Treasure trove

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pjw
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Treasure trove

Post by pjw »

Ive moved a few times these past years, and to save me some trouble, Ive left a lot of stuff in storage. It turns out that I can live very happily without most of the things I once considered essential. So, Ive started a major clear-out of all that I havent used these past 7-14 years, to spare my heirs the trouble when I finally kick the bucket. They wouldnt or couldnt appreciate most of it anyway.

I dont have a complete overview yet. The thing is, Im not sure how to proceed. So I made a tentative list of what I found that might be of interest to this group. AFAIK, everything was in working order when it was last used. However, since then, things have no doubt deteriorated: QL membranes may have cracked, microdrives may no longer be readable, bits and bobs may have ended up in different boxes and may, for all practical purposes, be lost. What I found, and what I know is in there somewhere, are the following items:

1 QL, D12-059367, with added battery-backed RTC. My first QL, bought in
Norway in 1985. Has always been totally reliable, but is rather worn and tinkered with. Havent tested whether still working, or whether all boxed parts are there.

1 QL, D16-112909. Spare, bought in UK when the price dropped to £199. Membrane
leads cracked, feet not yet found, no screws in body(!) manual complete but fading. Innards look pretty pristine otherwise.

1 QXL, with manual and original floppy disks. Dont have a way of testing at
present, but AFAICS, it looks in excellent condition.

1 Aurora, connected to a Super GoldCard on a perspex mother board, including
SuperHermes. It used to be cased in a PC-style housing, but got displaced due to the next item. Cant remember whether I2C was a separate unit (there is a tiny PCB here too), or part of SuperHermes, but it was part of the original setup, and - somewhere - I should have a few I2C sensors, such as thermostats, and the like. It all looks pristine, including the battery/capacitor attached to the Aurora.

1 Q60, with an 80MHz CPU, 8(?)Mb, CD drive, network card. Housed in a small,
black, PC-style case. (Still buried. Details to follow).

1 Atari Mega ST4, with Iomega hard disk (ZIP disk?) built in. QVME graphics
card for high-resolution QL display (VGA, I think). There may be an external SCSI hard disk/Zip disk for this unit, but it is still buried, so I cant say. Last I looked, the plastic casing looked a bit faded/yellowy, but the machine was otherwise fine. I may also have an Atari colour monitor for this machine, and/or possibly a switchable monochrome monitor modified to also display colour-equivalent greyscale.

I may still have things like a TrumpCard (or should that be DrumpfCard, to avoid unpleasant associations?) Miracle serial to parallel printer converter, original, switchable QL ROM card for Atari ST, a Sinclair QL monitor or compatible, TK2 ROM, 4 or 8 Mb ROMdisk, etc.

No doubt there will be piles of microdrives and floppies (though I wont be getting rid of original floppies for licensed software I still use). I never played games, so their wont be many of those. Among items I no longer want are Prospero Pascal with comprehensive manual and ROM, and stuff like Decision Maker..

I also have about 50kg of assorted cables! Some QL-specific, some general: SCSI, RS232, Parallel printer, modem, telephone (mainly British) etc, etc.

Books: Donald Knuth "The Art of Computer Programming". Volumes 2 and 3 are bound volumes in reasonably good condition, Vol 1 is paperback and obviously used. (Poor Knuth, bless, had just finished vol 4, and was still beavering away at volumes 5 and 6 last I checked, but I guess he's fighting a loosing battle - against frailty and evolution..)

Sending any of this from Norway to the abroad is likely to be obscenely expensive. (Any interested Norwegians here?) I frequently travel to the Netherlands and to the UK, though mainly for no more than a week at a time. Would anyone in either of those countries be willing to sell the bulk of my stash on commission? Alternatively, I could make individual arrangements and then post from UK/NL when I go there. Obviously, status, more details, and perhaps photos, would be required for individual buyers. Can I dump them here, or should I send them individually (I dont have my own site anymore)?

