Found Original Psion USA Cartridges

[Chr$]

I was surprised to find these two gems in a lot of mostly Spectrum related stuff that I received today. I get a little bit excited by QL related original stuff, for which google holds no images (how sad is that)! I know that the actual US software is available on Dilwyn's site, but here are pics of the original USA QL's 'Spreadsheet' and 'Business Graphics' hardware. They are in very nice condition but they do have their original foam pads, so I won't be trying them out.

I'm also in 2 minds about putting new felt on them. Do I re-felt and see if they are version 2.1 as expected, or leave well alone and just dl the publicly available version if I really need to?!

Just 'Database' (Archive) and 'Word Processor' (Quill) to find now.

[vanpeebles]

Looking good! I wonder if there is any difference with the software?

[tofro]

Apparently, they weren't sure they got the rights to the "Easel" and "Abacus" names in the US, so labelled the programs in a generic way.

Tobias

[Dave]

The US versions of these programs were reconfigured for a lower resolution screen, and I think that was the only difference.

[Chr$]

I'm going to re-felt them and then see how healthy they are, what I can get to run etc. Be interesting to see if there are references to the UK names, what the red start screen looks like etc.

[Chr$]

Ok, well the re-felting went fine and I was able to dir both of them. v2.1, same as provided on Dilwyn's site.

They don't run though and on attempting to copy the contents to win1_ both failed at the main 'exe' files, which are called QLSS and QLBG.

I suppose I could format them 6+ times to stretch and identify bad sectors, then copy the original files back over (in the correct order) and they'd be good as new (as good as mdv cartridges can be).

[Derek_Stewart]

Ok, well the re-felting went fine

Hi,

What did you use to refelt the microdrives?

[Chr$]

This stuff, cut thinner and smaller (obviously):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123963891898

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi Chr$,

There are a couple of vitial microdrives I need re-felting, so I will give it a try.

[Chr$]

Practice on some crap ones first! The main issue is the old sponge not coming off properly. Sometimes it falls off in one piece, other times you end up with a thin layer of gunk and Verdigris on the brass spring plate and you have to scratch and rub away for ages... which if you're unlikely will cause the fragile spring to come loose/fall out and they are a right pain to get back in place. I've managed to break the spring a few times and had to use less important carts as spring donors. Fiddly.

Best of luck!