******************** QL CLUB INTERNATIONAL ******************** ISSUE 121 MAY 1999 MIKE KENNEALLY SK12 1LR E-MAIL MIKEKENNEALLY1@COMPUSERVE.COM WWW.GEOCITIES.COM/SILICONVALLEY/VISTA/4807/ ANY AND ALL SOFTWARE SENT TO THE CLUB/NEWSLETTER WILL BE TREATED AS PUBLIC DOMAIN UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED. HI ALL, I AM BACK IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING JUST!, I HAVE JUST DELETED ALL OF WHAT I HAD WRITTEN SO I SHALL WRITE IT AGAIN, GOES TO SHOW HOW MUCH OUT OF PRACTICE I AM! I DO APOLOGISE FOR NOT DOING YOUR NEWSLETTERS FOR THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS. I CONTRACTED THE ADULT VERSION OF CHICKEN POX, OR SHINGLES AS IT IS MORE COMMONLY KNOWN. I HAD IT ALL DOWN THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF MY HEAD AND FACE AND LOOKED SOMEWHAT LIKE THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA.THE MAIN PROBLEM WAS I ALSO HAD IT AT THE BACK OF MY LEFT EYE AND THE DOCTORS WERE WORRIED ABOUT ME LOOSING THE SIGHT IN THAT EYE. SO NO COMPUTER WORK OR DRIVING FOR ME, HAVING HAD TO REST MY ONLY GOOD EYE TO STOP ME STRAINING IT. BUT HERE I AM AGAIN, IF FOR ANY REASON I HAVE MISSED ANY OF YOUR LETTERS I DO APOLOGISE BUT I HAVE 3 MONTHS TO CATCH UP ON AND I AM COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH. SO SEND THEM TO ME AGAIN AND I SHALL INCLUDE THEM NEXT TIME, ONE GOOD THING IS THOUGH, YOU LOT HAVE HAD A REST SO YOU SHOULD HAVE PLENTY TO TELL ME TO BRING ME BACK UP TO SPEED! IT DOES APPEAR AS IF I AM HAVING A FEW PROBLEMS WITH SOME OF YOUR LETTERS SENT TO ME BY E-MAIL. I HAVE TRIED A NUMBER OF TIMES TO TRANSFER THEM TO DISC WITHOUT ANY SUCCESS SOME OF IT GETS LEFT BEHIND IN THE ORIGINAL LETTER IN THE FILE, IT APPEARS AS IF IT WILL LOAD ONE(1) PAGE INTO QXL(THE NEWSLETTER IN XCHANGE)BUT NO MORE.ANYONE ANY IDEAS? THIS NEWSLETTER WILL PROBABLY BE ALL TO COCK SO MY APOLOGIES BEFORE I START BUT I SHALL DO MY BEST. Dilwyn Jones ============ Bangor, Gwynedd. GEAR: Black P100 PC with QPC, Canon BJ10sx printer; Toshiba T2400CS laptop PC with QPC, HP Deskjet 320 printer; MinisQL with Super Gold Card+Qubide; QL+Gold Card+RomDisq Darren Branagh and I went to the Hove Quanta Workshop end of February. This was a lovely little weekend out though it ended badly with Darren mssing his ferry back. Still, you got an extra day in Wales out of it didn't you Darren? I promise I won't mention the sheep... FOR AN IRISHMAN SHEEP MAKE A CHANGE AS COWS DO FOR A ........ Tony Firshman brought a sample Q40 along with him. This is a cute little board with a 68040 on it, 2 almost complete operating systems (QDOS Classic by Mark Swift and SMSQ/E for Q40 by Tony Tebby) and a complete implementation of Linux (by Richard Zidlicky). The Q40 is the first new native QL hardware since the Aurora, and those present seemed to be drooling over it! Roy Wood and Tony Firshman gave a sometimes amusing talk about it (e.g. Roy described one of the operating systems progress as 'stable - it doesn't work at all'). In all, QBranch, TF Services, Miracle Systems, Q-Celt Software, Geoff Wicks, Bill Richardson, Enrico Tedeschi (author of Sinclair Archaelogy and owner of Hove Books), Quanta, RWAP Software, Qubbesoft P/D, Jochen Merz and several well known software authors were all present. There was a day-long programme of talks and the workshop was quite well attended - the venue was the Excelsior Hotel on Hove seafront. Software tidbits at the show: Jonathan Hudson was completing a utility to allow transfer of files between QL and a Palm Pilot handheld PDA (I think that stands for Personal Digital Assistant? Anyone know?). Ron Dunnett had a Beta of a Phil Borman utility for decoding GIF files. Rich Mellor had a route map of Ireland for his Q-Route program and also had the latest set of updates for his SuperBASIC/SBASIC Reference Guide. That's all I've got to say this time, you'll be glad to hear. Dilwyn Jones INTERNET:dilwyn.jones@dj.softnet.co.uk Date: 13/05/99, 08:26 PM Re: QLToday V4i1 I am currently preparing V4i1 of QL Today. This is a reminder to anyone who'd like to send in any news for publication in our news pages. Please note that, as mentioned in QL Today last issue, publication date has moved forward 2 weeks, hence this later than usual email! Dilwyn Jones dilwyn.jones@dj.softnet.co.uk BETTER LATE THAN NEVER ANYWAY ITS A TIMELY REMINDER FOR THE NEXT ISSUE. INTERNET:buck.gandc@cwcom.net, INTERNET:buck.gandc@cwcom.net Date: 28/04/99, 14:59 PM Spike Sorry for the delay in replying, as you can see, I now have a new e-mail address. I haven't had access to a computer for about a Month. I thought that you knew the story but as you don't, here goes. In September '97 I was made redundant for the 3rd time in a row, but given a new job with the same firm. In December '97 ( Although we were not told until the middle of January '98 ) I got transferred to another company. In June '98 I got made redundant again. I haven't worked since. We had already made our minds up that if I got made redundant again that we would sell the house, buy a Motor home and sod off to Europe. We had been looking at Motor homes all the time, and we already had a small very old one. In March last year we saw one that we really liked. The snag was that we had to order it before the 1st of April. So we went for it and ordered one. An Italian job called a Laika ( Named after the first Russian dog in space ), it was supposed to be delivered in October '98 but as it turned out didn't arrive until December. Meanwhile of course I had lost my job again. But I had used the time to completely redecorate my house and get it on the market. It didn't sell very quickly though and then we finally got a buyer from Germany and it was all systems go. We were supposed to exchange contracts on the first Wednesday in December and move out on the Friday and straight into the van. We were all ready to go and the nice German gentleman decided to change his mind, he came all the way from Germany on the Wednesday just to say NO. YOU SHOULD HAVE GOT HIS ADDRESS AND PARKED THE VAN OUTSIDE HIS HOUSE!