Announcement - new QL Interface

[1024MAK]

Oh no, he's said the dreaded "stipples" word

Well done stipples is okay-ish. Badly done stipples just makes me quickly find the reset switch...

Mark

[tofro]

Mark,

stipples tend to blend into colours in the ageing eye of the beholder.

Diopters will be easing your aversion to stipples over time, I'd reckon

Tobias
(Who admits there really are horrible stipples possible on the QL)

[stevepoole]

Hi Folks,
I once did an article (for the Quanta magazine I think), about the stipples the QL forgot to do.
There are a lot of them, and they are very pretty too, and not at all hard on the eye.
But the program was just a demonstrator in SuperBasic, so would need a machine code equivalent to be really useful.
But the idea of allowing all the stipples possible is definitely fine... if someone would care to make them accessible.
It beats me why Sinclair never implemented them all in the first place...
Regards,
Steve Poole.

[janbredenbeek]

Well, my emulated QL screen in QPC actually has a blue stippled background (PAPER 200 which is equivalent to PAPER 0,1,3). They're accessible from machine code by using composite colour codes. The lower 3 bits are the main colour (black in my example), bits 3-5 the contrast colour XORed with main colour (blue) and bits 6-7 the stipple pattern (3 is the finest, corresponding with composite colours from 192 onwards). This is explained in the QL User Guide and the QPC Concepts guide on page 16.

later, Jan.

[stevepoole]

Hi again,
My stipples demonstrator program was in Volume 10, Issue 11, December 1993, page 28 to 31.
Ql stipples give 256 'colours', whereas this program gets 4096...
The listing runs from line 100 to 1280, so can be typed in to see the effects of the 'forgotten' colours.

Regards,
Steve Poole.

[Cristian]

Well done stipples is okay-ish. Badly done stipples just makes me quickly find the reset switch...

Sure, I agree 100%. Nothing new actually: we can say the same also for bad color combinations, sounds and so on.

[Cristian]

stipples tend to blend into colours in the ageing eye of the beholder.

...or in the increasing resolution of QL

[Cristian]

Hi again,
My stipples demonstrator program was in Volume 10, Issue 11, December 1993, page 28 to 31.

Apparently the link to this volume doesn't work Am I wrong?

[tetroid]

Hi.

Im sorry about long delay with any news about Tetroid interface.

First news.

New firmware version for prototype version and ROM in attachment.
I corrected the wrong address for QUBIDE part ( input/output buffers for IDE data )
ROM contain v 2.17 ROM for Trump card and new 3.08T ROM driver for my interface by Alain Haoui ( many thanks for Alain, very great job !!! ).

I not recommend the modern versions of Quartus programmer to update the firmware.
Link for download Quartus II 9.1 programmer :

http://dfiles.ru/files/qf391qgz2

New jumper setting for 0С000 address :

J1 - J3 close
J4, J5 - open



Second news

I made second version of prototype with automatic switch of input power voltage ( 5V or 9V ).
But later I have decided that he is unreliable for regular product.



Third news.

You can see the new rev. 01 regular interfaces.
Several changes in comparison with a prototype:

- I added an hole for simplification of removal of the card.
- I added CF card activity led
- Change the CF socket connector with pins protection
- I added manual jumpers - switch 5V or standard QL power
- I remove all QUBIDE jumpers ( only 0C000 address available for compatible with Trump card )
_ I added 3 jumpers
J1 - Memory expansion ON / OFF
J2 - Floppy disk interface ON / OFF
J3 - QUBIDE ON / OFF
- Red and black PCB versions available.

Today my task - to make comprehensive english manual. This is not easy for me.
Many thanks to Alain for very good manual for QubATA driver!



http://cats-chess.narod.ru/BOARD_SALE/rev_01_bottom.jpg

[RWAP]

That is excellent - I can't wait to upgrade the firmware on my version and try it out

Just those little changes will make the world of difference.