Lefters QDOS instructions) detailing input pa Anew particularly nasty experience. rameteis, output parameters, xe H Petfield manual gistezs affected and possible bug 6 Cranley Gardens error ay back in January 2984, return situations. The an Logan wants to hear about Wallington subjects covered when the Sinclair QL was by these ‘new’ Spectrum bugs huh? Suirey W Traps I launched, there was much said are: job creation and OK, here’s one. The magazine will not be deletion, job management, re taking any more about ‘multi-tasking’ and the 1 DEF FN e(n,m)=n+m DEF FN. Scientology amazing QL operating system sident procedure control, dis fO=FN e(29,FN e(l7,8)): REM num ads. — QDOS. Now, seven months play handling, Intel i8049 bers chosen especially for alter ordering the QL and two communication, serial port HHGTTG fans. Vic2O months alter receiving the ma control, real-time clock PRINT FN 10 42 modulator chine and its control, memory allocation and ‘User Guide’, I is the wrong answer. FNe(n,ni) have taken delivery of the file handling. t was interesting to read Phil Other chapters just calculates the sum of two ‘QDOS Manual’ at a cost of £13, are devoted IRoger’s reply toP Whalley in to such subjects as device numbers, FN 1) should give the Peek including postage and sumof29plusthesumofl7ancj & Poke in the July 19 issue packing. drivers, Rom drivers, inter on the question of faulty 8(29+17+8=54), but Vic2O The document rupts, arithmetic handling, QL it doesn’t. modulators. Sinclair Re In fact, the computer has search calls Microdrive format, interfacing A ‘faulty’ Vic modulator the ‘QDOS Manual’ worked out 17+17+8=42. is is, in fact, the missing pages to QL SuperBASIC, system va often caused by users and not This is because, although the from the QL Users’ riables and example assembly by the Black Box itself. Many Guide detai Spectrum uses a stack to keep ]ing such mysteries programs. people (quite possibly Mr as ‘multi track of the order of functions tasking’, system variables and Details on QL Peripheral ex Whalley not included) remove (ie, it must perform Fn e( 17,8) ODOS system calls which the pansion are not available until the modulator from the Vic by before Fn e(29 . it holds the advanced programmer would “after the launch of the various .) tugging at the cable between numbers it works with, its ope find invaluable. devices”. the modulator and the ma rands, in fixed locations. This I ended up with my As I said earlier, the manual chine, and not by the recom QDOS means that the 29 and the Manual by is not exactly written with the 17 mended method of holding the writing polite letters will occupy exactly the same to Sinclair Research complete beginner in mind — actual connecting plug. asking for areas of memory because they the technical data”... more the advanced proram Constant tugging wrenches the I felt I are both the first operand of an had a right to be supplied with”. mer, or hobbyist. leads inside the connector out The. Since the 17 is interpreted This resulted in my getting With this said, I have to say of position causing loss of a after the 29, it just replaces letter the QDOS Manual is everything it sound, or picture, or both. from the Customer Rela before the computer has had tions Department I wished. Let us not get roman a M Davies suggesting chance to do anything with J that tic, though. it is quite obvious the The Waverley I forward a cheque for £13. 29. Try it — it might work this extra information should 79 Rhosmaen Street for you. It So the computer ends up arrived within — have been supplied in the first Liandeilo a few days evaluating Fn e (17,17+8). honest! place with the QL — not as an Dyfed Julian Skidmore Once you get optional extra several months your hands on 25 Cossall Road one of the elusive documents, later. I hear that ‘multi-tasking’ Stop Trowell written by Tony Tebby, is not implemented on QL ver you Notts bickering! will find it has some 150 pages sions FB, PM and AH. We will all have to wait for Sinclair to and is written in a highly techni Evil and would just like to point out plug in the precious JM version, to cal manner. Mr Bathurst (August “within ten working days”. sinister I 9 issue), The first thing I noticed was a that, while the Commodore Then, your QDOS Manual 64 secret revealed which has irstly, congratulatio on the has only 39K for Basic pro been kept closely guarded will become a QL Bible. by Fimprovements to Popular gramming, it has another 19K Sinclair: The AJan Turzzbull QL was initially Computing Weekly. It was which can be used