The Sinclair QL Forum

QIMSI Gold. Thank you Stephan.

Joystick adaptor for QL CTL ports from Derek Stewart. Thank you Derek.

As a little follow-up to the joystick adaptor post (thanks again Derek), today I tried out the joystick adaptor with an Atari switched joystick on my QIMSI-Gold system. I admit I just assumed it would work, because joystick ports on the QL emulate keypresses (CTL1 give cursor keys and space codes, while CTL2 give the five function key codes).

After wondering whether the QL keyboard driver in SMSQ/E for QIMSI-Gold used as MiniQ68 would detect the joystick (not knowing how they were actually wired inside the QL and how they actually became "key presses") I'm pleased to say it does recognise the joystick.

Simon N Goodwin's Speccy Next book was just delivered to my door (incidentally, 2 Royal Mail deliveries in one day? What is this, the 1980s?! )
I'd forgotten it was due soon so a lovely surprise.

Choc a bloc full of interesting stuff, much of it over my head but I'm going to have fun learning about it all.

This spiral bound edition was for orders directly through Simon's website - a normal paperback binding is, I believe, available on Amazon.

BTW, the Speccy above it is not a Next board in a classic case, it's my TheSpectrum which arrived a few days ago.
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Since I can't revel in "The Spectrum" being orphaned in the US, I'm left to order more mundane stuff like a bulk tape eraser. This is for my Greaseweazle/TRS-80 project, where I'm trying to create some disks for my Model 3 (HD drive trying to write SD-readable disks).

My QL related question, can bulk erasing an MDV cartridge help it format more sectors? I'm assuming bad media is lack of magnetic ability to accurately hold whatever signal you try to write on and degaussing it wouldn't make a difference -- just curious. I'm assuming if I try it it wouldn't destroy the MDV cartridge.

A tape switching unit from QED, made in England. One of the very few available, which can connect three tape recorders and let you record from one to another.

A working "telcom c4" professional compander unit from a german broadcast station. Gives you at least 85dB signal-to-noise ratio when copying from tape to tape or recording.

bwinkel67 wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2024 11:36 pm Since I can't revel in "The Spectrum" being orphaned in the US

I wonder whether, once the initial feeding frenzy for The Spectrum is over in the UK and Europe, they might start shipping surplus stock to the US, where I suspect there is more of a demand for it than might be expected. After all, we got the Atari 400 Mini here, and I don't know anyone who used to own an 8-bit Atari.

As to your new equipment - hard core!

bwinkel67 wrote: Sun Dec 08, 2024 11:36 pm My QL related question, can bulk erasing an MDV cartridge help it format more sectors? I'm assuming bad media is lack of magnetic ability to accurately hold whatever signal you try to write on and degaussing it wouldn't make a difference -- just curious. I'm assuming if I try it it wouldn't destroy the MDV cartridge.

Likely not. Assuming the foam pad has been fixed, most of the Microdrive's defect sectors today are caused by mechanical stress over time, and damage done to the magnetic coating by heat or moisture it has seen over its lifetime. I wouldn't expect a demagnetizer to "fix" any defects, though (The QL's Microdrives have their own demagnetizing - the erase head, which should do everything you can do with an external device.) But experimenting shouldn't hurt, I guess.

tofro wrote: Fri Dec 13, 2024 5:13 pm Likely not. Assuming the foam pad has been fixed, most of the Microdrive's defect sectors today are caused by mechanical stress over time, and damage done to the magnetic coating by heat or moisture it has seen over its lifetime. I wouldn't expect a demagnetizer to "fix" any defects, though (The QL's Microdrives have their own demagnetizing - the erase head, which should do everything you can do with an external device.) But experimenting shouldn't hurt, I guess.

Thank you. Right, for magnetic coating loss/damage that won't help. I will still try to see if things improve, only because I've seen comments on how it reduces cross-talk in analog recordings from what was previously on them. I'm guessing the erase head on the QL will get rid of most of that, but presumably so would the erase head on a tape recorder creating audio tapes. I'm just curious of any improvements, though I specifically bought it for floppy wiping.