SOLVED !! resurrecting one time the original rom plus kludge

[dilwyn]

The order of ROMs issued was FB - PM - AH - JM - JS - MG, with various national versions in between. You can tell the order just by looking at the QDOS version in each ROM (e.g. PM had QDOS 1.02, JM 1.03, JS 1.10, MG 1.13).
I can't find the reference off-hand, I seem to recall that Andy Pennell's QDOS or Assembler books said FB had QDOS 1.01, so it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that some of the first QLs might even have had something even more incomplete before this (hard to imagine with my memories of struggling with FB on my first QL, which was pretty unusable). But that's just speculation on my part.

There were a few others internally at Sinclair (as you can tell from the gaps in QDOS numbering), but not known to be issued widely. For example, the TB ROM which had QDOS 1.03 was somewhere between JM and JS but didn't make it into wide circulation.

AFAIK, PM is the earliest version actually preserved - I would certainly like to have a copy of FB to preserve. IIRC, Chr$ did have an original dongle board but did not have all of the chips to preserve all the code.

[techy]

@ dilwyn ,

Thank you for all this info .

It is pm right now , so it should even be a usable ql .

[tofro]

@ dilwyn ,

Thank you for all this info .

It is pm right now , so it should even be a usable ql .

I think that for anything before JM, you should really put "usable" in quotes . They really still have some nasty bugs. JM is "mostly usable" and JS/MG would be the "most usable" ROMs.

[techy]

@ tofro ,

I only wanted to have one of my ql's ( you can not use all at the same time ) be a real kludge version .


And that one is running right now with the help of the forum and the designer of the re-made pcb

[tofro]

@ tofro ,

I only wanted to have one of my ql's ( you can not use all at the same time ) be a real kludge version .


And that one is running right now with the help of the forum and the designer of the re-made pcb

If you want a "Kludge-replica" that's absolutely fine with me, I get it, and congrats that you managed. Just wouldn't want to use it for anything half-serious

[techy]

it is about the same thing as having a zx80 ( clone ) or a ql-wafer prototype -replica .

no real use but looks damn good on the shelf

[techy]

if someone is interested ;

pm kludge rom set.zip

(33.27 KiB) Downloaded 29 times

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

Can you produce other Rom sets: JM, JS that can use this system?

[techy]

altough there is no need to do so , it is possible to split an entire image into 3 16k chuncks to get it working .

[Chr$]

I was planning to order a few of the Kludge boards designed by Alvaro. Seems like he has done a neat job. Chr$, did you verify that the dimensions are close enough to the original?

I bought a vacuum former a while ago and I would like to make some casings as well. Unfortunately I don't have an original. And hats off for having the guts to poor plaster in the original one

In the other thread you mentioned that the upper part of the mold should be 21mm. Alvaro's version is only 15mm. And there are very few images that I could find online. If you or anyone else has some pictures from all sides and a few basic dimensions I could model up a mold that is printable. I did a similar thing for the insert of a ZX Spectrum cartridge. Still need to sand it a bit more, but the first pull was already usable.

Can you guess the thickness of the original material? I have black HIPS in various thicknesses.

IMG_7494.jpeg

Original on the left, copy on the right.

Sorry, took a while to respond. The Alea boards don't work with 3x 16k ROMS, see:
viewtopic.php?t=4177
I'm sure he'll modify the files so that they will work. If you have the boards already they can be altered.

I can confirm that the repro boards do fit inside an original vacuum formed kludge housing.

The original plastic is 1.4mm thick (+/- 0.1).

Without the base part in play, the lid is indeed 21mm high all the way along (no slope, taper or funny stuff). The thinner part where the PCB protrudes is 7.5mm high. The width of the main body (bulge) is 43mm at the bottom and tapers to 41.7mm at the top, before it starts rounding off.

Here are some pics, let me know what you need to know. I'd probably like a couple of accurately made housings that are better than my attempt.