(WITH A UNION FLAG ON IT!) We had no food, no clothes, no furniture; nothing. Well Gutted. Fortunately they agreed to keep the van for 3 Months for us and fortunately we just managed to sell the house in time. So now we have a brand new Italian left hand drive Motor home and I have just got a brand new Laptop and a mobile phone, we also have Global roaming access to the Internet. (As yet untried ) If all goes well, we will be leaving for Europe next Wednesday-ish, and if it still goes well you may be hearing from me from France, Spain or wherever. So, the reason I wanted to unsubscribe from ql_users was because I no longer had a PC, and now I still can't manage it because accessing the internet with a mobile phone is going to be somewhat expensive. If you are still in contact with Mike let him know what's happening and if I get a chance I will be in contact again. All of my QLs' are now hibernating in a friends attic. Regards Graham Buck ex WELL AT LEAST WE KNOW HE IS STILL AROUND AND IF ANYONE DOES HEAR FROM HIM,LET HIM KNOW HE CAN STILL DROP US A LINE NOW AND AGAIN.THERE IS NO POINT SENDING HIM THE NEWSLETTER BECAUSE AS HE SAYS IT CAN BE RATHER EXPENSIVE.BUT I MIGHT JUST SEND HIM A LITTLE NOTE,WHICH HE MAY PICK UP. Tel/Fax 01248-35402341 Bro Emrys, Email dilwyn.jones@dj.softnet.co.ukTal-y-bont, Bangor, Gwynedd. LL57 3YT GEAR: Black P100 PC with QPC, Canon BJ10sx printer; Toshiba T2400CS laptop PC with QPC, HP Deskjet 320 printer; MinisQL with Super Gold Card+Qubide; QL+Gold Card+RomDisq Dear all, I've discussed the QL do planned for the Stockport area with Robin Barker, Quanta chairman, he seemed amenable to the idea, but said it would be discussed at the Quanta AGM end of April. So if you want a do, turn up at the Walton Park Hotel in Clevedon near Bristol on Sunday 25th April to lobby the committee. Our do will, as Mike said, be in the Stockport area, venue TBA. WHY CAN'T THEY HAVE IT AS A JOINT VENTURE? WHY MUST THEY ALWAYS TAKE OVER? THEY ARE NOT STILL FRIGHTENED OF LITTLE OLD US ARE THEY? AS YET THIS HAS BEEN ON HOLD DUE TO MY ILLNESS BUT I SHALL TRY AND GET ONTO IT NOW.ANY IDEA ON DATES AS YET, I KNOW YOU DID SAY SOMETIME IN NOVEMBER. Andrew Pratt - QL pictures. There was one on a QL Today cover disk, which is very similar to the one on Tony Firshman's QL home page. Most QL Web sites have pictures of QLs etc, just right click on these pictures and choose the option to save from the pop up window which appears. Not sure of the copyright situation in doing this, but many of the pictures will be free to use and copied from elsewhere anyway. You can safely use the one from the cover disk. Get in touch with me if you want help on this. I'm trying to find time to set up my own web site where I can place my old software etc, but trying to find time translates as failing to find time at the moment. The Planet Sinclair site in Norway has some good all-Sinclair material, not just QLs. Here are some sample QL site URLs to play with. In case characters get scrambled in the QL/PC conversion on its way to Mike, the ~ symbol in the URLs is a tilde character. http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/5011/ (Beginners Club, Italy) http://www.q-v-d.demon.co.uk/smsqe.html (Bruce Nicholls) http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/pub/aminet/info/www/dirs/aminet/misc/e- mu/QDOS4amiga1.readme (Mark Swift/Rainer Kowllik Amiga emulator) http://www.sinclair-research.co.uk (Need I say who?) http://utopia.knoware.nl/stuurmn/sql.htm (Albert's Virtual Computer Museum) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/6533/davideeng.htm (Davide Sanatachiara's English Web site) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4807/ (Club QL International's Web site) http://forums.bruin.net/cgi-bin/fbn/fbn.cgi/bruin.comp.sinclair.ql (QL Forum on Bruin) http://www.di-ren.demon.co.uk/ (Robin Barker's Di-Ren Web site) http://directory.mozilla.org/Computers/Operating_Systems/Sinclair- /QL/ (Open Directory - Computer Operating Systems) http://www.nvg.ntnu.no/sinclair/index2.htm (Planet Sinclair, Norway) http://www.qbranch.demon.co.uk/ (QBranch site) http://www.j-m-s.com/smsq.htm (Jochen Merz Software) http://www.firshman.demon.co.uk (TF Services site) http://www.jrhudson.demon.co.uk (Jonathan Hudson's Dead Letter Drop site) http://www.betechdata.no/thomas/ql/index.html (Norwegian Sinclair QL homepage) http://wwwusers.imaginet.fr/~godefroy/english/frames.html (Thierry Godefroy) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/5865/ (Timothy Swenson) http://www.sectorsoftware.demon.co.uk (David Batty, Sector Software) http://hem1.passagen.se/baslista/ql.html http://www.jamt.net/speccy.html http://www.cronsten.pp.se/ql.htm (Michael Cronsten's QL Web sites in Sweden, includes loads of pictures of QLs) http://romblon.dbs.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/~krojer/ql/ (Franz Krojer, Germany) http://www.gm.fh-koeln.de/~it048/ (Stephan's Retrocomputing Site) http://www.devili.iki.fi/pub/emulators/Sinclair/QL/ (Ancient File library) http://www.komkon.org/EMUL8/Macintosh/ql/index.html (John Stiles, QL emulators on Macs) http://www.itimpi.freeserve.co.uk (Dave Walker's home page) http://www.ndirect.co.uk/~e.tedeschi/index.htm (Enrico Tedeschi's Sinclair site, including QL) http://users.cybercity.dk/~dko3588/index.html (Erling Jacobsen, Denmark, web site for Xchange etc) http://members.tripod.com/~FWDComputing/ (FWD Computing site, USA) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/9483/ (Jeremy Davis) http://www.anit.es/pedro/ (Pedro Reina, Spain) http://www.deuschle.de/qpc/index.html (Marcel Kilgus, Germany. QPC support site) http://rwap.webjump.com/ (RWAP Software) http://www.heydon.org/kevan/collection/manufacturer-sinclair/ (Kevan Heydon collectors site) http://www.adski.demon.co.uk/computer.htm (Adders Lair) http://www.arrgh.demon.co.uk/hardware/ql/index.html http://www.arrgh.co.uk/hardware/ql/index.html (Arrgh's Old Computers sites) http://www.triathlon98.com/PROGS/ (PROGS Web site, Belgium) http://www.atari_computer.de/mjaap/computer/sinclair_QL.htm (M Jaap site) http://www.uni-mainz.de/~roklein/ql/ (Robert Klein, Germany - QL FAQ etc) http://www.info-point.co.uk/wnr/ (Bill Richardson) http://www.telcom.es/camelot/sql.htm (Camelot old computers web site, Spanish) http://www.herrnsdorf.com/europro/linksmsq.html (E.C.Herrnsdorf) http://www.hernsdorf.com/texts/qlintnet.txt (QL on the internet article) http://garbo.uwasa.fi/ql/pas.html (Garbo archive in Finland) http://www.emulation.net/ql/ (QemuLator etc) http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/A.Jaw.Venema (QLay site, Jan Venema) http://people.a2000.nl/jbredenb/index.html (Jan Bredenbeek's homepage) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Bay/2602 (Richard Zidlicky, uQLx emulator etc) http://www.examina.net/eforenzi/personal.htm (Eros Forenzi, Italy) http://alpha.gen.com/jmerz/smsq/qpc/qpc.htm (Jochen Merz, QPC site) http://www.mwn.net/infomac/app/q_emulator_lite_096.html (QemuLator site) http://www.dcs.port.ac.uk/~lesterc/ (Kit Lester's home page) http://www.angelfire.com/il/dbaum (The Strange World Of Daniel Baum, Israel) http://www.pborman.freeserve.co.uk/ (Phil Borman's page) http://rand.thn.htu.se/ (Johan Klockars pages, Sweden) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/4410/ (Hans Peter Recktenwald) http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/heights/1296 (Daniele Terdina, Italy) http://www.novanet.it/qitaly/ (Eros Forenzi, Q-Italy site) http://www.airnet.net/boehm/ (NESQLUG site, USA) http://users.aol.com/clubbbs/tsnug/ (Timex/Sinclair North American User Groups) http://members.aol.com/clubbbs/akahale.html (ZXir QLive Alive! pages) http://members.aol.com/clubbbs/catug/ (Chicago area Timex/Sinclair User Group) http://members.aol.com/KuElWien/index.htm (Club KuEL, Austria - German/French, includes