Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
David Tubbs wrote: At 00:18 22/04/2005 +0100, you wrote: Roy wood wrote: In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], Jeremy Taffel [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes SMSQ - Jochen Merz wrote: We cut QPC as a special offer to 49 EUR last year (this is about 33 pounds - the price region you talk about) ... did we get hundreds and thousands of sales? No! Where did you advertise this? I didn't know about it. Jeremy Probably in QL Today. Do you subscribe to that? No __ Ich glaube es ist ausgekauft, Ich kann es nicht sehen bei http://www.j-m-s.de/index_e.htm Nein, es war ein Sonderangebot, um zu sehen ob es Kunden interessiert. Die SMSQ-Homepage ist smsq.j-m-s.com Jochen (no, it was a special offer to check if it draws customer's attention) ;-) The SMSQ homepage is smsq.j-m-s.com, by the way ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
We cut QPC as a special offer to 49 EUR last year (this is about 33 pounds - the price region you talk about) ... did we get hundreds and thousands of sales? No! Where did you advertise this? I didn't know about it. It was sent out by email to the newsgroups, advertised by TF's mailshot, placed on my website AND we spent a lot of money sending out some hundred real letters ... together with advertising QL 2004. That was one of the largest and most expensive mailings for the last 2 or 3 years, and the result was as described ... :-( Jochen ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Ich glaube es ist ausgekauft, Ich kann es nicht sehen bei http://www.j-m-s.de/index_e.htm ... und natürlich http://qpc.j-m-s.com Jochen ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Perfection
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... but at least Freddy was paying and it was worth it to have a nice long chat with him again! As far as I remember from my own dealings with Freddy, many years ago, there was no other choice but to have a long chat - he could talk for hours, and remain on topic too. I used to do some work for him - which never came to fruition as he vanished before it was complete - conjverting old 128Kb programs to run on expanded systems plus removing the copy protection routines etc. We had many a long chat in those days :o) Cheers, Norman. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
One technique is to get an 0870 (national number) at 7p a minutes and 1p or 2p of the call charge is given to you, this is like the system that free ISPs use and if I had the money for a second line for a QL ISP I would use. The Phone Coop (http://www.thephone.coop) used to offer this service for free, I do not know if they still do. Don't forget to add the 1-2 minute recorded announcement about 'please listen to the following options carefully .. calls may be recorded for training and' followed by the options in a complex manner and 'to 'repeat these options key 9' by that time you have spent a bit. And then you get 'all of our operators are busy. Your call is important to us (but not important enough to actually employ anyone to answer it) so please hold the line until an operator becomes available (or until we have made enough to retire)' -- Roy Wood I worked for a company called Patientline for a while. They had a system similar to this. In their case, ripping off customers and sheer greedy profit was NOT the motive, but it was seen by customers as such and people used to go ballistic with us front line staff about it. People were paying up to 50p a minute for making calls to patients in hospital and the call started with a long announcement plus if you didn't know the number to get through to the patient's bed you had to go through announcement plus wait until able to speak to operators. Presumably it all mounted up. There are sometimes legal announcements you have to make - in these cases, these premium rate numbers should start free until the end of announcements and recorded music until you actually get through to a person. In terms of making money - good idea. In terms of upsetting your customers, not a good idea. It all adds to the Rip-off-Britain impressions we have. Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Users that confuse the both need a quick lecture that's all... That was my point Marcel, Jochen and I choose to sell it. They know the price. Try arguing with the man at the petrol pump on a slack day or the supermarket checkout at night by saying - there are not many people buying why not halve the price. What a stupid remark to say Roy. You will never get someone with the authority to do anything remotely approaching that on a till nowadays. And anyway there's always half the tills needed at any given time so there aren't any slack times (sarcasm aimed at modern businesses not at Roy). You'll probably get a free black eye from a p***ed off bored spotty teenager to match Geoff Wicks's through trying it and nothing else. Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
