QL replica

[mhanias]

There are many replicas around especially for Spectrum. Why not for QL.
A replica that keeps the same box and keyboard, the two microdrives are replaced with ssd cards with a hdmi output.
With a hardware (FPGA) emulation or another option it will run supefast the QDOS and probably will be used as a linux machine.

Mike

[Peter]

QLbase with Qzero is just that, shown at the German Sinclair meeting in 2022:

Some have it already, but I did not release it for a wider audience yet.

The QL has a long tradition of people wanting a new case and better keyboard though.
For those, the Q68 is a more elegant solution.

[Maskenlos]

Dear mhanias,

to me the answer is very simple. The QL community is too small, too small in 2 ways:

1. There is just no demand. When I developed the QL K/B to PS/2 adapter, which is a part of the QLbase almost no one was interested. Also the interest for QL base was rather low.

2. There are not enough developers and guys brining the developments on the road.

Spectrum community is much much larger, many people develop and many users are around.

Peter and myself we discussed several times whether and how to continue with the QLbase / Qzero and then decided to currently focus on the QIMSI. It took so many resources, so beside job, family and other duties there was just no more time left.

Stephan

[Peter]

Spectrum community is much much larger, many people develop and many users are around.

And despite the much smaller audience the QL has the Q68. If you look at the technology

- 40 MHz 32/16 bit CPU instead of 28 MHz 8 bit
- 32 MB RAM instead of 2 MB
- 1024 × 768 resolution instead of 640 × 256
- 65536 colors instead of 256
- native ethernet

the QL fares quite well compared to the ZX Spectrum's flagship. More than the original QL was ahead of the Spectrum.
And even at a lower pricetag despite the small QL quantities.

The question about FPGA based replica for the QL case is: How many people want to rip out their original QL mainboards?
Reality has shown that empty QL cases are almost impossible to get.

[Popopo]

Hi,
There was a designer whose nick is Tetroid.
He developed two alternative boards that fits into QL original case, T1 and T2 boards.
Also a reply of QL Iss6 (not sure if pre) board.

T1 and T2, makes some updates of connectors and features from original QL Board till nowadays.
Sadly T1 and T2 was not on sell for some users (he didn't sell a T1/T2 board to me at lease, but Iss6 replica).

For the rest... there are many works in progress to replace original ULAs or devices.
All together keeps the QL spirit somehow.

[Derek_Stewart]

1. There is just no demand. When I developed the QL K/B to PS/2 adapter, which is a part of the QLbase almost no one was interested. Also the interest for QL base was rather low.

I did not know about this, did you publish this on the QL Forum?

The Tetroid products are excellent, but since the Ukraine issue, there is no way to buy from Russia, I was investigated by Paypal with the dealing I had with Tetroid, amd after a long period of time, my explanation were accepted, that I am a honest person, my Paypal account was re-instated.

From my point of view there is only Q68, Mister, MIST. Neglecting price, they the available options.

The Qzero and QLbase are not in production, so I do not talk about anything that is unavailable. As we have been bored to tears, with talk of Sandy products, Issue 8 boards, Coldfire solutions, that never come to light.

If this wrong then, I could talk about the Q60 at length, but I am still thinking about a new production run.

A personal biased view is the Q68, does everything I want it to do, batch 5 of the Q68 is underway.

[Peter]

There was a designer whose nick is Tetroid.
He developed two alternative boards that fits into QL original case, T1 and T2 boards.
Also a reply of QL Iss6 (not sure if pre) board.

Inside the original QL case, these "pure retro" replacements would be more my taste than an FPGA accelerated mainboard.
Pity they are not available, at least not assembled.

[Peter]

The Qzero and QLbase are not in production, so I do not talk about anything that is unavailable.

No public release does not mean unavailable. "Ask and it will be given to you"

We are talking working hardware here, I just have no time for writing docs and answering tons of questions.

[Popopo]

Inside the original QL case, these "pure retro" replacements would be more my taste than an FPGA accelerated mainboard.
Pity they are not available, at least not assembled.

Agree with you.
Hummm... what if... we do a OpenHardware reproduction and share it.

Do you think it could be too hard to do with two milestone? one for a last original ver repro to be released about middle of Summer time, and another one with updates for some connectors or even modules to the end of this year?

If we create a nice team up of cheerful and positive mind, I think it could be pretty possible.

Edit:

We are talking working hardware here, I just have no time for writing docs and answering tons of questions.

I see you cannot participate.

[Peter]

Hummm... what if... we do a OpenHardware reproduction and share it.

As far as I can see, Tetroid has already done the design work. It would be inefficient to re-invent the wheel.
I'd be willing to participate in a donation if that leads to a solution.

The other big problem is manufacturing a board with so many throughhole components.
Who would do that? Without a solution for manufacturing, having the design data is of little help.