The Sinclair QL Forum

This thread exists to collect some opinions on QL-SD. To me QL-SD is the best mass storage solution for the QL, hands down. Peter's design was clever and my core improvements along with Wolfgang's and my excellent WIN driver brought it to perfection. Other people apparently think that too as I get regular inquiries for another batch, and I'd like to help people in this regards, especially as many are returning to the QL.

On the other hand I vowed to never do another batch because QL-SD is very time consuming to produce by hand. It looks easy, but start to finish it could take 1-2 hours, especially if there was a problem. Also, I learned the hard way that offering too many variants is a pain as it means that stuff can only be pre-produced up to a point (idiot me offered 12 possible variants).

All this was part of the reason I started QL-SD ROM, which is a single board solution, doing away with having to make two boards and the cable connecting them. But the internal variant also still does have its charm, so I've been thinking about letting the Chinese do the SMD soldering and me "only" doing the rest. It's still a lot, but this way most errors are already eliminated, so time for debugging at least should be minimal.

All in all I currently have 4 possible variants:

1. QL-SD ROM with one big SD sockets

   

2. QL-SD ROM with two microSD sockets

   

   

3. Internal QL-SD with microSD board

   

4. Internal QL-SD with single SD board

   

Please discuss and/or vote on what would be the preferred solution for you. I've allowed two answers in case you'd buy both internal and external variants if they both existed.

All the best, Marcel

Option 4!

Much as I would love one, all my QLing is done on the finest emulator known to man or beast, QPC2.

Cheers,
Norm.

mk79 wrote:This thread exists to collect some opinions on QL-SD. To me QL-SD is the best mass storage solution for the QL, hands down. Peter's design was clever and my core improvements along with Wolfgang's and my excellent WIN driver brought it to perfection. Other people apparently think that too as I get regular inquiries for another batch, and I'd like to help people in this regards, especially as many are returning to the QL.

I submitted my vote for Options 2 and 3

I like the internal features not changing the outline of the QL, but the use of the ROM connector is a good idea.

I also think Micro-SD cards would be easier to purchase.

mk79 wrote:On the other hand I vowed to never do another batch because QL-SD is very time consuming to produce by hand. It looks easy, but start to finish it could take 1-2 hours, especially if there was a problem. Also, I learned the hard way that offering too many variants is a pain as it means that stuff can only be pre-produced up to a point (idiot me offered 12 possible variants).

All this was part of the reason I started QL-SD ROM, which is a single board solution, doing away with having to make two boards and the cable connecting them. But the internal variant also still does have its charm, so I've been thinking about letting the Chinese do the SMD soldering and me "only" doing the rest. It's still a lot, but this way most errors are already eliminated, so time for debugging at least should be minimal.

Another option here is to let someone else perform the construction, marketing and sales of the QL-SD card(s).

My experience with the construction and sales of the Q68, the biggest job by far is the dispatch of the customer, this usually takes me a more time to do than the actual construction.

Derek_Stewart wrote:I also think Micro-SD cards would be easier to purchase.

...and easier to lost in a carpet.
I vote for big SD cards. Option 1 or 4.

Derek_Stewart wrote:I also think Micro-SD cards would be easier to purchase.

All the micro SD cards I've bought since 2012, RasperryPi year, have come with an SD card adaptor. I suspect this will continue - if not, I have quite a few!

Cheers,
Norm.

I went for 2 because I think there are probably re-discoverers that may not be comfortable opening their QL (even if most of them will probably have to do so for the keyboard!). Micro SD seem to be more common to buy nowadays, but it doesn't necessarily need to be 2 of them.

Get them made in China. Go for larger volume (within reason) to keep the end-user price down and then watch them fly off the shelves. I'd love to be involved with testing/marketing if you need it. In fact I'd be happy to pay for some upfront! I missed out when you made them before but I think it really should be the must-have accessory for every original QL and so much more practical - and hopefully cheaper - than the alternatives.

I'd like to be able to swap the card between QLs easily without having to disassemble, so either 1 or 2 is fine for me.

2 would be useful if you want to do back-ups or duplicate to give to others, so it would probably be preferable.

What components on there are non-SMD? Just the headers? What could be left off for others to fit later if they wished, to cut down on your assembly time?

Why Mini SD and not Micro SD? Its a no brainer to me to go big if you want to plug the SD card in & out. I have to use pliers to get the Mini SD out of my USB stick as it is so if I had to do it on the QL I would shoot myself. For an internal SD to replace a Microdrive it is better to go for that vDrive thing isn't it? Not many votes so are QL-SDs worth the bother for you to make?

Hi,

I have changed my vote, after a little thought, I think with ful size SDHC cards would be better. As stated above this gives compatibility with other QL based systems, like the Q68 which has 2 SDHC Slots, PC with QPC2/ SMSQmulator. Also all my PCs and laptop have full size SD Slots.

So my vote is for 1 and 4