So whats wrong with the demo version of QPC2? You can check out most of the new facilities and run most new programs. Enough to satisfy curiosity, I should think. No, not really, not without being able to save config files etc. A reminder here that there are programs like my own Launchpad out there which write frequently to disk as part of any norml usage - change anything in Launchpad, it immediately writes out new configuration files which of course gets stopped by QPC2 demo. (just a reminder and not getting at anyone in particular since someone asked me about Launchpad not running on QPC2 lately and it turned out it was the demo version of QPC2 not allowing saving after about 2 days of fruitless bug hunting). Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
On the other hand, while the money will never, ever compensate for the time or energy, it does show me that people respect the work and are interested in it. If no one was willing to pay what I consider to be a very underpriced cost for QDT, I would read it as no one appreciated the work being done. Therefore, it would not happen and further development would definitely not happen. You have to be careful - if people perceive one program as costing more than the operating system it runs on they may not understand the reasons. Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Perfection
As far as I remember from my own dealings with Freddy, many years ago, there was no other choice but to have a long chat - he could talk for hours, and remain on topic too. ;-) I used to do some work for him - which never came to fruition as he vanished before it was complete - conjverting old 128Kb programs to run on expanded systems plus removing the copy protection routines etc. We had many a long chat in those days :o) Do you still have any of that work? I know there was some discussion on the issue of rejuvenating old software etc at the Quanta AGM on sunday. Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Am Fri, 22 Apr 2005 8:41:22 + hat Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] geschrieben: It all adds to the Rip-off-Britain impressions we have. You could replace Britain by every EG-country, I'm afraid :-( The latest trick I had to undergo with the German Postbank two days ago. After the usual announcements and advertising a very friendly male voice asked me whether I wanted more advertising or information about just another bullshit. As I didn't want either of them I waited for another statement or something like press 1 ...9 on your telefone but nothing happened. Then I began to rail a bit and the voice said. I'm sorry but I can't understand what you said. and began to repeat everything from the very first start. You can imagine that my railing did not get friendlier. Only when (after repeating this unproductive dialogue for a while) I stopped to say anything, then, after quite a while, the voice said, Because I cannot understand what you are sayin I will connect you with an assistent Which was, what I had wanted all the time! More than three minutes connected, before even being able to say what I want, a really good deal for the company %-(#?^ß*! Wolfgang ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
COLIN PARSONS writes: So whats wrong with the demo version of QPC2? You can check out most of the new facilities and run most new programs. Enough to satisfy curiosity, I should think. You can't save any work. Hardly the way to encourage any new programmer to the platform!! Its perfectly possible to write programs which you can test on the demo - only you have to write them on another platform and put them into a .WIN container. The moment you talk of saving your work I suppose you are, strictly speaking, no longer in demo mode.. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Jeremy Taffel writes: So whats wrong with the demo version of QPC2? You can check out most of the new facilities and run most new programs. Enough to satisfy curiosity, I should think. No, not really, not without being able to save config files etc. Ok, so if you had to solve the problem of producing a demo that would satisfy curiosity, but was limited in some way that would compell the thus satisfied punter to buy the product rather than just continuing to use the demo, what would you suggest? Selling previous versions at a discount doesnt really help as it would become a logistical nightmare for programmers to support what would in effect be new platforms. I don't understand. What new platforms? Surely support is still provided for the previous versions; even if only yes that's a known problem, its fixed in the upgrade Would you buy the buggy version, even if it were £20 less? The fix is usually to get the latest version. There are also limits to how much backward compatibility people who write free or negative-profit software are prepared to strive for. My own stuff will usually not run on an earlier version of the OS than the one it was designed on although, hopefully, it will run on all subsequent versions. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Dilwyn Jones wrote: You'll probably get a free black eye from a p***ed off bored spotty teenager to match Geoff Wicks's through trying it and nothing else. I did not know the Quanta chairmanship fight was actual ;-), seriously I am sad to hear someone has hit Geoff and hope he is alright. -- Tarquin Mills (Chairman) ACCUS (Anglia Classic Computer Users Society) http://www.speccyverse.me.uk/comp/accus/ http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Spectrum/ (We want a Spectrum +4) ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
