Announcing the new "Gold Card" - QIMSI Gold

[afx]

One thing surprises me though, which is the low amount of feedback. This could simply mean everybody ist happy. Fine then.
But it could also mean that many just collect the hardware. This worries me somewhat.

Hi Peter, my case is first, "I'm very happy with Qimsi" (non-gold version for now) and I use it almost daily. I also have other products of yours, QLSD (jumperable) and Q68. I share the two systems (QL-SGC-QLSD-Qimsi and Q68) with the same VGA screen, keyboard and mouse through a KVM switch (thanks Qimsi). I also have the systems connected with QLNET and RS232 with QPC2. Everything is robust, reliable and very well documented. It's great!

(I hope to have a Qimsi Gold soon, but I'm not in a hurry, I understand that this is a hobby for Stephan. Thanks to both of you for the support and for these fantastic products).

[dilwyn]

One thing surprises me though, which is the low amount of feedback. This could simply mean everybody ist happy. Fine then.
But it could also mean that many just collect the hardware. This worries me somewhat.

Hi Peter, my case is first, "I'm very happy with Qimsi" (non-gold version for now) and I use it almost daily. I also have other products of yours, QLSD (jumperable) and Q68. I share the two systems (QL-SGC-QLSD-Qimsi and Q68) with the same VGA screen, keyboard and mouse through a KVM switch (thanks Qimsi). I also have the systems connected with QLNET and RS232 with QPC2. Everything is robust, reliable and very well documented. It's great!

(I hope to have a Qimsi Gold soon, but I'm not in a hurry, I understand that this is a hobby for Stephan. Thanks to both of you for the support and for these fantastic products).

I agree with everything you said, afx.
I have several "QL" systems here, both emulators and hardware, and not all of the systems get used as much as Peter might like. Plus, I made the mistake of not ordering the correct video cable before QIMSI Gold arrived - it's now due on Saturday.

I must say that I've found the original QIMSI very useful as a mass storage expansion and mouse interface. I'm looking forward to making use of the additional facilities and video capabilities of QIMSI Gold as I get time.

Can't press send before offering a big thank you to Peter and Stephan for their work and great products, including the Q68!
Edit: should have included Derek there too for his part in Q68.

[napsternds]

Hello,

I have both QIMSI and QIMSI Gold, and I am really happy with them. QIMSI is really useful for an unexpanded QL, as of today, probably the easiest way of moving files from the internet to a QL. If used with some RAM expansion, enables using PE at full potential.

QIMSI Gold is just taking the QL experience to another level. Running QDOS at full color with the Color Drivers, experiencing the available graphic modes, the speed, the digital video output, or using it as a ROM cartridge by loading ROM dumps,..... Amazing. I still have pending tasks, like testing the sound, hi-speed serial comm, and QL-net, so I will still have a lot of fun with it.

Thank you Peter, Stephan, and all the other contributors and testers to make this happen and keep QL alive.

Fede

[guibrush]

Maybe a stupid question: can we use the SD card content of the Q68 copied on a micro SD card to boot the QIMSI Gold?

[Pr0f]

That worked for me, but I had to get another copy of SMSQ configured as the keyboard came up in German. Whilst they appear to be similar, there are some differences between the 2 systems.

Oh and you will still need to format the Micro SD card first, and then copy the 'disk' files one by one to the newly formatted card.

[Maskenlos]

... get another copy of SMSQ configured as the keyboard came up in German.

This was probably my mistake. The previous version of SMSQ/E stored at Dilwyns homepage was preconfigured in German. For obvious reason
It has been corrected already.

Also, do not forget to copy the "QL_ROM.SYS" file to the SD card for the QIMSI Gold. It is not requires for the Q68 but mandatory for the QIMSI Gold. And also choose the UK one if your QL has a UK K/B

Stephan

[Peter]

Maybe a stupid question: can we use the SD card content of the Q68 copied on a micro SD card to boot the QIMSI Gold?

The main difference to the Q68 in this regard is that you need a ROM for the 68008/GC/SGC on QL side as well.

The trick here is that QIMSI Gold contains a fast loader, which will get an image of a 16 KB extension ROM from SD card even before the QL can first access the memory area at $C000 when booting. That ROM image is loaded into a dual ported static RAM on QIMSI Gold, but to the QL it appears like a real ROM. It will add QL side support for matrix keyboard, joystick, and potentially further hardware if more drivers are written.

That ROM image has to be named "QL_ROM.SYS" as Stephan pointed out. If it is not present on the microSD card, the QL will see its own SD card driver ROM and will "grab" the card for QL side use, just like standard QIMSI. For data integrity, the accellerated CPU can no longer access the card after that has happened.

[Derek_Stewart]

Maybe a stupid question: can we use the SD card content of the Q68 copied on a micro SD card to boot the QIMSI Gold?

The content supplied with the Q68 on SD Card, in the QLWA file: QLWA.WIN in the FAT32 partition, is software that will run on all QL computers that use SD Cards.

I used to generate the QLWA.WIN file on SMSQmulator, which has the same commands to define Language, with: LANG_USE and KBD_TABLE.

QIMSI GOLD SMSQ/E uses LANG_USE, KBD_TABLE_PS2 commands, so thd manual is required to be read.

The Q68 distro SD Card has sampld boot files to drmonstrate how to write boot files. The initial boot file just displays information about the Q68 system.

The Q68 QLWA.WIN loaded as WIN1 can be used in QIMSI and QIMSI Gold , but there maybe slight changes in the boot file, relative to the system being used.

I use the same QLWA file for QPC2, SMSQmulator, Q68, sQLux, with conditional switches to define the correct system in use.

[guibrush]

ok, thanks all for the reply!

I just got the QIMSI Gold today and managed to boot black phoenix distro that came on the Q68 SD

I have one little problem: I tried 6 different USB mouses, each one hang the boot on this screen saying "PC.CLOCK 4294967295"
https://i.postimg.cc/wvc2VShT/IMG-4891.jpg

I think that some mouses are in fact PS/2 compatible. I have for example a Logitheck RS250 that is mentioned as PS/2 compatible:
https://www.composants-electroniques.co ... 50-p-10692

I sadly don't have a PS/2 to USB converter on the way needed, only on the other way (like always).

Is this an expected behaviour if the mouse isn't recognised?

EDIT
I tried to plug the mouse (all of them) after the boot procedure but before loading SMSQ/E, no mouse recognised.


Thanks

[Maskenlos]

Hi,

thanks for your feedback.
Unfortunately some mice are not compatible with the QIMSI and QIMSI Gold. We have created a list with compatible mice:

https://www.theqlforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4535

Pure USB mice will not work at all. Must be PS/2 or combo mouse. Some PS/2 / combo will not work so it is best to follow the list mentioned above. We recommend to use

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B002G3 ... =UTF8&th=1

Didn't you use your Standard QIMSI with a mouse?

I tried to plug the mouse (all of them) after the boot procedure but before loading SMSQ/E, no mouse recognised.

The mouse must be connected before power up. Otherwise it will not be recognized

Best regards,

Stephan