Getting My QL working - what to do .....
Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2018 8:31 am
Hi and thank you for adding me to the group. I have had a QL in my collection for a bit of time and I have finally got round to sorting it out and trying to get it up and working. It comes with a nice real keyboard (i think the Schon keyboard ? Red function keys at side). When I switch on I get a display of the “press F1 / F2” but when I type that on the keyboard I get nothing just the screen. So I opened it up and had a look inside to see if there was any obvious issue. Here are my findings and questions
1. They keyboard interface (small one on Left side looking from front) was wobbly and I suspect the connecton of the interface to the board is actually broken. When I took out the connector from the keyboard and placed it under the actual lose connector and pressed F1 it actually worked but obviously not that well but enough for it to make the connection from the ribbon cable to the actual motherboard. My question is can I get replacement keyboard interface points that i can solder back on to the motherboard ? I’d probably have someone do this for me as Im not that good with soldering and dont want to ruin the QL
2. I noticed that my ROM version has 3 roms in the two rom sockets ! They are AH but on the left side there are two roms stacked on top of each other ? Is that normal ? And should I try to get a more up to date rom chip set (Minerva?) I’d just like to get the best version of the QL as I can.
3. I purchased a Tetriod card that gives me extra ram, an floppy disk interface and a memory card interface, this when placed into the exspansion port seems to work as it comes up on screen as OK. Does that come with ability to update the rom via the expansion ? Not even sure if that is a thing but just asking.
4. What is the best way to get a better picture out of the QL ? I use a QL - Scart lead and while readable Its not brilliant and the main boot up screen there ar lots of white bits on the black backgound bleeding through. A better lead maybe ? Or not Scart ? Looks like it has a lot of noise on the screen. Just not as sharp or clear as it could be I guess.
5. I have the base RAM of 128k and the expanded ram from the tetriod card of 768k, can I upgrade further than that ? Would I need to ? What software would use more than that ?
6. I havent tried the MDV drives yet and when I switch on I hear it look for a drive but after I use the reset button i dont get anything furhter eg it doenst seem to do a seek after the initial switch on of power. If i place a cartridge in the first drive should it automatically boot into any program that is set to start on the drive or do i still need to press F1 or F2 to get it to do something.
7 Finally I have read a few times that some of the roms support dual screen? How is that done physically ? Theres only one monitor out port ?
My very first QL was one I purchased back when they first came out and had a dongle at the back. I had great fun with it and now all these years later I’m keen to get back into it and have some fun. Maybe this is a long shot but can the QL interface to the internet ? Maybe not a full blown browser in its base form ?
Thank you very much for all help
1. They keyboard interface (small one on Left side looking from front) was wobbly and I suspect the connecton of the interface to the board is actually broken. When I took out the connector from the keyboard and placed it under the actual lose connector and pressed F1 it actually worked but obviously not that well but enough for it to make the connection from the ribbon cable to the actual motherboard. My question is can I get replacement keyboard interface points that i can solder back on to the motherboard ? I’d probably have someone do this for me as Im not that good with soldering and dont want to ruin the QL
2. I noticed that my ROM version has 3 roms in the two rom sockets ! They are AH but on the left side there are two roms stacked on top of each other ? Is that normal ? And should I try to get a more up to date rom chip set (Minerva?) I’d just like to get the best version of the QL as I can.
3. I purchased a Tetriod card that gives me extra ram, an floppy disk interface and a memory card interface, this when placed into the exspansion port seems to work as it comes up on screen as OK. Does that come with ability to update the rom via the expansion ? Not even sure if that is a thing but just asking.
4. What is the best way to get a better picture out of the QL ? I use a QL - Scart lead and while readable Its not brilliant and the main boot up screen there ar lots of white bits on the black backgound bleeding through. A better lead maybe ? Or not Scart ? Looks like it has a lot of noise on the screen. Just not as sharp or clear as it could be I guess.
5. I have the base RAM of 128k and the expanded ram from the tetriod card of 768k, can I upgrade further than that ? Would I need to ? What software would use more than that ?
6. I havent tried the MDV drives yet and when I switch on I hear it look for a drive but after I use the reset button i dont get anything furhter eg it doenst seem to do a seek after the initial switch on of power. If i place a cartridge in the first drive should it automatically boot into any program that is set to start on the drive or do i still need to press F1 or F2 to get it to do something.
7 Finally I have read a few times that some of the roms support dual screen? How is that done physically ? Theres only one monitor out port ?
My very first QL was one I purchased back when they first came out and had a dongle at the back. I had great fun with it and now all these years later I’m keen to get back into it and have some fun. Maybe this is a long shot but can the QL interface to the internet ? Maybe not a full blown browser in its base form ?
Thank you very much for all help