P Witte wrote: Id go one better: The place to start, of course, is to make the Qx0 designs public and free so other people can develop and improve them, and in some cases, build their own. A free computer to run free software on. Just the thing. The obstacle is production. If I publish software, it automatically exists, if I publish hardware it does not. Every single piece of hardware must be built (in series production if it's going to be affordable) and at the complexity and massive costs of the Qx0, this means commercial production. Unfortunately one can't materialize mainboards by a uploading to a website or burning a CD. Peter ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
You'll probably get a free black eye from a p***ed off bored spotty teenager to match Geoff Wicks's through trying it and nothing else. I did not know the Quanta chairmanship fight was actual ;-), seriously I am sad to hear someone has hit Geoff and hope he is alright. I don't know what actually happened though judging how much joking and bantering there was about it I doubt it was anything bad like fighting or anything like that at all. I didn't know about it until Tony Firshman showed me the photo and suggested a caption competition or something with Geoff stood right behind him - it actually looked more like runny mascara than anything else so I hope wasn't being wound up about it all! Dilwyn Jones ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
On Apr 22, 2005, at 4:55 AM, Dilwyn Jones wrote: On the other hand, while the money will never, ever compensate for the time or energy, it does show me that people respect the work and are interested in it. If no one was willing to pay what I consider to be a very underpriced cost for QDT, I would read it as no one appreciated the work being done. Therefore, it would not happen and further development would definitely not happen. You have to be careful - if people perceive one program as costing more than the operating system it runs on they may not understand the reasons. I would be happy to raise the price of QDT if that would make anyone more comfortable :) Actually, am considering this for later, simply because QDT is relatively very underpriced. But if I do, it will be pre-announced to allow anyone waiting to buy before it would happen. The pricing was initially set to encourage people to buy it and give it a go. However, in review against other QL modern software prices and further comparison to PC type software prices, it really does feel very underpriced to me. jim ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Roy wood wrote: In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], Jeremy Taffel [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes SNIP Where did you advertise this? I didn't know about it. Jeremy Probably in QL Today. Do you subscribe to that? No You see this is where I have a problem with all this. Here is someone who 'cannot justify the expense of buying QPC2' and probably cannot justify the expense of subscribing to QL Today and wants Marcel, Jochen and I to justify the expense of supplying him with cheap software. How does this work? What do you put in? Roy, I don't know why you have to take such an aggressive stance. Why do you have problems? I was not complaining about the cost, nor requesting a price reduction, merely offering the constructive suggestion that if the market appears to have reached saturation, a new market might open up if the price is reduced. I seem to have sparked off quite a lively debate, so it was a worthwhile exercise, but it turns out that my suggestion had been tried already without, apparently much success. I wasn't complaining that I missed the promotion, merely curious to discover where I should look for such offerings. It must be admitted that although I visit Marcel's site quite often, I don't visit Jochen's, and no I don't subscribe to QL Today, but that is hardly a crime is it? My position is quite simple really. I use computers for soving engineering problems, and find myself using windows (98,XP, 2000), Linux, Solaris., but the OS is less important to me than the tools. I used to use the QL a lot, and found that I could work similarly to PVWAVE ( a very expensive unix application that I use at work) and that SuperBasic + Turbo.+ lots of maths, signal and image proceesing extensions approximated the same working environment. So I'd prototype the code at home on the QL. play with some ideas and once they had gelled do it for real at work using an approved tool. However, I hit various limits (speed, graphics resolution, turbo restrictions) and eventually (about 12 years ago) stopped using the QL for anything serious, and now when I do use it its to look through my old programs to remind myself how I did something. I no longer use the native hardware, so its uQLx (until I upgraded Linux, and now it doesn't work), and QLAY So, to answer your question, I haven't put anything in for the past 12 years, but before then I spent more on QL software than I have since on PC software! ( psion chess, scrabble, bridge, metacomco C, fortran, qram, Hotkey II , qtype, perfection, turbo, qmaths, lightningSandy superqboard + disks, gold card.). I stopped buying the software when I stopped using it for anything