Please advise..

Per


Per
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Derek_Stewart
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi Per,

I would be interested on all of this, in particular the QXL, Q60 ST4, I can pay the shipping to the UK.


Regards,

Derek
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by QLvsJAGUAR »

Per, some of those items - not only the Super Gold Card - are pure gold. My advice: Don't give them away under value. You took care for them for some many years, so you deserve to get the right price for it.

Even I'm interested in one or the other item I may resist because my space and time is also somewhat limited. But I would like to give the Q60 a new home. I will be my first Qx0. I‘m willing to pay a fair price and to cover postage cost.

Best regards,
Urs


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vanpeebles
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by vanpeebles »

Bun fight! :mrgreen: I would be interested in the little romdisks please.


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Outsoft
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by Outsoft »

"No doubt there will be piles of microdrives and floppies (though I wont be getting rid of original floppies for licensed software I still use). I never played games, so their wont be many of those. Among items I no longer want are Prospero Pascal with comprehensive manual and ROM, and stuff like Decision Maker."

Take it for me, I will buy it all, I need absolutely to preserve it!!!

Original or not, no problem. With of without manuals ;)

Don't worry about the shipping: I will send my TNT courier to get all there.

Let me gently know the price and for arrange the courier: simply pack it all and It will pass when you want.

You can write me here in private or on my e-mail that you will find here.

Thanks a lot for write here and help the cause ;)


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pjw
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by pjw »

Patience, guys. Ive been digging deep again today. Theres stuff here Id forgotten I ever had, although its starting to come back to me, by little and little. Just to give an idea, I found about 15 mice! Not the creepy crawly squeaky kind, but honest-to-god electronic ones! From ancient serial, via Atari, Commodore, PS/2, USB to dog knows what. Never realised I was such a hoarder! I see the wreckage of previous fire sales too, as there are a number of empty boxes: Tandata modem stack for the QL, 2 x Psion Series 3,.. oops! This one's got one in it! Yes, there were a few QL games, after all: The Pawn, Super Astrologer, Psion Chess, QL-Integrated Accounts - oops, no, thats not a game..

Although I never betrayed the "QL" when we were married, there is quite some Atari stuff here too. I used the Atari mainly as a QL, but also the way most of us use PCs today: for things the QL couldnt do, such as DTP, scanning, vector drawing, etc, so theres some of that kind of software and hardware too, if thats of interest. Also, SyQuest scuzzy drives and disks, anyone? 100 Mb Zip disks. Remember those?

The reason Im raving is that I havent seen all this stuff in ages. Most of the time Ive just moved the accumulating number of packing boxes from one storage to another. Being a younger son, I never had a family garage I could just fill up with the debris of my evolving interests. If I had a place to keep it all, to play with as and when the urge came over me - like a beautiful QL harem - believe me, I would. So while I love it all, I cannot possibly justify keeping it any longer. I just want to ensure that as much as possible of this goes to good homes. It appears I may get some help from some good people on this forum, but it could take a little while to get it organised..


Per
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pjw
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by pjw »

And here is the Italian translation of the above, courtesy Google Translate. Please enjoy :)

Patience, boys. Ive dug deep today. There's stuff here Id forgotten that I've ever had, even though its starting to get back to me, little by little. To give an idea, I found about 15 mice! Not the creepy crawly kind shrill, but honest-to-god electronic ones! From ancient standard, by Atari, Commodore, PS / 2, USB to the dog knows what. I never realized it was such a hoarder! I see the wreckage of Fire previous sales too, as there are a number of empty boxes: Tandata modem stack for the QL, 2 x Psion Series 3, .. oops! This one's got one in it! Yes, there were some QL games, after all: the pedestrian, Super Fortune Teller, Psion chess, QL-Integrated Accounts - oops, no, that's not a game ..

