QL Tinkering

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qbits
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QL Tinkering

Post by qbits »

Hi to all,
Sadly my own QL hardware microdrives and add-ons, floppy drives, extended memory etc. reside in the loft, not used since the TV/Monitor bought in the late eighties gave up the ghost. Stored with them were notes on my early attempts at games programs. As a QL tinkerer back in the nineteen eighties I produced a few games for the family written in SuperBASIC. Some of which were purchased by other QL users at the time under the banner of QBITS software hence my use of the monogram.

My programming skills are limited, in the eighties I was introduced to Forth and then Basic on a BBC micro and later tried a short course in C++ but never pursued it any further. However, online visits to the QL scene over the past few years has rekindled an interest in exploring the QL and SuperBASIC. I came across Jimmy MONTESINOS QL2K emulator which I have loaded on my Win 7 desktop. So with time on my hands I have been exploring my old programming notes and find myself on something of a mission to completing the aspiration of those early attempts.

Having looked at some of the emulators such as QPC2 etc I guess I’m still back at the basics and on that note welcome the opportunity to share my coding attempts for others to review and help me fine tune. Maybe even get them complied.

QBGolf - In the QL User magazine - May 1985 - R Shergold & D Tose provided a 9 hole Golf simulation game written in SuperBASIC. Owing much to the inspiration that came from that earlier golf game, at the time it seems I had several idea’s for changes to its graphical display. If anyone is interested is it possible to upload to this site so others can download and review my code.

QBITS


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vanpeebles
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by vanpeebles »

A warm welcome to the forum. I'd love to see your old games and I'm sure we have people here who would love to preserve them too!


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Cristian
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by Cristian »

Welcome! And thanks for sharing your game :)
Ciao from Italy!


RWAP
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by RWAP »

Hi - does this mean that any QBITS software we come across (I recall seeing that as a trader!) can be uploaded to the Sinclair QL Homepage as freeware?

If you like, you could send me some pm about QBITS and I will add it to the QL Wiki - do you have a list of what programs you sold?


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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by RWAP »

The Golf from QL World is attached below

It can also be found on the Sinclair QL Homepage as Golf2 (Dilwyn - can you please update the reference):
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/games/
Attachments
QBGolf.zip
(6.25 KiB) Downloaded 180 times


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dilwyn
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by dilwyn »

RWAP wrote:The Golf from QL World is attached below

It can also be found on the Sinclair QL Homepage as Golf2 (Dilwyn - can you please update the reference):
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/games/
Done - Rich: can you check you are happy with the description as it stands now.

Welcome to the Forum, Steve! Nice to see you back on the QL scene again.


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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by RWAP »

dilwyn wrote: Done - Rich: can you check you are happy with the description as it stands now.

Welcome to the Forum, Steve! Nice to see you back on the QL scene again.
Looks good to me :D


qbits
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by qbits »

QBITS software sadly no I don’t have any records of what was sold. When I say they were sold under the banner of QBITS software back in the late eighties it was with another QL member who traded at various meetings.

My updated SuperBASIC code and some notes I put together are attached.
Anyway have gander and see what you think!

Maybe a bit of fun over the Christmas Hols! Merry Christmas!

Qbits

Note:
Apologies in my haste the files originally attached contained an error. A last minute change when I was tidying up the code. The Golf Fairway Array Gf(18,8) was previously Gf(18,9) therefore lines 556 (Save) & 571 (Load) Procedures FOR loops should be FOR bf=1 TO 8 (not 1 TO 9).

Both files are now updated and it may seem this is the first time I’ve created a zip file see attached.

Qbits
Attachments
QBGolf 2016 12.pdf
(1.76 MiB) Downloaded 189 times
QBGolf_2016_12.zip
(6.79 KiB) Downloaded 194 times


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vanpeebles
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by vanpeebles »

I like the graphics, looks great :) The PDF is an interesting read too, would make for a good QUANTA article!


Derek_Stewart
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Re: QL Tinkering

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I loaded the QBGolf_2016_12 game into SMSQmulator & QEMulatror (JS ROM), which gave an error message: Unknown Procedure. Looking at the Superbasic source file in a viewer, there is a "e" character with no line number at the end of the programme lines. The SBASIC/Super Basic interpreter think that it is a procedure called e, I assume this is a typing error.

So neglecting the unknown e procedure error, RUNing the programme gives an error: 122:2 value Of range


Regards,

Derek
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