The Sinclair QL Forum

In case anyone here missed out last time and wanted one: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sp ... =user_menu

Wonder if a QL core on this bad boy would make the ultimate QL - it already has almost the same keyboard (although much better so I hear)!
Wifi, HDMI, SD Card drive, multiple cores via FPGA.

My wife has no idea that I ordered one. She'll be chuffed to bits when it arrives. Oh yes she will.

They do look great!

Sparrowhawk wrote:In case anyone here missed out last time and wanted one: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sp ... =user_menu

Wonder if a QL core on this bad boy would make the ultimate QL - it already has almost the same keyboard (although much better so I hear)!
Wifi, HDMI, SD Card drive, multiple cores via FPGA.

My wife has no idea that I ordered one. She'll be chuffed to bits when it arrives. Oh yes she will.

Hi,

I doubt there will be a QL core as good as the Q68. probably only Minerva a running in normal QL screen modes.

I cancelled my pledge £335 is too much, for a fast Spectrum with colours.

The Q68 is better...

Derek_Stewart wrote:

Sparrowhawk wrote:In case anyone here missed out last time and wanted one: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sp ... =user_menu

Wonder if a QL core on this bad boy would make the ultimate QL - it already has almost the same keyboard (although much better so I hear)!

I doubt there will be a QL core as good as the Q68. probably only Minerva a running in normal QL screen modes.

The 2MB the Next board (even the expanded one) provides are a bit on the short edge for a modern QL replacement.
The Next is a fine Spectrum evolution - And the case with the keyboard and Dickinson design is a real stunner. But it's never going to be close to what the Q68 is.

Stuff like the Next's multy-layer graphics, sprite and sound engines could, however, also benefit any future Q68 evolvement. The current Q68 IMHO shows the limits of what you can achieve with purely CPU-driven graphics and sound.

I pledged for two Nexts as I like the design and don't really think they will depreciate in value. Due to memory alone it cannot be a competitor to the Q68, but it can be a pretty cool GoldCard style QL, maybe with some Aurora features. The MiSTer platform could beat the Q68, same or more RAM and much beefier FPGA, but I currently don't see the point in developing a competing core for it.

Looks like a QL core is in being worked on:
https://www.patreon.com/vtrucco

Scroll down to May 5th entry for details. Early days, by all accounts, but hopefully this does get completed..

tofro wrote:Stuff like the Next's multy-layer graphics, sprite and sound engines could, however, also benefit any future Q68 evolvement. The current Q68 IMHO shows the limits of what you can achieve with purely CPU-driven graphics and sound.

One thing to keep in mind here, is that the Q68 CPU is far from running at full speed! Cache and separate video memory could bring more overall benefit than graphics accelleration, although I'm not in fundamental opposition to it.

The problem with graphics accelleration: Which standard should be defined, while it is unclear if software support can be expected, and to which extent? We could not easily re-use the Spectrum Next stuff as it is designed for different memory type, colour depth, and clock frequencies.

I see just one partial advantage of the ZX Spectrum Next over the Q68, which is the use of SRAM for main memory instead of SDRAM. In a low memory / low resolution setup, one might be able to run the CPU somewhat faster. (If the overall design is actually capable for that in practice remains to be seen.) Although I'm a former Spectrum user myself, I really don't like the Next's keybaord for QL use.

For a higher performance FPGA based QL, I would definitely not use a clumsy expensive setup like the "Mister" with it's add-on boards. A QL-specific board based on the relatively new Lattice ECP5 series with clean separation between main memory and video memory would do a better job for less money.

mk79 wrote:The MiSTer platform could beat the Q68, same or more RAM and much beefier FPGA, but I currently don't see the point in developing a competing core for it.

The type of SDRAM used for 68K cores is the same for Mister and Q68, so where should the extra performance come from, especially in highcolour? I don't know how much faster a TG68K.C core for the Mister could be clocked while decently tied to SRDAM, but I doubt it is much, with conservative timings and settings.

About 16 hours to go before the campaign ends. At almost $400 I ended up passing on it...got an inexpensive real thing on eBay instead in almost perfect condition (one little scratch on the front plate).

Peter wrote:The type of SDRAM used for 68K cores is the same for Mister and Q68, so where should the extra performance come from, especially in highcolour? I don't know how much faster a TG68K.C core for the Mister could be clocked while decently tied to SRDAM, but I doubt it is much, with conservative timings and settings.

There‘s also 1GB of DDR3 RAM and copious amounts of block RAM which can surely be combined into some decent VRAM, freeing SDRAM bandwidth for CPU use.