Although I have never betrayed the "QL" when we got married, there is a bit 'of stuff Atari here. I used the Atari mainly as QL, but also the manner in which most of us use the PCs of today: for the things the QL is made, such as DTP, scanning, vector design, etc., in some way theres this type of software and hardware too, if this is of interest. In addition, units and scuzzy SyQuest disks, anyone? 100MB Zip disks. Do you remember them?

The reason Im delusion is that I havent seen all this stuff in years. Most of the time Ive just moved the accumulation number of packing boxes from one to another storage. Being a minor child, I never had a family garage I could just fill up with the detritus of my interests in evolution. If I had a place to keep everything, to play with, how and when the urge came over me - like a beautiful harem QL - believe me, I would. So while I like everything, I can not possibly justify keeping it longer. I just want to make as much as possible of this goes to good homes. It seems I can get some help from some good people on this forum, but it might take a bit 'of time to get it organized ..


Per
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Outsoft
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by Outsoft »

pjw wrote:And here is the Italian translation of the above, courtesy Google Translate. Please enjoy :)

Patience, boys. Ive dug deep today. There's stuff here Id forgotten that I've ever had, even though its starting to get back to me, little by little. To give an idea, I found about 15 mice! Not the creepy crawly kind shrill, but honest-to-god electronic ones! From ancient standard, by Atari, Commodore, PS / 2, USB to the dog knows what. I never realized it was such a hoarder! I see the wreckage of Fire previous sales too, as there are a number of empty boxes: Tandata modem stack for the QL, 2 x Psion Series 3, .. oops! This one's got one in it! Yes, there were some QL games, after all: the pedestrian, Super Fortune Teller, Psion chess, QL-Integrated Accounts - oops, no, that's not a game ..

Although I have never betrayed the "QL" when we got married, there is a bit 'of stuff Atari here. I used the Atari mainly as QL, but also the manner in which most of us use the PCs of today: for the things the QL is made, such as DTP, scanning, vector design, etc., in some way theres this type of software and hardware too, if this is of interest. In addition, units and scuzzy SyQuest disks, anyone? 100MB Zip disks. Do you remember them?

The reason Im delusion is that I havent seen all this stuff in years. Most of the time Ive just moved the accumulation number of packing boxes from one to another storage. Being a minor child, I never had a family garage I could just fill up with the detritus of my interests in evolution. If I had a place to keep everything, to play with, how and when the urge came over me - like a beautiful harem QL - believe me, I would. So while I like everything, I can not possibly justify keeping it longer. I just want to make as much as possible of this goes to good homes. It seems I can get some help from some good people on this forum, but it might take a bit 'of time to get it organized ..

Italian translation? ;)

I'm Italian, If you need help ^_^

Well a QL Seriale Mouse compatibile with PE It will be good for me If you have it eheh.


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pjw
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by pjw »

Some of you will be heartily sick of hearing about my treasure trove experiences. Yet there are some salutary lessons to be learnt which Id like to share. (Fools learn from own experience; the wise learn from the experience of others.)

The 50kg of cables I bragged about were nowhere to be found! Its just possible that some remnants may turn up in boxes of mixed content, but for now Im rather cable-less. Cables and other bits and bobs that were once ubiquitous, are now as scarce as hen's teeth. Where do you find RGB cables these days? Or ACSI to SCSI converters? Even the old TV and D-sub VGA connectors and cables are dying out. Im sure there are specialists who are well stocked with these rare commodities, and will sell them to you for an equally rare price (+ p&p)or they can be had from America or the UK on ebay. But I live in a throw-away nook of civilisation where the best place to find lightly used second hand stuff is at your local rubbish tip. However, the mentioned cables and such like were incinerated years ago, so no chance there. In other words, before packing away old stuff, make sure you include what it takes to fire it up again when you need to!

Also the know-how, incrementally accumulated over many generations of 8 and 16 bit hardware developments is slowly fading from my brain, like the print-outs of that infamous "free" QL serial printer (for which, incidentally, I still appear to have a cable! though the printer was, for obvious reasons, consigned to damnation years hence.) If possible, write down what you take for granted now, to fire the thing up, or practice regularly!

