SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

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dilwyn
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SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by dilwyn »

For anyone who acquires a Sandy SuperQBoard interface without a manual, I'm very grateful to Dean Payne of the Retro Computer Museum https://retrocomputermuseum.co.uk/ for sending me a scanned PDF copy of the manual for the interface.

The PDF is 2.5MB in size, in case you try to download it on a slow or metered internet connection.

Download it from http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/manuals/index.html#disks

The manual includes sections on the disc interface, ramdisc, parallel port and the Toolkit 2 extensions. Sadly, I couldn't see any reference to the mouse interface added to some SuperQBoards - if anyone has details I'd happily add that to the page.


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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

Nice scan of the manual, pity they did not remove all the borders, this might of saved a few Kilobytes.


Regards,

Derek
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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by Sparrowhawk »

Hi Dilwyn.

My old SQB has the mouse interface.
If I can track down the manual I'll see if the mouse is mentioned anywhere.

I'm away from home right now though, so it would be in a few days.


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dilwyn
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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by dilwyn »

Sparrowhawk wrote:Hi Dilwyn.

My old SQB has the mouse interface.
If I can track down the manual I'll see if the mouse is mentioned anywhere.

I'm away from home right now though, so it would be in a few days.
That would be great, good luck tracking it down.
Thanks JY.
Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

Nice scan of the manual, pity they did not remove all the borders, this might of saved a few Kilobytes.
I'm just grateful it's been done, really. But of course if someone did have the time and enthusiasm to tidy it up or even OCR it, that's be better still.


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dilwyn
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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by dilwyn »

dilwyn wrote:
Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,
Nice scan of the manual, pity they did not remove all the borders, this might of saved a few Kilobytes.
I'm just grateful it's been done, really. But of course if someone did have the time and enthusiasm to tidy it up or even OCR it, that's be better still.
It seems my wish was ToFro's command - he's OCRed it already! So, searchable version available from same page, and it's even a bit smaller than the original download!

Thanks ToFro.


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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by RalfR »

dilwyn wrote:
dilwyn wrote:
Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,
Nice scan of the manual, pity they did not remove all the borders, this might of saved a few Kilobytes.
I'm just grateful it's been done, really. But of course if someone did have the time and enthusiasm to tidy it up or even OCR it, that's be better still.
It seems my wish was ToFro's command - he's OCRed it already! So, searchable version available from same page, and it's even a bit smaller than the original download!

Thanks ToFro.
Both seems to be the same to me....


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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by tofro »

RalfR wrote:
dilwyn wrote:
dilwyn wrote:
I'm just grateful it's been done, really. But of course if someone did have the time and enthusiasm to tidy it up or even OCR it, that's be better still.
It seems my wish was ToFro's command - he's OCRed it already! So, searchable version available from same page, and it's even a bit smaller than the original download!

Thanks ToFro.
Both seems to be the same to me....
To the naked eye: yes.

But try searching for a keyword in both, and you might find a difference.


ʎɐqǝ ɯoɹɟ ǝq oʇ ƃuᴉoƃ ʇou sᴉ pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ʇxǝu ʎɯ 'ɹɐǝp ɥO
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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

The OCR part is a text layer in the PDF file with the raster image sitting on top.

I used to use Adobe Actrobat to produce OCRed PDF files, but the resultant PDF file in some cases used compression and on slow computers the makes the rendering if the PDF slow.

Now I use a OCR engine: Tesseract to produce ASCII text and fump that into a word processor for formatting. A little slow, but produce good results.


Regards,

Derek
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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by Sparrowhawk »

Hi Dilwyn,

Seems that my manual is gone for good - I rummaged about in the attic's deepest darkest corners, and no joy :(

I did find things I'd been looking for for a while though, such as my Sun and Microsoft certificates and my Oric 1, so not a wasted rummage :D - I also found my folder of QL "stuff". In this are:

Manuals for:
  • Dreamlands (CGH)
  • McSporran's Lament (CGH)
  • From the Tower of Valagon (CGH)
  • Return to Eden (CGH)
  • Grey Wolf (CGH)
  • D-Day (Games workshop)
  • Front Page Extra (GAP) - they never sent me the upgrade I paid for, still annoyed about that after all these years! ;)
  • Centronics Printer Interface (Miracle)
  • Q-Liberator, 2nd Edition (Liberation)
  • QLOAD/QREF (Liberation)
  • SuperTrace (Stack)
  • Lightning SE (DP)
  • Solution (DP)
  • Supercharge (DP)
  • TK2 (Qjump) although pages 19 and 23 are completely blank - not sure if that is intentional or if I have a dodgy copy
  • QLUB issues 2, 4, 5, 7 (no idea where I got those, I was never a QLUB member)
  • P C Weekly QL Supplement
  • Alternative Micro Show #3 brochure / stalls list
  • the original QL glossy brochure
  • price lists for CGH services, TK computerware, DP, etc
  • a TON of correspondence from Rich Alexander (CGH), Rich Mellor(RWAP), Super User Bureau, and Alan Pemberton (of Beano andd Valagon fame, amongst others)
I suspect you have all of these scanned already, but let me know if not and if the docs in question are not still under copyright (DP stuff I suspect still is).
I can't of course scan the corrsspondence (nothing shocking in there, but still)

I know that there are other manuals lurking about, as I can recollect Spy (Ark) at the very least, and C1 Pascal (the location of which I do know actually, it's on the bookcase the spare bedroom!)

But the SQB manual is, alas, MIA.

JY


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Re: SuperQBoard Replacement Manual

Post by Sparrowhawk »

I also have playing instructions for International Cricket in printed A4 form, and I recollect buying the game*, but that microdive is not in my box ofQL software, so no doubt that will surface at some stage...

* and not playing it much as I think my best ever innings was under 10 runs, even on easiest setting!


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