Thanks to Timothy Swenson, I came across a QDOS version of AWK.
AWK is a data driven scripting or programming language designed for text processing and typically used as a data extraction and reporting tool. It is a standard feature of most Unix-like operating systems.
Trivia: AWK’s name is derived from the surnames of its authors—Alfred Aho, Peter Weinberger, and Brian Kernighan.
The QDOS version is by Peter Tillier. Get it from the Languages page on my website at
The freeware version 1.20 of the commercial database software SuQcess is now available to download from the Dtaabase page of my website, at:
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/database/index.html
SuQcess version 2 will only work on SMSQ/E systems, whereas version 1 can run on QDOS systems too. Further information from Bob Spelten Jr.’s website at http://members.upc.nl/b.spelten/ql/suqcess2.html
That perennial favourite, the QaLendar or QL Calendar is now available as a PDF file from my website. Loadsof pictures of nice QL goodies to drool over throughout 2017 (not to mention the date of course).
Download it from:
Marcel Kilgus’s update of Easyptr to work with Window Manager 2 etc is now available to download free from both Marcel’s site and the Programming page on my website.
In case anyone hasn’t heard of it, Easyptr is a programming system for writing pointer driven programs in SuperBASIC and SBASIC. It includes a sprite designer and a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) menu designer.
WSPT is an extension procedure to simply write a sprite to the screen under pointer interface, without having to use a full toolkit add-on just to print sprites to a window.
This is a simple wrapper for the QDOS/SMSQ iop.wspt trap. Just load a sprite file into some common heap memory and use this command to write the sprite at a given location in a window channel, e.g.
ad = ALCHP (sprite_length)
LBYTES sprite_spr,ad
WSPT #channel,x%,y%,ad.
Download the WSPT extension from http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/tk/index.html
And speaking of Urs, he has informed me that his personal blog, which includes a lot of writing about QL matters, can now be found at https://plus.google.com/104042128125238901905
While I’m at it, here’s a list of a few QL-related blogs I’m aware of – if you know of any more, let me know and I can publicise them here:
http://qemulator.blogspot.co.uk/ Daniele Terdina, author of QemuLator
https://dilwyn2.wordpress.com/ Dilwyn Jones blog (highly recommended of course!!!)
http://backtotheql.blogspot.co.uk/ Lee Privett’s blog.
http://oldmachinery.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/ql Old Machinery blog, QL entries, by Tero Heikkinen
http://qlheaven.blogspot.co.uk/ QL Heaven blog.
https://sinclairqles.wordpress.com/ Spanish QL blog.
https://sinclairql.wordpress.com/ Italian QL software preservation blog.
http://www.hunggartorino.it/ql/about-us/ Quantum Technology site, Italian and English.
Urs König tells us that all 123 issues of the QL Today magazine (were there really that many! It ran from 1996 to 2013 after all) – scanned as searchable PDFs – are now also available for online reading on the http://sinclairql.net website. Before this re-release they were only part of the QL Today DVDs and QL IS 30 2014 – THE DISTRIBUTION.
This formerly commercial game from Wolfgang Lenerz is now available to download free from his website. It has now been enhanced to use the extended colours available in GD2 mode, with documentation available as text or Quill documents, and the source code is also available for those interested.
The game is based on an old arcade game called SAME. The idea is to click on a group of coloured tiles next to each other to make them disappear.
There is a Back key in case you want to go back a move or two to correct a bad move or try a different strategy.The more of the wall you manage to remove, the higher your score. The game is pointer driven.
Download a copy of the game free from Wolfgang’s “QL Stuff” website at http://www.wlenerz.com/QLStuff/
The original MESS QL emulation has now been merged with the MAME project. MAME is an ambitious software development to emulate multiple game systems and preserve software for the future.
Graeme Gregory wrote:
So MESS merged with MAME so MAME has QL emulation
To save you the trouble of tracking down the correct files for romdir in mame for QL + trumpcard emulation here they are in one zip.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9750127/ql-mame.zip
Trump 512k is the biggest memory configuration that works, the 768k option just locks up.
And obligatory screenshot of mame running Psion software:
Stephen Hurrell published a book on the subject of the Expanding Earth theory, available from sources listed on his website (link below). One of the longest running and most controversial theories in geology is the Expanding Earth theory. From the earliest school classes to the most advanced university geology lectures we are all taught that the size of the Earth has been constant and unchanging for thousands of millions of years, so virtually everyone is astonished when first presented with evidence for an Expanding Earth.
Be that as it may, the QL connection here is that Stephen has made available QL SuperBASIC programs he wrote on this subject in the 1990s. The programs were written to run on a machine with at least 512K RAM (the author used a Trump Card).
He wrote this program to confirm to himself that the ancient continents and ocean floor could be reconstructed on a smaller diameter Earth, just like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, and some of the original reconstructions produced by the program are published in various editions of his book Dinosaurs and the Expanding Earth from 1994 onwards.
A YouTube video is also available on the website of the program running, with narration.
Download the program and a load of information at Stephen’s website, on http://www.dinox.org/eeprog.html