QXL.WIN (the domain name).

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RalfR
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by RalfR »

Derek_Stewart wrote:The Q40/60 used the QLWA file specification on a partition level, like the Atari QL Emulator, in the Atari file system.
I haven't understood, why TT had not put the QXL.WIN container onto Atari, it is a nearly crash-proof way to store files.

I always had problems with my HD on Atari, beeing it the Megafile or later a SCSI adapter with a Rodime.


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Derek_Stewart
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi Marcel,

I do not think what you wrote is any different, except there was no omissions in my quote.

You see, there are new users that do not know the history of all this QLWA development, I do not think anything should be omitted.
mk79 wrote:Yeah, I know, QPC has the same capability... but actually QubIDE support is currently broken on all platforms. I fixed it for the upcoming SMSQ/E.
Can you detail the required changes and why it became broken?

Does this affect QDOS?


Regards,

Derek
Derek_Stewart
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by Derek_Stewart »

RalfR wrote:
Derek_Stewart wrote:The Q40/60 used the QLWA file specification on a partition level, like the Atari QL Emulator, in the Atari file system.
I haven't understood, why TT had not put the QXL.WIN container onto Atari, it is a nearly crash-proof way to store files.

I always had problems with my HD on Atari, beeing it the Megafile or later a SCSI adapter with a Rodime.
Did anyone know why TT did a certain thing...


Regards,

Derek
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mk79
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by mk79 »

Derek_Stewart wrote:
mk79 wrote:Yeah, I know, QPC has the same capability... but actually QubIDE support is currently broken on all platforms. I fixed it for the upcoming SMSQ/E.
Can you detail the required changes and why it became broken?
I think it was broken in 3.36. I'm waiting for Wolfgang to release the next version. By the way, it's not true that Q68 can handle QubIDE images directly, as these are byte switched compared to BDI. The next QPC will have support for both.
Does this affect QDOS?
What do you mean?


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Chr$
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by Chr$ »

mk79 wrote:
Chr$ wrote:What did I really mean there? I was referring more to the recent ability for SMSQ/E (on a Q40) to recognise a QXL.WIN container file on a FAT formatted CF/IDE device. I remember reading that that was a new feature. Was that just a Q40/60 thing then?
Ah, I see, the native "QXL.WIN on FAT32" driver. I think that was developed for Q68 and then ported to Qx0. I mean, it's still the same QLWA format the Q40 already used, just this time in container-on-FAT form. But you're right, looking at it this way one could say that SMSQ/E recently gained native QXL.WIN support as all earlier implementations used a host operating system for the FAT part. Though it's a pretty technical distinction :-)
I'll clarify it by using the term QXL.WIN +"container" a few times. Thanks.


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BSJR
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by BSJR »

Hi Chr$,
Congratulations on your new site.
I am sure Tony Firshman is happy to get a mention on there but being put under the label of "QL Games & Software" is not what he expected.
He was an important hardware man for the QL with Hermes, SuperHermes, ROMdisq etc. and of course repairing lots of original hardware, including mine, through TF Servises.

BSJR


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Chr$
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by Chr$ »

BSJR wrote:Hi Chr$,
Congratulations on your new site.
I am sure Tony Firshman is happy to get a mention on there but being put under the label of "QL Games & Software" is not what he expected.
He was an important hardware man for the QL with Hermes, SuperHermes, ROMdisq etc. and of course repairing lots of original hardware, including mine, through TF Servises.

BSJR
I know, but that's the name on the original cartridge label! The content appears to be 'xmodem' so I will add that to the list.
firshman.jpg


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Collector of QL related computers, accessories and QL games/software.
Ask me about felt pads - I can cut them to size and they have proved excellent for mdv data recovery.
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Peter
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by Peter »

Chr$ wrote:http://QXL.WIN
Nice site and PDF intro!
RalfR wrote:I haven't understood, why TT had not put the QXL.WIN container onto Atari, it is a nearly crash-proof way to store files.
Actually Tony Tebby did bring nicely working QLWA to Atari formatted harddisks! But he did that for Q40/Q60 - where there was not so much technical reason to use the Atari partition scheme. My guess is that Tony Tebby was just more familiar with Atari, so he did not use the PC partition scheme. But I don't actually know.

The traditional "QXL.WIN" usage was as normal, possibly fragmented files on a host PC for emulators. This differs in an important aspect from the native QLWA usage on Q40/Q60 (on Atari scheme harddisk) and later on Q68 (container on FAT32). The native usage requires all sectors in continuous, consecutive order. Confusing "QXL.WIN" with native QLWA is very dangerous - if the requirement is ignored, data corruption is inevitable! People are not used to the native QLWA requirement from the traditional "QXL.WIN" files for emulators, so there is considerable risk that mediums are interchanged without paying attention.

I hoped to bring a little awareness to this issue by trying to establish a different naming for native QLWA, if used in container files. So on the Q68, I proposed a different default name and avoid "QXL.WIN". But when Wolfgang ported the Q68 driver to QL-SD, he didn't see the importance, and the name "QXL.WIN" eventually made it into the QL-SD ROMs sold by Marcel. Now we have easy confusion between traditional "QXL.WIN" files and unfragmented QLWA containers.


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RalfR
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by RalfR »

So, if I now have undestand it correctly, the QXL.WIN files on a QXL or QPC2 are the same, simply a container file but on e.g. Q68 or SD-QL it is a file based QLWA. Correct?

But Q68 or SD-QL also uses an XXX.WIN file (as far as I know) or am I wrong? So it is perhaps not a real QLWA on SD (I think).


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Peter
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Re: QXL.WIN (the domain name).

Post by Peter »

All are QLWA filesystems inside a container file. But native hardware has the extra requirement of unfragmented containers, which the emulators have not.


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