Users curious about how the
QL works can get a full set of
documentation for £35
(inclusive) from QJUMP,
nn xxxx xxxxxx, xxxxxxx,
xxxxxxxxx xxn nxx.
QJUMP is Tony Tebby, who
wrote QDOS for Sinclair. He's
now left Sinclair Research and
has acquired the distribution
rights to the QL
documentation. Be warned!
The documentation will not be
of much use to you unless you
are an experienced MC68000
assembly language
programmer! You also need
access to a MC68000
assembler or cross-assembler;
hand-assembly of MC68000
code is not recommended if
you value your sanity!
Incidentally, I managed to
get a copy of the QDOS
documentation out of Sinclair
Research, and it is quite
excellent, which is more than
can be said for some of the
books published on the QL.
The QL User's Bureau
(QLUB), Sinclair Research's
much-vaunted users' group for
the QL has at last managed to
produce its first newsletter,
entitled QLUB News. It's a
slim document, comprising of
just four pages, and a large
proportion of this 'magnus
opus' consists of blank space.
Sinclair Research invites
contributions from QLUB
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members and asks that letters
be kept as brief as possible -
presumably so that it can
maintain an editorial policy of
50 per cent text and 50 per cent
space in subsequent issues!
There are those who would
wish to use an RGB colour
monitor with their QL, and
who are encountering some
difficulty in making up a
suitable cable (they don't seem
to be available from Sinclair
Research yet). The hard-to-get
eight-pin DIN plugs are
obtainable from: Maplin
Electronic Supplies Ltd, xx
xxxn, xxxxxxxx, xxxxx xxn
nxx. The code to order is:
FG40T (DIN Plug 8-pin) TQ
100; and the price is a mere
62p each. In fact, they're still
hard-to-get since Maplin is out
of stock as I write this, but at
least you now know another
source to order them from
when supplies become
plentiful.
Bristol software house
Metacomco is producing a
range of languages for the QL.
Its first offering is likely to be
an assembler and editor,
followed by BCPL and C
compilers ... and, for when the
0.5M memory expansion
materialises, a LISP
interpreter. They'll probably
sell for around £100 each.
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Sagesoft has completed its
accounting software to run on
the QL, the result to be
marketed by Sinclair Research.
The whole caboodle is likely to
be quite expensive, however.
For some inexplicable
reason, the software is not
integrated with the Psion suite.
Member of IQLUG, Jeremy
San, has written a terminal
emulation program for the QL
which will shortly be placed in
the group's software library.
Written in assembly language,
the program's being 'tarted up'
to allow the uploading and
downloading of Microdrive
files. Because of the limitations
of the QL serial ports, Jeremy's
been unable to make the
program function satisfactorily
with the standard 1200/75
baud Prestel service, but it
works fine with a standard 300
baud modem for accessing
computerised bulletin boards.
Sinclair Research is thinking
seriously about putting the
UNIX operating system on the
QL. UNIX has hitherto been
available only on minis and up-
market micros like the Fortune.
The QL will need the 0.5M
RAM expansion and a sizeable
hard disk (30M or so), but the
move could make the QL a
very popular machine with the
universities.
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IQLUG is a non-profit making independent QL users' group. Further
details on the organisation are available
from: Brian Pain, Acting Secretary, IQLUG, 24 Oxford Street,
Stony Stafford, Milton Keynes, Bucks. Tel: 0908 564271. |