The Sinclair QL Forum

Hi Davide,

finding a suitable SDHC card should be most easy, never heard about problems. (Except for the cheap crap from "Intenso" which also fails on a normal PC when writing intensively. But even those would work in the beginning.)

Probably your card was just not correctly formatted. The card needs to have a master boot record (MBR). Which not all cards have by default. Try the documented formatting procedure. Or maybe you had SMSQ/E is configured to overclock the card?

As for your 2560x1440 monitor, the cable is unlikely to be the cause. Must be another incompatibility. If QL-VGA worked, you could try a cheap HDMI-VGA converter. For me, all HDMI-VGA converters worked fine with QIMSI Gold. Other than that, I can not offer much advice, except using a different monitor.

All the best
Peter

Hi Davide,

Peter wrote: Wed Jan 01, 2025 11:11 pm ... you could try a cheap HDMI-VGA converter. ...

If you decide to follow the advice from Peter and try a HDMI-VGA converter this is the one I would recommend:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07D5WGCG1?psc ... ct_details

Best regards,

Stephan

finding a suitable SDHC card should be most easy, never heard about problems. (Except for the cheap crap from "Intenso" which also fails on a normal PC when writing intensively. But even those would work in the beginning.)

Hi Peter, Stephan,

at the beginning I was using a 64Gb SDHC which I understand could not be formatted as FAT (only exFAT). Then I moved to a very old 1Gb SD, probably too old. With a relatively new 32Gb SDHC (FAT formatted) everything went ok.

For the hdmi connection I am still not fully sure about the cable as I had similar problems when connecting a standard PC to a monitor with resolution higher than the standard full HD (1920x1080). In that case I was using an HDMI cable not approved for 4k.

thanks and regards

Davide

ergonql wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 4:48 pm at the beginning I was using a 64Gb SDHC which I understand could not be formatted as FAT (only exFAT).

It can be FAT formatted, but you need an MBR, partition table, and partition the card. There are various tools for it.

ergonql wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 4:48 pm Then I moved to a very old 1Gb SD, probably too old.

Should be SDHC type, as documented in the manual.

ergonql wrote: Thu Jan 02, 2025 4:48 pm For the hdmi connection I am still not fully sure about the cable as I had similar problems when connecting a standard PC to a monitor with resolution higher than the standard full HD (1920x1080). In that case I was using an HDMI cable not approved for 4k.

I was assuming your cable was already successfully tested. If not, then of course try a better quality cable.

ergonql wrote: ↑Thu Jan 02, 2025 6:48 pm
For the hdmi connection I am still not fully sure about the cable as I had similar problems when connecting a standard PC to a monitor with resolution higher than the standard full HD (1920x1080). In that case I was using an HDMI cable not approved for 4k.

I was assuming your cable was already successfully tested. If not, then of course try a better quality cable.

Hi Peter,

I made a few additional tests with a certified 4K miniHDMI-HDMI cable but the result with the 2560x1440 monitor was the same (image not readable), so the issue has nothing to do with the cable. Just for my curiosity I tried connecting the QG with another (4K) high-res monitor and the upscaling is just fine. With the HDMI to VGA interface suggested by Stephan of course no problems at all also with the 2560x1440 resolution monitor which looks not compatible when connected directly via HDMI.

Always talking of compatibility I tried the PS2 mouse (Amazon) which was suggested in some older posts and it works fine. However it is recognized only if I use a purple PS/2 to USB converter (i.e. the one which is supposed to be connected to a keyboard). With a green PS/2 to USB converter (i.e. the one meant for a mouse) it does not work. Maybe a broken USB/PS2 converter or there are hw differences between green/purple adapters?

Regards

Davide

I had a similar problem with green / purple ps2 / usb adapters. My keyboard would not work with the purple one, but would with the green

Always talking of compatibility I tried the PS2 mouse (Amazon) which was suggested in some older posts

This is strange, the suggested mouse should come with an USB plug. No need for PS/2 to USB converter but OTG adapter

Stephan

I have modified the QIMSI case, found on Thingiverse so that it nicely fits the QIMSI Gold version of the board. it can be found here https://www.printables.com/model/114540 ... -gold-case

Sorry about the 3D printed case shown in the pictures, I experimented with an option on my printer that seems to have shown all the seams in a random place.

Many thanks, interesting stuff! Could you also offer a variant without text?

I bought a very inexpensive Resin 3D printer setup, see viewtopic.php?p=61612#p61612

So once I have learned to use the printer this might a new way of producing cases.