How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Discussion and advice about emulating the QL on other machines.
AmintaSinclair
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How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by AmintaSinclair »

Hi all! I'm using Sinclair QL via Mister Core.

I've bought some games from RWAP Software. They are in floppy / folder format and I would use them on Mister (that doesn't support floppy).

Most of them don't fit the *.mdv size so I was wondering if I can use qlx.win, but how can write in it? My (registered) copy of Q-Emulator, for example, can not write but only read...

Thanks in advance!


Derek_Stewart
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

Can you not use FLP imagess, which allow image of floppy disk images of 360K(SS), 720K(DD), 1440K(HD).

Since you have registered copy of Q-emulator, just left click on one of the empty drive slots and selection Floppy Image to create a new Floppy image fle
Q-Emulator.png
Attch MDV image file and FLP image file to empty drive slot then copy the contents of the MDV file to the FLP image file, transfer to Mister and play the game...


Regards,

Derek
AmintaSinclair
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by AmintaSinclair »

Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

Can you not use FLP imagess, which allow image of floppy disk images of 360K(SS), 720K(DD), 1440K(HD).

Since you have registered copy of Q-emulator, just left click on one of the empty drive slots and selection Floppy Image to create a new Floppy image fle

Q-Emulator.png

Attch MDV image file and FLP image file to empty drive slot then copy the contents of the MDV file to the FLP image file, transfer to Mister and play the game...
Alas Derek, problem is that floppy image contents size exceeds MDV maximum size, so I was wondering if I can use qxl.win...


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tofro
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by tofro »

You can read/write/format QXL.win images using QPC2.

You can also use Wolfgang Lenerz's QXLWinReader Java application to transfer files from Windows/MacOs/Linux space into QXL.win images.

Place the QXL.win image as "boot.vhd" in the QL folder of your Mister SD (or as QXL.WIN onto a card in the secondary SD slot as win2_)


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mk79
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by mk79 »

AmintaSinclair wrote:Most of them don't fit the *.mdv size so I was wondering if I can use qlx.win, but how can write in it? My (registered) copy of Q-Emulator, for example, can not write but only read...
Not sure where you got that from, of course QemuLator has write access to QXL.WIN style files. You can also use QPC2 if you want, but both should work for transferring stuff from floppy image to .WIN image.


Derek_Stewart
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by Derek_Stewart »

AmintaSinclair wrote:
Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

Can you not use FLP imagess, which allow image of floppy disk images of 360K(SS), 720K(DD), 1440K(HD).

Since you have registered copy of Q-emulator, just left click on one of the empty drive slots and selection Floppy Image to create a new Floppy image fle

Q-Emulator.png

Attch MDV image file and FLP image file to empty drive slot then copy the contents of the MDV file to the FLP image file, transfer to Mister and play the game...
Alas Derek, problem is that floppy image contents size exceeds MDV maximum size, so I was wondering if I can use qxl.win...
Sorry, I misread your message, just what has been said abd create a QWA container and copy the flp image file contents to the QWA container file AKA QXL.WIN file.

Or copy the images into the a QWA file and use FDI to mount the image file in the Mister system.

I had the same problem with the Q68, which can not mount MDV or FLP images, so using MDI for MDV and FDI for FLP images solves the problem.

The image files can be stored in a QWA container file accessed as a WIN drive of in a FAT partion on the Q68 SD Card.

I would this Mister does the same thing.


Regards,

Derek
AmintaSinclair
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by AmintaSinclair »

Thanks you all for the useful suggestions!

I've managed to put the games file on "hard disk" (*.WIN file) but now how am I supposed to run a game?

Please take a look at my directory: what file - for each game - I have to launch, and using what command?

Image


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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by NormanDunbar »

Assuming this is "win1_", and assuming you have a backup, or can easily reproduce things, then taking farmer as an example:
  • Execute the command load "win1_farmer_boot" to load the boot file into memory.
  • You now need to edit the code, looking for places where a device name is used. Sometimes the author will have set a variable to the default device.
  • If the author has done so, just change the device name in quotes to "win1_". Then save the file using save_o "win1_farmer_boot" as your command.
  • If not, then the author was lazy (!) and you need to change all, for example, "MDV1_" to "WIN1_". It could be "FLP1_" of course. Then save the file using save_o "win1_farmer_boot" as your command.
Now, simply type "lrun win1_farmer_boot" and hopefully, it will load itself, load the correct code and start the game.

Have fun and good luck.


Cheers,
Norm.


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AmintaSinclair
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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by AmintaSinclair »

NormanDunbar wrote:Assuming this is "win1_", and assuming you have a backup, or can easily reproduce things, then taking farmer as an example:

[*] If not, then the author was lazy (!) and you need to change all, for example, "MDV1_" to "WIN1_". It could be "FLP1_" of course. Then save the file using save_o "win1_farmer_boot" as your command.[/list]


Cheers,
Norm.
Thanks Norm, I think in my case is "FLP1_", so I have to change it, but where? There is a native editor in Sinclair QDOS, in the version supported by Q-emulator?

Moreover, where I can find a first tutorial about all those commands?

Cheers,

Davide


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Re: How to use on Mister floppy games via qxl.win

Post by Silvester »

Does WIN_USE FLP command work ?

If it does then it means any reference to FLP automatically looks at WIN.

Use WIN_USE without any name to reset things.

You should then be able to run each game by running its Basic boot file:

LRUN flp1_cuthbert_boot
etc

All references to FLP within the boot file (or elsewhere) will be pointed to files on WIN device.


David
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