much. I read this list to find out what's going on, and that's about it. So, I'm stuck in the QDOS past, and am curious as to whether all the enhancements overcome the limitations that I ran into back then. No doubt if I were to buy QPC2, it would be rapidly followed by QDT, as I'd need a decent desktop; But, I've got so many projects on the go, QPC2 really isn't my highest priority. So, I'm not saying that I want it for £30 or so, merely, that if it was priced in that region, I would buy it without even worrying about if I'd ever get around to using it in anger. Why does this give you a problem? And now for another suggestion The QPC2 demo on Marcel's site hardly shows the system off to its best potential.. The presentation of the screen that results from the boot file on the .win file that is included for download is awful, and could have been from qdos. There really isn't anything to help the uninitiated to know whatto do with it, and it does not seem to have changed since I first looked at QPC1. This surely is not the way to showcase the system. The justwords demo does that much better, as do the screenshots from QDT that I've seen. How about a demo that properly showcases the programme? (expecting another flame from Roy telling me how much work I'm asking someone to do for free ;-) ) Jeremy ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Ghostscript 6.0
On Friday 22 April 2005 19:15, Duncan Neithercut wrote: Anyone an expert on Ghostscript. Have installed it on my Q60, and it works very well, prints postscript files and text and graphics. It comes with some utility scripts one of which gslp.ps allows the printing of text files directly to the printer without conversion to postscript. This works well also. My problem is that this script should also convert text files to postscript as a file. When I try to do this according to the manual I get an error message indicating that I have not passed it all the info it needs to do the job yet it has been set up according to the manual. Has anyone used it or GS generally? Try the following gslp -ptest.ps test.txt This uses the Ghostscript line printer to generate the postscript file called test.ps from the test.txt file. John S ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], James Hunkins [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes For myself, I started QDT as an interesting project. Plus I really enjoy the people involved in the community. To be honest, I would have abandoned the project quite a while ago if I was only doing it for the money. Probably before it even started. On the other hand, while the money will never, ever compensate for the time or energy, it does show me that people respect the work and are interested in it. If no one was willing to pay what I consider to be a very underpriced cost for QDT, I would read it as no one appreciated the work being done. Therefore, it would not happen and further development would definitely not happen. So, while the money isn't everything, obviously, it definitely is something. Knowing the effort that goes into different QL software projects, I don't know of any that I would consider not to be fare value. And most are very good deals already. I am an 'early adopter' of QDT, and although it is still at its early stages of implementation, it does show what excellence can now be achieved with all the new developments for the QL. Note : QDT does not run on 'older' systems, as it is designed to make use of the best that is currently available. I now hope that Jim's work will encourage software writers to flex their muscles again and produce all those interesting applications that we all need. -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], Roy wood [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], David Tubbs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes SNIP Would you buy the buggy version, even if it were £20 less? The fix is usually to get the latest version. So someone was happy to sell Buggy versions for top dollar ! No software of any complexity is without bugs. QPC2's bugs are usually fixed before any get sold and those that slip through are fixed very quickly with free updates. Older versions are not buggy as suggested - just not as refined and developed as the current ones. Some newer programs require keywords that have been especially built into SMSQ/E to make them work. QPC2 and SMSQ/E are inter-linked and some versions will not work with the wrong SMSQ/E file. The whole thing is a continuous line of sustained development and very hard to backtrack on. In the end the users benefit from this. Most upgrades are free and the ones which are charged for are major re-workings of the system. Much of this is not evident to the users except that it works better and does more things. Marcel does not even own a trumpet let alone blow it. Yes, this is all transparent to the user. As well as more features in the upgrades, the system and the emulator always get faster and slicker too ( which is an added 'hidden' bonus ). I made the plunge in buying SMSQ/E and then QPC some years ago now ... and I have had lots and lots of benefits from it. We have had this debate many many times ... there comes a time with any computer system when the user has to make a significant investment upgrade ... in either hardware or software. -- Malcolm Cadman ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Peter Graf writes: Id go one better: The place to start, of course, is to make the Qx0 designs public and free so other people can develop and improve them, and in some cases, build their own. A free computer to run free software on. Just the thing. The obstacle is production. If I publish software, it automatically exists, if I publish hardware it does not. Every single piece of hardware must be built (in series production if it's going to be affordable) and at the complexity and massive costs of the Qx0, this means commercial production. Unfortunately one can't materialize mainboards by a uploading to a website or burning a CD. All that is pretty obvious, of course - and neatly side-steps the issue ;) Equally obvious to me, however, is that a /design/ is not a physical thing, but it is essential information to understand the physical thing; how it works, how it can be fixed if there is a problem, how to improve it, how to create addons and expansions, and how to build your own if you are that way inclined. (Presumably, even you had to build a few one-off prototypes to test your design before going to production.) Now, as an owner of a Q60 - a considerable investment, I would feel a lot happier if I knew the designs were available for many of the reasons mentioned above. You might not always be around, you might loose interest, or you might (heaven forbid!) decide to use the monopoly position you enjoy with your closed, proprietory architecture, to my disadvantage. Thered be precious little I could do about that. But luckily it need never come to that because, as you suggest, there is another way: You would make your designs and firmware open and make your profit on the added value thing! (I am assuming, of course, that you respect other people's intellectual property rights as you do your own, and would never expect others to do what you would not wish to do yourself.) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
On the other hand, while the money will never, ever compensate for the time or energy, it does show me that people respect the work and are interested in it. If no one was willing to pay what I consider to be a very underpriced cost for QDT, I would read it as no one appreciated the work being done. Therefore, it would not happen and further development would definitely not happen. You have to be careful - if people perceive one program as costing more than the operating system it runs on they may not understand the reasons. How about Office, X3 times the cost of the OS! Cheers Colin ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], Jeremy Taffel [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes SNIP Where did you advertise this? I didn't know about it. Jeremy Probably in QL Today. Do you subscribe to that? No You see this is where I have a problem with all this. Here is someone who 'cannot justify the expense of buying QPC2' and probably cannot justify the expense of subscribing to QL Today and wants Marcel, Jochen and I to justify the expense of supplying him with cheap software. How does this work? What do you put in? -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 skype : royqbranch web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], David Tubbs [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes SNIP Would you buy the buggy version, even if it were £20 less? The fix is usually to get the latest version. So someone was happy to sell Buggy versions for top dollar ! No software of any complexity is without bugs. QPC2's bugs are usually fixed before any get sold and those that slip through are fixed very quickly with free updates. Older versions are not buggy as suggested - just not as refined and developed as the current ones. Some newer programs require keywords that have been especially built into SMSQ/E to make them work. QPC2 and SMSQ/E are inter-linked and some versions will not work with the wrong SMSQ/E file. The whole thing is a continuous line of sustained development and very hard to backtrack on. In the end the users benefit from this. Most upgrades are free and the ones which are charged for are major re-workings of the system. Much of this is not evident to the users except that it works better and does more things. Marcel does not even own a trumpet let alone blow it. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 skype : royqbranch web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Roy's section in QLToday
