New to QL. Wanting to write from QL to SD (type) card directly.

[robg]

Hello.
I've now got a QL, always wanted one.
It sits proudly with my rubber key spectrum and ZX81.
For the latter 2 devices I have gadgets that enable me to load/save to SD cards.
That is, not only can I use a PC to write to the SD card and then load it into my ZX81/Spectrum, I can program on my 2 Sinclair machines [like it's 1983 ] and save to the SD card directly.

Is there something similar for the QL? I see a few things, but the links are old (QLDisq seems no longer available) and I'm unsure if the options available allow
direct write from the QL. Plus some seem to need more memory, others also seem to need different ROMS.
I worry about buying 1 thing for fear of going to another site to get the next necessary piece but find they're out of stock (possibly forever).
I also wouldn't like to have to solder. Although quite happy to open the case and unscrew/rescrew.

All I got was the QL and power supply. I now have an RGB to scart lead so am using it.
An original manual will hopefully be delivered today.
I bought some minidisk cartridges last night which I hope to have by the weekend.

Can anyone recommend a device or 2 that ticks my boxes?

Many thanks in advance,

Rob

[vanpeebles]

A warm welcome to the forum, QL-SD is an upgrade that uses SD cards which can be accessed on a PC using QL emulator or you could use floppy discs (with an expansion card) It's worth taking a look at sellmyretro to see what is on there.

Everyone is currently waiting for the combined floppy/hard drive/memory upgrade seen here http://www.theqlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1670

[robg]

Thanks for the warm welcome.
That project seems ideal, what stage is it at?
If you look me up on LinkedIn you'll see I'm a very qualified and experienced tester. I'm the one from Nottingham.
I'd happily buy one and beta test it professionally.

[dilwyn]

A warm welcome to the forum, QL-SD is an upgrade that uses SD cards which can be accessed on a PC using QL emulator or you could use floppy discs (with an expansion card) It's worth taking a look at sellmyretro to see what is on there.

Everyone is currently waiting for the combined floppy/hard drive/memory upgrade seen here http://www.theqlforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1670

QL-SD is produced occasionally in small batches by Paul Veltjens in Germany (Peter Graf did the original hardware design). Paul is on this Forum, maybe he could let us know if/when he intends to make another batch or whether he has any to sell at the moment.

As vanpeebles said, when available QL-SD sold through SellMyRetro.com where you can find all sorts of second hand stuff for all the Sinclair computers.

There is also the Qubide IDE interface occasionally available, although meant as an IDE hard disk interface it does work with compact flash IDE interfaces. Some (not all by any means) such SD card IDE adaptor interfaces will work with Qubide - I have an original Qubide on one of my systems, I tried it with two such SD interfaces some time ago, one worked, the other didn't. For Qubide, most QL users make use of Compact Flash adaptors, which i what I ended up using because I had spare ones to hand.

[Dave]

QL-SD will also be available soon as a QL external expansion card. It'll allow the use of faster and cheaper SD cards instead of slower, more expensive CF cards.

[RWAP]

It would also be good to have the RomDisq back on sale - I believe Dave has all the parts etc left over from Tony Firshman

[Dave]

No, sadly, I just have one broken RomDISQ and one bare RomDISQ PCB. RomDISQ will also not work with QL-SD.

I think QL-SD is a much more elegant and flexible solution.

[Timbucus]

Welcome back to the QL world - if you are going to use Microdrive cartridges just make sure that the felts are in good condition - unlikely at this age unless they are replaced...

I bought a QUBIDE interface on sellmyretro from ZAXXON (it has 512K RAM as well as a bonus to use more advanced QL software) - coupled with a £15 IDE to SD interface it works well although as I am a linux user getting data on and off the card can be a little fiddly... As it is a HD effectively you cannot just eject and put it back in... you need to shutdown. So for occasional transfers I use a serial cable and some basic software discussed elsewhere on the forum. The code is so short I just used the serial cable to copy it using the standard QDOS commands.

If you need more help (or details) just ask... I was thinking of producing a getting going single page how to.

Make sure you also read http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/gen/backtoql/backtoql.html

Timbucus

[robg]

QL-SD will also be available soon as a QL external expansion card. It'll allow the use of faster and cheaper SD cards instead of slower, more expensive CF cards.

Thanks Dave. Do you know when/where the new QL-SD will happen?

[robg]

Welcome back to the QL world - if you are going to use Microdrive cartridges just make sure that the felts are in good condition - unlikely at this age unless they are replaced...

I bought a QUBIDE interface on sellmyretro from ZAXXON (it has 512K RAM as well as a bonus to use more advanced QL software) - coupled with a £15 IDE to SD interface it works well although as I am a linux user getting data on and off the card can be a little fiddly... As it is a HD effectively you cannot just eject and put it back in... you need to shutdown. So for occasional transfers I use a serial cable and some basic software discussed elsewhere on the forum. The code is so short I just used the serial cable to copy it using the standard QDOS commands.

If you need more help (or details) just ask... I was thinking of producing a getting going single page how to.

Make sure you also read http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/gen/backtoql/backtoql.html

Timbucus

What I wasn't sure of with that was if it allows the QL to write directly to the card. That is, I code on the QL and save. No emulator or POSTNL involved. Is that possible?