The QPC, a 68xxx emulator which runs a version of SMSQ, has certainly captured my imagination; but, some of the general information about it remains vague. Unlike the QXL ISA card which is limited to the on-card, 68040 processor and memory resources, the QPC commandeers the resources of the 486-or-better host PC and the speed of your virtual QL is only limited by the host PC’s clock speed (some say that a 386 will suffice; but, the processor’s clock speed will undoubtedly be slower). However, what would appear to be missing is a natural NETwork link between a QPC’d computer and earlier QDOS devices.
I don’t know if NETworking a QPC has already been discussed in European newsletters such as QUANTA and QL TODAY since I don’t subscribe to either. Perhaps, a “commercial” cable is already available. Perhaps the information for NETworking a QPC comes with the software — perhaps it doesn’t. The point is, the information hasn’t been made generally available, yet; and, the ability or inability to NETwork a QPC’d computer to existing QLs is a possible limitation of the QPC as an alternative to the QXL or a (SUPER) GOLD CARD for many looking to upgrade.
If you are not interested in NETworking, then the point is moot; but, I feel that the potential to NETwork a QPC to another QDOS device will be important to me if-and-when I eventually get a copy at some point down the road.
If you are concerned with the potential NETworking a QPC, then you might be interested in the following observations which I have made about the potential of cobbling up your own QPC-to-QL NETwork cable (NOTE: this should also work for SMSQ’d ATARIs which I presume lack a hardware NETwork port).
This Is Only Theoretical …
Working on the presumption that the QL’s NETwork communications is RS-232 based, I took my VOM (Volt Ohm Meter) and started to check for possible continuity between the QL’s NETwork ports and my QL’s SERial ports.
After less than a minute of “testing” I managed to ascertain that you should be able to connect PIN_1 (signal ground) and PIN_6 (+12V) of a female 9-PIN D-CONNECTOR [or, 25-PIN if your PC’s SERial port is so sized] to (apparently) either the tip or stem of a mini-phono plug since there appears to be unimpeded continuity in the QL’s NETwork socket.
I haven’t made a cable to test this, so I can’t tell you if you can be indifferent about whether the tip or stem is hooked up as the signal ground. Of course, you will lose one of your PC’s SERial ports to the NETwork, and the speed of communication will be limited to the speed you assign via DOS’s MODE command [for example: MODE COM1:96,N,8,,,].
While it should be possible to use the host PC’s SERial ports for NETworking, we will have to wait until an actual QPC user fabricates a cable in the aforementioned manner and reports back to all of us.
SMSQ Goats
The 1997 version of the QL GET TOGETHER sponsored by NESQLUG has come and gone and my two complaints against the SMSQ operating system apparently remain unresolved:
1) diminished screen size; and,
2) inability to use the TURBO compiler.
The two problems may never be resolved. If they are “fixed” for the QXL, they will be for the QPC, and vice-versa. Since I have not received an OS upgrade for my QXL since receiving SMSQ v2.76b over half a year ago, I presume the problems persist.
Based on direct correspondence between myself and Stuart Honeyball it would appear that Tony Tebby remains reluctant to correct the two, aforementioned problems. In so many words, I was informed that I could expect the SECOND COMING before any effort was made to correct SMSQ’s two glaring flaws that remain.
To Tony Tebby’s credit, he did write the DrvLink program which eliminated the apparent high ratio of overhead vs. usable space on WIN()_ partitions.
A Kluge By Any Name
Due to diminishing hard disk space on my host PC, I finally decided to move my QXL card to another PC that I cobbled together from spare (!) parts. The only monitor that I had available was a 15″ vertical, monochrome monitor whose approximate vertical height is equal to that of a normal 20″ monitor (that is, if you happened to consider a 20″ monitor to be “normal”).
Using the 15″ monitor is a mixed blessing. The 15″ monitor has a toggle which allows for either “normal” (but, reduced) ratio so that the viewed display is equivalent to about a 13″ monitor or expanded height so that the equivalent would be a 20″ monitor; but, the expansion results in a display that resembles a composite monitor with visible scan lines.
When the 15″ is toggled to maximize the display height, the resultant SMSQ display is almost the same as viewed on my 14″ VGA monitor. The problem is that the characters generated are now only 3/4 the normal width.
In other words, to get an SMSQ display that appears “normal” you will need to acquire a 20″ monitor. This means that laptops need not apply for every day QPC emulation at the current time.
Having said that, I have repeatedly heard that a QXL card has been installed in a TOSHIBA laptop and that it was possible to toggle the display between the diminished and a non-diminished size. Until someone sends me the specific details of the observed TOSHIBA phenomenon, I have to presume that the capability is proprietary to the TOSHIBA.
Regardless, the TOSHIBA portables with ISA expansion slots are old, still very expensive and definitely very heavy. I have to presume that the owner of the TOSHIBA-QXL combination either does not read ZQA! or chooses to keep knowledge of how to expand the SMSQ’s display to himself. Maybe this can be resolved via QBOX by one of ZQA!’s readers who telecommunicates, and s/he can report back to all of us as to how the keyboard prestidigitation was accomplished on aforementioned TOSHIBA.
For The Record …
While I am grateful to still be using a QDOS compatible computer, I think that too many QDOS/SMSQ (computer) users (in general?) are too passive (i.e., “grateful” for getting anything new) to complain; and, almost any “bone” will do. If I had known that SMSQ’s display would remain crippled, then I would never have gotten a QXL card, and currently that is what is keeping me from buying a copy of the QPC software.
I suppose that if keep complaining about SMSQ long enough then I suppose I should consider migrating permanently to the DOS and (dare I say it?) WINDOWS environment … after all, QuickBASIC can’t be that different from SuperBASIC …
Happy Trails,
And Computing, To You …