details of QL-PD-CDR) http://members.tripod.com/hes_computing/hes1.html (John Rish, Home Electronics Service, USA) http://home.sol.no/~borretze/arvid.htm (Arvid Borretzen's site in Norway) http://www.home9999.demon.co.uk/ql.htm (Jack Mitchell's QL site) http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~Thomas.Much/QL/ (Thomas Much web site, Germany) http://pages.vossnet.de/manpet/ql.htm (Manuel Petridis, Germany) http://www.gm.fh-koeln.de/~it048/emulator/ql/ (Stephan Suberkrub QL emulator site, Germany) http://www.xs4all.nl/~wij2/ql.htm (Marco Vacquier's page) http://www.xs4all.nl/~ljb/sinqlair.html (SinQLair site, Netherlands) http://www.hophop.com/ql (Giorgio Garabello's Italian QL page) http://www.home.swipnet.se/~w-14406/emu/sinclair.html (QL, emulators, tools, etc) http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/chriss/machines/intro- s/ql.htm (Chris Stratford) http://perso.club-internet.fr/ggenty/qlfr.htm (French QL page) http://www.compulink.co.uk/~digby/Mapej.html (Mapej disk copying service, incl. QL) http://www.ellis-online.co.uk/sinclair/ql.html (Kev Ellis QL page) http://www.dur.ac.uk/~ded1brh/Q-Route/index.html (Q-Route software web site) ftp://garbo.uwasa.fi/ql (Grabo archives at University of Vaasa, Finland - Timo Salmi) ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/sinclair (Maya and Garbo mirror site) ftp://ftp.nvg.ntnu.no/pub/sinclair (All sinclair computers) ftp://ftp.gui.uva.es/sinclair/ql (Luna site) ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/qdos/ (Demon's FTP site) news://news.ext.jussieu.fr/comp.sys.sinclair (Sinclair computers newsgroup) news://news.uni-stuttgart.de/maus.computer.ql.intl (FidoNet/MausNet mirror of Intl.QL) news://news.uni-stuttgart.de/maus.computer.ql.c (FidoNet/MausNet mirror of Sinclair.C) news://news.uni-stuttgart.de/maus.computer.ql.de (MausNet mirror of computer.ql.de) IF THATS NOT ENOUGH TO FIND WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING FOR, THEN WHAT IS! Club QL Back Issues - I haven't had time to update the back issues list, but all the newsletter files are available along with most of the programs that went with them, I can supply them on floppy disk, or small quantities as attachments by email if preferred. I hope to have updated the main list by next issue. Spike (or whoever keeps the Club QL Web site updated) would it be possible to add my details to the Web site for anyone wanting back issues not on the Web site? Just a little note to say 'other back issues available on disk or by email from Dilwyn Jones, contact him via email at dilwyn.jones@dj.softnet.co.uk' And also on the subject of back issues, there's a such a wealth of information in the back issues over the years that it would be nice to get an index compiled! Anyone prepared to volunteer - I'll donate a free copy of my EasyBase database worth 15 pounds to anyone prepared to volunteer to do this task! There's also a demo version of the program which allows viewing etc but not saving which could be distributed with the index as a front end if required. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED ONCE OR TWICE BEFORE, I DID START IT ONCE AND GAVE UP THROUGH LACK OF TIME. BUT MAYBE NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE IT ANOTHER ATTEMPT, ANYONE WANT VOLUNTEER? Been to Ireland on holiday start of April and met up with Hilary O'Kelly and Darren Branagh, two local QL users in the area where I stayed. Believe me, you may have seen Hilary's address as 'Laragh Castle' in previous issues, he really does live in an admittedly small castle! While Darren's place is a large bungalow incorporating a guest house, ideal base for anyone contemplating a holiday in county Wicklow. Thanks for the tour guide, Darren! CAN HE FIT A CARAVAN IN THE GARDEN? JUST KIDDING, MARGARET WOULD KILL ME IF I TOOK MY QL ON HOLIDAY WITH US! Year 2000 bug. We're all aware of this. One we may not be aware of is one which Darren told me about in Ireland. Some older software has used the date 9/9/99 as a special flag to indicate a special purpose in the date field of a database. Seeing this, the software assumes it's not really a date, but a signal to do something else. Be wary of this date when dealing with banks and other financial institutions! MAYBE IT WILL PUT SOME MONEY BACK INTO MY ACCOUNT,IT WILL MAKE A CHANGE FROM THE BANK ALWAYS ROBBING ME! To: "'MIKEKENNEALLY1@BIGFOOT.COM'", INTERNET:MIKEKENNEALLY1@BIGFOOT.COM From: "Lee, Moon-hee", INTERNET:underirc@soback.kornet21.net Date: 04/06/99, 10:09 PM Re: Club QL Andrew Pratt (Strange address in Korean. Am still learning it) Equip: right now, one measly PC at work (get me out of here!) WHO IS THIS STRANGE FELLA IN KOREA,EVERY TIME HE WRITES HIS NAME CHANGES,MUST BE THE KOREAN EQUIVALENT OF ALIASES! Dear All, best wishes and get well quick to Mike. I was surprised to receive an email saying that he had had an eye(?) operation. I hope it wasn't too serious. ClubQL is currently my only source of QL news, apart from occasional forays around the web sites, at the moment and I am missing the silence. NICE TO KNOW I CAN BE USEFUL AND MISSED. THANKS. I have found employment in Korea and though it is still officially temporary, I seem to be doing alright. I am in the process of becoming an analyst on the Korean economy. The up side is that I am getting paid to create a web page. The downside is that I have to use a PC and Word/Explorer in particular. The computer I am currently using has a Korean version of Windows95, which basically means I have to guess where the commands and functions are and what they mean. Eventually I will have a Western version of Windows installed. At such a time, hopefully at not too a distant future, I will download Netscape and get on with the job of writing the web pages... FROM WHAT THE NEWS AND PAPERS HAVE BEEN SAYING OVER THE LAST 12 MONTHS YOU MUST HAVE A FAIRLY EASY JOB, THE WHOLE EASTERN(JAPAN,KOREA ETC)HAS TAKEN A NOSE DIVE,RATHER LIKE A JAP KAMI-KAZE PILOT.THE NUMBER OF KOREAN AND JAPANESE FIRMS SHUTTING UP SHOP OVER HERE SEEMS TO BEAR THIS OUT. Dilwyn mentioned a book(?) called 'Sinclair Archaelogy.' Well, I didn't think the QL was that old... (nor the Big C himself) Dilwyn, as an avid book reader, can you please write a few words about this book.. Thanks. Western books are expensive here and once settled properly I will probably use Amazon and BOL (has anyone used this service yet) to order books. As with most young couples, buying a flat has thrown us into a deep pool of debt. Though we are swimming as fast as possible to the side, we seem to remain in the centre... (Did I mention there is a whirlpool [called financial crisis] as well??) If things go well, I will be back in Blighty during July while the visa is sorted out. Apart from final packing (yes, my QL will be going), I hope to purchase a better portable Apple. I am aiming for a G3, and luckily Apple have just brought out some new models. This will hopefully