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], Duncan Neithercut [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes Hi Roy I always read your bit in QLToday first, its always about innovation. I saw two of your clients had a problem with QCDEZE and the QDT CDrom. You have found a new way of getting software support. You could have got help quicker if you had emailed me. Did you check which version(s) of QCDEZE was being used. I thought he had been in touch with you himself and I was just reporting it in case anyone else had a problem like it and could not solve it. I had always had a great appreciation of your work - no slur was intended. By the way I would be happy if you could write a bit about the use of QCDEZE for inclusion in the Start Here series in the next issue of QLT. SNIP As for the name shortening, sorry but you only have Bill Gates to blame for that one as you must have used a PC to burn the CD. The names on the ISO9660 part of the CD are short due to DOS short file name conventions, directories are not part of the file name in DOS. If you had burnt it on an Amiga there would be no problems with filename length. I only got my head around Windows LFNs last year when I wrote my FAT16 CFcard programme, so its not part of QCDEZE. It was no fun and I would need to be paid money to put it in. I suppose it works in QPC2 because that accesses the files using Windows. Interesting. I had not thought of that. More for the next column them Glad to see someone reads the columns then - I do wonder at times. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 skype : royqbranch web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
- Original Message - From: Tarquin Mills To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 11:48 AM Subject: Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product. Dilwyn Jones wrote: You'll probably get a free black eye from a p***ed off bored spotty teenager to match Geoff Wicks's through trying it and nothing else. I did not know the Quanta chairmanship fight was actual ;-), seriously I am sad to hear someone has hit Geoff and hope he is alright. Actually I was viciously attacked by a kerbside in the vicinity of Gatwick Airport, and I still don't know how it happened. On my way back through London, I was stopped by someone on the tube who asked me what had happened. He added, I was a bit afraid to ask you, because I thought you might be a really hard type. Thus very good for my street cred! Best Wishes, Geoff ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], COLIN PARSONS [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes Ok, so if you had to solve the problem of producing a demo that would satisfy curiosity, but was limited in some way that would compell the thus satisfied punter to buy the product rather than just continuing to use the demo, what would you suggest? A 30 day time limited version, as is normal in most share ware, degrading to your no save mode, after this time limit. QPC2 is not a normal PC program. It does not write to the registry, install hidden files, DLLs or any of that stuff. It is, in fact very QL! Making it time out so that those with short arms and long pockets don't just reinstall it again would be a major undertaking. You know that the save works. If you have the programs on another QL system you can configure them there and then transfer them. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 skype : royqbranch web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Perfection
I can confirm that my changes to Pefection are compatability changes ie bigger screensand greater compatibility with SMSQE and qdos on the amiga. I have not added any new functionality or changed the basic mother daughter job way of running the program. I am willing to submit my new version of perfection and the configurator which does need the current Turbo Toolkit to Freddy Vachha for his comments. In the meantime could any one who has found any bugs or incompatibilities in Perfection please email them to me at david (at) davidgilham (dot) me (dot) uk. Incompatibilties with SMSQE on any platform are especial appreciated. I myself have only got a q60 and an auro supergoldcard versions of SMSQE to test for any bugs. - David Gilham - The universe is a queer place --- Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Dilwyn Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 21 Apr 2005 13:28:01 + To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [ql-users] Perfection I have just been on the phone with Freddy Vachha (I'm sure you all remember Digital Precision Ltd) where we discussed the Perfection word processor among other things. (There, Freddy, your name coupled with the words precision and perfection in the same sentence should boost your standing with the search engines!) I mentioned David Gilham's work on Perfection to him and he was broadly in favour of allowing work on Perfection, as long as it was with a view to updating it for better compatibility with recent OS changes, but was not in favour of changing the functionality of the program (adding new commands or altering the fundamental mother/daughter job system on which it was built etc). I haven't got David's contact details with me at the moment, but David, if you can confirm that the work you've done on Perfection is more updating for compatibility reasons rather than fundamentally changing or adding new facilities etc I can get back to Freddy to let him know the full situation and I'm cautiously optimistic he would allow an updated version to be released if he was happy with what had been done. I have a contact number for Freddy, but he has asked that it is not passed on, so I will pass on messages to him rather than pass on his phone number. ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Ghostscript 6.0
On Friday 22 April 2005 21:51, Duncan Neithercut wrote:
Thanks but thats the manual seems to say what I have been using
without success. do you need to specify an output device or font in
the
command line as well?
