The Sinclair QL Forum

Simon_Carr wrote:Fair point, but I guess it is more the principle of the thing... I only bought a QL last year, having coveted (yet never even seen) one for the best part of 30 years. Part of the reason I wanted one was the built in microdrive units, so, even though they don't work very well, I am still loathe to change any of the internals.

There is absolutely no need to replace a microdrive for QL-SD.

You can put QL-SD anywhere inside your QL and use it like a "harddisk". No microdrive connector is used, and the QL-SD driver software is also independent.

It is helpful (but not required) to use a shorter ribbon cable then. The design also allows a direct connect of the two boards, resulting in one internal device.

Peter

Peter wrote:There is absolutely no need to replace a microdrive for QL-SD.

You can put QL-SD anywhere inside your QL and use it like a "harddisk". No microdrive connector is used, and the QL-SD driver software is also independent.

It is helpful (but not required) to use a shorter ribbon cable then. The design also allows a direct connect of the two boards, resulting in one internal device.

Peter

Thanks for that information, that is VERY interesting to know. I've just finished building a Harlequin clone, so my next project was due to be a floppy disk drive or an SD card for the QL. My perfect solution would involve being able to transfer between microdrive, floppy and SD within the QL, without needing to go through a PC or Mac.... And making use of my SuperQBoard, but keeping both microdrives if at all possible.

So, what suggestions are out there?

You can use either the HxC floppy disk emulator, or Peter / Paul's QL-SD Card interface to allow you to store software on floppy disk / microdrive and/or SD card without any problems.

Simon_Carr wrote:My perfect solution would involve being able to transfer between microdrive, floppy and SD within the QL, without needing to go through a PC or Mac.... And making use of my SuperQBoard, but keeping both microdrives if at all possible.

Since you already have a SuperQBoard, the addition of QL-SD should provide what you need.

I talked to Paul about this yesterday, because a shorter ribbon cable would be nice for internal use of QL-SD. At the moment, we don't think it makes sense to officially offer a QL-SD for internal use, because you seem to be the only person who is interested. If you'd like a short cable, please come back to me or Paul so we can help you individually.

For your desicion you should keep in mind that QL-SD is a harddisk style solution. Giving you lots of space on one drive, but you may need to organize your software in subdirectories, unlike floppy, HxC floppy emulatior, or microdrive.

Peter wrote: Since you already have a SuperQBoard, the addition of QL-SD should provide what you need.

I talked to Paul about this yesterday, because a shorter ribbon cable would be nice for internal use of QL-SD. At the moment, we don't think it makes sense to officially offer a QL-SD for internal use, because you seem to be the only person who is interested. If you'd like a short cable, please come back to me or Paul so we can help you individually.

For your desicion you should keep in mind that QL-SD is a harddisk style solution. Giving you lots of space on one drive, but you may need to organize your software in subdirectories, unlike floppy, HxC floppy emulatior, or microdrive.

Hi Peter,

Yes, I would be very keen on an internal QL-SD system, if one was available sometime soon (no hurry, but as and when you get around to a new batch). Having looked at the various options mentioned by my earlier post and the replies from others, I think an internal SD card based storage system would suit me just fine. Just let me know if and when Paul is happy to make one with a shorter ribbon, and how much it will cost. Having it that way gives me all the flexibility of having both microdrives, a floppy disk and SD card 'hard drive'.

Regards,

Simon

23rd of April 2014 in the evening there will be twelve on sellmyretro.
This listing is due to start on 2014-04-23 19:19:38
I'm not shure wether uk summertime or German summertime
Kind regards
Paul

I activated the listing some minutes ago.

http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/detail ... or-QL-3703

Kind regards
Paul

Peter wrote:
There is absolutely no need to replace a microdrive for QL-SD.

You can put QL-SD anywhere inside your QL and use it like a "harddisk". No microdrive connector is used, and the QL-SD driver software is also independent.

It is helpful (but not required) to use a shorter ribbon cable then. The design also allows a direct connect of the two boards, resulting in one internal device.

Peter

Just before I take the plunge, if I am keeping both Microdrive units, where and how do I connect the QL-SD to the QL? I took a look inside my QL last night, and am just curious to know how you would suggest I make the connection...

Cheers,

Simon

[Shameless advertisement for the QL-SD manual]

Simon,

the manual (linked with the auction at http://www.sellmyretro.com/uploaded/img ... 79_c47.pdf) describes the installation procedure in deep detail and even tries to propose an alternative placement of the card-holder board near the ROM slot if you don't want to remove a microdrive

Tobias

tofro wrote:[Shameless advertisement for the QL-SD manual]

No, not a shameless plug, perhaps a wake up call to look at the bl**dy website before posting!

That looks easy enough: the connection just goes through the rom socket. Neat.

Right, SOLD!