I’ve set up a QL page of my own on Facebook. What I hope to do is provide snippets of news, links to useful QL blogs and websites and so on.
It’s called simply DJ’s Sinclair QL Pages. Find it on Facebook by searching for djsinclairql or go to fb.me/djsinclairql or https://www.facebook.com/djsinclairql/ If you like the page, click on Like so that the likes spread via newsfeeds and increase awareness of the page and the QL in general.
Marjus Dettweiller in Switzerland reports that with the availability of FX CAST, a cycle accurate 68000 CPU and cycle accurate chipset for the FPGA based MISTer system (information and download at http://atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=34554 – emulates Atari ST/STFM only, no STE functionality and no blitter), it is now known that the Atari version of SMSQ/E works on it. DD disk read/write is via .MSA disk image.
Get FX68K from https://github.com/ijor/fx68k The Atari version of SMSQ/E is available to download from Wolfgang Lenerz’s website at http://www.wlenerz.com/smsqe/
OQTopus is a freeware software to manage local networks on QPC2. It
is based on the IP_Net, IP_Router and IP_Ping extensions from Martin
Head. Giorgio Garabello has written an article about it, available to
read at http://www.hunggartorino.it/ql/discovering-oqtopus-the-new-
network-manager-for-black-phoenix/http://www.hunggartorino.it/ql/discovering-oqtopus-the-new- network-manager-for-black-phoenix/
Martin Head has written a small utility for QPC2 that allows you to ‘ping’ another PC (or the the one you are working on) and get a response from up to 10 QPC2’s that are running the ‘ping server’ on that PC.
For further information, check out this thread on QL Forum where you can also download the software itself and some example programs in BASIC:
Norman Dunbar has released an update to his Qstripper software for Windows and Linux, which converts QL word processing files to PDF, HTML, text and DocBook XML formats. Released under GNU General Public License version 2.0, Qstripper is available ot download for various platforms in 32 bit and 64 bit formats from Sourceforge
Simone Voltolini has put together a massive collection of over 250 free QL games and shared it via Dropbox/Facebook.
Most of the games are already available from websites such as mine, but it is so convenient to have them all available in a single large download (about 12MB in size)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/471cjxyupwv4kiw/AADW1RkOu9vm0MrwCss6AHLea?dl=0
A patched version of the Fleet Tactical Command II Demo, this patch allows you to play the game in QPC2. It also allows you to play a Network game between two copies of QPC2 either on the same PC, or two PCs connected over a local area network. It is supplied as two small QXL.WIN files in FTCIIDemo.zip which act as FLP1 & 2. There are two documents supplied. Operate, is a tidied up version of the Operate text file supplied with the FTCIIDemo. Fleet Tactical Command II for QPC2, is notes on using the patched version, updating the full version, and instructions for using IPVirtPrint, which is a Virtual Text Only Printer for use with FTCII, where the game’s print output can be displayed in a Windows program outside of QPC2. This patched version is the work of Martin Head. Along with IPVirtPrint, it may be downloaded from
http://www.greybeardz.com/games/index.html or http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/games/index.html
Thanks to a Thor user on QL Forum, I have been able to make available an image of v4.22 of the CST Thor QL ROM.
Download from http://www.greybeardz.com/qlrom/index.html or http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/qlrom/index.html
Keith Dunbar reports that the publishers Usborne have released some 1980s books about computing as PDFs on their website. The URL is
https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-coding-books/
Simone Voltolini of Outsoft in Italy has been involved with preserving QL software for some time now and has provided regular emails to keep us updated on what has been preserved, along with a list of hundreds of QL programs he has been able to duplicate for preservation.
Using special software to dump the content of a cartridge to a preservable form (many microdrive cartridges are now at an age where they simply stop working largely due to the disintegration of th efelt pad in the mechanism), Simone has been doing a fabulous job preserving this for the day when there are no working master copies of anything.
Simone has produced an English language YouTube video showing how he goes about his work with the mDump2 and mDoubler4 software. The video is about an hour in length, so allow plenty of time. View it via https://www.facebook.com/groups/sinclaircollection/permalink/10155176458182457/https://www.facebook.com/groups/sinclaircollection/permalink/10155176458182457/
