Tuesday 27 November 2018
When Source Code is provided
Compare in GD2 colour integrated with File Requestor SBASIC from QLWorld compiled with Turbo.
Thursday 8 November 2018
PERFECTION by Digital Precision perhaps not so perfect.
For those QL users who are using an emulator or repalcement QL motherboard system such as a Qx0, a Q68 or an Aurora based system and make use of the higher resolution screens none of the word processors, Xchange(Quill), Text87plus4 or Perfection are ideal. All now have patches that allow them to use resolutions higher than 512x256 but each has it's limitations.
On the Q68 here a word processor that handles the defacto standard QL Quill format documents is preferred. All 3 can do this. In addition the program needs to be able to accept and open a document via FileInfo 2. Now Xchange(Quill) can do this as can Text87plus4 with the correct commands supplied to FI2 to enable the process. Perfection does not seem to be able to do this. In addition the program also need to be able to adapt to a higher resolution than 512x256. Xchange can do this but only to 512x512 which is inconvenient if the screen vertical resolution is less than 512 and more than 256. On the Q68 512x364 is preferred to make full us of 16bit colour. Text87plus4 can adapt but it's user interface is awful. Perfection with the patch that upgrades it to v6a12 can adapt to almost any vertical resolution through its bespoke configuration system but it cannot open a file via FI2, unless there is a way unknown to QLHeaven hidden in its wordy manual. So here is a way to tweak Perfection to allow it to open _doc files via FI2. A startup macro that instructs it to load its configured default document must also be created as Perfections default macro. Below is the SBASIC wrapper that needs to be compiled and launched via FI2 to make it all happen :
This short program patches the desired file into perfections configuration block after a copy is made to the ram disk, to avoid inadvertently corrupting the master copy.
Obviously Sdev$ and Ddev$ would need to be changed for other systems or could be changed by a config block if one was added.
Here is the system in action :
On the Q68 here a word processor that handles the defacto standard QL Quill format documents is preferred. All 3 can do this. In addition the program needs to be able to accept and open a document via FileInfo 2. Now Xchange(Quill) can do this as can Text87plus4 with the correct commands supplied to FI2 to enable the process. Perfection does not seem to be able to do this. In addition the program also need to be able to adapt to a higher resolution than 512x256. Xchange can do this but only to 512x512 which is inconvenient if the screen vertical resolution is less than 512 and more than 256. On the Q68 512x364 is preferred to make full us of 16bit colour. Text87plus4 can adapt but it's user interface is awful. Perfection with the patch that upgrades it to v6a12 can adapt to almost any vertical resolution through its bespoke configuration system but it cannot open a file via FI2, unless there is a way unknown to QLHeaven hidden in its wordy manual. So here is a way to tweak Perfection to allow it to open _doc files via FI2. A startup macro that instructs it to load its configured default document must also be created as Perfections default macro. Below is the SBASIC wrapper that needs to be compiled and launched via FI2 to make it all happen :
This short program patches the desired file into perfections configuration block after a copy is made to the ram disk, to avoid inadvertently corrupting the master copy.
Obviously Sdev$ and Ddev$ would need to be changed for other systems or could be changed by a config block if one was added.
Here is the system in action :
Wednesday 7 November 2018
SerNet and DEV an excellent combination to connect a floppy drive to a Q68
The Q68 uses SDHC cards both as its hard disk like storage and as it's removable media.
There are (currently) no other physical storage devices for the Q68.
However it does have a serial port. So with another QL type system ( with a decent baud rate) connected via a null modem cable and using Sernet and the dev device the following SBASIC command :
DEV_USE 1,S2_FLP1_
a SBASIC or using the files thing can now access flp1_ on the second QL second identified as S2 by sernet.
A powerful combination of existing software enhancing the functionality of new hardware.
There are (currently) no other physical storage devices for the Q68.
However it does have a serial port. So with another QL type system ( with a decent baud rate) connected via a null modem cable and using Sernet and the dev device the following SBASIC command :
DEV_USE 1,S2_FLP1_
a SBASIC or using the files thing can now access flp1_ on the second QL second identified as S2 by sernet.
A powerful combination of existing software enhancing the functionality of new hardware.
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