The background to my presence here

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Andrew
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by Andrew »

TMD2003 wrote:So here's what I'd need as a further test - see if the .MDV file and/or the raw text file GOSSAMER will work in a registered version of QemuLator - or QPC2, or any other QL emulator that you can get working. If it's all kosher, I'll probably continue doing my type-ins on QLAY for now. If not... the investigation continues.
Your mdv works in QEmulator.
As others already mentioned there is no need to type the code on Qlay when you can type it more confortably on Notepad++ and use the syntax highlighting for SuperBasic. Just remember to set the file as Unix (LF) not Windows (CR LF).


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Chr$
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by Chr$ »

TMD2003 wrote:Again, excuse the extremely noobish questions here, but is an .MDV file as universal to QL emulators as a .TAP would be to Spectrum emulators, a .P to ZX81 emulators, etc.? QemuLator's documentation implies that an .MDV I've created with QLAY 0.90 will be recognised, but until I've stumped up £26 or so for it, I'll not be able to find out.

Unless, of course, someone else does it for me...
Qemulator is not very fussy with it's .mdv file types. I can confirm that your SU8505w038094Gossamer.mdv file (and it's gossamer_bas content) works perfectly in qemulator.
Last edited by Chr$ on Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.


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Ask me about felt pads - I can cut them to size and they have proved excellent for mdv data recovery.
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TMD2003
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by TMD2003 »

Andrew wrote:Your mdv works in QEmulator.
Wunderbar. This is an excellent piece of news.
Andrew wrote:As others already mentioned there is no need to type the code on Qlay when you can type it more confortably on Notepad++ and use the syntax highlighting for SuperBasic. Just remember to set the file as Unix (LF) not Windows (CR LF).
I've used Notepad++ since I returned from the Dark Mac Lands circa May 2018, and it was only yesterday that I noticed the "Windows (CR LF)" box at the bottom of the program screen. If I'd seen it a few days earlier, I wouldn't have bothered loading up Linux specifically to convert a couple of text files that had been listed as LF-only but were really CRLF... the conversion worked, though, and that was a couple more programs I didn't have to type in myself.

I might go down the Notepad++ route - it is a bit involved to do it with QLAY and QLAYT, but at least I know how it's done, and now that I know the microdrive files are working, on we go with the big(ish) project!


Spectribution: Dr. Jim's Sinclair computing pages.
Features my own programs, modified type-ins, RZXs, character sets & UDGs, and QL type-ins... so far!
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janbredenbeek
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Re: The background to my presence here

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Andrew wrote: I downloaded QLay2 and extracted from the archive the WIN and MDV samples and tried to use them wih QL2k
They do not work !
if i load the mdv file as MDV1_ then QL2k starts but no cursor is shown
if I load .win file as WIN1_ then QL2K starts, cursor it shown and you can write and run programs, but dir WIN1_ results in "not found"
Also tried the QL2k 0.1 build 0101 32 bits edition - same results
Both QLAY2 and QL2K do not support .WIN files - the WIN device on these emulators maps onto a Windows directory specified in the configuration dialog. It should contain a qlay.dir file which holds the QDOS headers of the files in the directory. You can create the qlay.dir using the QLAYT-x64.exe or QLAYT-x86.exe tool (this is a command line tool).

The lack of .WIN container support makes it a bit awkward to use for me, as QPC2 and the registered version of Qemulator do support them and they are easier to port than a bunch of files in a Windows directory with QDOS headers in a separate file.
As for the sound, I believe that Qemulator comes closer to the sound of the original QL than QL2K does.

Jan


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Andrew
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by Andrew »

janbredenbeek wrote: - the WIN device on these emulators maps onto a Windows directory specified in the configuration dialog.
Yes, my mistake. But even windows directories with a qlay.dir file do not work in QL2K. I tested it with the sample directory from Qlay2
dir win1_ returns "not found" when win1_ si mapped to the sample directory WIN, which has the qlay.dir file
And any access to the mounted mdv (the sample mdv1.mdv from QLay2) will just result in the prompt to dissappear.


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mk79
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by mk79 »

RalfR wrote:I always wish to use QPC2 with any of the QDOS ROMs, as MK did with his first versions of QPC1
But why? QEmuLator covers that area very well?


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mk79
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by mk79 »

TMD2003 wrote:I might go down the Notepad++ route - it is a bit involved to do it with QLAY and QLAYT, but at least I know how it's done, and now that I know the microdrive files are working, on we go with the big(ish) project!
Interesting that quite often people insist on using the least well developed/hardest to use solutions. Perhaps retro computing needs to be painful :D


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janbredenbeek
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by janbredenbeek »

Andrew wrote: Yes, my mistake. But even windows directories with a qlay.dir file do not work in QL2K. I tested it with the sample directory from Qlay2
dir win1_ returns "not found" when win1_ si mapped to the sample directory WIN, which has the qlay.dir file
Have you imported the file names using qlayt -i? If all is well, they should be visible using qlayt -l.
You might check the WIN mappings in the configuration dialog too - I once got it wrong with a directory name WIN1_ where it should have been WIN1 (no underscore). If in doubt, use the button right of the text box to navigate to the qlay.dir file.

As for the mdv support, I have the impression that it works but very slow and it seems to freeze for several seconds with every access.

Jan.


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TMD2003
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Re: The background to my presence here

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mk79 wrote:Interesting that quite often people insist on using the least well developed/hardest to use solutions. Perhaps retro computing needs to be painful :D
The only thing I've found "painful" so far is the sound that QLAY puts out. Some things I will do the easy way - I'm having an initial foray into Z80 machine code, and I'd much rather plan that on a notepad and type in the mnemonics in Spin's in-built assembler, than assemble it by hand - although I have done that for my first few, very crude routines. And if I was going to attempt machine code on the QL I'd do much the same to start with.

At least my first proper QL projects I have planned will be via a notepad - seeing as they're conversions of Spectrum listings it's a lot easier to have BASin or Fuse output a .txt/.bas version of that listing, and then copy it over and translate it into QLese piece by piece. Hopefully I'll get there before long!


Spectribution: Dr. Jim's Sinclair computing pages.
Features my own programs, modified type-ins, RZXs, character sets & UDGs, and QL type-ins... so far!
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bwinkel67
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Re: The background to my presence here

Post by bwinkel67 »

TMD2003 wrote:The only thing I've found "painful" so far is the sound that QLAY puts out.
I didn't realize that QLAY put out sound? The Windows 7 version, QLAY2, does not so that's curious. I do use the original QLAY for my ZXSimulator web version as it runs under DOSBox in JavaScript on a webpage, but obviously no sound for a ZX81 emulator. For Windows 7, QL2K is the QLAY derivative that adds sound.


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