Author Archives: Dilwyn

ZX8301 Chip Investigated

Urs König writes:

“The ZX8301 is the ‘Master Chip’ of the Sinclair QL Professional Computer.

Its purpose is documented in the Sinclair QL Service Manual. See:

http://www.sinclairql.net/srv/qlsm1.html#s1-p6

The chip designed by David Karlin and manufactured by Plessey. See:

http://www.sinclairql.net/story/The_long_lost_interview_with_David_Karlin.htm

There are two known editions of the chip, the CLA2310 and the later CLA2345. Their mask differs.

Way back in May 2014 I explored the die of a Sinclair ZX8301 CLA2345 chip with my newly acquired BRESSER MicroSet microscope. Another QLer is currently exploring a CLA2310. This motivated me to review my work and publish the material (both video and stills) I’ve shot using the microscope.

Videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx52phYHc9E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzN9zgPXcmo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o79SPPTkVMg

Stills:

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=c250d8748980ce5a%2134212

https://onedrive.live.com/?id=c250d8748980ce5a%2134212&cid=C250D8748980CE5A&cid=C250D8748980CE5A

More to come from either me or other QLers.”

BMP Graphics Viewer Updated

Bob Spelten Jr. has updated my BMP graphics viewer.

Bob has extended the range of BMP file types which can be converted (most types from 24-bit to 1-bit), while conversions from QL graphics to BMP can now be done as either 24-bit or 16-bit files.

Saving to a DOS or NFA named device will replace underscores with a dot. A scaling option has been introduced for viewing large files – the files are scaled to fit the window, but with aspect ratio maintained.

On the command line, there is a switch option to turn off scaling if you prefer not to use it, along with an option to turn off the BEEPs if they get on your nerves. BMP can be started with a filename on a command line now, allowing other programs to use BMP as a viewer, e.g. FileInfo 2.

We are grateful to François van Emelen for assistance with testing this update.

Download the latest version 1.03 from the Graphics Programs page on my website at

http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/graphics/index.html

uQLx 2017

A newly revised version of the Linux QL emulator uQLx (uQLx 2017) is now available.

Graeme Gregory has “brutalised” (as he puts it on github) the sources to bring them up to date. New binaries are available for 32- and 64-bit x86 systems, as well as ARM (6/7/8). Includes binaries ready to run.

Includes documentation from Timothy Swenson to get you started along with a small QXL.win file.

The binaries are available to download from the emulators page on my website

http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/emu/index.html#uQLx_for_Linux_etc.

while the sources are available from the Sinclair QL Github at

https://github.com/SinclairQL/uqlx-fork

The sources are available from my website too in case of difficulty, but I recommend you get them from the github repository to make sure you get the latest sources.

QED

Jan Bredenbeek has released v1.02c of QED, a fast and compact freeware text editor originally released back in 1988. The configuration program for this version allows you to alter the window position and size for use on high resolution displays such as QPC2.

Download QED from http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/editview/index.html

Wander

After porting the Colossal Cave adventure game (http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/games/adventures/ccave.zip ) Graeme Gregory has now ported an earlier adventure game system called Wander.

Screen dump from opening screen of Wander

Wander is a tool for writing non-deterministic fantasy “stories”. The product is a story whose unfolding is affected by decisions made by the “reader”.

The author is Peter Langston (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Langston ), who when asked if this is really from 1974 says: “As I remember I came up with the idea for Wander and wrote an early version in HP Basic while I was still teaching at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. Then I rewrote Wander in C on Harvard’s Unix V5 system shortly after our band moved to Boston in 1974. I got around to putting a copyright notice on it in 1978.”

Here you can find some more information on Wander: https://ahopeful.wordpress.com/2015/04/22/wander-1974-a-lost-mainframe-game-is-found/

Sources for Wander available here: https://github.com/SinclairQL/wander/tree/qdos-gcc

Please note that, at the time of writing, the program had an issue with the Signal Extension, which caused it to fail. The program should only be run without the Signal Extension being present.

SMSQzine #4

The fourth issue of Timothy Swenson’s eZine called SMSQzine is now available to download free of charge from his Google Sites page at https://sites.google.com/site/svenqhj/home/

Scroll down the page and look for smsqzine04.pdf and smsqzine04.zip

This issue includes articles on a new front end program for Digital Precision C, a game called Orbit, array searching, the new release of uQLx and a recently released version of Wander, an original adventure game system for mainframes from the 1970s, one of the earliest adventure games.

SMSQzine cover

ADV770 – Colossal Cave

Graeme Gregory’s port of the ADV770 version of Adventure or Colossal Cave now available to download zipped from http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/games/adventures/index.html  (Adventure Games page on my site)

Remember that the executable alone is a massive 1.2MB, so it needs a minimum of a Gold Card or an emulator set to 2MB or RAM or more.

Wonder if this takes the title of the largest QL executable so far?

ADV770 – Colossal Dave adventure15

SMSQ/E v3.30

This release fixes 3rd slice of mod table, start at $10000 and not $fffc (for QPC2) and links in the floppy module for SMSQmulator, which was broken in v3.29.

Download SMSQ/E sources and binary from Wolfgang Lenerz’s website at http://www.wlenerz.com/smsqe/