The Sinclair QL Forum

OqtaDrive 0.7.0 is available. Biggest addition in this release is support for Sinclair Network over the Internet, for transparently connecting Spectrums and QLs over the Internet using the Sinclair Network protocol.

Peter wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 12:43 pm

ones' complement wrote: ↑Tue Apr 09, 2024 12:27 pm over 1 million views in 7 months

In comparison to topics with more posts over longer time, this number does not appear like actual views.

Maybe it was an attempt at improving scripting skills...

Peter wrote: ↑Thu Apr 04, 2024 12:07 pm As the SD card is not accessible, I wouldn't see the internal QL version as self-contained.
With the QL case closed, one requires a PC and Wifi connection to exchange data.

Sure. And what do you use to write/read to/from SD cards?

With vDrive, you don't even need any external power as it is self-contained and an SD card can become multiple external microdrives. OqtaDrive uses a connection to a host machine instead of an SD card. The standalone variant of OqtaDrive is also self-contained and can be powered from the Microdrive...

Ok, the issue here is that I have long wanted to write a game that can be played with, in this case, up to four players, each sitting at their own QL-like computer, possibly at remote locations. Every iteration of QL networking capabilities has breathed fresh life into that idea (and I presume I'm ...

Derek_Stewart wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2024 7:06 am I am wondering if a USB/PS/2 keyboard can be used in parallel with the existing QL keyboard.

Yes, this adapter works in parallel with the original keyboard.

You won't know a write is coming from the point of view of a cartridge, until it actually starts to write the tape. That's correct. While the QL is reading, the smart cart plays data through its head into the head of the Microdrive (replay mode). When the QL writes, the smart cart reads data with i...

I'm not sure this would be an issue. As long as you detect writes, since you are dealing with a digital format, there is no need to erase anything, as that's just an artifact of a physical magnetic tape. Not quite. Checking the erase coil would not be done for erasing anything, but to actually dete...

In addition to detecting motor on/off by checking for movement of the pinch roller (maybe with LED similar to an optical mouse, to avoid mechanical parts), you would also need to detect when to read and write. For this you have to check whether the erase coil is emitting a field, and as soon as it d...

Hello Randy,

Happy New Year & welcome to the forum!

A third option for Microdrive emulation on the QL would be OqtaDrive, which would also work with your Spectrums.

Happy QL-Hacking!
Alex