The Sinclair QL Forum

I'm not sure, but I think that was a huge compliment to the QL Forum

Running a site using modern, supported, open software at minimal cost, providing a service that 3347 posts later...

Dave wrote:I sometimes get the impression Quanta is sitting in a dark room, humming to themselves and wishing it was still 1985. I do not understand why they don't have a forum, based on phpBB, that has public areas so non-members can find out what Quanta's about, and a larger private area for dues-paying members. They could have a file/code exchange area, local group forums, etc.
It would have numerous advantages. The members would write the content!
Then, they just need a front end for it all, for the conventional website. Something like wordpress would work, but be conventional. They could go for something like slashcode or php-nuke, which are more story/event based. They could take payments for a range of products/services using opencart.
All the ones I have listed are open source, free, and well supported.

Light blue touch-paper and stand well back, eh Dave?

Perhaps we could also have Quanta and QL Toady sections here on QL Forum where we can discuss matters relating to either organisation, being this is where we mostly meet, and where newbies seem to go - 160 members here so far and counting....
Anyway, let's see how the new Quanta site goes first.
BTW, welcome Keith!

vanpeebles wrote:Gah I do have a registered one and gah my new pc has no floppy. I still have access to the old one though

USB floppy, van peebles?

I do have a USB one but I know they can be iffy as they don't count as a proper floppy controller.

vanpeebles wrote:I do have a USB one but I know they can be iffy as they don't count as a proper floppy controller.

They've worked fine for me, although I find them slower than built in floppy drives.

Never tried them with something like direct sector access which might not work if they're not a proper floppy controller Isuppose. I know it works for normal files with QemuLator and QPC2 as long as I avoid DD disks on this Windows 7 PC, which doesn't do DD disks.

dilwyn wrote:Light blue touch-paper and stand well back, eh Dave?

*grins* No I have fond memories of Quanta I think where Quanta is concerned money isn't a problem and willingness isn't a problem - inertia is a problem.

I would like to see a separate Quanta area here, and not just to get rid of the stickies it seems to generate. I think Quanta needs a forum provided for it, but not by it, so people can network and communicate freely. It will be able to respond to needs far more quickly than Quanta could. Then, Quanta could return to their heyday of responding to their members' needs.

I also think my criticism is lightly given - I haven't followed Quanta in 15+ years, and I'm not emotionally involved. I don't really follow what's going on with quanta because for the longest time it cost money I didn't have for the longest time. However, I might rejoin if they get themselves an active website where I can get easy access to the PD library, etc

Humbly....

I agree - it would make a lot more sense for this forum to set up a separate QUANTA area - if Dilwyn and other Quanta committee members could admininster that section, they could restrict access to those topics to verified Quanta users only.

The zips of each disk in the library could then be uploaded to the Quanta section and would only be accessible by members granted access.

A lot easier than trying to set up another lot of forums.

dilwyn wrote:

vanpeebles wrote:I do have a USB one but I know they can be iffy as they don't count as a proper floppy controller.

They've worked fine for me, although I find them slower than built in floppy drives.

Never tried them with something like direct sector access which might not work if they're not a proper floppy controller Isuppose. I know it works for normal files with QemuLator and QPC2 as long as I avoid DD disks on this Windows 7 PC, which doesn't do DD disks.

I use a USB disk drive with my Windows 7 PC - it works (sort of) - q-emulator can read / write QL formatted disks without any problem (HD and DD).

The only thing I have problems with is that q-emulator cannot format a QL disk straight away (from new).

I have to first format the disk using Windows (yes, even DD disks....) and then q-emulator will Fast format it to QL format.

Dilwyn - to format a DD disk (and sometimes to get Windows 7 to read them), put in a blank disk, open a CMD window (Click Start and type in CMD), then enter the command:

FORMAT a: /t:80 /n:9

This formats a DD disk under Windows 7 (also works under XP).

RWAP wrote:I have to first format the disk using Windows (yes, even DD disks....) and then q-emulator will Fast format it to QL format.
Dilwyn - to format a DD disk (and sometimes to get Windows 7 to read them), put in a blank disk, open a CMD window (Click Start and type in CMD), then enter the command:
FORMAT a: /t:80 /n:9
This formats a DD disk under Windows 7 (also works under XP).

Have tried this before and never got it to work. Tried 3 different disks again now, same problem. None of the emulators can format DD disks from QDOSMS with this drive though I could on the old XP PC. The message I get from the CMD box is:

C:\>format a: /t:80 /n:9
Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Verifying 720K
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.

C:\>format a: /t:80 /n:9
Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Verifying 720K
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.

C:\>format a: /t:80 /n:9
Insert new disk for drive A:
and press ENTER when ready...
The type of the file system is RAW.
The new file system is FAT.
Verifying 720K
Invalid media or Track 0 bad - disk unusable.

All three were previously good blank QL disks, which won't read from either QL or Windows now.

Using the command to format a HD disk to 1.44 MB works fine.

BTW, make sure the emulator has no open files to the disk before trying, QPC2 locked up after the CMD box forced an unmount of the drive.