Dave Park has resurrected the ‘Sandy Electronics’ name in order to market some products he is trying to bring to market in this thirtieth year of the QL. On the 2nd of February, he wrote on the ql-users list:
“Yesterday I made a few thousand replacement foam pads [for microdrive cartridges] on a laser cutter. They’re the exact material in the exact size, they’re strong self-adhesive, and they’re great. In a short while I will post a video showing how they are made and how to use them. I will be selling them in lots of 10, 25 or 100 for just the amount to cover the cost of making and shipping them (if you’re a QUANTA member) or a little more.
“Since replacing the pads is a very delicate task suited only for the most confident and steady of hands, is their someone in the EU who would be willing to offer an install service? I do not think it is good for data for microdrive cartridges to be mailed to the US – someone in the EU would be better suited. You would be able to charge a flat fee for each cartridge (maybe EURO 0.5 + postage per microdrive?) and then you would just pay me for the pads at the bulk rate when you have used them.
If interested in that, please get in touch“
The Gold Card battery holders are now just about ready to sell too. In his blog at http://sinclairql.com/wp/ he wrote:
“It’s been an epic adventure, but these are finally being manufactured. The new design includes a red plastic case which looks a lot like the original battery. Inside it is contained a PCB with a battery holder to take a CR2032 battery. We expect to receive the first batch of these around the first week of March.
Pricing will be:
£12.00 each plus £2 flat rate shipping for any quantity. £9.00 each plus £2 flat rate shipping for Quanta members.
The Sandy Electronics store is at http://www.SinclairQL.com/store/ and will open for business on March 1st, 2014.
The coupon code to get 25% off a battery adaptor is “QUANTABAT” and can be used as many times as you like. With Quanta discount, the adaptors are £9 each, plus flat rate shipping of £2 for any quantity. Customers can select to pay in £, € or $ in the store.
All of our future products will offer discounts for Quanta membership, so if you are not a Quanta member, why not consider joining? Membership starts at £18/year and includes six bi-monthly magazines. Discounts on just one future purchase could pay for a whole year!”
Working with the designer of the original Qubide IDE interface, Sandy is working on the UltimIDE, a new and more capable IDE interface, based on QubIDE. The interface is designed to take advantage of technologies that have developed since the original QubIDE was developed.
The provisional specification is:
- One IDE interface, supporting two IDE drives
- One on-board connection for a 1.8″ PATA SSD (not a 2.5 inch device, which may draw more power than the QL can supply to UltimIDE)
- One or two CF slots. A CF card will be included, containing drivers, utilities, and SMSQ/E.
The new design is entirely surface mount, extremely power efficient, and 100% code/driver compatible with the original QubIDE.
Expected availability: May/June 2014
The website hints at a few other items of hardware to come – have a look at the website to see what’s happening by the time you read this!
The Sandy forum (support forum for Sandy customers) may be found at: