New Q60 Boards

[Peter]

The FPU never got much attention in the QL scene. As far as I know, there was just the OS support by George Gwilt, but almost no actual application.

And is yet another potential cause of (mostly unnecessary) slowdown, as the FPU registers need to be saved and restored on every task switch.

Yes, although barely noticably, since a task switch under load only happens every 20 ms.

There is another, slightly higher slowdown of SMSQ/E on Q60 though, which probably comes from serving the sampled sound intterupt every 50/100 µs, even when no sound is played. Costs about 1% CPU time. That effect does not occur under QDOS Classic.

[Derek_Stewart]

There is another, slightly higher slowdown of SMSQ/E on Q60 though, which probably comes from serving the sampled sound intterupt every 50/100 µs, even when no sound is played. Costs about 1% CPU time. That effect does not occur under QDOS Classic.

Should the SSS not be an interrupt, rather the Operating System checking for a sound?

In 2002, I looked at these issues, but my partner in D&D Systems convinced me that there are other programmers that can produce the operating system, if we make the hardware more available in stable working from.

I should of ignored that and could of developed more software, than building hardware.

But then in that time the environment was more toxic then. Now all nice and everyone friendly.

Could the differences in QDOS Classic be integrated into SMSQ/E?

Or develop QDOS Classic more?

[bixio60]

Thanks for your excellent hardware!

Thanks for the kind words. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Q60 public release.
The hardware design (except the 128 MB RAM upgrade) was already completed in December of 1997.

..... and, moreover, my Q60 is up and running after 25 years of daily activity. It is networked (sernet) with all others: Qbase, Q68, QLs and emulators (QPC & SMSQmulator).
See the older thread viewtopic.php?p=32782#p32782 for some photos, I replaced only the Power supply with ATX .
Excellent machine for SMSQ/E.
I use OSSC as video adapter.
In case new Q60 production will happen, put me in the list for a new Q60 board.
Fabrizio

[TitoxUnix]

I'm very interested, too. Even if there is no CPU in the supplied system.

[Derek_Stewart]

Thanks for your excellent hardware!

Thanks for the kind words. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Q60 public release.
The hardware design (except the 128 MB RAM upgrade) was already completed in December of 1997.

..... and, moreover, my Q60 is up and running after 25 years of daily activity. It is networked (sernet) with all others: Qbase, Q68, QLs and emulators (QPC & SMSQmulator).
See the older thread viewtopic.php?p=32782#p32782 for some photos, I replaced only the Power supply with ATX .
Excellent machine for SMSQ/E.
I use OSSC as video adapter.
In case new Q60 production will happen, put me in the list for a new Q60 board.
Fabrizio

Hi Fabrizo,

Good to see your Q60 is still running, good design and production, makes the hardware last.

According to my old Q60 sales records, your Q60 was one the first sold.

What version of SMSQ/E do you use?
Is it compressed in Rom?
What much memory can your Q60 SMSQ/E see.?

[bixio60]

Thanks for the kind words. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Q60 public release.
The hardware design (except the 128 MB RAM upgrade) was already completed in December of 1997.

..... and, moreover, my Q60 is up and running after 25 years of daily activity. It is networked (sernet) with all others: Qbase, Q68, QLs and emulators (QPC & SMSQmulator).
See the older thread viewtopic.php?p=32782#p32782 for some photos, I replaced only the Power supply with ATX .
Excellent machine for SMSQ/E.
I use OSSC as video adapter.
In case new Q60 production will happen, put me in the list for a new Q60 board.
Fabrizio

Hi Fabrizo,

Good to see your Q60 is still running, good design and production, makes the hardware last.

According to my old Q60 sales records, your Q60 was one the first sold.

What version of SMSQ/E do you use?
Is it compressed in Rom?
What much memory can your Q60 SMSQ/E see.?

What version of SMSQ/E do you use?: On Q60 SMSQ/E 3.39
Is it compressed in Rom? I have in Rom 3.36, lbytes "3.39"
What much memory can your Q60 SMSQ/E see.? 32MB

[Peter]

Hi Fabrizio,

See the older thread viewtopic.php?p=32782#p32782 for some photos, I replaced only the Power supply with ATX .
Excellent machine for SMSQ/E.

Many thanks for the kind words and the pictures! I actually see your Q60 for the first time, looks very cool!

I use OSSC as video adapter.

Apparently that's the only working video solution without "black bar".
What I dislike about the OSSC is the required extra box and power supply.

In case new Q60 production will happen, put me in the list for a new Q60 board.

At the moment, there are too many open questions. I'm still undecided. Way too early for any lists.

All the best
Peter

[ql_freak]

Yes it is. A full 68RC060 from a halfway reliable source can be had from 400€ upwards (and they are rare as hen's teeth). ECs and LCs are <<100€ and in significantly higher supply.

You are right for the full 68060. I've just have had a look on ebay, starting from 423.93€ up to 1395.99€. ECs are not available at all, but the LCs are from 55.80€ to 99.94€. And Peter suggested to use an EC instead of an LC. BTW: I would also buy just the board without processor and buy the processor myself.

As there are a lot of fake and re-labled (EC [no MMU, no FPU] or LC [no MMU] ...

Wikipedia says LC is without FPU (not MMU). BTW: I'm afraid when using a full 68060, only one job is allowed to use the FPU (are there any programs, which can use the FPU, perhaps C68 compiled code, I've heard later versions had support for the FPU, at least for the 68040, the 060 lacks some features of the 040), as QDOS (and I'm afraid SMSQ/E) does not save and restore the FPU register when the scheduler switches jobs.

[Peter]

BTW: I'm afraid when using a full 68060, only one job is allowed to use the FPU (are there any programs, which can use the FPU, perhaps C68 compiled code, I've heard later versions had support for the FPU, at least for the 68040, the 060 lacks some features of the 040), as QDOS (and I'm afraid SMSQ/E) does not save and restore the FPU register when the scheduler switches jobs.

As already mentioned in this thread, George Gwilt provided OS support. Look for FP SAVE on the QL homepage.

[Peter]

Could the differences in QDOS Classic be integrated into SMSQ/E?

Probably not worth the investigation. It's only about 1% speed loss, not noticeable for the user.

Or develop QDOS Classic more?

QDOS Classic is a wonderful piece of software. I love the modularity and portability, would like to give it more focus again.
But in terms of features, SMSQ/E will remain the more powerful OS for the Q60.