The Sinclair QL Forum

duncan wrote:Hi,

I got my Q68 on Monday, thank you Derek and Peter. Massive amount of software on the supplied SDHC card. I wanted to make a back up of the card and thought to use the disk image mentioned in the manual p11. Looks like this has been taken down from the given link "www.wlenerz.com/Q68/empty_image_file.zip". Can it be found anywhere else?

Cheers

Duncan

Hi Duncan,

I asked Wolfgang about the link to the empty image file. He has now fixed the broken link and the file is now downloadable.

To back up the WIN1 drive, just put the SD Card into a PC and copy the files QLWA.WIN, Q68_SMSQ.WIN, QLE317.WIN to a backup storage area on the PC.

Hi Derek,

I asked Wolfgang about the link to the empty image file. He has now fixed the broken link and the file is now downloadable.

Thanks. I have down loaded it. I had already copied all the .WIN files to the PC from the card and thanks to your suggestion of DiskImager I also have an .img file of the supplied card with I used to clone it. Everything is now backed up.

Duncan

My Q68 arrived today, securely packaged. The order process was clearly documented by Derek, with only a somewhat random UPS delivery estimates page to deal with which was nothing to do with him and which ultimately did not matter as I was at home when they turned up My thanks to Derek for building me this lovely little machine. And to Peter for designing it of course.

Anyway, I plugged in my power supply, network cable, VGA, PS/2 keyboard and powered on, to be greeted with a rock solid QLish display. Oh my! What a joy.

Alas, I think I've been a numpty - the keyboard is not registering, although the lights on it flicker slightly when I start the Q68, so something is happening. It's an old Dell PS/2 from a long extinct desktop PC.

I did a search of the forums and saw that the power supply might be an issue. I am using this one which I assumed was the correct specification: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1 . I have set the the dial to 5V before starting up. Is this power supply acceptable? If not, can anyone recommend a suitable one that I can get from Amazon UK?

Note that I have also tried the keyboard with and without the splitter (both in the purple and in the green input), and tried a USB keyboard with a USB to PS/2 adapter. In each case, the keypresses are not being registered. If it's a keyboard issue, again I'd be grateful for a recommendation from Amazon (or other UK online seller)

I would appreciate any advice, rebukes, howls of derision, whatever helps really. Please keep your answers simple as I am not an electronics kind of person: changing a plug's fuse being the pinnacle of my achievement in that area...

Thanks

I did a search of the forums and saw that the power supply might be an issue. I am using this one which I assumed was the correct specification: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07 ... UTF8&psc=1 . I have set the the dial to 5V before starting up. Is this power supply acceptable? If not, can anyone recommend a suitable one that I can get from Amazon UK?

I don't see anything in the description to say that is a regulated PSU!

You might blow up the Q68 with that

Sparrowhawk wrote:Is this power supply acceptable?

Unfortunately it is not.

One has to be careful with multi voltage wall power supplies, most are unstabilized.
General rule: If the description does not explicitely say that it is stabilized, you can assume is not.

The ususal USB-PS/2 adaptors will only work for combo devices, not for pure USB devices.

Example for an inexpensive and compact PS/2 keyboard:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01M4GIVOY/

Oh hell. Well that's a good start. I hope I have not done any damage to it. Derek, is it likely from the symptoms I've listed?

Right, I'll go searching for another psu but this time I'll double check with you guys before ordering.

I knew I'd manage to screw something up.

How does this one look?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B074M7 ... ref=plSrch

Absolutely not. This will destroy your keyboard and mouse.

Amazon search for 5V regulated 2A 2.1mm and you’ll get some sensible results.

Drat, I thought that one said 5v, I'm not sure why I got that link.

Maybe I should not have searched after a ten hour work sprint.

Brrings an interesting thought though...

Is there any protection on the 5V input against over voltage or reverse voltage?

It is a very real possiblity, given that the input socket is a standard format, and there are any number of 5v, 6v, 9v and 12+v supplies out there...