Software transfer from PC to QL
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?
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?
Post edited by gtsamour on

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http://www.dilwyn.me.uk/indexfrm.html
Actually I googled a lot, the easiest solution is a registered version of qemulator which i would like to avoid for obvious reasons.
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!
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
www.sellmyretro.com
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.
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.
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The disk is formatted from QDOS (qemulator using FORMAT mdv2_) though and looks OK when i DIR mdv2_
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
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..
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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.
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
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
www.sellmyretro.com
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...
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
www.sellmyretro.com
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!
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www.sellmyretro.com
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)
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
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Pfffff i give up.
Thank you for your help Rich.
Were you trying to unzip dreamland.zip?
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
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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
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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
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
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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.
www.rwapsoftware.co.uk
www.sellmyretro.com
Great, you know I'll be wanting one! Keep us posted.