The Sinclair QL Forum

Derek_Stewart wrote:The option of a simple system is there. [...]

But it is still a complex card with lots of containers, lots of installed software, and people may not want to risk to make a mistake.
A second simple card, which shows how a minimal system looks, would still be good IMHO.

Wether this is achieved by a "howto" document or you offering an extra card, is debatable.

My intention never was to criticize anyone. I´d need to criticize myself for not having sufficient background knowledge. For sure, I went through the manual, but still I was struggling.

So thanks a lot for all the hints and links.

Derek, I think you did great. Showing the capabilities of the machine was the right decision. Maybe two complex high-end-ish options and no simple one, was kind of an overkill for noobs like me

I think what has changed in comparison to the launch time of the Q60, is that a lot of Q68 interest comes from people who returned to the original QL.

Maybe the best would be if one of those users, who works his way from QL to Q68, could write a little "howto" from his perspective.

All that is needed is a couple of things:

Alternate example boot files with REMarks to show and educate how a couple of things can be simply achieved, and the correct order to do them

A simple SDHC clone utility within the supplied SD card that can copy the contents in slot 1 to the empty card in slot 2. We should all be using back-ups of the SD card that comes with the Q68, not the original. Or, the contents of the original should be available for download/copying to an SD card as a single step process.

Sounds easy enough.

+1 to a Dummy's guide. I am a dummy. My wife tells me so, and she's never wrong

Although I'm also very much a BB QLer (although via emulation mostly nowadays), I am nonetheless very keen to see what the new/advanced features are too, so I do appreciate the fact that there will be plenty on the pre-configured card for me to learn about and tinker with when I get my Q68 next year.

And maybe if Peter/Derek are OK with the suggestion, making the SD card images including a "newb" one available somewhere like Dilwyn's site on the Q68 page might prove useful? If Dilwyn is ok with that too of course. I just know I am going to muck something up at some stage with an over-enthusiastic delete command !

By the way, does the card have any hidden system files, or can copying the contents of the card onto a PC/Mac act as a full and true backup which can in turn be restored just by getting a new formatted card and copy+pasting onto that?

On another Q68 topic : in anticipation of Batch 2 next year, can anyone recommend a reliable/safe suitable power supply that I can buy in the UK ?

Hi Sparrowhawk

As regards power-supply - I am using a regular USB-type 'wall-wart' supply that can supply up to 1A, but I hacked the mini-USB end off and soldered-on the 2.1mm plug (+5V to the inner conductor) - which are pretty standard and easy to get a-hold of.

pjw wrote:Very nice
But a shame youre not getting the best out of your shiny new machine: I notice it still sports the sad old four-colour themes, but perhaps eighties retro is desirable? I wouldnt know.

Hi pjw, ... Yes, the "new" GD2 systems are very nice (I like BlackBird a lot) , ... but I am a "old fashion" user . I have a small collection of QDOS systems (QL-trumpcard-QLSD, QL-GoldCard-QubIDE clone, QL-SuperGoldCard-RomDisQ, MIST, and now Q68!) and I like to have the same environment in all of them (four colors style). In the future, probably I will install some GD2 distribution on my Q68 .

pjw wrote: You could do worse than look at Dilwyn's site under GD2 (the "colour drivers"). There are plenty of tools and suggestions there. Mine is the Themes04_zip at the bottom of the page.

Thanks! I will prove it.

Peter wrote: ... So it is always good to get some feedback and impressions from others! I forget who is behind 'afx' so if you like, drop me a PN and remind me who you are.

Hi Peter, we do not know each other and we have never communicated ... so it's only natural that you do not remember me . I will send you a private message.

Peter wrote:

afx wrote:Hopper, is playable with SLUG 175

By the way, SLUG 175 seems mighty slow. Are you sure you are not cheating, compared to original speed? I've been discussing this with Detlef, who always has faster settings than me, and blames my higher SLUG values on my age. It would be cool to have some exaxt numbers that result in 128K QL speed for a list of games. I think this can only be achived by actually looking at the gameplay on the original machine.

For me, it is the closest to the original game speed (QL + trumpcard). It's just my feeling, but I do not have "experimental" data.

Peter wrote: While the Q68 hardware 'SLUG' works better for me than the (Super)GoldCard software 'SLUG' slug, it still requires individual settings. This is because instruction usage and memory access access vary from game to game.

Yes yes ... the behavior of SLUG in Q68 is much better than in (Super) GoldCard!!

Does Q68 SLUG work in a different way? For example on the ACT drawing package, with a gold card or super gold, the cursor would flash so fast it would go invisible, making it useless. SLUG commands didn't seem to help much with it.

Yes it is a completely diffeernt mechanism. On the (Super)GoldCard, slowing down the machine is attempted by software tricks - but individual instructions still run as fast as before.

On the Q68, it's the opposite: Software is not changed at all, but every instructions is actually slowed down by hardware. Technically, this is achieved by increasing the number of waitstates for memory access.

The Q68 CPU is not only clocked higher than the 68008, but also executes instructions in less cycles, so it depends somewhat on the individual software, how much effect a certain SLUG value has. 100 is a good starting point if you want to get QL speed.

(By the way, one can not even assume one QL speed. As soon as the QL has a fast memory expansion, and a game runs in the expanded area, it will already change behaviour.)