Knoware.no

Anything QL Software or Programming Related.
FrancoisLanciault
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by FrancoisLanciault »

pjw wrote:Just to let you know that Knoware is up and running again after ten years or so of being nowhere. While I hope there will be something of interest for anyone interested in the QL and derivatives in general, its main interest will be for those of us who like to write programs for it and generally mess around with the software.
www.knoware.no/
Hi,

I am putting together my working environment on my Q68 and will download a few of your programs.

Just to let you know, the Quickview download link is not working, pointing to the program description instead of actual download.

François


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pjw
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by pjw »

Hi François,

QV was taken down for refurbishment as there were some things I didnt like, and
theres also a small bug in an important component. The stub was left as a sort
of trap to see whether anyone would notice ;o) Sorry.

I have accumulated rather a lot of nearly-finished projects which may never see
the light of day, as there doesnt seem to be any interest in QL software that
looks like it was produced this century. In fact Im considering to discontinue
Knoware next time the renewal comes up as it now appears to be nothing but a
pointless vanity project.

However, I will take a look at QV again and see if it can be re-issued. Itll
probably be a "warts 'n' all" release, as Im immersed in something else. I'll
squawk here when its done.

You should note that Q68 is not the ideal platform for graphics as it is just
too limited and slow. That being said, if you are a patient man, and your main
use for QV would be to display PICs (the QL's "native" format) <= 1024x512, it
may do well enough.


Per
dont be happy. worry
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FrancoisLanciault
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by FrancoisLanciault »

Hi Per,

Hope you keep your site up and running for as long as possible. There is a lot of good stuff there.

As you know, there are a lot of new QL users these past few months. Sure most of them just want to play games on bareboneQL but a few will eventually migrate to more capable systems and will want to try to develop software for it. That is where a site like yours is important. Maybe it lacks some visibility ? I, myself, just found it a few months ago.

My current mood is to go back to QL programming. I have tried more modern platform but it does not work for me.

I plan to write a more capable and modern version of my chess program Blackkight, I will write about that here eventually. I will also update Paragraph (even if I am sure nobody uses it) and I have another new project after that.

Because it has been 20 years, I need some good examples on how to do things the right ways, hence the need for program examples and tools like yours.
pjw wrote:Hi François,

QV was taken down for refurbishment as there were some things I didnt like, and
theres also a small bug in an important component. The stub was left as a sort
of trap to see whether anyone would notice ;o) Sorry.

I have accumulated rather a lot of nearly-finished projects which may never see
the light of day, as there doesnt seem to be any interest in QL software that
looks like it was produced this century. In fact Im considering to discontinue
Knoware next time the renewal comes up as it now appears to be nothing but a
pointless vanity project.

However, I will take a look at QV again and see if it can be re-issued. Itll
probably be a "warts 'n' all" release, as Im immersed in something else. I'll
squawk here when its done.

You should note that Q68 is not the ideal platform for graphics as it is just
too limited and slow. That being said, if you are a patient man, and your main
use for QV would be to display PICs (the QL's "native" format) <= 1024x512, it
may do well enough.


Derek_Stewart
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi,

I do not think the Q68 is slow, if the non High Colour modes are not used, except for 523x384 Mode 33.

I mainly use the standard QL screen modes, but mainly use 1024x768 Mode 4, there is not much software that used the High Colour graphics.

The Q68 is running as a 68000 CPU, not having a multiple core system and a graphics card that has more memory than the Q68.

The Q68 is more compatible than anything new around. The DND demo programme ran without any changes to the the system setup.

All Digital Precision software runs on the Q68.

I use ACT, EditorSE quite alot in higher resolutions.


Regards,

Derek
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pjw
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by pjw »

Thanks for your feedback! Your analysis may well be right.
Yes, I too have had a few rounds programming other systems. None of that inspired me to take it up as a hobby.
I guess the closest was web programming (HTML/javascript/PHP,..). But it evolved so fast that you had to keep
doing it all the time to keep up. And that seems too much like work work..
I look forward to your programming effort revival!


Per
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pjw
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by pjw »

Derek_Stewart wrote:I do not think the Q68 is slow, if the non High Colour modes are not used, except for 523x384 Mode 33.
QV is a GD2 graphics viewing program. In that context most hardware QLs are underpowered. Regularly unpacking
hicolor 2048x2048 jpegs etc on any HW QL is not something you want to put yourself through unless you had no
other options ;) However, PIC files load and display very quickly in any of Q68's GD2 modes. Scaling is less fun.


Per
dont be happy. worry
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Derek_Stewart
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by Derek_Stewart »

Hi Per,

I seem to have alot of half finished programming projects, the hardware side seems to get in the way.

I do take you point on the manipulation of jpeg files, but this does not seem a priority for me at present.

I wonder if new software were to written, would potential uses want high resolution, multi coloured graphics.

The last game that was written, only had 2 colours...


Regards,

Derek
bixio60
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by bixio60 »

pjw wrote:Hi François,

I have accumulated rather a lot of nearly-finished projects which may never see
the light of day, as there doesnt seem to be any interest in QL software that
looks like it was produced this century. In fact Im considering to discontinue
Knoware next time the renewal comes up as it now appears to be nothing but a
pointless vanity project.

.
Nooo, please don't do it, your program are always a source of inspiration for me like a good painting. I appreciate all your program and I use them!
I know, a lot of new users are coming back that use bare BBQL for mainly retro-computing but some other 'QL Users" exists like me that believe QL (SMSQ/E) can be used as a modern system. Emulators are fast enough to perform any operations.

Please continue .... :)

Fabrizio


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bwinkel67
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by bwinkel67 »

bixio60 wrote:
pjw wrote:Hi François,

I have accumulated rather a lot of nearly-finished projects which may never see
the light of day, as there doesnt seem to be any interest in QL software that
looks like it was produced this century. In fact Im considering to discontinue
Knoware next time the renewal comes up as it now appears to be nothing but a
pointless vanity project.

.
Nooo, please don't do it, your program are always a source of inspiration for me like a good painting. I appreciate all your program and I use them!
I know, a lot of new users are coming back that use bare BBQL for mainly retro-computing but some other 'QL Users" exists like me that believe QL (SMSQ/E) can be used as a modern system. Emulators are fast enough to perform any operations.

Please continue .... :)

Fabrizio
It's a tough call but I support Fabrizio's sentiment to keep it going. I've been immersed in a bunch of project with an audience of a few but have had fun with it. Even if one person gets some join running my software (ZXSimulator on the QL and Battleship and Elite on the ZXSimulator or ZX81) then I've contributed. Of course if it costs money to host let me point you to some free hosting sites. I use infinityfree.net which lets you build your own HTML pages and have code and whatever else to accompany it. Only been using it for less than 6 months but so far have been satisfied. Plus, no ads or anything.


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pjw
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Re: Knoware.no

Post by pjw »

Derek_Stewart wrote:I do take you point on the manipulation of jpeg files, but this does not seem a priority for me at present.
Fair enough, only I think its a nice feature to be able to view many kinds of
files one might happen upon - just like on a normal computer. QV tries to cope
with as many graphics file formats as possible and can save them back as a
compressed or uncompressed PIC file for faster subsequent access. There are
other programs out there that do similar things, but I also played around with
some experimental concepts, which may lead on to new vistas..
Derek_Stewart wrote:I wonder if new software were to written, would potential uses want high resolution, multi coloured graphics.
That seems a bit like asking: Do we really want colour TV. With sound? ;)
Derek_Stewart wrote:The last game that was written, only had 2 colours...
To me it sometimes seems like we're working our way down to..
zero..


Per
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