either for intended as a 32KJ128K RAM Gale Green always the leading magazine, machine code, Stockport or for storing configuration with an option to but is now even better (per graphic or sound detail. upgrade, similar Cheshire to the Spec haps with the exception of the I also object to letters like trum l6K/48K arrangement. unamusing advertisement from that of Mr Haigliley (same is A brief introduction and Automata). sue), which, while it has a point overview of QDOS starts the Anyway I digress from the to make — that magazines do manual, closely followed by main point, which is to point out not print enough for the Elec details of changes to previous my extreme displeasure at re tron (I agree, but can’t the versions. My manual docu ceiving inside PCW this week Electron use BBC software?), ments QDOS — Version 1.03 a leaflet advertising a Dianetics the writer also decides to slip in the earlier ones run through the publication. You cannot fail to a quick slagging-off release of the numbers 0.05, 0.06, have read a High Court Judge’s Commodore 64. 007,0.08, 1.00, 10.01 and 1.02. In recent comments about the Well, I own a TZQPA fct, you can fmd out which Scientologists — the group be 3200042K computer with built- version of QDOS you have by hind Dianetics — whose activi in speech synthesiser, instant looking through the Rom for a ties parallel those of the Unifi retrieval disc drive, TV- string in the format n.nn. My cation ‘Church’ (Moonies). resolution graphics, and it’s ‘AH’ version QL has version The Judge described Scien better than all the other compu 1.02 QDOS. tology as “Evil” and “Sinister”, ters put together, so stop The first half or so of the and by allowing Scientology a bickering! manual systematically des place in your publication, you M cribes Valentine each system call to may have unwittingly lined up lOlA Underdale Road ODOS (via the MC68008 Tmp some reader or readers for a Shrewsbury 22-28 AUGUST1984 7 NEWS.NEWS. A run-down of new products, people and events in the QL market by Sid Smith ofMicronet. amount of code,’ he says. Preferable alternative goodies, feels Tony, would II. include direct access file One of the three people who handling in Basic, the ability created the QL resigned in to read or write data to disgust the day it was anywhere in a microdrive launched. file; formatted print using, The big three were Jan parameters on a print Jones (who wrote the Basic command to describe in compiler), David Karlin detail the format of output; a (responsible for the full set ofjob control hardware) and Tony Tebby — facilities for examining what author of QDOS. It was he multi-tasking programs are who, appalled by Sinclair’s running, and for killing promise that the QL would them, suspending them, be shipped within six weeks changing their priorities, handed in his notice etc; and a spooler, for immediately after the outputting files to a printer machine’s January while the user gets on with unveiling. other tasks. In the event Tony hung on ‘All that lot would take a little longer, eventually about half as much ROM fixing a date to leave after space as the 2K you’d need Sinclair’s management for a full screen editor,’ says decided to ship those first 89 Tony, though he’s dubious machines without, he says, about the likelihood of telling the software division. Sinclair coming to sensible He still takes a lively decisions about what to offer All smiles fromPsion anciP’ interest in the QL — so lively in the new ROMs. that many of his opinions are ‘They’ll probably be more unprintable! It’s worth impressed by marketing Slowness in the eye of the user recording however his belief appeal,’ he remarks, than by Quill is slow. I know because ‘Secondly, we’ve had to that the delay was what the facilities actually Psion Managing Director resort to overlaying, which exclusively due to problems do, which is unfortunate David Potter told me. He was one of the points made with the machinery itself, because marketing appeal even said why. in QL User, — when you press the apparent difficulties with only sells the first few But first the good news: ‘In for Command the microdrive SuperBasic and QDOS being machines, it doesn’t sell the September we’ll be releasing whirrs to get another overlay caused by the firmware next million.’ a Quill Version 2 which will in. When the code writers having to conform So what’ll happen to overcome all the problems of compression is finished, all with frequent hardware people with the old operating Version 1 thanks to an the commands will be updates.