Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Introduce yourself here!
Post Reply
adev
ROM Dongle
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2014 3:23 pm

Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by adev »

Hi...

I should probably have been here years ago... I've been on the QL mailing list for donkeys years. I am a sporadically active QL user (more off than on for the last 20 years)....

Dad bought a QL the day after they were announced, in January (?)1984 (?? - my memory is a little hazy here). I recall it finally turned up in July or August. I immediately spent a happy day typing in "QL Quest" from the launch edition of QL User. And a not so happy several weeks trying to make it run... I'm sure there were chunks missing from the listing.

After that, I used the QL almost daily. Dad did all his self employed accounts on it. I typed games in, mainly, and learned how to program. Eventually, it became "my" QL. We added a 5.25" disk drive, and later 512K memory (not the most obvious way of doing it). In fact, my floppy interface called disks "fdk_" rather than the more usual "flp_", so every listing needed altering to work on my computer...

Come 1991, I'm at University, and still using my QL, transferring lecture notes from a TRS-80 Model 102 to the QL via serial cable, reformatting them in Quill...

Post 1992, and entering the world of work, I end up using PCs (of course), and the QL ends up back in its box (which I still have to this day), and only brought out for the odd nostalgia trip. At some point, it goes faulty, but I have a 2nd QL which I use instead...

Quite some time later, whilst on a bit of an eBay buying spree, I end up buying a colour monitor for the QL (my first! - I used a Phillips green screen for many years, and a wide variety of amazingly poor quality B&W TVs prior to that). Then another QL (or 2). Then a QL with one of those separate keyboards you could get (can't remember who made it, it was a PC-like keyboard on a ribbon cable). Somewhere along the way I bought a Miracle Systems Gold Card, when they were brand new; but I could never afford the ED disk drives, let alone the ED disks. Given my later experience with PC 3.5" disks, that was probably a good thing. So I soldiered on with 720k 5.25" disks, most of which I still have, all of which still work to this day (last time I checked).

More recently, I finally got my paws on a Schoen keyboard - the one with the red function keys (Sorry Rich, I think I was the guy who outbid you on that one). Its nicer than the original QL to type on, but still nowhere near my IBM Model M keyboard...

I still fire up a QL every now & then, for old time's sake, but much less than I ought to really, considering the effect it's had on my life. I literally owe the last 20 years to my QL. I can't imagine being as good at programming if I'd had a "games" machine like an Amiga or Atari ST, vs. the QL.

I'll go back to lurking now, it's what I do best.... but I'll try to shove my oar in every now & then :D

PS: I forgot to add.... my name is Ade (hence the username), short for Adrian. I've lived in Cheshire for most of my life, now up on the Wirral, after a stint in London & Essex.


User avatar
vanpeebles
Commissario Pebbli
Posts: 2816
Joined: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:13 pm
Location: North East UK

Re: Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by vanpeebles »

Great first post! Hello and welcome aboard :)


RWAP
RWAP Master
Posts: 2834
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:51 pm
Location: Stone, United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by RWAP »

Welcome onto the forums - the fdk_ disk interface was probably the original Sinclair one made by MicroP - Tony Tebby's QJUMP released an upgraded ROM chip for this which converted it to flp..

The only other one which seems to have used a different device name was the Medic interface (again Tony provided an updated EPROM) - does anyone know what device name that used?

It might be worth checking what software you still have for it on disk in case that might be helpful for the Commercial Software Preservation Project!

:D


adev
ROM Dongle
Posts: 13
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2014 3:23 pm

Re: Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by adev »

Hi Rich,

MicroPeripherals rings a bell alright. It looked the part IIRC, with a nicely moulded end cap which matched the QL style. I never did update it, but TK2 included an "flp_use" command, so I added that to my boot disk, flp_use flp, which fixed the fdk issue (then, of course, I had to go back through all my s/w and change it back to flp! I don't recall having any disks come with the device itself, I probably bought it 2nd hand out of Micro Mart. Of course, if the ROM image is of any use, then I'd be happy to either extract that (someone will need to tell me how), or lend the unit to someone who can extract it.

I should still have it around somehwere, along with my 512k expanderam. I never did get around to getting a trump card, I went straight to the Gold Card not that long after they were released. I still have that somewhere as well...


RWAP
RWAP Master
Posts: 2834
Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:51 pm
Location: Stone, United Kingdom
Contact:

Re: Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by RWAP »

We already have v5.3e preserved of the MicroP ROM - if it is later, then that would be interesting (but unlikely):

http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/qlrom/index.html

The Gold Card is still valuable, as is the expanderam and any disk interface, as they are all in rather short supply at the moment!!


User avatar
robheaton
Site Admin
Posts: 375
Joined: Fri Nov 19, 2010 5:50 pm
Location: Ormskirk, UK

Re: Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by robheaton »

Welcome aboard!


--
If vanpeebles parps in the woods and there is nobody around, does it make a sound?
User avatar
1024MAK
Super Gold Card
Posts: 592
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2011 1:16 am
Location: Looking forward to summer in Somerset, UK...

Re: Hello from the Sunny Wirral

Post by 1024MAK »

Welcome Ade!

:D :D :D

What's that saying, ah yes, Goldcards are worth more than their weight in gold :lol:
As are some of the other FDD interfaces :P

Mark


:!: Standby alert :!:
“There are four lights!”
Step up to red alert. Sir, are you absolutely sure? It does mean changing the bulb :!:
Looking forward to summer in Somerset later in the year :)

QL, Falcon, Atari 520STFM, Atari 1040STE, more PC's than I care to count and an assortment of 8 bit micros (Sinclair and Acorn)(nearly forgot the Psion's)
Post Reply