Newbie.. on Sinclair QL...

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genetika
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Newbie.. on Sinclair QL...

Post by genetika »

I know, I'm a new user of the Sinclair QL.
When I was 17 I dreamed of owning and now, a few years later, I managed to get a gold card and boxed ql with some emulators (QPAC2 and Q-Emulator) ... I also bought the operating system SMSQ_GOLD (run perfectly on emulators and on the Gold Card) ... I then bought QPAC2, QDT and LaunchPad Desktop 2 ... beautiful! Sin, which failed to start anything ... (I state that I am a UNIX systems engineer and I work in IT for a long time, but 'I can not understand the logic that there is' behind the QL .. :-() ... I'd like to be able to launch a GUI environment graph on QPAC2 or Q-Emulator, to understand the functioning of the BOOT file, ... in short .. to be able to use the QL! .. I've read several guides, but to no avail ... What I ask is not 'obviously advanced training! If possible, I ask you, the step by step instructions for successfully starting up QPAC2 / Q-Emulator GUI environment to do something ... :-) ... to get up to this environment so 'fascinating! ... Obviously, I can use the programs on PSION microdrive! .. But still nothing better graphics ... I made a post ad-hoc for the Sinclair QL emulator, it is a PC with WinXP Pro ... I thank all those who can give me a help, however small, to begin ... Thanks again and sorry for the request .. :-)


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vanpeebles
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Re: Newbie.. on Sinclair QL...

Post by vanpeebles »

I'm not too sure on using the emulator but you did well to get a gold card :)


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tofro
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Re: Newbie.. on Sinclair QL...

Post by tofro »

Well, in short:
QPAC2 is a must in a QL environment and you did right to go that way.
It is, however, admittedly bad documented with regards to allowing a novice user to get into grips with the software.
QPAC2 doesn't do /anything/ once you LRESPRed it - You must bind the functions to Hotkeys in order to do anything with it. A short excerpt from my own boot with some comments:

Code: Select all

-- load QPAC2 things
810 LRESPR win1_system_qpac2                     : REMark QPAC II
-- and bind the applications to hotkeys
520 REMark Define hotkeys
-- ALT+"-" Will pick SuperBASIC in Front
530 ERT HOT_PICK('-',''): REMark BASIC
-- ALT+SHIFT+"x" will start a new Xchange
550 ERT HOT_LOAD('X','win1_XChange_xchange'):REMark Psion XChange
-- ALT+"x" will start a new "Exec" menu. Dig from there into QPAC2
590 ERT HOT_WAKE('x','Exec')
600 ERT HOT_WAKE('<','Pick')
610 ERT HOT_CHP('q',QD_GERMAN)
620 ERT HOT_LOAD('c',win1_progs_qdc)
630 ERT HOT_LOAD("T",win1_t87_t87hc)
640 ERT HOT_CHP1("M","win1_utils_c1m")
650 ERT HOT_CHP1("g","win1_gwass_gwass_exe")
660 ERT HOT_CHP1("a","win1_assembler_qmac")
670 ERT HOT_CHP1("l","win1_assembler_qlink")
675 ERT HOT_THING("$","Button_Sleep")
680 HOT_GO
This should give you a head start on QPAC2 and Hotkey functionality. You can now start the applications with simple key combinations.
Note that QPAC2 provides a lot more things that can be put on hotkeys


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RWAP
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Re: Newbie.. on Sinclair QL...

Post by RWAP »

Have a look at Qascade and QPacer on the Sinclair QL Homepage too - http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/utils/index.html

QPacer helps you to set up a boot program for QPAC2.

Qascade runs under QPAC2, to provide a functionality similar to the START key on Windows


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tofro
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Re: Newbie.. on Sinclair QL...

Post by tofro »

RWAP wrote: Qascade runs under QPAC2,
Even better: It runs perfectly well without QPAC2.
It does need QPTR, however.

Easy to become confused with all those Qs ;)


Cheers
tofro


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