mean that second hand prices will fall again. The Q-emuLator should be pretty impressive on a G3 and I am already drooling at the prospect. Hopefully, with money coming in I will also be able to purchase all that software that I haven't, but really wanted to, buy over the last couple of years. Oh, how do I explain all this to the Mrs?? Easy, its all homebuilding!! With a computer at work and a QL at home, I should be able to give Paragraph a go. I am really looking forward to trying a new QL DP programme... As to the Y2K problem, apparently the sun is going to me its most active over the next year or so. The energy thrown out of the Sun-spots at this time often causes electrical equipment to go haywire. AT most risk are satellites. Next comes power generation, telephone equipment and electrical equipment in general. Things could be quite interesting! (Personally, I think the doomsayers are over-doing it a bit). I haven't used my QL for quite a time and rea HERE ENDETH THE LESSON FROM ANDREW,AS I EXPLAINED BEFORE I AM LOSING TEXT FROM LETTERS, PERHAPS HE CAN SEND THE NEXT NEWSLETTER FROM WHERE THIS LEFT OFF UNLESS SOMEONE HAS ANY IDEAS? *! Martin Wheatley Flat 3, 45 Canterbury Grove London SE27 ONX 0181 761 4069 martinw@wheatleym.freeserve.co.uk PC running PC Xchange and Q-Emulator Hi everyone, Andrew Pratt wrote >Any information about the Acorn/Sinclair competition and the history of >the British computer industry would be appreciated. I seem to remember coming across a site on all this awhile back I don't have the address but it's probably worth doing a search Andrew also asked >I would also like >to have a picture of a QL on the site. Does anyone know where I can get >a digitised picture of a QL (JPEG format)?? I seem to remember Andy has one up on the ClubQL page (its hard to tell with that background :-) Terry Williams wrote >I have visited the QL International page on the WWW and wonder what I >must do to make a copy of it to my hard disk and how long this would >take (ie cost?). I have printed out some pages on line, of various >items, but this takes an age before the printer even wakes up after the >menu "PRINTING TO SPOOLER" comes on so I dread to think how long it >would take to print out all the QL INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE. >YOU COULD ALWAYS DO WHAT I DO AND DOWNLOAD TO DISC AND THEN PRINT OUT >OFF LINE, SPIKE IS THE ONE WHO SET THE PAGE UP SO HE IS THE ONE TO GIVE >INFO ON HOW TO USE IT. HE CAN WRITE IN AND TELL US ALL, CAN'T YOU >SPIKE? It's nothing to do with the Web page or spike it's finding the options in the software that is being used to access it As far as I know noone on this list uses AOL software - Mike is probably nearest with Compuserve. The complication is that you are using Win 3.1 software and so don't have the right click menu available that some of us are used to. You should be able to find a menu option to save the page. In the case of the ClubQL page you have an index page and a number of links from it each of which is a newsletter. You shouldn't need to actually go to these links. Assuming you are using some variation on Netscape or Internet Explorer if you move the mouse over a link, hold down the shift button and click the mouse it should save the file that the link represents to your hard disc. Set your download directory in the Options first so you know where the files will be >TRY CHANGING YOUR SERVER TO ONE OF THE FREE ONES,ie FREESERVE AND THE >LIKE. I would agree with that. You still have to pay the telephone charges of course but unless you've a special reason to stay with AOL go for a free one. The snag is most of the providers only supply Win 95 + software. It's quite possible to assemble your own Win 3.1 Internet progs - its what most of us did to start with and then configure them to connect to any of the ISPs However there is an easier way. Malcolm Cadman, Ql user but not on this newsletter has told me about Breathe Net which is a free service that provides a CD with Win 3.1 setup on it as well as the normal Win 95 There are a lot of their CDs about as they have gone out with a lot of computer mags Terry - if you did need one of these CDs I find I have one so e-mail me. JC wrote >Paul McPherson mentions software licences (among other things). What >I've been told is that these are often "non-transferable", which makes >buying and selling some 2nd-hand software "illegal", or have I got the >wrong end of th AND HERE YET AGAIN ENDETH THE LESSON, I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hi Mike I am now on the net using a PC Windows 3.1 !!! which my son in law has now bequeathed to me, having upgraded to Windows 98 with all the bells and whistles, for his Open University Course. I sent you a disk in January with my QL119 contribution but have not as yet received it back, so I wonder if you got it? I have also sent you a Feburary disk with a contribution (QL120) and also my (QL119) contribution repeated for you to use if you did not get the QL119 disk in January. I have just visited your WWW site and read the QL119 mag but did not see my bit there, so I presume you did not receive it,.pity that, because I put a £10 note in it!! As you will notice, my Email address is WTCWILLIAM@AOL.com but I may be moving to VIRGIN later this month as my other son in law tells me it is going free in April. I have sent this message to both your addresses in case onre does not get through. DON'T FORGET TO SEND YOUR NEW ADDRESS IF YOU DO CHANGE PROVIDERS. All the best Terry Wliiiams Terry Williams 27/03//99 Email WTCWilliam@aol.com GEAR: 2 JS QLs, 1JM QL,SGC,GC,TRUMPCARD,TWIN ED DRIVES,TWIN HD DRIVES,TWIN DD DRIVES, QMIMI MOUSE,14" GOLD STAR COLOUR MONITOR , 9"SONY TRITRON MONITOR, 12" FERGUSON GREEN MONITOR, SPECTRUM 48K WITH TELETEXT ADAPTOR, Fountain PC, Windows 3.1, CD Drive, HD Drive, modem, sound card etc QL 121 Hi! Mike and Friends Thanks Mike for the missing disk with QL 119 & QL 120 on it !! Where do you eat?, what with the dining room table covered with disks and stuff?, Like us with a tray on your lap watching the news on the Telly? CORRECT TERRY,AND CHASING THE PEAS AROUND THE CARPET. Talking of the Telly, does any one out there know any thing of the technical details of ' ON TV ' transmitting?. Does it use the same carrier frequencies as the existing analogue channels and is it somehow integrated with them, as it's supposed to use your existing aerial? or has it got a carrier frequency of some multiple which would allow reception of a new range of channels? I have not been into the ins and outs of TV since the 1950's when I built my one and only, from ex-government bits and pieces. I called at Comet yesterday and enquired about the possibilities of our area reception, but found that they still working at it! MIKE: I got your Emails OK, is not there a lot gobble-de-gook with it for just a few words of text? the list of all the members you sent it to , and all the interminable paths it