68k/OS additional ROMs

[aalea]

So, yes, I purchased the 68K/OS as it intrigues me

I don't know if there is interest, but if you post somewhere pictures of the PCB, both sides, I will do my best on reverse engineering it, to preserve the schematic and share it for future repairs or whatever.

[t0nyt]

So, yes, I purchased the 68K/OS as it intrigues me

I don't know if there is interest, but if you post somewhere pictures of the PCB, both sides, I will do my best on reverse engineering it, to preserve the schematic and share it for future repairs or whatever.

Ok

[NormanDunbar]

Does the name Tim Ward mean anything to anyone? He wrote, or was part of the team that wrote 68K/OS. I think Urs knows him, but Tim and I are connected on Mastodon (which is a polite and welcoming social media) and we were talking about 68K/OS just this week. He no longer has any QL stuff or discs lying around apart from a huge PCB based on the QL that they did for the Australian Associated Press for a QL based financial information terminal.

It's a shame he hasn't got more stuff!


Cheers,
Norm.

[Sparrowhawk]

I saw that post (toot!) on Mastodon and it would be great to know more about that custom QL project. As in what it did, was it an official project with Sinclair or unofficial hardware hackery etc.

I'll also echo Norman's comment re how nice Mastodon is. I don't use any other network (well, other than LinkedIn to get work) , but I do use Masto on a daily basis. Also if you're not there, you're missing out of Norman's great photography and awful (in the best sense) puns

[t0nyt]

It's arrived and appears to be alive!

Next up is to re-felt the OS MD's (there's an original & a backup)

[t0nyt]

So, yes, I purchased the 68K/OS as it intrigues me

I don't know if there is interest, but if you post somewhere pictures of the PCB, both sides, I will do my best on reverse engineering it, to preserve the schematic and share it for future repairs or whatever.

Ok

As requested (best I can do)

[t0nyt]

A quick update

The backup 68K/OS mdv was bad, luckily the original master was good (not tried actually running all the programs though)

I had a hell of a job making backups to start with (both my QL's currently only have 1 fully working MDV each) and it didn't seem to want to format on the known good drive

Turned out it was the vMap fitted to the QL that was causing the formatting issues, as soon as I removed that I could format fine

So I now have 4 good backups of the software

Not sure when I'll get time to try using it in more detail

[QLvsJAGUAR]

For those who ever wanted an original GST Sinclair QL EPROM expansion card with their 68K/OS Z570V218 and the associated Microdrive Cartridges 68K/OS and 68K/ASM, there's currently a set on ebay (ending 2024-04-24):
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305516991319

BTW: This auction also includes HiSoft DevpacQL and CP/MULATOR. I'm not the seller nor related to him.

It would be great if someone of the QL community would take good care of it and - after refelting the Microdrive Cartridges - make backup copies of those Microdrive Cartridges. Maybe one day, someone adds 68K/OS Microdrive support/emulation in a Q-Emulator or even on hardware Microdrive substitutes.

This is probably the worst thing you could have done if you wanted it preserved, I know some preservation people were intending to bid on that, but now they are likely to be outbid by collectors now they know its "RARE" thanks to these posts!

Got your point. Maybe. But better some community members of the forum to buy it than some random ebayer. That was my thought.

BTW: I have such a unit in my collection for about 15 years now and tried my best to make backup copies of Microdrive cartridges back then. But what I failed at (yet), is to transfer the files to another medium or the PC.

Having read the follow-up conversations here and on viewtopic.php?t=4815, this is exactly what I was hoping for! Well done Tony!