Announcement - new QL Interface

[martyn_hill]

Hi Vitaliy!

What a terrific project.

Your guide is actually very clear and the language reads perfectly well in English. Nice work!

However, because you asked for feedback, here are a couple of (very picky!) suggestions:

1. Page 4 - under "Getting up and running" - the term 'logos' is used when in English we use 'logo' for the singular meaning. You might change that, or else choose a different word/phrase altogether, e.g.:

Currently: "A Logos should appear on your screen as follows:"
Suggestion: "The following banners will appear on your screen" or "The following messages will appear on your screen"

Currently: "QUBIDE / QUBATA and / or Floppy disk interface logos, depending of Jumpers settings ( J1 - J3 )."
Suggestion: "QUBIDE / QUBATA and / or Floppy disk interface banners, depending on chosen Jumper settings ( J1 - J3 )." (again, 'banners' or 'messages' would work equally well.)

Currently: "If logos does not appear switch everything off and check the jumpers settings and the connections."
Suggestion: "If the expected banners do not appear, switch everything off and check the jumper settings and the physical connection with the QL."

2. Page 4 - under "TDI ROM Mapping"

Currently: "TDI has 64 Kbytes of ROM, you can use any versions of Trump card and QUBIDE / QUBATA ROM images, according the following mapping :"
Suggestion: "TDI has 64 Kbytes of ROM, for which you can use any version of Trump card and QUBIDE / QUBATA ROM images, according to the following mapping:"

On a technical note, the ROM mapping address table is, at first, a little confusing. You are of course referring to the address ranges _within_ the provided ROM, but those addresses will no doubt get remapped to different addresses within the QL memory map. You might add a short explanatory caption under the table to that effect, e.g.:

"Internal ROM Address ranges - remapped to the appropriate address-space within the QL Memory map"

Any native English speaker will understand how small such suggestions are and, quite frankly, none of the above needs alteration at all!

Again, great work!

M.

[martyn_hill]

...Oh, and by the way...

Given that you have used the WDC PH-02-02 controller variant, does that mean that the Tetroid supports 1.44MB HD diskettes or even the (legendary) 2.88 ED disettes?

[RWAP]

As well as Martyn's comments, whilst the manual is easily understood by English speakers, I can see that your main problem is on the use of plurals.

Introductions

should really be just:

Introduction

(as it is just one section).

Under here is a small typo - 'thouse' should be 'those'

There is also a small correction in the section on selecting the base of QubIDE / QubATA

Because of needs for compatibility of QUBIDE/QUBATA and Trump card QUBIDE address is fixed as
0C000h.

Would be better as:
Because of the need to ensure compatibility of QUBIDE/QUBATA and the Trump Card, the QUBIDE address is fixed as
0C000h.


As for a more detailed manual - perhaps someone would like to start on this based on merging the Trump Card and QubIDE manuals from Dilwyn's site as a starting point.

[tetroid]

Martin and Rich, thank you very much.

I corrected the manual according to your recomendations.

[tetroid]

...Oh, and by the way...

Given that you have used the WDC PH-02-02 controller variant, does that mean that the Tetroid supports 1.44MB HD diskettes or even the (legendary) 2.88 ED disettes?

This is interest idea, but...
I randomly found several FDC chips, isn't guaranteed that WD1772-02 chips will available every time.
And, as I know, Trump card ROM , not support HD diskettes? ROM has to be changed?

[tetroid]

What do you think about my text on TDI photo ( page 2) :

'Easy removing hole'

Is this correct in english? Or more good name is possible ?

[martyn_hill]

Good stuff, Vitaliy!

A re-read suggests that you might also want to highlight the implication of the QubIDE/QubATA address-space being fixed at 0C000h - namely that external plug-in ROMs will no longer be recognised, e.g.:

"Because of the need to ensure compatibility of QUBIDE/QUBATA and Trump card, the QUBIDE address-space is fixed at 0C000h. This means that the external ROM port will no longer be usable and any ROM cartridge plugged-in will not be detected by the QL."

Of course, I'm assuming that this is accurate

As for the 'Easy removing hole' - I must admit to not being sure what you intended here. Try writing in Russian and I'll use Google translate to try to gather the meaning...

You are right of course that HD/ED diskettes would require further development, including the ROM driver upgrade that didn't appear until Super/GoldCard. A nice future feature request, perhaps!

I'd be happy to proof-read an updated, full manual in due course...

Finally, how do we order the interface - I want at least one!

[Derek_Stewart]

What do you think about my text on TDI photo ( page 2) :

'Easy removing hole'

Is this correct in english? Or more good name is possible ?

The easy removing hole looks a good idea.

I have the version without the hole. Which I do not have any problems.

The interface is in constant use, it is a really nice expansion for the QL

Nice manual, easy to read unlike other manuals.

[tofro]

'Easy removing hole'

Is this correct in english? Or more good name is possible ?

I think I got the meaning.

Not a native English speaker, but maybe something like

board grab slot

would be easier to understand.

Tobias

[dilwyn]

What do you think about my text on TDI photo ( page 2) :

'Easy removing hole'

Is this correct in english? Or more good name is possible ?

Good work, Vitaly.
The only other translation I can think of would be to use the word 'slot' instead of 'hole'.

I look forward to this interface becoming available.