Software transfer from PC to QL

gtsamour

Does any one know a quick an easy way to transfer software from a PC with a floppy (.zip, .qlpak, .mdv images) to a real QL, that does not include a registered version of the qemulator? 45$ is too much I believe...

I know about the method of transfering the .zip file and decompressing it on the actual QL but is there an easier method than this?

Cignale

Just a google result:
http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/indexfrm.html

gtsamour

Yeah I know this one... I was looking for something easier...if there is...
Actually I googled a lot, the easiest solution is a registered version of qemulator which i would like to avoid for obvious reasons.

zxbruno

I'm not QL expert but I've read about people who completely stopped using floppy disks and now transfer data either using an RS232 cable or an SD card (using an IDE interface). A few weeks ago someone uploaded a video to YouTube showing the QL and an SD card interface.

rwap

SD card interfaces for the QL are coming....

As for the using q-emulator - if you really are not willing to pay the registration fee (which only seems fair to me, as QL emulation is not easy and the author does a lot of work maintaining and improving this emulator), use the instructions on the Sinclair QL Homepage - http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/gen/pcqlxfer/index.html

A short guide using q-emulator.....

Download http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/arch/unzip541xq.bin and put it on your PC desktop
Download a QL program file (for example http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/games/dreamlan.zip ) and save this to your PC desktop.

Put a blank DD floppy disk formatted on the QL in drive A on your PC.
Start q-emulator
Left click on the microdrive slots at the bottom to set up mdv1_ and mdv2_
The left hand slot (mdv1_) will need to 'attach a directory' - point this to your PC desktop
The right hand slot (mdv2_) will need to be set up as QDOS Floppy Disk... A

Click on the central q-emulator screen to see the familiar F1... F2 screen of the QL.
Press F1 (or F2) to start the QL
Now enter the following commands (note the quote marks are needed!):
LRESPR "mdv1_unzip541xq.bin"

You will be prompted to enter two directory devices:
Device/Directory for temporary Files.... (enter mdv2_ )
Device/Directory to extract to... (enter mdv1_)

Press any key - then enter the commands :
EW mdv2_SFX_exe;'-d mdv1_'
WDEL mdv2_

You only have to do this once...
Now whenever you want to unzip downloaded program files, you just enter the command:

EW mdv1_UNZIP;'-d mdv2_ mdv1_dreamlan.zip'

(change this to suit the name of the zip file you have downloaded)

Hope this helps!

gtsamour

Thank you very much Rich, I will try this the first chance I get.

Ofcourse its only fair for the author to ask as much as he wishes for his efforts to make the emulator. But its also my right to judge if the amount he asks for is too much or not and deside to buy accordingly to what I want or can afford.

edit

I tried it... but I get a "not found" responce right after i enter mdv2_ (Device/Directory for temporary Files.... (enter mdv2_ ))
The instructions of the unzip say that if you dont enter a subfolder, the default will be used. The light on the drive lights up before the "not found" responce.

rwap

It works here - are you sure you have got mdv2_ pointing to the floppy disk drive?

Is it a QL formatted disk (not PC) - I presume it is in the disk drive!

The slot for mdv2_ should be white with text in it - if it is black, then the disk is not correctly formatted, use:

FORMAT mdv2_

and then select full format, if you can.

gtsamour

Yes it is formatted on the qemulator and everything is in place as it should. The only thing that might be the problem is that I tried it using a 1.44 floppy because the Dell pc im using at work doesnt recognise 720k disks.
The disk is formatted from QDOS (qemulator using FORMAT mdv2_) though and looks OK when i DIR mdv2_

maskenlos

I am Using UQLX on UBUNTU.
It supports direct access to QL floppy and its free. I have even tried a version using Knoppix live CD with UQLX, works fine, no installation necessary.
Rgs,

Stephan

rwap

gtsamour wrote: »

Yes it is formatted on the qemulator and everything is in place as it should. The only thing that might be the problem is that I tried it using a 1.44 floppy because the Dell pc im using at work doesnt recognise 720k disks.
The disk is formatted from QDOS (qemulator using FORMAT mdv2_) though and looks OK when i DIR mdv2_

I can't think what you are doing wrong - I presume when you are entering mdv2_ as the temporary directory, you ARE entering it with just one underscore and no spaces...

How very odd - maybe give us a screenshot..

gtsamour

Well i followed the instructions to the letter and tried it at least 10 times... what can I say.

gtsamour

Here...



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

On slot 1 its the PC directory "ql" containing the file unzip541xq.bin. On slot 2 its floppy A: with a 720kb QDOS formated disk.

rwap

OK - but in the second screen shot you entered

MDV_2

not

MDV2_

Is that the issue?

