Hi all,
I'd like to share some thoughts and an idea about QPC2 (what Marcel may tell
if it's feasible or not).
SBASIC is a great tool, powerful enough but still comfortable, and SMSQ/E
provides many of the features normally needed to write modern programs. Since
I returned to the QL, I have started some new projects in SBASIC. Even if my
main motivations are fun and learning, and the programs will be published as
free and gratis software when finished, sometimes I think it's a waste of time
because nobody will buy QPC2 (or Q-emuLator + SMSQ/E) just to try them...
In the case of my favourite projects, text adventures in Spanish (a small
community), the potential QL users in Spain that would like to try such a game
are two or three... If the same game was written for a popular platform, and
could be executed almost out of the box, there would be dozens of potential
players (what means also more eyes to look at the code and contribute bug
fixes or ideas).
There is a gratis demo of QPC2. But it's inconvenient for programs that need
to save and restore the current position between game sessions (well, the
player could hibernate the whole host system with QPC2 running). And anyway
QPC2 is not easy to setup and use for people who even don't know what a QL is.
(The same applies to Q-emuLator; I mean, not the QL emulators are the problem,
but the concept of an emulator itself, combined with the special issues of the
QL platform). I realized this when, some months ago, I announced a new
SuperBASIC program to the Spanish community of interactive fiction
(http://caad.es). In order to try my program, some people installed the demos
of QPC2 and Q-emuLator following my detailed loading instructions, but they
never had used a QL before and after many doubts and problems I had to write
a more detailed guide on how to boot QL programs with both emulators and
different file formats
(http://programandala.net/es.artÃculo.2011.05.30.arrancar_programa_de_ql).
Even then, the task was not simple for people who just want to double-click
(or "command-line") the file and play, without tinkering with the uncommon
issues and needs of that QL thing they never heard of.
That's why recently I've been thinking about the benefits of a "runtime
version" of QPC2 with the following features:
* Easy to boot SBASIC programs with, in plain source or WIN files.
* No limitation for running one SBASIC program.
* Limitations to make it impossible to use it for programming.
* Config files (would be great).
And something like this:
QPC2.EXE path\my_progam_bas
QPC2.EXE path\my_progam.bas
QPC2.EXE path\my_program.win
QPC2.EXE path\my_program.cfg
If the parameter is a WIN image, the system mounts it as WIN1_ and run
the boot file; if the parameter is a SBASIC file, its directory is
mounted as DOS1_ before running. QPC2 doesn't have config files yet, but
they could be used to boot too. Of course additional parameters may be used.
And there's the question about the screen mode.
The runtime QPC2 would not have the limitation the current demo has, but it
could not be used for programming. The registered version would be still
needed for any serious work; and the demo version would still be needed to try
QPC2 before registering. The actual limitation of the runtime version could be
a useless SBASIC command line, or something similar (making certain keywords
useless, only one SBASIC task, limiting the number of tasks...).
Just to illustrate my general idea: If I write, let's say, a program in
Python, the user has to install a Python interpreter into the system (with the
optional libraries needed) and give one single command, that's all. If QPC2
could be used that simple way to execute SBASIC programs, I think I'm not the
only one who would feel more motivated to write some software for the "outside
(real) world", that way promoting the language itself and the platform. In my
opinion, SBASIC so far is useful (or even usable) only for registered QPC2 and
SMSQ/E users.
I suggest this idea for QPC2, not for Q-emuLator, because QPC2 provides a
whole and modern QL environment, while Q-emuLator has a very different
approach. Anyway, the Q-emuLator's new file format, QLPAK, makes it much
easier to use QL software for people not familiar with the platform, what is
the point.
I guess things are not so easy as I think (or hope), and maybe the way QPC2
and SMSQ/E boot makes all this impossible. I just wanted to share and discuss
the general idea.
Marcos
--
http://programandala.net
___
QL-Users Mailing List
http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.htm
