QL-SD card project

[dilwyn]

Sad to learn that Memory Lane Computing have bowed out of the QL market, although it was probably inevitable given the amount of time Adrian invested in projects like the Ser-Usb for small reward.

I do hope that Peter's QL-SD card project will find someone to bring it to market, though. I'm sure that a project like this, which provides a built in or plug in mass storage device using SD card would have helped extend the life of the good old black box - after all, a QL with external floppy drives and external hard disk was more than a bit clumsy in terms of desktop space - cables, power supplies, qubide and drive cases for example.

A QL with built in SD card interface (whether it was the version taking the place of a microdrive slot or a version plugging into the Eprom slot at the back) was quite appealling. Keep the disk interface (for its memory expansion) and the QL became a self-contained computer again until you need to plug in a floppy disk drive to transfer original disks.

I do hope that the QL-SD will see the light of day sooner or later.

Dilwyn

[vanpeebles]

This is the one upgrade I was really looking forward too, I even had a QL ready for it. Hopefully someone else will pick up the project and finish it. With disk drives and interfaces getting hard to get it could of been a great platform for new users.

An ideal use would be having a zip file full of QL tools and programs for new users which a pc can extract to the SD card already for use.

[thorsinclair]

I was also looking forward to it. It's a pity that Adrian can not finish it and I hope that somebody will found quickly who can finish it. Should we may ask who is ready to pre-order it ... in order to know what is the potential and how many are needed?

[dilwyn]

I was also looking forward to it. It's a pity that Adrian can not finish it and I hope that somebody will found quickly who can finish it. Should we may ask who is ready to pre-order it ... in order to know what is the potential and how many are needed?

I have either a QL/Gold Card and/or Minis-QL/Super Gold Card which could do with one of these and my preference would be for an Eprom slot plugin version. Admittedly, using the MDV1 or MDV2 slot to plug in an SD card has a certain kudos (geddit???) but for the MinisQL I'd have to use the eprom slot version with Aurora slot adaptor which should be straightforward.

My QL has no hard disk system, and the Qubide in the MinisQL has a fault which makes the hard disk intermittent, so at the moment it's minus a hard disk. QL-SD would solve both issues.

Although my main system is PC and QPC2 (with Q-emuLator and QL2K installed too, but not used as much), the other 2 systems get used for testing software and so on but normally live in the attic until needed. Being able to set up a native QL with QL-SD would be very handy, and the Aurora MinisQL would be even more versatile because it can be plugged into an SVGA flat screen monitor to live near the PC, either with its own little 14 inch monitor or a VGA switcher box.

So, put me down for at least one QL-SD!

Dilwyn

[vanpeebles]

I'd probably go for two internal ones and at least one rom port version.

[tofro]

I'd fancy an internal one because it fits so snuggly into the MD slot.

[1024MAK]

An ideal use would be having a zip file full of QL tools and programs for new users which a pc can extract to the SD card already for use.

This is an excellent idea

When (or is it if?) QL-SD card systems become available, I would be very interested. I would buy at least one, likely two and if it sells at a good price maybe three.

ZX81's have a SD card reader / writer system, ZX Spectrum's have CF reader / writer systems, Atari ST' have a SD reader / writer, BBC B micros and BBC Master systems have both SD and CF systems.

Who left the QL out of the party?

Mark

[polka]

I would prefer a PROM port SD card interface, because I'd like to keep the Mdv units functional as long as they work, and I find it more convenient just to be able to plug the interface into an existing unused slot, without opening and fiddling inside both my QLs.

Paul

[Dave]

I think once you're making a PCB, what you put on it raises the cost only incrementally - the PCB and edge connector and assembly can be half the cost.

For this reason, when making a decoder chip, why not just stick a WD1772 floppy, some RAM, TK2/drivers, and the QubIDE hardware on one board? This is only a little harder than floppy/RAM. What's neat about this is that CF cards work directly with IDE interfaces. This means there's no problems with drivers, as they're already established. It just takes someone do do the work of designing the custom logic - which for a half dozen people here could be said to be.... trivial?

I would 100% contribute to a project like this by donating components and assembly, and my organization skills. I would not be able to do the custom logic, but I could do the PCB design.

[JonB]

Sorry for resurrecting an old thread, but...

I have a Polish mate called Lotharek who produces add ons for retro computers. I think Rich has had some dealings with him as he sells the HxC floppy emulator. Anyway, last year I suggested he produced the UltraSatan and NetUSBee devices for the ST from the original designs. His PCBs are beautiful and he has a small scale manufacturing partner, plus PCB design skills (his UltraSatan PCB is entirely different to the original. He has gone into production with UltraSatan and is progressing with NetUSBee.

So I was going to say, what state is this QL SD project in, is it open source, or would the designer be prepared to allow someone to take it on? What needs to be done to complete it, apart from productionisation?

Cheers

JonB