Sinclair QL - wanted one since 1984

[PhilC]

So I’ve had a bit of progress with the QL today.

I managed to get a Trump card for it. It cost more than the computer did but then I did pay peanuts for the QL.

And I had a package arrive yesterday courtesy of Mr @rubber_jonnie with some micro drives inside.

So putting it all together and all I got was green screen, which ended up being a ram fault on the Trump card. So I’ve got a whole load of ram borrowed from here there and everywhere, so I’ve changed the whole lot in the Trump card and then given it a good clean and:

3C52646E-0A3C-4EE0-92E8-CE4EABBD6930.jpeg

Great, now it’s time to test the card and the micro drives out. Would you believe it that the fluffing shift key don’t work!! So no testing for me as I need at least access to the _ key.

Best go order myself a keyboard membrane next then.

[PhilC]

For those of you interested, here’s what the Trump card looks like naked :lol:

image.jpg

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[stephen_usher]

My goodness, that floppy connector is a bit dirty!

[PhilC]

My goodness, that floppy connector is a bit dirty!

You should have seen it beforehand. It’ll get a better clean when I start using it again.

[Wrangler]

Awesome stuff!

Now you can experience first hand how slow a "32 bit" computer can really be! :lol:

[stephen_usher]

The ST is "Sixteen-Thirty-Two", the QL is an "Eight-Thirty-Two" :-)

[rubber_jonnie]

Nice one sir, be good to see it running and see if the microdrives actually work :)

Next you need minerva :)

[PhilC]

Nice one sir, be good to see it running and see if the microdrives actually work :)

Next you need minerva :)

I’ve got a rim adaptor board on order and more EPROMs than I know what to do with, so watch this space :D

[PhilC]

So a bit of an update today.

I fitted the new keyboard membrane and had to fit the keyboard membrane socket as a couple of pins were bent a little too much but the issue previously was that the ribbon was cracked in a few places on the membrane, so that's all good now.

I've cleaned and tried the microdrives. They would read initially but not reformat, so doing some googling I've got a few transistors and diodes to check with the scope and then we will see if that makes any difference. 2 Microdrives carts were killed in action unfortunately but I guess you live and learn. Best not kill the other 4 RJ sent me :oops:

I changed the 7805 for a MP-K7805-500R3 on the Trump card and will switch the two micro drive regulators too but the main 7805 needs a higher output, so will see what else is available to cool the whole thing down a bit. Its got to deliver 1.5 - 2 amps ideally.

Next up is to rig up a floppy drive and see if we can get the Trump card to format a few floppies, then at least I can start getting things from the PC over to the QL to test.

With the GBS-8220 Im able to view both monitor and TV mode on a VGA screen which is cool, so probably going to build a QL style case for the GBS at some point.

[rubber_jonnie]

So a bit of an update today.

I fitted the new keyboard membrane and had to fit the keyboard membrane socket as a couple of pins were bent a little too much but the issue previously was that the ribbon was cracked in a few places on the membrane, so that's all good now.

I've cleaned and tried the microdrives. They would read initially but not reformat, so doing some googling I've got a few transistors and diodes to check with the scope and then we will see if that makes any difference. 2 Microdrives carts were killed in action unfortunately but I guess you live and learn. Best not kill the other 4 RJ sent me :oops:

I changed the 7805 for a MP-K7805-500R3 on the Trump card and will switch the two micro drive regulators too but the main 7805 needs a higher output, so will see what else is available to cool the whole thing down a bit. Its got to deliver 1.5 - 2 amps ideally.

Next up is to rig up a floppy drive and see if we can get the Trump card to format a few floppies, then at least I can start getting things from the PC over to the QL to test.

With the GBS-8220 Im able to view both monitor and TV mode on a VGA screen which is cool, so probably going to build a QL style case for the GBS at some point.

Sounds like you're having a lot of fun with the QL :)

I also ended up buying Q-Emulator to help me with getting downloaded software onto floppy to use on the QL. Well worth it IMHO.