The Sinclair QL Forum

I looked closer and it says, "Made in USA" on it. It seems to have two rows of PLCC-24 ICs standing on their edges in a 2x4 arrangement. Weird. Might be something unique. Also, unidentified ROM port cart. Probably TK2...

Dave wrote:Got it for $323.55 shipped, would have paid MUCH more. That's only £228 though so a bit of a bargain by UK standards.

This leaves me free to disassemble and reverse engineer my current dead (beyond repair, corrosion) US QL to turn it into a schematic.

Wow shipping exploded. For me expedited shipping was $65 to MA and the unit sold fort $245. I did ask the seller when it had two bids, sitting at only $53, if it had to be expedited or if it could be shipped for the lower ($30 for me) standard shipping that was listed in the posting (since both said it would arrive within a week) and he said sure. I didn't want it since I have a good working US version but I thought if for some reason it would go for $54 then I'd snag it up (maybe send it to Adrian's Digital Basement). I didn't end up bidding since you had said you wanted it so surprised it did go pretty high. Nice to know the value of a US QL.

Also don't know why sellers always seem to lists the expensive "expedited" shipping option at the top. Not like a collector has to have it overnight. That happens quite a bit like "I'll get it to you fast for a ton of money" is some sort of selling point. I'd rather not pay shippers a ton of money. I was lucky to get my recently acquired Amiga 600 from the UK for about $49 shipping since those shipping prices usually hover over $100, even without a power supply or mouse (whereas a fully loaded one from Germany had listed for $25 to the US)

Congrats on winning the auction!

Dave wrote:I looked closer and it says, "Made in USA" on it. It seems to have two rows of PLCC-24 ICs standing on their edges in a 2x4 arrangement. Weird. Might be something unique. Also, unidentified ROM port cart. Probably TK2...

Please let us know what it is once you've had a chance to look at it.

In checkout I chose standard ground shipping which slashed that $112 expedited nonsense.

I will start a thread and share with all on the weird little card.

Dave wrote:In checkout I chose standard ground shipping which slashed that $112 expedited nonsense.

I will start a thread and share with all on the weird little card.

Ouch...I guess shipping from Ohio to the west coast made that a whole lot more expensive. For me in MA expedited was half that. There's got to be better shipping options that doesn't double by distance. Anyways, glad you won the auction!

I'm in Texas.

It's rained a lot here the last two weeks. We've had ten times the rain of Seattle and 20x the rain of Portland, Oregon in that time. If we get any extended rain here now everything is already waterlogged, there's going to be major flooding. Glad I live on a hill.

Texas on a hill...just made me smile as I thought of King of the Hill. I did see a youtuber called 8-Bit Guy's recent video and he's from Texas and did note that the rain has been crazy for him.

David Murray. I've met him and his wife a couple of times. It doesn't really show in his videos but he's an extreme introvert.

I met him the first time at Bo Zimmerman's house (zimmers.net). Bo has the most complete collection of Commodore equipment in the world. Whenever there's a rare bit of gear on David's channel, it's usually borrowed from Bo. Bo has the distinction of writing one of the best firmwares for the ESP32 to use as a serial to wifi adapter for vintage computers. Another well known youtuber, Paul McWhorter, goes there.

When I say, "goes there" I mean 'The Commodore Meetup' aka Nerd Camp!

Of course, meetups have been on zoom for the last year and change, and it was effectively my only social outings - once per month. So now I'm a shut-in.

But anyhow, I have drifted WAAAAY off topic in my pre-caffeinated state.