takes to get any where! Amazing! I am still playing about with it and learning a bit more every time (I hope)!. Is there any way to cut this gobble-de-gook out and only print the nitty gritty? (always provided it is worth printing?) It would save a lot of my expensive ink!. WELL THERE IS WITH THE PROVIDER I USE, COMPUSERVE.YOU CAN GET IT TO DO AWAY WITH ALL THE HEADERS AND FOOTERS AND JUST DISPLAY THE TEXT ONLY. I SUPPOSE IT ALL DEPENDS ON WHO YOU USE AS TO WHAT YOU GET. TTFN Terry Mike: I have not received my QL119? (last months disk) back as yet. Are you in trouble with PC again?. I will add my last months contribution once more on this disk as well as this one (QL120?) and you can use it or delete it as you like. I am happy to report that my problems with logging on to the NET are now over!!. After contacting BT and receiving the report that my line was OK I received a further call from them at 18.20 on the following Saturday and the engineer said he had just 'tweeked it a bit', and since then I have only failed a couple of times to log on even though I have all the family gear connected including an extra phone in the modem socket!! Amazing!! AMAZING WHAT A LITTLE 'TWEEK' WILL DO.ASK MY WIFE WE HAVE 3 KIDS BECAUSE OF IT! I have visited the QL International page on the WWW and wonder what I must do to make a copy of it to my hard disk and how long this would take (ie cost?). I have printed out some pages on line, of various items, but this takes an age before the printer even wakes up after the menu "PRINTING TO SPOOLER" comes on so I dread to think how long it would take to print out all the QL INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE. THE COST WOULD BE NEGLIGABLE IF YOU FIRST DOWNLOAD IT TO DISC,BUT AS THIS HAS BEEN GONE INTO BY MARTIN I SHALL LEAVE IT THERE. TTFN Terry #! Martin Burke, 29th March, 1999. Dear Mike and Friends, JM version + Trump 768 + HermesLite + twin HD & ED 3.5" drives, JS + Gold Card, Philips CM8833 colour monitor (under repair) and its Tandy twin, 8056 printer, Epson RX80 F/T, and Brother HR10 daisy-wheel printer; PSION3a, Z88. Thanks to ?(WHO) for the suggestion that it might be the JS rom causing some trouble but it seems to work as I expect it to other than via QPAC2. Are you sure that the JS rom sometimes creates new dates when copying or is it more complex? As I recall it, my old JM rom would give a new - current system - date to any files in RAM that I renamed but files on floppy were left with their old dates. Caution is often called for in these matters. Andrew quoted a sentence from me. On reading this I suddenly realised at how daft - and dangerous - it was. I used the phrase "copying a backup disk". This may not be possible: at least in certain circumstances the "copying" process has differences to the "backup" one. This is certainly true for QPAC and I find it worrying that it has taken me so many years to find out. On many occasions the differences are irrelevant but not knowing they exist leaves room for confusion and worse. WELL COME ON THEN TELL US WHAT THEY ARE, DON'T LEAVE US IN THE DARK. Dilwyn: I think you are right about PDA standing for "personal digital assistant" though I suspect there are variations on the theme. Yours, Martin Burke. #! !#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!# J.C.Marcus 15-2-99 GEAR: Aurora + SGC, Minerva 1.97/SMSQ/E, Hermes, Qubide/100M ZIP DRIVE, 2xHD, CUB 653, Epson LQ500; JS QL with GC and 2xDD Hello Again All, Well, some interesting letters in QL118 & 119. I found the one about the "Y2K bug" very informative, but possibly a bit too optimistic (and obviously USA-centric). I know that very few companies down here have even started looking into this problem, never mind all the countries of the developing world etc. From what I can understand, it is not necessarily just a matter of sorting out your system, but also making sure that the guy next door, who happens to be supplying your company, also does the same. Since most of our raw materials come from "poorer" countries, that may not have the resources to throw at this problem, who knows? I guess we'll find out soon enough. Also, no mention was made of the mobile phone network, which according to some, might also fail- or is/will this just be used by the telecommunication companies to get us to upgrade to newer systems? Cynical? Well, one has to be.... YOUR NOT ON YOUR OWN IN THAT KIND OF THINKING JC. Frank Merrison:- It seems that the PE/QPAC2 has definitely become the number one contentious issue of the moment. As far as multitasking is concerned, every computer in fact has to multitask - i.e. carry out various tasks in the background - e.g. RAM refreshes, updating screen, polling i/o etc., etc. It is really us, the USERS that have the problem multitasking! I really don't think that we were designed to do more than one thing (properly) at a time! Even so, if you have a large screen (Aurora, QXL etc.), or want to run programs in the background (e.g. comms, spoolers, number-crunching), or want to keep several often-used programs available in the background, or as "Buttons", the PE/QPAC2 definitely does help you control your "personal computer" (in small letters) environment. However, if you are happy with your present set-up, and it serves you well, there is really no need to change - except of course that we are a curious lot, and if we see someone doing something a little differently, generally want to know why! YES AND THE PERSON WHO IS USING IT IS SO KNOWLEDGEABLE, THAT HE DOESN'T WANT TO LET YOU INTO HIS 'LITTLE SECRETS'SO YOU ARE STILL NO BETTER OFF. The main problem with the PE/QPAC2, of course, is sorting out your "boot" program - what to include and HOW to achieve the optimum set up for yourself. There are some example boot programs on the QPAC2 disc, and the PD program "QPACer" (Qubbesoft PD and Quanta library, I believe)(AND CLUBQL) helps set up a boot for the PE/QPAC1/2. The QPACer documentation is worth looking at in any case, as it has some simple explanations of the PE keywords etc. (as far as I can remember!) The best way of getting to grips with the PE, really, is to use a simple boot at first, and then add to it as you go on/get to see the light (do I sound like some sort of religious nut - if so I'll stop here). Paul McPherson mentions software licences (among other things). What I've been told is that these are often "non-transferable", which makes buying and selling some 2nd-hand software "illegal", or have I got the wrong end of the stick here. I wonder if anyone has any comments on the subject. FROM WHAT I CAN GATHER,IF YOU SELL THE SOFTWARE,YOU MUST SELL/TRANSFER THE LICENSE THAT GOES WITH IT.THEREBY RELINQUISHING YOUR RIGHTS. Mike:- your list of QL bits and pieces has given me an idea (for which I MOST definitely retain the Copyright - never mind what anyone says!) You should stick it all on a board (painted BLACK, of course) and sell the resulting "Work Of Art" to the nearest gallery