Subject: QL FAQ part 3: software
From: [email-masked] (Robert H. Klein)
Date: 8 Aug 1994 06:15:39 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sinclair

3 Programs for the QL / Compatibles

3.1 Emulators of other systems on the QL

3.1.1  PC Conqueror

    Digital Presicion's PC emulator for the QL.  This emulates
the PC's hardware environment and the Intel 80x86 CPU.  It does
not emulate the MSDOS operating system, thus allowing you to pick
any version of MSDOS or DRDOS you wish to run on your emulated
PC.  The QL's 68xxx processor means you can access more memory
than on a standard PC (667K on a Gold Card, with PC "extended
memory" implemented using the rest of the Gold Card's memory if
you wish).  Limited to CGA graphics by the QL hardware.

3.1.2 The Solution

    Digital Precision's original PC emulator for the QL.  As with
PC Conqueror, a separate PC operating system is needed. Not as
powerful as PC Conqueror, but significantly cheaper. Runs PC
programs on a 640K QL at about the speed of a 0.5Mhz XT.  As
with PC Conqueror, limited to CGA graphics due to the QL's own
limited graphics capabilities.

3.1.3 CP Mulator

    Sandy's CP/M emulator.  Produced as a 16K ROM cartridge to
plug into the back of the QL.  Also available as a ROM for the
Thor. The great advantage of this emulator was that it's code was
on ROM, which on a 68008 based QL runs at up to twice the speed
of RAM.  Now only available second hand.

3.1.4 Success

    Digital Precision's CP/M emulator.  As this is software based
it runs more slowly on a basic QL than Sandy's CP Mulator but is
better on an expanded QL.  On a fast QL (Gold Card or an Atari ST
with emulator) this runs like a fast Z80 based CP/M computer.

*3.1.5  Spectrum emulators ZM/HT etc

3.2 Psion Quartet

3.2.1 Quill Import/Export

[Person A:]
Import requires files to be in the Export format from the other
Psion packages.  What is also annoying is that there is no Export
for Quill 2.35 & earlier. (I guess Xchange has this though).

[answer from hclase, a big prophet for Psion Quartet freaks:]
It is not as restrictive as this.   I wrote an article about
transfering files between quill and other formats for QL World
that was published a couple of years ago.

Quill's import procedure WILL import an ASCII file with any
combination of end of line codes; i.e. LF, CR, LF+CR or CR+LF
(CR=$13, LF=$10).   I tried all of them.   The restriction is in
the file NAME (!), this must be in psion format i.e. no more than
8 letters or numbers followed by an extension of no more than
three printable characters. There must be an extension, if it is
_exp there is no need to type it in, but otherwise you must.
There should be a blank line between each paragraph and then if
you inport by _paragraph_ you will have it in quill format (you
will have to tidy up the margins).   If you import by _line_ then
each line of your original text becomes a quill paragraph; OK if
it's a BASIC listing, but hopeless for regular text.

Assuming that you have the wherewithal to get the files into the
QL (e.g. via disk or RS232) you can import files from MSDOS or
BBC format without any problem.

Going the other way is a bit more tricky, but only a bit. You
have to print the doc to a file using a special printer driver
that more or less ignores all control codes except end of line
codes - put in whatever your target desires. (Use install_bas and
save it as e.g. MSASC_dat; you might need it again!)  You can
also write a filter in superbasic, but it is possible to do it
straight from quill.   The fiddly bit is removing all the
formatting spaces before you "print".   You should set left and
indent margins to the extreme left, move the right margin to 60,
set left justification, set page size to 0, and remove headers
and footers.   (My article has a key by key account of all this,
but an experienced quill user should have no problem.)

The version of quill in Xchange does have export, which
simplifies all this, and also the facility to chop out a bit of a
quill doc so that it can be merged into another one, but I don't
use this much, I find the whole Xchange suit a bit cumbersome!

I'm often surprised to learn that many experienced psion users
still haven't tumbled to the fact that the extensions (_doc,
_lis, _exp, _aba etc.) are just defaults, there must be an
extension but it can be any 1,2 or 3 printable characters you
like (try _#$%) as long as you type them in. I always use a code
to date my docs instead of the doc extension.   The file type in
coded into the file header.

This should probably go into an FAQ file - I seem to be always
posting it!

Howard Clase

[This was taken from one of Howard's postings in css. -ed]

--
Robert H. Klein  email: [email-masked]
papermail:  Bluecherstrasse 24,  D-56349 Kaub,  Germany