The Sinclair QL Forum

dilwyn wrote: Mon Jan 22, 2024 11:47 am Personally, my "ideal solution" would be a Q68 that plugs into a BBQL, like the QIMSI's "mini-Q68" [...]

Hear, hear! But you would not want to rip out the QL mainboard, right?

Peter wrote: Mon Jan 22, 2024 1:56 pm

dilwyn wrote: Mon Jan 22, 2024 11:47 am Personally, my "ideal solution" would be a Q68 that plugs into a BBQL, like the QIMSI's "mini-Q68" [...]

Hear, hear! But you would not want to rip out the QL mainboard, right?

Yes, that's right. But for nostalgic as much as practical reason. To me, stripping out the mainboard etc would be vandalism (unless it's not working).

I love the Q68 as a 68000 computer. It's just not, well, a QL!

mhanias » Sun Jan 21, 2024 4:12 pm A new case with the help of a 3D printer is a rather an easy task.

I can't say I found it a particularly easy task, but here is my take on QL replica. The Barely Black QL (BBQL?) is based on SMSQE in a Raspberry Pi5, a cased micro PC and Q68. Only the Pi5 and PC versions are finished and working. The PC version is better because only Java17 seems to run on a Pi5 and this, or something else, causes glitches in the display (see pic) The sound is faulty also.

The Barely QL is significantly cheaper to build than than buying a real QL on Ebay. I post the STL files for anyone mad enough
to want to build one. In my view multitasking requires a high resolution display (see pic) so I prefer the fake QL.
The Q68 based system is more difficult to build because it needs a PS2 keyboard and I can't find one that is as easy to incorporate in a printed box as is the SK620. A USB to PS2 converter would be useful.
I have had to post on three pages because there seems to be a limit on the number of attachments one can post at once.

That's one large print bed you have to get the full-size QL printed.

bwinkel67 » Mon Jan 22, 2024 11:46 pm That's one large print bed you have to get the full-size QL printed.

The Barely QL box is printed as 4 pieces. The keyboard box and lid are just under 300mm wide. It is designed to house the Cooler master
SK620 keyboard. The Pi5 box is called comp_box_pi.stl and the PC box is called comp_box_X10_3.stl.

My printer is not big enough to print a full sized QL. Separating the computer from the keyboard means that it can be printed on
a 300x300 mm 3D printer, but it also allows me to use the Keyboard with various computers. The Q68 version is a work in progress.
If I can't find a source of USB to PS2 converters I will have to use the smaller and more expensive cherry G84_4100 keyboard shown above.
That design houses the Q68 under the keyboard making it compact but rather fat, and not looking like a QL.

The PC is a rather obscure Discovery Technology Green Line N4 I bought on Amazon.
You can still buy them from China. 12 day free delivery from Buy2fix for example.

The Pi5 box is designed to hold particular extension cables so their size matters. ( see back of computer box pic) The cables were bought on ebay.
The wireless mouse is a low cost Logitech M171.

Hi everyone!

It is interesting to hear others' views and experiences re-purposing the original QL case to house a more modern heart (and lungs...)

Just to add my own experience fitting one of my Q68s in to a QL casing (and a bit more besides...), I attach some photos.

If anyone is interested in the detail, happy to fire-up a fresh thread.

In short, the Q68 fitted the obtuse way round (just to facilitate VGA/KB/Mse connections to the rear of the case) and leveraging the core of the excellent QL matrix-keyboard to PS/2 solution (by Peter/Stephen) and fitted inside the original QL case, wiring-up the Q68's sound output to the QL Speaker and finally extending the SD-Card to its more customary place in the slot for MDV2.

The design is unlikely to appeal to many (or anyone?) and made just to meet my own, peculiar requirements. There are easier and more elegant ways to do it, of course, but it does show what can be done.

I then built on the Q68's Extension IO port, added the core of the MDV components (including a ZX8302 ULA), and with some re-writing of the Minerva MDV low-level routines, am able to successfully run Daniele's 'MDump 2' utility to read QL MDV cartridges, ready for repairing...

As far as I'm aware, this is both the first time that the Q68's Ext bus has been put to use as well as a first for SMSQe meeting a physical MDV. With Martin Head's excellent MDI driver, I can then mount the .mdv file produced by MDump and access the image file contents within SMSQe - all without ever leaving the Q68.

Nothing that can't already be done from a (S)GC equipped QL, but the aim was to prove the concept and investigate in some more depth just what it takes to run an MDV outside a real QL - and has revealed some interesting aspects of the ZX8302 ULA on the way.

'Useless, but cool', as Peter likes to remind me

...and a second post to add a few more photos...

Hi Martyn,

I'm very impressed by your experiments!
I still have to provide a description or example how to place and wire Q68 and QLbase for more conventional use.

All the best
Peter