for a couple of K (at least). That way you might be able to afford to buy a decent computer for once and all...... Bye for now, JC Andrew Halliwell Gear: SuperGold card QL with Minerva 1.97, QubIDE, Star 24 pin printer + lots of nice free software (Fileinfo, etc). And now... A 486sx running Linux. (It's a PC that *ISN'T* a Potential Catastrophy... :) NOW WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT BEFORE? Well.... I didn't manage to write in last month, and this month, I might be too late. Work, holidays, laziness, etc... Well... New things... I will admit not having messed with the ol' faithful for a few weeks.John kindly gave me an old 486, which I promptly did what I always said I'd do, and formatted the harddrive and installed Linux. I've been playing with that a lot since. Installing, uninstalling and recompiling it. AND YOU THINK IT WON'T CRASH! Anyone thinking of moving over to linux in favour of M$ rubbish? I strongly recommend the SuSE distribution. It contains several programs that make it extremely easy to install and configure Linux. Oh.... If you DO want to try Linux, but don't want to get rid of all your M$ Winblows software, it is possible (and infact, quite easy) to set it up to give you alternative OSs at startup, using a program called LILO. (LInux LOader). A new version of MicroEmacs has been put up on Thierrys page, as has another further debugged version of Paragraph (The wordprocessor for Prowess). It's not stable yet, but seems to be improving (Not that I have Prowess to try it with). I HAVE THE OLD MICROEMACS,CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT IT DOES AND HOW ITS USED? And now...On with the show.... Only one little thing to say on QL116.... (Yes,yes, I know I'm being pedantic... It's a hobby, OK?) Martin Wheatly said a couple of months ago.... "Possibly as a consequence of this turning down of permission Tony Firshman has made the 1.89 version of Aurora freely downloadable" If only... :) I wish I could download a hardware addon like Aurora, but StarTrek transporter technology is very primative at the moment. You did, of course,mean Minerva.... On to QL117 Dilwyn said about Frank Davies... "As to Frank Davies, he and I have managed to tread on each other's toes once or twice too. Frank is a busy guy, he and his wife sell products for 3 or 4 different computers and in my experience he's reasonable if asked politely (that WASN'T a dig at you BTW)." Unfortunately, that wasn't how he came across on the list. He basically blew his top. (All I did was ask "Why just not release the ROMs for emulator use instead of insisting people ask?") and he replied by accusing me of being rude, said it was none of my business, and then went into a long rant which implied that I condoned software piracy. Not exactly polite, that, is it? All he had to say was that he'd paid for it. (Although that was pretty obvious from the outset). I tried to point out that it is quite possible to sell the ROMS *AND* release the code, but to no avail. Anyway. That argument ended a couple of months ago, so that's the last I'll say on it. LIKE EVERYONE ELSE SPIKE,HE HAS TO MAKE A LIVING WHEN ALL SAID AND DONE.PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE. Hmmmmm... Unfortunately, apart from saying "Ooops" to my comment on Q-Emulator being Freeware when it's actually Shareware, there's not much more to add this month... Still... It beat Mr Wheatleys post for length...:) Happy New Year. Thanks for the latest edition Mike, much appreciated, not taken it all in yet but no doubt will over the weekend, that is if I don't get dragged out as the weather is so nice here today [Saturday] hopefully you are getting the same. What is the trouble you keep having your end, is it just the pc playing up, as keep seeing comments made by others about you and your computer, perhaps those who are moaning should treat you to a new model!!!!! NICE THOUGHT MATE,ANY TAKERS? Regards, Tony@Borehamwood. FRANK MERRISON, 26-2-1999 GEAR includes 3 x JM QL's: Gold Card: DMP: Epson Stylus 800 printer: 2 x HD disc drives. 486 DX33 & Knee deep in paper & problems! Mike I have just spent some time tidying up some of my discs. This led me to going through some back issues where I noticed that there have been an occasional question asked by a member. At the time I was so certain that someone would jump at the chance of explaining the problem that I did nothing about it myself. YOU KNOW SOMETHING FRANK,I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK EXACTLY THE SAME AS YOU. As an example; in QL118 Colin asked about the method of changing fonts and their size using the ESC P2 drivers. In a fit of energy I sorted out my manual and looked up the codes to use. My first reaction was one of slight horror because there was little in the way of explanation as to how these were used. I thought of taking the easy way out and sending Colin a photo-copy and letting him see if he could follow just what to do. Lo! and behold! (and other old fashioned rude words) another member gave all this info in the next issue - QL119_doc. In the previous issue - QL118 - you (Mike) wrote that you had four u/s QLs. What do you mean by ..."2 with no keyboards"?.... Do you mean that they have "Taken up their beds and walked" or they don't work? How on earth did you break the pins off the interface plug? Thats a nice little job soldering in a new one. I HAVE 2 QL'S WITH NO KEYBOARDS,ie NO TOPS.PEOPLE HAVE BORROWED THEM OVER TIME AND NEVER RETURNED THEM.I HAVE ONE WITH A SCHON INTERFACE THAT HAS COME APART AND YOU KNOW ME,I DON'T KNOW HOW TO PUT IT BACK TOGETHER AGAIN.AND THE FINAL ONE I LENT TO MY NEPHEW FOR HIS COLLEGE WORK AND HE BROKE ONE OF THE PINS IN THE EXPANSION SLOT.THEREFORE 4 QL'S IN BITS. If the keyboards are still around and they don't work it is sometimes possible to cut about a 1/4" off the ends of the membrane where it usually cracks when it gets bent on fitting it into the slots. Even fitting a new membrane is simple if you go carefully. Regarding the other usual faults I have found two main reasons for failure both easily cured. No1 is dirty pins on the removeable chips. Don't take them right out of the sockets as they can be damaged trying to align the pins when refitting. Just ease them up in their holders and press them home again. Do this a couple of times and the corrosion is cleaned off. No2 is a damaged chip due to the reason given last month - switching on or off a printer or monitor with the QL on line. You need a working QL in which you test ALL the removeable chips from your non-working machines. Throw away the dud ones and you should have enough good spares to get at least a couple of your machines "on the road" again. Tony will sell you replacements for the duds. Have you taken the u/s QLs to your local workshop? This type of repair is going on at most London meetings. THE ONLY PERSON I HAVE SEEN REPAIRING QL'S AT MANCHESTER IS JOHN SOUTHERN,MAYBE IF I GET ON MY