FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

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BSJR
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FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by BSJR »

Has anyone ever tested FlashbackSE on a Q68?
Starting it in other resolutions than the standard 512x256 results in a screen showing the Q68 Boot Menu as found in the default WIN of my Q68 but no choice can be made, no keys are acted upon. A reset is needed.
Has this Boot screen been preserved somewhere or is the BOOT file running again?

When booted in the standard size and mode 4, FBSE will start but acts a bit strange.
Image
The image shows that the database info which should be on the two bottom lines, between the green and red borders, is still printed on the old space of the default window from before the _dba was loaded and the outline was resized.

In both QPC2 and SMSQmulator, FBSE runs happy in high colour and high resolution screens.
What's happening here?

BSJR
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FBSEonQ68.JPG


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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by RWAP »

Is this the FlashbackSE upgrade which I offer (v2.03) - I did some changes to the display handling to overcome issues with the pointer environment - it could be that this version would fix the issue on the Q68 ( I seem to recall seeing something similar, but it was many years ago).

That said, it is unusual that it displays fine on QPC2 etc but not on Q68 (as they all run SMSQ/e)

I would love to get this released as Freeware, but have never managed to get David Batty to comment on it. Unfortunately, my sources are based on a DEAssembly of the program, so not many comments!


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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

FlashbackSE is probably the only software I have not bought.I was quite happy with DBAS.

Since Flashback is still on sale, I would have to buy the software to do a one off test on the Q68.

As Rich indicated, the Q68 uses the same SMSQ/E operating system as QPC2 and SMSQmulator, so it should work the same way.

Can the changes to the display handling be detailed, as the Q68 512x256 Mode 4/8 display mode is highly compatible with most QL software.

Is there a demo version of Flashback?


Regards,

Derek
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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by BSJR »

RWAP wrote:Is this the FlashbackSE upgrade which I offer (v2.03) - I did some changes to the display handling to overcome issues with the pointer environment - it could be that this version would fix the issue on the Q68 ( I seem to recall seeing something similar, but it was many years ago).

That said, it is unusual that it displays fine on QPC2 etc but not on Q68 (as they all run SMSQ/e)

I would love to get this released as Freeware, but have never managed to get David Batty to comment on it. Unfortunately, my sources are based on a DEAssembly of the program, so not many comments!
Rich,
My version is indeed the updated 2.03 from RWAP (2002) and has always worked fine under SMSQ/E on my Aurora.

My Q68 runs SMSQ/E 3.34 and the test in the image was done with a minimal boot, no PE tools were loaded.
The W$10-QPC2-4.04 test used an older 3.26 with a "full" boot, while the SMSQm 2.27 ran 3.33 and also a new test on W$7-QPC2 4.05/3.34 was done without problems.

Derek,
Flashback has some unique subfield properties that I have not been able to implement in SuQcess2 yet.
It's a lot faster than Archive (too fast even) and much used before I knew DBAS & SuQcess.

The fact that I see the initial QLWA.win boot screen is strange because after that another win1 has been mounted for my own boot. I suspect this screen is still somewhere in memory and restored rather than the original boot program being rerun and not responding to keys anymore.

BSJR


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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

It is hard to see what is going on, as the Q68 SMSQ/E should work the same as QPC2, SMSQmulator or any other machine running the same SMSQ/E of the same level.

On the assumption that the display update as been done correctly and Flashback is using the correct Traps and Vectors to access the screen, then I do not know.

If you want to email me copy of the offending software, I will try on other Q68 computers, I have 6 in the process of being installed into a case.
Last edited by Derek_Stewart on Tue Mar 12, 2024 4:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.


Regards,

Derek
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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by tofro »

Up to now, any misbehaving software I found on the Q68 was actually caused by problems in the software itself, not in the Q68 or Q68 SMSQ/E.

This specific problem looks like PE being called (IOP.OUTL, maybe?) with an uninitialized pointer or channel ID.

Marcel fixed a similar problem in Easymenu for me earlier this year - didn't occur on any other platform, but turned out to be a bug in the application rather than OS or Window Manager.

Tobias


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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by RWAP »

I have no objections to sending a copy to Derek, but unfortunately, the copyright is held by Sector Software - I only supply an update to the original software to fix bugs and add more functionality....


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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by Derek_Stewart »

RWAP wrote:I have no objections to sending a copy to Derek, but unfortunately, the copyright is held by Sector Software - I only supply an update to the original software to fix bugs and add more functionality....
Hi Rich,

Thank you for the authorisation.

I have have a brief look at Flashback on 2 Q68 computers with SMSQ/E v3.34, and can not get it to run correctly as on SMSQmulator. Which strangely uses the same operating system.

I have forwarded the query to Wolfgang Lenerz who implemented the Q68 SMSQ/E.

Can you detail the can you made to the Flashback?


Regards,

Derek
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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by RWAP »

Derek_Stewart wrote:
RWAP wrote:I have no objections to sending a copy to Derek, but unfortunately, the copyright is held by Sector Software - I only supply an update to the original software to fix bugs and add more functionality....
Hi Rich,

Thank you for the authorisation.

I have have a brief look at Flashback on 2 Q68 computers with SMSQ/E v3.34, and can not get it to run correctly as on SMSQmulator. Which strangely uses the same operating system.

I have forwarded the query to Wolfgang Lenerz who implemented the Q68 SMSQ/E.

Can you detail the can you made to the Flashback?
I attach the list of updates but that's all I have apart from a few commented sections in the source code I managed to extract from the original
Attachments
FlashbackSE - Updates.zip
(2.08 KiB) Downloaded 109 times


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Re: FlashbackSE misbehaving on Q68

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I have been reading the updates file, is the Screen Save option in Flashback enabled, this may explain the QL screen present on executing the Flashback application.

Is it possible to disable the screen save function?


Regards,

Derek
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