears that you have found instances where software running on the Q40 is unstable (no idea if this is a Q40 or a Q40i or even what the differences between the hardware are). Please check that you have the latest release versions of those software programs (such as Sysmon) and then if you are still experiencing problems, can you please list those problems in detail and what software is involved? It would also help if you could try earlier versions of smsq/e - possibly start with v2.98 (the last TT official release which Peter Graf still favours) unmodified, to see if those problems are still apparent. If not, then check an nitermediate version to try and find out which version these problems were introduced in. Also, is it with or without copyback? If it is qliberated programs, then I believe that you have no option but to switch off the copyback cache. 2) Peter - please oh please, if there IS a problem wiht latest versions of smsq/e please come back into the QL community and try to help identify what may be causing these problems... We are not asking you to re-write the o/s just to help provide an indication of where the o/s may be failing on your hardware design. 3) Roy - bury your ill feelings and accept that what happened with the Q40 is over. People just want
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 at 21:18:05, Phoebus Dokos wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) > Sat, 1 Jan 2005 01:48:33 +,() Roy wood ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> /wrote: > >> What are you talking about ? Firmware is what is on the board itself. >>Each Chip has a set of instructions built into it and you have to >>interface with the controller to talk to the hardware. How else could >>you do it. Really this is silly. Every device has to be able to talk >>to the controlling software. On the SGC there was a standard device >>to talk to the floppy drives and the 'glue' chip on the SGC talked >>to that. Both of these were firmware in a s much as they were >>written to the chip itself . In the case of the ISA controller there >>is only one kind of firmware and that is the code on teh chips which >>talks to the hardware. > >You obviously have it confused... > >Definitions of Firmware (from various sources) > >1. Software that is embedded in a hardware device that allows reading >and executing the software, but does not allow modification, e.g., >writing or deleting data by an end user. (188) Note 1: An example of >firmware is a computer program in a read-only memory (ROM) integrated >circuit chip. A hardware configuration is usually used to represent >the software. Note 2: Another example of firmware is a program >embedded in an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) chip, >which program may be modified by special external hardware, but not by >an application program. >www.bandwidthmarket.com/resources/glossary/F3.html > >2. Alterable programs in semipermanent storage, e.g., some type of >read-only or flash reprogrammable memory. >www.lantronix.com/learning/glossary/ > >3. Software routines stored in read-only memory (ROM). Unlike random >access memory (RAM), read-only memory stays intact in the absence of >electrical power. Startup routines and low-level input/output >instructions are stored in firmware. See also BIOS, EFI. >www.microsoft.com/hwdev/glossary.htm > >4. Any software stored in a form of read-only memoryROM,EPROM,or >EEPROM---that maintains its contents when power is removed. The BIOS >used in IBM-compatible computers is firmware. >www.angelfire.com/ny3/diGi8tech/FGlossary.html > >5. Software (programs or data) that has been written onto read-only >memory (ROM). Firmware is a combination of software and hardware. >ROMs, PROMs and EPROMs that have data or programs recorded on them are >firmware. >www.5starsupport.com/info/glossary.htm > >6, Software routines that are permanently written onto read-only memory >www.puredata.com/manual/backboneswiches/appendix/glossary.html > >7. A computer program or software stored permanently in PROM or ROM. >www.bbdsoft.com/glossary.html > > >As you can see by definition Firmware has nothing to do with "hard >coded" logic embedded into chip designs (logic gates etc). One can >argue that this is firmware but the definition of Firmware also means >"software". By the classic definition of software you need some kind >of CPU to run it (ie Control Unit, ALU, Memory) which hardware doesn't >have. >Your example of the Super Gold Card is wrong of course because the SGC >is a full computer that HAPPENS to have a multi i/o chip on it. The >CPU on the SGC needs some software (included in the ROM - the SGC ROM >that is) together with logic circuits provided in hardware (but that >could be theoretically software) and which is the GLUE chip. The glue >chip has NO firmware. It has logic burned into it. It cannot be >changed like software. And also that logic by itself can do nothing. >It's the SGC's firmware (the ROM) that makes it work (that and the >rest of the system). Remember for the SGC example the rest of your QL >is nothing but a serial, video, kbd and microdrive IO board for the >*real computer* that is the SGC. Even the ROM is really not needed as >the SGC patches it and creates a new rom version in RAM. >Now on other kind of hardware you can or you cannot have firmware >(ROM/EPROM/PROM/FLASH) based software on it. Q40 cards don't. > I am sure Roy's firmware definition tied in with this. He was not talking about the processor. Whe he said "Firmware is on the board" he was talking Eproms, logic chips etc. I am -sure- he was not talking about "logic embedded into chip designs". If you are going to 'argue' about semantics, it is probably best left to private emails. Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] QDT Demo
On Sat, 1 Jan 2005 at 01:48:33, Roy wood wrote: (ref: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>) >In message <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Phoebus Dokos <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >gr.net> writes >>> Wrong. The firmware is what is on the chip that does the >>>controlling. That firmware is, these days, often flash memory so it >>>can be updated to support new media (as happens often in CD Writers >>>etc.) The hardware and O/S has to interface with the onboard >>>firmware in order to control the device. I thought you went to >>>college to learn this stuff!! (He he) >> >>I am sorry but you are wrong. By Firmware we mean software (specific >>to a CPU unless someone has created JAVA bytecode firmware that I >>don't know about) that is put on a hardware add on for ANY number of >>reasons. There are kinds of firmware of course and some are >>completely foreign to the platform (good example is the old Turtle >>beach firmware that was in two parts. One was the PC code that was >>used as a loader for the 68000 that was on board that had a different >>firmware altogether (that was being downloaded) and which happened to >>be 68K code. >What are you talking about ? Firmware is what is on the board itself. >Each Chip has a set of instructions built into it and you have to >interface with the controller to talk to the hardware. How else could >you do it. Really this is silly. Every device has to be able to talk to >the controlling software. On the SGC there was a standard device to >talk to the floppy drives and the 'glue' chip on the SGC talked to >that. Both of these were firmware in a s much as they were written to >the chip itself . In the case of the ISA controller there is only one >kind of firmware and that is the code on teh chips which talks to the >hardware. ... ah and that reminds me of one major 'firmware' deficiency. The PC I/O cards send an IRQ pulse only. The on-board firmware as supplied had no way of registering these. Peter said he could trap these, but there was no room in the firmware to add the code. The parallel printer therefore had to be run by software timing (TT code) only and therefore slowed down. We had to remove the relevant IRQ jumper from the I/O boards. I don't know, but I suspect running more than one I/O card, for extra serial ports, was a similar issue. Jochen wanted these for his BBS system, but I think never got them going. Is that right Jochen? Tony -- QBBS (QL fido BBS 2:252/67) +44(0)1442-828255 tony@.co.uk http://www.firshman.co.uk Voice: +44(0)1442-828254 Fax: +44(0)1442-828255 TF Services, 29 Longfield Road, TRING, Herts, HP23 4DG ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