KNEES AND PLEAD WITH HIM,HE MAY JUST....... You also said that one of your machines had a Schoen interface "in bits" Does this refer to the QL or the Interface? Is the interface the QL or the actual keyboard not working? Have fun!!!! Frank Merrison. Terry Williams 27/01//99 WTCWilliam@aol.com QL 119? Hi! Mike and Friends I think I had better throw my hat in!!. I have missed the last two months due to being busy taking Marian back and fore to the doctor, hospital, dentist, and chiropodist, not to mention the Xmas school holidays with Sam, my grandson, ordering me about. Marian is now on insulin injections so we have to keep regular meal times, and do blood tests at various times. Things have calmed down a bit now. I'M GLAD SHE'S FEELING BETTER MATE,HOPE YOU PUT IN YOUR BILL FOR ALL THE TAXI RIDES! It's been a mad on the computer front as well!. Barrie, my son-in-law is taking an open university course and has just upgraded to a PC with all the bells and whistles and a 17inch monitor. He has bequeathed his Windows 3.1 machine to me! It is complete with cd drive and modem so I am now on the net! and learning to surf!!. It is quite an old machine, all of 5 years!!! Only an 80 meg Pentium. I am now on AOL and sending Email etc to the family, but am finding it a pain to log on, it only works first time occasionally,the message 'No carrier found trying second number' and it ploughs on and dials the same numbers again!! mostly to no avail. It sometimes takes 15 or even more tries before getting AOL!! TRY CHANGING YOUR SERVER TO ONE OF THE FREE ONES,ie FREESERVE AND THE LIKE. Barrie tells me that he had no trouble. In desperation I put the whole box of tricks in the car on Sunday and took it over to my daughters place in Amondsbury, tried it there. Success!! it worked faultlessly!!. Brought it back home and it took 12 attempts to log on. Rang BT and told them the sorry tale, they tested my line and said it was OK!!! but they would get their expert in another dept to scratch his head!!. Still waiting. It does not seem to make any difference whether it is the only Item plugged in, or several phones and an answer machine, it can sometime work first time or take umpteen tries. If anyone has any ideas I will be grateful to hear them!! MIKE: I have been meaningto ask for some time, "Is OK to send you HD disks instead or in preference of DD disks?" I suspect that as you use a PC, you now have only one HD drive. NO PROBLEM MATE,IT READS BOTH HD AND DD OR YOU COULD EVEN E-MAIL IT TO ME NOW! Must run to the post or I will miss the 28 th once more!! TTFN Terry ------------------------------- #! Martin Burke, 20th February, 1999. Dear Mike and Friends, JM version + Trump 768 + HermesLite + twin HD & ED 3.5" drives, JS + Gold Card, Philips CM8833 colour monitor (under repair) and its Tandy twin, 8056 printer, Epson RX80 F/T, and Brother HR10 daisy-wheel printer; PSION3a, Z88. I still agree with Frank: how do we QUANTIfy the concepts, uses and usage of QPACII? I have rarely used it since being able to: it has a number of features - especially the listing/ordering of directories - that it is wonderful to have immediate access to. But being able to use those facilities without meeting complications is unusual. Most of the complications may not matter much of the time. But it would be helpful if in the manual they were clearly indicated. I was a little surprised that each time I did a directory of flp1_ I got a new "button/frame" for it at the top of the screen each time. If this meant that each directory was now available without the disk, that has uses. But it did not seem to work like that. I do not want to re-read the manual each time something like this happens. It might not be too bad if there was a full and complete index leading to sections where all the ramifications could be identified. But it does not seem to work like that. WHEN DOES ANYTHING WORK AS YOU REALLY WANT IT TO.I THINK THE BIGGEST PROBLEM I HAVE WITH IT IS WHEN YOU ACCESS WIN1,OR FLP1 AND IT LEAVES YOU WITH A BOX ON THE SCREEN.OK,ITS HANDY HAVING IT THERE TO RE-OPEN THE FILES BUT SOMETIMES I THINK IT LOOKS PRETTY CLUTTERED.BEFORE ANYONE SAYS IT,I KNOW YOU CAN GO INTO RJOB AND REMOVE IT. QPACII almost certainly has advantages for the "technician" but those same facilities can obscure its usefulness to others. I - like many others - do not want to "learn about QPACII", I merely want to use some of its facilities. That certainly involves some learning but diversion is not wanted. I want to know how to use QPACII to do the things I want: I do not want to learn about facilities I have no use for and I do not want to plough through verbiage, trying and failing to make sense of it. TRY ASKING A QUESTION ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT IT TO DO AND MAYHAP SOMEONE WILL ANSWER IT. It worries me that Mike has found so many people combining arrogance and stupidity. People who drive motor vehicles are not reequired to understand the third law of thermodynamics. The vehicle is a means of transportation. For me the QL is rarley a plaything and while I have some interests in the mechanics of it, for me the importance is getting the mundane work done. I THINK THIS IS TRUE OF MOST USERS OF ANY COMPUTER MARTIN,AS FOR THERMODYNAMICS,YOU'D BE BUGGERED WITHOUT THE SPARK PLUGS! Yours, Martin Burke. #! P. McPHERSON, YOUR Ref No: QLCI/120 Fraternal Greetings Everybody, Current equipment: JM QL with Gold Card, Cumana disk drives and an Amstrad DMP3160 printer. I received my copy of issue 119 as per usual, attenpted to load it and once again into Xchange and Quill only to come up with an "i/o incomplete" message, Perfection would not load QLCI-119 either. This is something that has happened several times of late, a problem that never used to occur, and ia one that does not happen with any other files old, or new. When I have looked at the discs themselves, very few sectors seem to have been used in saving the issues of QLCI and I occasionally get the first few lines of the document which indicates a saving problem to me, but as you all know I am no expert. Could this problem be the result of Mikes upgrading? I WOULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT SO MATE,AS YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE THAT SEEMS TO BE HAVING THE PROBLEM.I CAN READ YOUR DISCS,I CAN SAVE TO YOUR DISCS AND RELOAD FROM YOUR DISCS.HAS ANYONE GOT ANY IDEAS AS TO WHAT MIGHT BE CAUSING THIS? DOES HIS DRIVE NEED CLEANING,RE-ALIGNING OR WHAT? All I know for sure is that the problem is extremely frustrating and leaves me a couple of months behind everybody else when it comes to the latest QL news, views and scandal! Can anybody suggest a cure before I end up completely bald, whimpering in the corner of my living room and foaming at the mouth! Anyway, Mike I have enclosed a couple of formatted discs, can you let me have issue 119 on one and issue 120 on the other? Thanks in anticipation. I MEAN,WHEN YOU SEND ME ANOTHER DISC FOR BOTH ISSUES,THEY MUST BOTH LOAD OR YOU WOULD KEEP SENDING ME DISCS FOR THE SAME ISSUES OVER AND OVER AGAIN. BEST WISHES PAUL !