Path: news.uni-mainz.de!ROKLEIN@mzdmza.zdv.uni-mainz.de From: roklein@mzdmza.zdv.uni-mainz.de (Robert H. Klein) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sinclair Subject: QL FAQ part 3: software Date: 8 Aug 1994 06:15:39 GMT Organization: Johannes Gutenberg-Univ. Mainz Lines: 109 Message-ID: <324iib$ssf@bambi.zdv.uni-mainz.de> Reply-To: roklein@mzdmza.zdv.uni-mainz.de 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: RoKlein@MzdmzA.ZDV.Uni-Mainz.DE papermail: Bluecherstrasse 24, D-56349 Kaub, Germany