Today I Received...

[Sparrowhawk]

The VGA adapter is very good, isn't it? Rock solid signal.

I'm on the waiting list to get onto the waiting list ( ) for a QIMSI, so keen to hear how you get on with it when it arrives.

[dilwyn]

A QIMSI.

Arrived from Stephan today with no customs charges (lucky me!).

Only tried it very quickly just now. The SD card works. I need to go to raid my junk box to find a PS/2 mouse - the first unbranded one I tried with a USB plug (so probably not a true PS/2 mouse) doesn't work.

The QL has a Gold Card, a ROM switcher for JS/Minerva ROMs (seems to work with both ROMs) and a QIMI interface. Without a mouse on the QIMSI, the internal QIMI seems to work normally. I'll see what happens when I find a mouse for use with QIMSI.

The QIMSI takes its own power from the QL ROM port, so no need for an external power supply of any sort, which is lucky since the power 4-way strip is fully used for monitor, QL PSU, floppy disk drive and the USB power adaptor for the VGA interface.

Makes me think... between the ROM switcher, QIMSI, VGA adaptor, Gold Card and internal QIMI mouse interface, there's very little BBQL in there. Feels almost like the QL is just a black box holding everything together!

The QIMSI is so tiny that were it not for the bright green LED on the board, you'd forget it was plugged in behind the QL.

So far, only tried it from QDOS. Stephan kindly put a copy of SMSQ/E on the micro SD card I bought from him, so I'll give that a spin tomorrow.

At some point later this week I'll connect the QIMSI to my Aurora system (ran out of desk top space to set up all these systems!). My Aurora doesn't have a ROM port connector, the ROM port on mine is 'remote' on a TF Services Mplane, so that will be an interesting test.

Very happy with this so far. Thank you Peter and Stephan.

Parts supplied (uSD card is extra)

In palm of hand, to show size

Top of circuit board

Bottom of circuit board

Bright green LED!

QIMSI plugged into a QL

Directory listing

[Sparrowhawk]

Nice, thanks for the pics.

[t0nyt]

Just got these that I had when I first had a QL to add to my collections

[stephen_usher]

OK, not today, yesterday, I picked up an OPD after winning an eBay auction. Interesting fellow, knows Steve Wozniak personally and his company sold the first Mac in the UK. This machine was a leaving gift from Reading Council as he was head. They used a lot of the machines as they were a ICL site.

Anyway, it works...

The screen was a bit dim, obviously many hours running on a desk, but with a slight tweak of the internal brightness adjustment It's now reasonable, though a bit wibbly-wobbly.

Looking at the power supply, it's a generic Astec design. The RIFA smoke generator had already gone off. Looking at the outputs with a scope I can see why the screen is probably wobbly, the +12V had a large ripple.

I took the three large caps on the low voltage side out and tested them. The 2200uF and 470uF had both obviously leaked. The 470 was down in the 200s uF and had a high voltage loss and high ESR, so that's definitely way out of spec. The 2200 was down at ~1900 and the 1000 was down in the 800s. I've got spares in stock so I can replace them all this morning.

[dilwyn]

My QIMSI now has a case! 3D printed by Johan Engdal for me (thank you Johan).

QIMSI and case

The QIMSI slides in and once carefully aligned, the clips at the front corners hold it securely in place.

Cased QIMSI

Micro SD card added

Attached to QL

QL and QIMSI

[Derek_Stewart]

Hi,

Bought this locally:

I have an Extended 4 QL Emulator board, whivh should run SMSQ/E or Level Edrivers.

I aldo have a SMS2 cartridge, which shoukd run in the ST High Resolution mode i
Black and White.

[t0nyt]

Received this today. Not QL but, all things being equal, means my vDriveQL should be here in about 9 days or so

IMG_3521.jpeg (46.66 KiB) Viewed 11649 times

[dilwyn]

In the early days we used to use a ZX microdrive as an external microdrive on the QL. I seem to recall that with the standard short cable it ended up twisted, with the cartridge slot facing away from you. Also, lots of them refused to format a cartridge when on a QL, though would read and write. Don't remember the reason.

[t0nyt]

In the early days we used to use a ZX microdrive as an external microdrive on the QL. I seem to recall that with the standard short cable it ended up twisted, with the cartridge slot facing away from you. Also, lots of them refused to format a cartridge when on a QL, though would read and write. Don't remember the reason.

Will only be using this one (vDriveZX) on one of my spectrums, so won’t be trying it on the QL at all

I guess while I’m waiting for the QL one to arrive in the post though I could try the mdv it’s replaced on the QL just for fun