No to both questions. I have just run it here and as you can see below it
generates a postscript file.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/stella$ ls
test.txt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/stella$ gslp -pfishstick.ps test.txt
Printing test.txt
Page height = 71.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/stella$ ls
fishstick.ps test.txt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/stella$ cat test.txt
test file
1
2
3
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/stella$ cat fishstick.ps
%!
/B {save 3 1 roll translate /X 0 def} def
/BL {save 3 1 roll 90 rotate translate /X 0 def} def
/E {showpage restore} def
/V {neg X exch moveto} def
/M {/X 2 index def neg moveto} def
/S {currentfile =string readline pop show} def
/RE {findfont dup length dict begin {1 index /FID ne {def} {pop pop} ifelse}
forall /Encoding ISOLatin1Encoding def currentdict end definefont} def
/BFont /Courier-ISOLatin1 /Courier RE 10 scalefont def
/HFont /Courier-Bold-ISOLatin1 /Courier-Bold RE 10 scalefont def
50.4 784.812866 B
HFont setfont
-13.04 V
S test.txt
170.4 -13.04 M
S Sat Apr 23 00:37:32 BST 2005
460.8 -13.04 M
S page 1
BFont setfont
0 18.5 M
S test file
29 V
S 1
39.5 V
S 2
50 V
S 3
E
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~/stella$
John S
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Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
David Tubbs writes: Really Per, I am surprised at your response ! Ooops! Have I put my mouth where my foot should have been? No, not really, not without being able to save config files etc. Ok, so if you had to solve the problem of producing a demo that would satisfy curiosity, but was limited in some way that would compell the thus satisfied punter to buy the product rather than just continuing to use the demo, what would you suggest? Do you really suggest the potential customer provides the solution. Suggestion, not solution. Solutions in this matter are not my call. Surely support is still provided for the previous versions; even if only yes that's a known problem, its fixed in the upgrade Would you buy the buggy version, even if it were £20 less? The fix is usually to get the latest version. So someone was happy to sell Buggy versions for top dollar ! Yes, it all one big conspiracy to do us poor punters in ;) Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
SMSQ - Jochen Merz wrote: We cut QPC as a special offer to 49 EUR last year (this is about 33 pounds - the price region you talk about) ... did we get hundreds and thousands of sales? No! Where did you advertise this? I didn't know about it. It was sent out by email to the newsgroups, advertised by TF's mailshot, placed on my website AND we spent a lot of money sending out some hundred real letters ... together with advertising QL 2004. That was one of the largest and most expensive mailings for the last 2 or 3 years, and the result was as described ... :-( Jochen ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm I'm on Tony's mailshot, or so I thought, but I never saw it! :-( Jeremy ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
RE: [ql-users] Roy's section in QLToday
I suppose it works in QPC2 because that accesses the files using Windows. Thats it -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Roy wood Sent: 22 April 2005 20:08 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ql-users] Roy's section in QLToday In message [EMAIL PROTECTED], Duncan Neithercut [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes Hi Roy I always read your bit in QLToday first, its always about innovation. I saw two of your clients had a problem with QCDEZE and the QDT CDrom. You have found a new way of getting software support. You could have got help quicker if you had emailed me. Did you check which version(s) of QCDEZE was being used. I thought he had been in touch with you himself and I was just reporting it in case anyone else had a problem like it and could not solve it. I had always had a great appreciation of your work - no slur was intended. By the way I would be happy if you could write a bit about the use of QCDEZE for inclusion in the Start Here series in the next issue of QLT. SNIP As for the name shortening, sorry but you only have Bill Gates to blame for that one as you must have used a PC to burn the CD. The names on the ISO9660 part of the CD are short due to DOS short file name conventions, directories are not part of the file name in DOS. If you had burnt it on an Amiga there would be no problems with filename length. I only got my head around Windows LFNs last year when I wrote my FAT16 CFcard programme, so its not part of QCDEZE. It was no fun and I would need to be paid money to put it in. I suppose it works in QPC2 because that accesses the files using Windows. Interesting. I had not thought of that. More for the next column them Glad to see someone reads the columns then - I do wonder at times. -- Roy Wood Q Branch. 20 Locks Hill, Portslade, Sussex.BN41 2LB Tel: +44 (0) 1273 386030fax: +44 (0) 1273 430501 skype : royqbranch web : www.qbranch.demon.co.uk ___ 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
