The Sinclair QL Forum

On my blog right now is a couple of articles and pictures showing how I got an SD card and a Compact Flash working with my Aurora using a Qubide. http://dilwyn2.wordpress.com/

Was it a difference between flash cards causing the bother?

Compact Flash to IDE if you have an IDE interface for you QL looks like a promising way to go.

Never had a Qubide system so unlikely now, nor the Aurora and the Thor also,

SD card is possibly in the mix and another alternative, but not here yet so...

I have a floppy disk interface for standard QL one with memory expansion, one without

Has anyone tried a Compact Flash/SD Card interface that could plug straight in to a Floppy Disk interface?

Hmmm

Do you mean the HxC?
It enables a SD card to pretend to be a box of floppy disks
I use a HxC with Atari ST's. It works well

When I get some spare time, I must try it with my QL.
I bought my HxC years ago, and at the time I don't remember the QL being listed as being supported. But it is listed now

Mark

I wrote a guide for connecting the HxC to the QL and using it, which was printed in Quanta - I provide this to anyone buying a HxC Card from me !

I managed to get it working with DD and HD disk images, but we could not figure out how the QL manages to detect an ED disk unfortunately...

RWAP wrote:I wrote a guide for connecting the HxC to the QL and using it, which was printed in Quanta - I provide this to anyone buying a HxC Card from me !

I managed to get it working with DD and HD disk images, but we could not figure out how the QL manages to detect an ED disk unfortunately...

Just checked out your entry on SellMyRetro http://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/detail ... es%29-2227

The only thing that slightly bothers me is that you have to press buttons and use the interface to select folders etc. I guess you cannot do that from within the QL itself. So does the display unit come with a bezel ie can it be panel mounted? I am looking to have it permanently bulit-in to a project I am currently working on.

Based on the pic below it looks like it might fit in to the QL case microdrive slot and cut through the lined cased for the display. not sure it the ribbon cable can go where I need it to go yet.

Mr_Navigator wrote:Based on the pic below it looks like it might fit in to the QL case microdrive slot and cut through the lined cased for the display. not sure it the ribbon cable can go where I need it to go yet.

That would look very impressive

Concept only
this is not my project btw

Mr_Navigator wrote: The only thing that slightly bothers me is that you have to press buttons and use the interface to select folders etc. I guess you cannot do that from within the QL itself. So does the display unit come with a bezel ie can it be panel mounted? I am looking to have it permanently bulit-in to a project I am currently working on.

Lee,
the HxC comes with firmware that allows (mainly by positioning to track/sector combinations that wouldn't be available on a "real" floppy) to directly position to track/sectors on the SD card. This is how the disk selection apps on other platforms talk to the HxC. If someone would bother to create an application for the QL doing that, I guess it should be possible to "change disks" from within the QL.

If you'd invest a bit more time, you could develop this into a driver that would allow access to the complete SD contents.

(When I bought my HxC, I looked into doing that, but my "real" QL sees so slight use these days I didn't come around yet and managed to live with the buttons.)

BTW, my HxC is built into the floppy housing of a "real" Sandy double 3 1/2 inch drive unit (Lotharek in Poland sells them as "disk replacement units" with all the needed framing, metalwork and and screws, the front panel also looks nice and tidy) - So the "real" floppy works as yet another drive and allows copying to/from real disks.

Regards,
Tobias

Some programs for selecting the disk image have indeed been written for other computers - the Amiga for one...

Not had chance to look into it myself as yet - mainly because I would prefer a native QL-SD option which foregoes the need for a floppy disk interface, and runs more quickly than a floppy disk (the HxC still operates at about the same speed as a floppy disk).

The panel is connected to the board by a socket - you can add a ribbon cable to extend this out to the QL case. The buttons are more problematic.