exxos's Atari, Amiga & retro forum

A Trump Card + vDrive + vMap would make a good basis. With the Trump card you get memory and a 720K floppy interface (standard Shugart ribbon cable). The vDrive +vMap will allow you to access the Microdrive images of applications and save stuff to the faster (less latency but lower peak data transfer rate) floppies.

The trouble is that, like everything else retro, the Trump Card etc. are going for silly money.

QLs are pretty robust in my experience (surprising since it was a usual Sinclair bargain basement assembly thing). I reckon it might work OK once you give it some juice.

You've got a JM Rom in it which is not bad, not the latest but not one of the more buggy early versions but then again you may want to replace that later with a Minerva rom.

stephen_usher wrote: 09 Jun 2022 20:19
The trouble is that, like everything else retro, the Trump Card etc. are going for silly money.

Even before the current troubles with Russia, Trump cards etc were going for stupid prices on eBay, hence why I bought a GC from Tetroid.

Wrangler wrote: 09 Jun 2022 20:48 QLs are pretty robust in my experience (surprising since it was a usual Sinclair bargain basement assembly thing). I reckon it might work OK once you give it some juice.

You've got a JM Rom in it which is not bad, not the latest but not one of the more buggy early versions but then again you may want to replace that later with a Minerva rom.

Thanks for the info. I can burn roms when needed. Just got to make my psu and then we will test things.

I’ve located some parts to build my own psu, with the electronics likely costing about £15, then I’ll 3d print a case for it. Going to order the parts today and will be able to get cracking next week when they arrive.

@PhilC FYI there is a user over at qlforum.co.uk called Chr$ who I got my Minerva ROM from, it being a small adapter board as per my previous post: https://www.exxosforum.co.uk/forum/viewt ... rva#p74105

Oddly he sold it through ebay.de, but might be worth registering on QL Forum and contacting him, IIRC it was under £20 and as you can see also includes TK2.

I did have a look on ebay.de and found this: https://www.ebay.de/itm/203963817499?ha ... Swk8pf7dPq

But I'm not 100% sure it's the same user, though the part looks identical to mine.

@rubber_jonnie thanks, it’s going to be a couple of weeks before I even get to that bit.

PhilC wrote: 10 Jun 2022 11:23 @rubber_jonnie thanks, it’s going to be a couple of weeks before I even get to that bit.

No worries, and good luck.

I would say that when I last looked at mine (To do the vDrive work) I had the same membrane problem and even though I trimmed it, IIRC (I may not) the membrane was still brittle and failed again, so a new one might still be needed.

Fingers crossed it won't!!

Well that's the parts ordered for the PSU. I'll knock up a DIY circuit board when they arrive and see if it works.

I'm going to try and make a 3d printed plug to match the Power socket on the QL as well.

I've also gone and got some replacements for the 7805s that are in the case, so the large heat sinks can be dumped as well. I'll have to get a couple of micro drive tapes at some point to see if these work or not.

PhilC wrote: 10 Jun 2022 13:53 Well that's the parts ordered for the PSU. I'll knock up a DIY circuit board when they arrive and see if it works.

I'm going to try and make a 3d printed plug to match the Power socket on the QL as well.

I've also gone and got some replacements for the 7805s that are in the case, so the large heat sinks can be dumped as well. I'll have to get a couple of micro drive tapes at some point to see if these work or not.

I can probably send you a couple of MDV carts if you want, let me know.

@rubber_jonnie yes please but no rush