The Sinclair QL Forum

Currently studying for the foundation amateur radio exam.
(Exam booked for the 21st July!)

My current cheapo radio was starting to play up, so decided to invest in something decent!

Got my copy today (just under $11 including shipping -- was supposed to be used but came brand new still in shrink-wrap):
Should make some fun reading (and leafing through for the pictures).

Looks like you got the Australian/New Zealand version, it's upside down!

So today I received this!
(the board on the left, not the laptop!). The Z80-MBC2, a Z80-based computer on a board with 128K which runs CP/M (2.2, 3.0), Q/PM, Collpase OS etc and comes with SD card based disk emulation (sd card provided).

You plug the Serial to USB cable into a USB port, fire up something like picocom and suddenly there it is! CP/M. Zoom into the laptop screen on the image to see the output from the board.

The build quality is really superb, and it came very well packaged too. Almost no documentation other than how to assemble the 4 parts, so I had to go online to be able to get the Linux laptop to see the board (involved installing and compiling a driver, but nothing too complex and I believe that the Windows version is a binary install).

The very first game I played on a real computer (ie not a Pong console, or LCD game etc) was Star Trek on a RM 380Z under CP/M, and that is included too.

Quite nostalgic really

I bought it fully assembled on eBay as there is a by-law which prevents me from ever trying my hand at anything more complex than changing a fuse!

If you are interested, the project is here https://hackaday.io/project/159973-z80- ... 0-computer

I've become somewhat obsessed with QL Archive recently and have been delving deeper into it's capabilities, limitations, and workarounds. I'd been trying to get a hold of the following book for a while, and finally I managed to snag it on eBay. So far, I'm very impressed and I've learnt a few new tricks eg for making tabulated lists. Things which are so easy in modern databases can be rather tricky to achieve in Archive, but to me that's half the fun!

OK, not quite today but a few days ago...

I got a replacement B&W TV/Radio for the one my Dad got rid of during one of his "clear outs" in the mid-1990s, The same model as we used to have.

I've spent the last couple of days cleaning it inside and out, removing 30 year old smoker's tar from it (and fixing the vertical height trim pot which I damaged when I tried to adjust it (never seen the wiper part spring off before)). I've mostly bought it for my ZX81, but testing it with one of my QLs.

stephen_usher wrote:OK, not quite today but a few days ago...

I got a replacement B&W TV/Radio for the one my Dad got rid of during one of his "clear outs" in the mid-1990s, The same model as we used to have.

I've spent the last couple of days cleaning it inside and out, removing 30 year old smoker's tar from it (and fixing the vertical height trim pot which I damaged when I tried to adjust it (never seen the wiper part spring off before)). I've mostly bought it for my ZX81, but testing it with one of my QLs.

IMG_1969.jpg

Add 2 or three lorry batteries and there you have it: Your luggable QL!

tofro wrote:

stephen_usher wrote:OK, not quite today but a few days ago...

I got a replacement B&W TV/Radio for the one my Dad got rid of during one of his "clear outs" in the mid-1990s, The same model as we used to have.

I've spent the last couple of days cleaning it inside and out, removing 30 year old smoker's tar from it (and fixing the vertical height trim pot which I damaged when I tried to adjust it (never seen the wiper part spring off before)). I've mostly bought it for my ZX81, but testing it with one of my QLs.

IMG_1969.jpg

Add 2 or three lorry batteries and there you have it: Your luggable QL!

Multi-media QL too, as it has a radio.

stephen_usher wrote:OK, not quite today but a few days ago...

I got a replacement B&W TV/Radio for the one my Dad got rid of during one of his "clear outs" in the mid-1990s, The same model as we used to have.

I've spent the last couple of days cleaning it inside and out, removing 30 year old smoker's tar from it (and fixing the vertical height trim pot which I damaged when I tried to adjust it (never seen the wiper part spring off before)). I've mostly bought it for my ZX81, but testing it with one of my QLs.

IMG_1969.jpg

Is it me or has the QL improved its color palette...what's going on here?

bwinkel67 wrote:

stephen_usher wrote:OK, not quite today but a few days ago...

I got a replacement B&W TV/Radio for the one my Dad got rid of during one of his "clear outs" in the mid-1990s, The same model as we used to have.

I've spent the last couple of days cleaning it inside and out, removing 30 year old smoker's tar from it (and fixing the vertical height trim pot which I damaged when I tried to adjust it (never seen the wiper part spring off before)). I've mostly bought it for my ZX81, but testing it with one of my QLs.

IMG_1969.jpg

Is it me or has the QL improved its color palette...what's going on here?

Hehe. Yeah, it's got a mirror mode.