RE: [ql-users] Ghostscript 6.0
Thanks but thats the manual seems to say what I have been using without success. do you need to specify an output device or font in the command line as well? Duncan Neithercut -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of John Southern Sent: 22 April 2005 19:47 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [ql-users] Ghostscript 6.0 On Friday 22 April 2005 19:15, Duncan Neithercut wrote: Anyone an expert on Ghostscript. Have installed it on my Q60, and it works very well, prints postscript files and text and graphics. It comes with some utility scripts one of which gslp.ps allows the printing of text files directly to the printer without conversion to postscript. This works well also. My problem is that this script should also convert text files to postscript as a file. When I try to do this according to the manual I get an error message indicating that I have not passed it all the info it needs to do the job yet it has been set up according to the manual. Has anyone used it or GS generally? Try the following gslp -ptest.ps test.txt This uses the Ghostscript line printer to generate the postscript file called test.ps from the test.txt file. John S ___ 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
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
At 11:48 22/04/2005 +0100, you wrote: I did not know the Quanta chairmanship fight was actual ;-), Surely not so, I thought he was a cert for the job. Transformation from rebel to house-trained seemed complete. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.2 - Release Date: 21/04/2005 ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
[ql-users] Ghostscript 6.0
Hi Anyone an expert on Ghostscript. Have installed it on my Q60, and it works very well, prints postscript files and text and graphics. It comes with some utility scripts one of which gslp.ps allows the printing of text files directly to the printer without conversion to postscript. This works well also. My problem is that this script should also convert text files to postscript as a file. When I try to do this according to the manual I get an error message indicating that I have not passed it all the info it needs to do the job yet it has been set up according to the manual. Has anyone used it or GS generally? Duncan Neithercut ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: Re: [ql-users] Just an idea for a new Product.....
Dilwyn Jones writes: So whats wrong with the demo version of QPC2? You can check out most of the new facilities and run most new programs. Enough to satisfy curiosity, I should think. No, not really, not without being able to save config files etc. A reminder here that there are programs like my own Launchpad out there which write frequently to disk as part of any norml usage - change anything in Launchpad, it immediately writes out new configuration files which of course gets stopped by QPC2 demo. (just a reminder and not getting at anyone in particular since someone asked me about Launchpad not running on QPC2 lately and it turned out it was the demo version of QPC2 not allowing saving after about 2 days of fruitless bug hunting). Might be an idea to pre-configure all software to be able to run from a RAM disk out of the box. That way punters can try it out in a controlled environment, and QPC demo users wont be stuck. Per ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
Re: [ql-users] Perfection
- Original Message - From: David Gilham To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005 5:37 PM Subject: Re: [ql-users] Perfection In the meantime could any one who has found any bugs or incompatibilities in Perfection please email them to me at david (at) davidgilham (dot) me (dot) uk. Incompatibilties with SMSQE on any platform are especial appreciated. I myself have only got a q60 and an auro supergoldcard versions of SMSQE to test for any bugs. Not really a bug, but I cannot print from Perfection in recent versions of QPC2. Do other people have problems with this? It is not very important as I rarely use Perfection these days, Best Wishes, Geoff ___ QL-Users Mailing List http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
