I should probably have been here years ago... I've been on the QL mailing list for donkeys years. I am a sporadically active QL user (more off than on for the last 20 years)....
Dad bought a QL the day after they were announced, in January (?)1984 (?? - my memory is a little hazy here). I recall it finally turned up in July or August. I immediately spent a happy day typing in "QL Quest" from the launch edition of QL User. And a not so happy several weeks trying to make it run... I'm sure there were chunks missing from the listing.
After that, I used the QL almost daily. Dad did all his self employed accounts on it. I typed games in, mainly, and learned how to program. Eventually, it became "my" QL. We added a 5.25" disk drive, and later 512K memory (not the most obvious way of doing it). In fact, my floppy interface called disks "fdk_" rather than the more usual "flp_", so every listing needed altering to work on my computer...
Come 1991, I'm at University, and still using my QL, transferring lecture notes from a TRS-80 Model 102 to the QL via serial cable, reformatting them in Quill...
Post 1992, and entering the world of work, I end up using PCs (of course), and the QL ends up back in its box (which I still have to this day), and only brought out for the odd nostalgia trip. At some point, it goes faulty, but I have a 2nd QL which I use instead...
Quite some time later, whilst on a bit of an eBay buying spree, I end up buying a colour monitor for the QL (my first! - I used a Phillips green screen for many years, and a wide variety of amazingly poor quality B&W TVs prior to that). Then another QL (or 2). Then a QL with one of those separate keyboards you could get (can't remember who made it, it was a PC-like keyboard on a ribbon cable). Somewhere along the way I bought a Miracle Systems Gold Card, when they were brand new; but I could never afford the ED disk drives, let alone the ED disks. Given my later experience with PC 3.5" disks, that was probably a good thing. So I soldiered on with 720k 5.25" disks, most of which I still have, all of which still work to this day (last time I checked).
More recently, I finally got my paws on a Schoen keyboard - the one with the red function keys (Sorry Rich, I think I was the guy who outbid you on that one). Its nicer than the original QL to type on, but still nowhere near my IBM Model M keyboard...
I still fire up a QL every now & then, for old time's sake, but much less than I ought to really, considering the effect it's had on my life. I literally owe the last 20 years to my QL. I can't imagine being as good at programming if I'd had a "games" machine like an Amiga or Atari ST, vs. the QL.
I'll go back to lurking now, it's what I do best.... but I'll try to shove my oar in every now & then
PS: I forgot to add.... my name is Ade (hence the username), short for Adrian. I've lived in Cheshire for most of my life, now up on the Wirral, after a stint in London & Essex.
Standby alert