Minerva MKI ROM

[aminor]

Dear All,

My QL apparently has a "JS" ROM fitted. I was considering an upgrade to the Minerva MK I ROM from www.sellmyretro.com in order to make the QL more stable, faster etc

However, as I have a 128K QL is there any point in upgrading to Minerva? Will it reduce the amount of available RAM I have available for programs? I can't find anything to suggest that there is a minimum memory requirement or any downsides to only having 128K when using Minerva.

Kind regards

Andrew

[vanpeebles]

Have you got a RAM expansion/floppy disk interface already? That would be a better upgrade to start with, the QL really comes to life with floppy drives.

[aminor]

No, I have no upgrades at all so far.

I've seen a Super Gold Card on SellMyRetro but it's a little out of my price range.

I'm guessing that the availability of memory and disk expansion cards it limited to old hardware that pops up? There's nothing new being developed is there?

[vanpeebles]

It may be worth contacting RWAP to see if Rich has any cheap expansion cards for sale. (Basic disc interface plus a RAM expansion)

Also on ebay someone is selling new sets of twin floppy drives for use with retro computers

[aminor]

These ones?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brand-new-Dua ... 2a1ca100dc

I saw them and it was from there that I started looking for disk controllers.

It's not you selling them is it?

[aminor]

Thanks for the suggestion to contact RWAP. I'll send Rich an email now.

[vanpeebles]

It's not me selling them but I saw them and thought they looked good value

[RWAP]

Ben Versteeg makes those disk drive units - they should be very good as Ben has produced some items for me. The main problem (as always) is the shipping costs and lack of disk interfaces!

I don't have any spare interfaces, nor even memory expansions!

[RWAP]

Oh - the other thing to consider is whether to wait for the QL-SD - this connects into the QL's ROM port and hopefully should be available later this year - although expanded memory is going to be required to run most games (it would seem).