The Sinclair QL Forum

Thanks Martyn... that analysis is good to hear. I'm intending on creating an HD screen on the PiStorm and mapping the QL video writes to it which should improve the speed no end.

Will

I've got some timings for the QL PiStorm writing directly to QL screen memory... it did 800 screen fills in 29.5 seconds... feels a bit slow but I'll need to do the same thing on a normal QL to find out...
would help if I had a working keyboard. Obviously the emulator wouldn't be accessing the QL ...

Hi Popopo, thanks, yes the connection to the QL is a little bodged, I just wanted get it working so I could use it.
I will probably make a little PCB to plug into the 2 keyboard connectors J11 & 12 with an IDC cable linking it.
Looks like I will have to remake it since it was based on an inaccurate ...

Ha! Thanks Andrew - that would explain a few things...

Hi,

Does anyone know if the Figure 4.2 "Keyboard Format" diagram in the QL service manual is accurate? I made myself a keyboard based on it but I'm getting some weird results.
I double checked the wiring and it all seems correct according to the diagram. For example, keys 1,2 & 3 are reversed ...

Hehe! there seem to be quite a lot of mistakes in this book... I was just refreshing my memory yesterday. Page 68 5.3.1 says the screen resolution on a QL is 512x512 or 256x512 - I wish

So, now the hardware is done, I'm starting to work on getting the emulator going. I'm thinking of using Musashi as it runs under Linux which will make RTG and SD hard drive etc a lot easier. It's not as fast as EMU68 which hits the bare metal of the Raspberry Pi. I thought someone else might develop ...

Hehe! - I appear to be on a roll at last. Reprogrammed the CPLD to handle !DS correctly. Change QLbuptest to set up the QL display register and got the QL PiStorm V3 copying data to the QL Screen properly now. The gaps in the picture must have been poor soldering on my V2 board or something... after ...

I've done it again... any better?

Progress! After literally weeks of struggling to get my QL PiStorm to do anything at all (apart from producing the odd puff of smoke) I have finally got the FSM to let me access the QL bus and copy a picture into video memory (not perfectly to say the least). I was using !LDS as !DS when I needed to ...