#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!# J.C.Marcus I KNOW THAT YOU LIKE ME TO PUT THIS ON YOUR RETURN ADDRESS,BUT OUR POSTMAN HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE THAT IN REALITY ITS NORTHERN SPAIN! 15-2-99 GEAR: Aurora + SGC, Minerva 1.97/SMSQ/E, Hermes, Qubide/100M ZIP DRIVE, 2xHD, CUB 653, Epson LQ500; JS QL with GC and 2xDD Hello Again All, Well, some interesting letters in QL118 & 119. I found the one about the "Y2K bug" very informative, but possibly a bit too optimistic (and obviously USA-centric). I know that very few companies down here have even started looking into this problem, never mind all the countries of the developing world etc. From what I can understand, it is not necessarily just a matter of sorting out your system, but also making sure that the guy next door, who happens to be supplying your company, also does the same. Since most of our raw materials come from "poorer" countries, that may not have the resources to throw at this problem, who knows? I guess we'll find out soon enough. Also, no mention was made of the mobile phone network, which according to some, might also fail- or is/will this just be used by the telecommunication companies to get us to upgrade to newer systems? Cynical? Well, one has to be.... WHY NOT?,THEY DID IT WITH COMPUTERS! Frank Merrison:- It seems that the PE/QPAC2 has definitely become the number one contentious issue of the moment. As far as multitasking is concerned, every computer in fact has to multitask - i.e. carry out various tasks in the background - e.g. RAM refreshes, updating screen, polling i/o etc., etc. It is really us, the USERS that have the problem multitasking! I really don't think that we were designed to do more than one thing (properly) at a time! Even so, if you have a large screen (Aurora, QXL etc.), or want to run programs in the background (e.g. comms, spoolers, number-crunching), or want to keep several often-used programs available in the background, or as "Buttons", the PE/QPAC2 definitely does help you control your "personal computer" (in small letters) environment. However, if you are happy with your present set-up, and it serves you well, there is really no need to change - except of course that we are a curious lot, and if we see someone doing something a little differently, we generally want to know why! The main problem with the PE/QPAC2, of course, is sorting out your "boot" program - what to include and HOW to achieve the optimum set up for yourself. There are some example boot programs on the QPAC2 disc, and the PD program "QPACer" (Qubbesoft PD and Quanta library, I believe) helps set up a boot for the PE/QPAC1/2. The QPACer documentation is worth looking at in any case, as it has some simple explanations of the PE keywords etc. (as far as I can remember!) The best way of getting to grips with the PE, really, is to use a simple boot at first, and then add to it as you go on/get to see the light (do I sound like some sort of religious nut - if so I'll stop here). NO MATE,YOU CARRY ON.I WAS JUST BEGINNING TO UNDERSTAND IT.JUST REMEMBER CLUBQL HAD QPACER FIRST! Paul McPherson mentions software licences (among other things). What I've been told is that these are often "non-transferable", which makes buying and selling some 2nd-hand software "illegal", or have I got the wrong end of the stick here. I wonder if anyone has any comments on the subject. Mike:- your list of QL bits and pieces has given me an idea (for which I MOST definitely retain the Copyright - never mind what anyone says!) You should stick it all on a board (painted BLACK, of course) and sell the resulting "Work Of Art" to the nearest gallery for a couple of K (at least). That way you might be able to afford to buy a decent computer for once and all...... HA BLOODY HA!,BUT THERE AGAIN NOT A BAD IDEA.I HAVE JUST READ IN THE PAPER TODAY OF A 21 YEAR OLD GIRL/WOMAN IN THE TOWN NEXT TO ME,GOING INTO PHOTO BOOTHS IN SHOPS.STRIPPING OFF WHILE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN,ENLARGING THEM AND SELLING THEM TO CRAZY AMERICANS FOR `2000 APIECE AS WORKS OF ART,SO THE IDEA ISN'T SO DAFT AFTER ALL.A QL HAS TO LOOK BETTER THAN MY BODY! Bye for now, JC !#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!#!# P. McPHERSON, 29th March 1999. Fraternal Greetings Everybody, Current equipment: JM QL with Gold Card, Cumana disk drives and an Amstrad DMP3160 printer. AHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhgh! (= VERY LOUD SCREAM OF FRUSTRATION!) I got my recopied issue 119 and 120 and once again was unable to load them via Quill, Xchange, Perfection or my (pretty old) version of Unzip. Quill and Xchange keep giving me an "i/o incomplete" message, Perfection will not entertain them at all and Unzip won't unzip! The discs themselves were OK, after trying everything I could think of to try and load QLCI, I gave up and reformatted them and saved a 1600 word document onto both and was able to reload them without any problems whatsoever, so I don't think the discs or my drives are the problem. Having said that, I am at a complete loss as to why I can no longer load my copies of QLCI, a problem I have had now for around about 4-5 months. It's an extremely frustrating problem which has left me 3 months behind all the QL related news and gossip and pulling my hair out at the roots. Can anybody suggest a cure (for the QLCIs not the hair) before I end up being a complete gibbering idiot! Now for another problem that someone may be able to help me with. As you know that amongst other things, I am a diabetic, which has began to seriously affect my vision over the last year, which in turn has made photography impossible and using my QL difficult despite four pairs of different strength glasses and two magifying glasses. I use Xchange a lot, but as other users will know, the "Display Width" has been disabled. Does anybody know of a bit of code or a patch that will restore this function so that it will slightly increase the size of the text appearing on my TV screen? Why was it ever disabled in the first place and can Perfection also be tweaked in a similar way to provide larger sized screen text? I would be eternally greatful for any help or advice on this one! I have enclosed a three more formatted discs, Mike can you let me have issue 119, issue 120 and issue 121 on the other. If there is any room can you also let me have a copy of the Unzip program that you are using these days, just in case mine is no longer up to the job anymore. Thanks! I DON'T USE ANY ZIP PROGS WHEN I SEND THEM OUT ON DISC MATE,ONLY WHEN I SEND OUT BACK ISSUES.SO I SHALL UNZIP THEM FOR YOU. BEST WISHES PAUL I DON'T KNOW IF I HAVE SENT THESE OUT ALREADY OR NOT,BUT I HAVE FOUND THEM ON MY HARD DRIVE AS QL121 SO I SHALL SEND THEM OUT AND WAIT FOR YOUR REACTIONS. MIKE.