Announcing the new "Gold Card" - QIMSI Gold

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

I use: Perixx PERIMICE-201PII B, Wired PS2 Optical Mouse - 3 Button - 1000dpi Resolution - 1.8m Cable - Black: Price £9.99 from Amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=perimice+201p

Works on Q68, QLion Board.

I have not got a QIMSI Gold yet, but it should work with a USB-PS/2 converter or the cable made myself.

[vox]

Hi folks,
would you like to improve your QL with...

... a digital connection to modern displays ?
... 1024 x 768 graphics resolution ?
... 65536 colors ?
... a 40 MHz 68000 compatible CPU running Minerva and SMSQ/E ?
... 32 MB RAM ?
... a buffered realtime clock ?
... a 115200 Baud serial port ?
... all the features of QIMSI, just faster ?

If the answer is yes, let me bring you the new "Gold Card" for your QL - QIMSI Gold !

Thanks for respecting 40 years of QL
Since answers is YES, left is how to preorder, order, how much etc.?\
How much is shipping to Belgrade, Serbia, untracked, gov mail?
Plus can you exclude VAT since I pay VAT and import duties, non EU?

[Peter]

Hi Dilwyn,

thanks for your patience regarding mice with QIMSI. As for the pure USB mouse variant of the FPGA, your experience makes it hard to guess whether the majority of mice would work or not. For guibrush and me, nearly all non-wireless USB mice worked. For you, only one worked. Not a clear picture.

It's quite an unbelievable experience after "only" 40 years, using a BBQL in high resolution display, optionally with high colour modes, loading and saving using a micro-SD card, and computing much faster than a standard QL. In actual fact, the QL is not much more than a keyboard and power supply for the QIMSI-Gold in many ways, but being able to use the QL keyboard with this tiny plug in card totally transforms it making it feel to me like a brand new incarnation of a QL in QL clothing, albeit without access to the microdrives, etc. Quite unreal experience.

Glad to hear that you like the QIMSI Gold so much. The Miracle (Super) Gold Card did already pull the majority of the system away from the QL mainboard, and QIMSI Gold does even more so - if one uses the accelerated CPU. I would like to emphasize though, that this is just one of the operation modes, and the user has the choice.

One can rename/remove the QL_ROM.SYS file and QIMSI Gold becomes just a storage+mouse interface for the QL, ready to access the microdrives and e.g. copy the content to SD card, or play an ancient game. With a suitable boot file, even the same filesystem container on the microSD card could be shared.

In principle, microdrive access is also achievable from the accellerated CPU. The question is, should that driver have any priority?
Already 30 years ago, people wanted to get rid of microdrives rather than actually use them.
I have only very limited time, it might be better invested in fixing bugs, cache, the Qzero, or even a new 68060 mainboard.

[tofro]

Well, to make the picture a bit clearer (?) - my experience.

The first PS/2 mouse I pulled from a drawer worked just fine with the QIMSI Gold. So, I didn't find a reason to continue trying....

Make and model is "Perixx PS/2 Three Button Mouse". Bought from Amazon through a special, was 3€, I think....

[t0nyt]

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[SinclairSociety]

Any videos made yet on the QIMSI Gold in action?

Would like to vicariously live through others until one day I buy one.

This may just be the droid that we (meaning me) has been looking for to find a magical spark with the QL in my life.

TJ

[tofro]

Any videos made yet on the QIMSI Gold in action?

Would like to vicariously live through others until one day I buy one.

This may just be the droid that we (meaning me) has been looking for to find a magical spark with the QL in my life.

TJ

Don't think so. Any video would look virtually identical to a Q68 video, just with a QL keyboard in front. There's not much difference in performance and appearance.

[SinclairSociety]

I am meaning of the QIMSI device itself, how it looks, how it connects, how it is setup to be used, and showing it in action after that.

TJ

Any videos made yet on the QIMSI Gold in action?

Would like to vicariously live through others until one day I buy one.

This may just be the droid that we (meaning me) has been looking for to find a magical spark with the QL in my life.

TJ

Don't think so. Any video would look virtually identical to a Q68 video, just with a QL keyboard in front. There's not much difference in performance and appearance.

[aalea]

Hi, if someone with a 3D printer is interested, I have design another case for the QIMSI Gold, you can see and download the files here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6846855

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi, if someone with a 3D printer is interested, I have design another case for the QIMSI Gold, you can see and download the files here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6846855

Hi,

I have just aquired a cheap Mars 3 Resin Printer, so once I have worked how set it up, I will have a go.