The Sinclair QL Forum

Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

I disaasembled most of bdesk_bin and some of desk_bin, mot sure if it is worth the effort as when running EASE looks worse than ICE, or GEM

Propably not worth the effort.
Afaik ICE uses it's dedicated mouse so it's not of much use with serial mice.
Is there a GEM for QL ????

ICE, EASE etc.. is a poor version of GEM.

Personally, I do not really like GUI desktop systems. But they seem to all the rage at the mo'

PS I hardy use a mouse... it is left run about under the desktop.

Andrew wrote:

Derek_Stewart wrote:Hi,

I disaasembled most of bdesk_bin and some of desk_bin, mot sure if it is worth the effort as when running EASE looks worse than ICE, or GEM

Propably not worth the effort.
Afaik ICE uses it's dedicated mouse so it's not of much use with serial mice.
Is there a GEM for QL ????

I thought the QL was a "gem"

There was some talk in the early days of the QL that Sinclair had discussed a GEM for QL, but it came to nothing. I vaguely recall it being mentioned in one of the early QL magazines, though I can't find a reference to it in the magazines indexes. It is mentioned briefly here https://qlwiki.theqlforum.com/doku.php?i ... ds&s[]=gem, along with a list of front end softwares.

Given that most of them are very old, it might be time to think of writing a basic one for the QL which does not need Gold Card/Super Gold Card etc. (Launchpad Zero or Launchpad -1?)

Do I feel Andrew's next software project forming in his clever mind?

Sorry, the URL got a bit mangled as it contained some square brackets - should still work if you copy and paste it.

dilwyn wrote:There was some talk in the early days of the QL that Sinclair had discussed a GEM for QL, but it came to nothing. I vaguely recall it being mentioned in one of the early QL magazines, though I can't find a reference to it in the magazines indexes.

It was mentioned in QL World - September 1985, page 5

dilwyn wrote:Given that most of them are very old, it might be time to think of writing a basic one for the QL which does not need Gold Card/Super Gold Card etc. (Launchpad Zero or Launchpad -1?)

Do I feel Andrew's next software project forming in his clever mind?

There was a passing thought, but it ran away quickly.
I am happy with Launchpad and QL Commander. Maybe I will just update QL Commander to run in a PE window and to integrate it with FileInfo and/or other PE programs
But it would be really nice if Launchpad's author would fix that bug that prevents it launching basic programs And maybe add the posibility of having more tabs than 4 and of having more icons in a tab, in higher resolutions

Andrew wrote:It was mentioned in QL World - September 1985, page 5

Knew I'd seen it somewhere...

dilwyn wrote:Given that most of them are very old, it might be time to think of writing a basic one for the QL which does not need Gold Card/Super Gold Card etc. (Launchpad Zero or Launchpad -1?)

Do I feel Andrew's next software project forming in his clever mind?

Andrew wrote:There was a passing thought, but it ran away quickly.

Andrew wrote:I am happy with Launchpad and QL Commander. Maybe I will just update QL Commander to run in a PE window and to integrate it with FileInfo and/or other PE programs
But it would be really nice if Launchpad's author would fix that bug that prevents it launching basic programs And maybe add the posibility of having more tabs than 4 and of having more icons in a tab, in higher resolutions

Launchpad needs an update. And seriously so - I use it all the time and I am aware of some bugs and the need for improvements.
On some systems, for example, you can't use the desktop tabs, or if you can use them, the icons fail.
Maybe one day...

HI,

Andrew wrote: But it would be really nice if Launchpad's author would fix that bug that prevents it launching basic programs And maybe add the posibility of having more tabs than 4 and of having more icons in a tab, in higher resolutions

Can you no execute the SBASIC program.

Derek_Stewart wrote:HI,

Andrew wrote: But it would be really nice if Launchpad's author would fix that bug that prevents it launching basic programs And maybe add the posibility of having more tabs than 4 and of having more icons in a tab, in higher resolutions

Can you no execute the SBASIC program.

When starting Basic programs, there are usually 3 options.
1. execute as sbasic. This works on sbasic systems.
2. Execute via Filinfo II. This works on systems with FI2.
3. LRUN as basic program. This fails due to an issue with the PTOP in Easyptr extensions. First, it tries to pick basic (which works) but then fails to insert the LRUN command. Marcel did explain the reason to me some years ago (something to do with timing on modern fast systems, though i forget the details).

When I get time, I'll try other versions of the toolkit to see if there is a more recent version which fixes the problem.

The icon sizes and numbers are hard coded in Launchpad - it's an Easymenu menu. It'll need a complete rewrite to allow changes, sadly.

dilwyn wrote:

Derek_Stewart wrote:HI,

Andrew wrote: But it would be really nice if Launchpad's author would fix that bug that prevents it launching basic programs And maybe add the posibility of having more tabs than 4 and of having more icons in a tab, in higher resolutions

Can you no execute the SBASIC program.

When starting Basic programs, there are usually 3 options.
1. execute as sbasic. This works on sbasic systems.
2. Execute via Filinfo II. This works on systems with FI2.
3. LRUN as basic program. This fails due to an issue with the PTOP in Easyptr extensions. First, it tries to pick basic (which works) but then fails to insert the LRUN command. Marcel did explain the reason to me some years ago (something to do with timing on modern fast systems, though i forget the details).

When I get time, I'll try other versions of the toolkit to see if there is a more recent version which fixes the problem.

The icon sizes and numbers are hard coded in Launchpad - it's an Easymenu menu. It'll need a complete rewrite to allow changes, sadly.

Hi Dilwyn,

Could make the action configurable, either LRUN SBASIC or execute with a multiple SBASIC interpreter?

Dilwyn,

I think it makes a lot of sense to convince people that they want to use FileInfo II .

This is such an essential tool to me that I often consider it part of the Extended Environment (which it isn't). And once you have it installed, you tend to simply forget it, because it works nicely in the background, easing you of a lot of typing.

@Andrew: Try to extend your setup with FI2 if you have enough memory, it's really worth it, then go Dilwyn's way and "EX" SuperBASIC programs. There is no need to re-implement what's already present in an existing superb piece of software.