The Sinclair QL Forum

Hi everyone.

I'm JihemB, a guy from France who loves 8/16 bits computers, expetially Sinclairs' since I started programminh with a ZX81, about 35 years ago. I'm also very found of Oric (Atmos/Stratos/Telestrat) computers and belongs to the CEO (French Oric fan club).

I already have lots of ZX81 and ZX Spectrum related software and hardware in my collection and just got my very first QL which I never used back in the past so I don't know how to use this computer (except booting from a Microdrive cartridge ).

I just received the "Tetroid with Minerva ROM" interface which comes with a CF filled with softwares and that launches an UI at boot but I don''t know how to use it (except mouving the pointer using arrows kets) nor how to quit to go back to the SuperBasic prompt !
My purpose, when joining this forum, is to learn :
- What are the recommanded readings, and in wich order I have to go through (QDOS ? QUBIDE ? ...) to understand how to use the computer and the UI that is displayed when I boot from the CF
- Understanding how to configure the CF boot (how to locate and edit the "autoexec.bat" like file)
- How to run programs that are available on the CF (I see a "Chess" shortcut in the UI popup menu but nothing happens when I "click" on it).

Best Regards.

Welcome to the forum!!

Hello and welcome to the Forum!

Probably the best way to start is to work through the QL User Guide - I hope one came with the QL. If not, available on my website.

English and French copies available here: http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/ebooks/index.html

An online QL user guide available here: http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/ebooks/olqlug/index.htm

Plenty more to read as your experience grows on the Documentation page on my site: http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/docs/index.html

Hi Dilwyn.

Yes I had a look at the English book (actually a black binder) that come with the computer.
For what I understood it mainly deals with the SuperBasic and the 4 microdrives office software that also comes the computer.

Perhaps I missed the part about "hard drive" and "auto-start" settings...

JihemB

Hi JihemB,

the "black book" was created a long time prior to the availability of even floppy discs for the QL, so all it can really deal with is microdrives. The CF cards for the QL are not that old, they are fairly recent.

Your CF card should have a file named "boot" on it, I assume, that's the QL equivalent of an "autoexec" file. Hopefully you are able to find that file, and read it to figure out what it is doing.

Good luck/Bon chance.

Cheers,
Norm.

Hi Guys.

I started to read some documentations ("It's not rude to point" by David Denham and "The Pointer Environment Idiot's Guide" by Norman Dunbar) which answer lots of my early questions.

Since I have an HxC drive that I can connect to my Tetroid card I wonder how I can feed my QL with the software I can see on Dilwyn website ?
Event if is true there is an article named "Using SD Memory Card with the Sinclair QL", this article mainly explain how to read QL disks raw images using an HxC emulator, it doesn't explai, how to create an empty QL compatible HFE image file and how to can put software on this HFE image file so the QL can see them on the virtual floppy disk...

[Edit]
After a few researches I found an interesting lead here viewtopic.php?f=2&t=857&start=80&hilit=hfe ...
JihemB