The syntax for any directory device on a QL is
xxxN_

xxx is a three letter device name
N is the device number (from 1 to 8)
_ identifies it as a directory device

gtsamour

Its just a typo when i was taking the second screenshot... as I said above when i type mds2_ as a temporary files destination, the light of the floppy drive lights up and then "not found" :(

rwap

That is very odd indeed - are you using v3.0.3 of q-emulator?

Try pointing mdv2_ to a directory on the PC instead - in case it is something odd about your system writing to a double density QL disk...

gtsamour

Yes indeed its v3.0.3 of qemulator. Also tried it on a DD and HD disk at home, same results... and tried it on 2 different machines (at work and at home's pcs).

rwap

gtsamour wrote: »

Yes indeed its v3.0.3 of qemulator. Also tried it on a DD and HD disk at home, same results... and tried it on 2 different machines (at work and at home's pcs).

As I say, try pointing mdv2_ to a new directory on the PC - at least you can then extract the files.

The other option would be to let me access your PC via remote desktop, so I can see if where you might be going wrong (if anywhere!).

Odd - it works fine here and I have a troublesome Windows 7 + USB floppy disk drive system which hates DD disks!

gtsamour

I tried it assigning a PC directory for both drives and it worked. Now I have 3 files extracted in mdv2_'s pc directory. SFX_BAS SFX_DAT and SFX_EXE.

If i copy these three files in a floppy using the wcopy mdv1_ to mvd2_ (after i assign the drives correctly), will it be ok or was something lost because of the non QDOS environment??

rwap

gtsamour wrote: »

I tried it assigning a PC directory for both drives and it worked. Now I have 3 files extracted in mdv2_'s pc directory. SFX_BAS SFX_DAT and SFX_EXE.

If i copy these three files in a floppy using the wcopy mdv1_ to mvd2_ (after i assign the drives correctly), will it be ok or was something lost because of the non QDOS environment??

Yes - just use the WCOPY command - q-emulator adds a special header to files stored on the PC so that it can keep the QDOS specific information (and extracts it on load or copying to a disk drive)

gtsamour

I copied the three files then i entered the ew command as you suggested to extract the files into a pc directory. It begins normaly and after some time it gives something like "invalid print area" (or something) and quits.

Pfffff i give up.

Thank you for your help Rich.

rwap

How very peculiar - 'invalid print area' is not a QL error, so I wonder if the original download of the unzip.bin file is corrupt (that would explain the other problems too!) - have you used the one which I linked to - ie. http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/arch/unzip541xq.bin ?

Were you trying to unzip dreamland.zip?

gtsamour

Yes I used the one in your link. I havent reached the point to extract the game.zip yet since the unzip program extraction (SFX_DAT, SFX_EXE) is the one that fails.

rwap

I really am puzzled here as to why you cannot get it to work...

Oh well - I have instead copied the unzip program file to a Windows directory under q-emulator and then zipped it up - simply unzip it to your desktop, and point Q-emulator's mdv1_ to the folder unzip on your desktop.

You can get hold of this version of unzip from :

www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/downloads/qemulator-unzip.zip

gtsamour

Grrrrrrr, the QL hates me.... here's what I do....

I copied the unzip file and a game (infocom3.zip) to a pc directory asigned to mdv1_
I have a QDOS formatted disk on drive A asigned as mdv2_

Then I give (as you told me in your initial instructions)
EW mdv1_UNZIP;'-d mdv2_ mdv1_infocom3.zip'

and I get
"error: can't open zipfile [ mdv_2 ]
Press a key to exit"

I must have tried it a thousand times, I enter that exact command :(

I also tried it the other way around (EW mdv1_UNZIP;'-d mdv1_infocom3.zip mdv2_' no luck

rwap

My fault - I uploaded the wrong version - please try and re-download http://www.rwapsoftware.co.uk/downloads/qemulator-unzip.zip

gtsamour

FINALLY Rich I did it.....
The command EW mdv1_UNZIP;'-d mdv2_ mdv1_dreamlan.zip' didn't work though...

Having as mdv1_ a pc directory containing the unzip program files and the dreamlan.zip game AND a qdos formatted floppy on A: as mdv2_, I entered

EW mdv1_UNZIP;'mdv1_dreamlan.zip'

and it worked.... the dreamlan.zip was decompressed straight to the floppy disk and the copy is working...

Thank you Rich, you've been more than helpful to me.

rwap

PHEW - at last! - I can't even think why this would work here without any problems, and yet not on your PC - how peculiar!

gtsamour

Yeah weird isn't it? I transferred a couple of games already and they work fine. Thanx again :)

beanz

rwap wrote: »

SD card interfaces for the QL are coming....

Great, you know I'll be wanting one! Keep us posted.