There was some life in one of the old QLs, but the membrane was bust, so I didnt get past the F1/F2 screen, which, without an RGB cable, I of course could not see. I have a couple of spare original membranes, so I might at least try to get a BEEP, once I get round to changing it. The other machine, the ancient one with the battery backed RTC (and, it turns out, QIMI!) had a note-to-self scribbled on it saying "Needs new ULA", which I once must have understood. So no luck with the old QLs so far. A shame, really, as I could not part with my microdrive cartridges (some 60 of them, so far, in 3 Transform boxes plus the odd Sinclair 4-pack pouches) without wiping any personal or client data first. Anyone know of a sure-fire way to do this? With a strong magnet, for example? Luckily I backed up the contents onto floppies a long time ago, but I didnt keep a record of which cartridge contained what information. (The floppies were later backed up onto hard disks and backup CDs and later, DVDs).

I then tried to test the Atari Mega ST4. I couldnt use my ancient Philips multisynch monitor, as I didnt have a cable it liked. However, I have an oldish LCD monitor, also Philips, that understands VGA. QVMA, the graphics card for the Atari, developed by JMS, with drivers by Tony Tebby, also does VGA. At first I couldnt get a display at all. The monitor complained that it didnt like the signal and obstinately reverted to 1680x1024 or whatever. I pressed some keys, willy-nilly, and lo! a squashed image of the GEM desktop appeared. It wasnt readable, but it displayed life, and proved that the machine and its 105Mb SyQuest HDD were intact. On the last try, one of the three compatible mice seemed to work. I clicked on the shortest name ("QL" I presumed) and it opened. I clicked on something that vaguely resembled SMSQE, and would you believe it, it booted into my old, and once favourite, QL environment! (SMSQ/E 2.98) I had to fiddle blind with DISP_SIZE parameters for a while, but finally got a functional display. That machine was bought 25 years ago (+/-)and was in daily (and nightly) use for some 10 years. The past 15 years it has been languishing in its box. I may have had it out once or twice since then, but certainly not since 2007. Still, at the cost of about £100 per annum spread over its lifetime so far, it bloody well ought to work ;)

Tomorrow I hope to test the Q60, and if I can get hold of a PC with an ISA slot, the QXL2/25. Or I may rummage further for those cables..

Regarding the "Italian translation" above, let me just clarify. There are a number of non-English speaking "QL community" members. From some of the messages I got, it was clear that they must be using some translation software. Presumably they also translate English back into German, Italian, French and so on. So what do they (you) get out of what gets written here? I took Google Translate and converted my text from English to Italian, and then took the output and translated it back again to English. Its pretty good! But, there is plenty of nonsense and much scope for misunderstanding! On QL-user there have been a number of ugly fights in the past, much of that, I believe, down to misunderstandings due to language, as well as an ignorance of cultural differences. I merely wanted to demonstrate that, not to make fun of other languages, or of any person for not speaking English!


Per
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Outsoft
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Re: Treasure trove

Post by Outsoft »

pjw wrote: Regarding the "Italian translation" above, let me just clarify. There are a number of non-English speaking "QL community" members. From some of the messages I got, it was clear that they must be using some translation software. Presumably they also translate English back into German, Italian, French and so on. So what do they (you) get out of what gets written here? I took Google Translate and converted my text from English to Italian, and then took the output and translated it back again to English. Its pretty good! But, there is plenty of nonsense and much scope for misunderstanding! On QL-user there have been a number of ugly fights in the past, much of that, I believe, down to misunderstandings due to language, as well as an ignorance of cultural differences. I merely wanted to demonstrate that, not to make fun of other languages, or of any person for not speaking English!
No problem dear ;)

We understand all that you write, and you are very kindly to inform us about all you test and found, all so precious.

Best regards.


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