To: [e-mail address omitted]
John, (Donaldson)
Sorry to hear about the nursing home. Bobbie and you too will be in my prayers.
The QL emulators that run on a PC are getting so good that rarely do I use my SuperGoldCard QL. The article below tells about them. With them on my PC, I feel I have the best of both worlds.
NESQLUG is doing pretty well mostly because we have change our mode of operation. We are spread out all over the country. A few of us do see each other at the QL show (usually in the Spring) and at a overnight Fall meeting at Bill Cable’s in New Hampshire. But most of our meetings are Virtual Meetings done by email every other month.
If you would like to join NESQLUG, the fee is $5 for email only and $12 for paper copy of the NESQLUG Journal. Send to the treasurer: Kevin O’Leary
Five QL Emulators On My PC; Which is Best?
by Al Boehm
Why would anyone have five QL emulators on one PC? Well first there was the QXL. At the time it was the only emulator on a PC. I am calling it two emulators since I run it with two operating systems. Next I bought Q-emuLator for my MAC laptop. So when the PC version came out, I bought it since it was similar to what I was used to. Later I bought QPC2 because it could do some things that Q-emuLator could not. Finally I downloaded the free QLAYW because I wanted to use it on the PCs at the church hall to let kids play QL games I had wrote.
When I realized I had all these emulators on one machine, it looked like a good opportunity to present an unbiased comparison.
My desktop PC has a CYRIX 5×86 CPU running at 120MHtz with 24M ram and a 2.5 Gbyte hard drive plus a SyQuest Ezflyer 230MB removable drive. It has an early Windows 95 OS. A hot machine in 1996, now it is considered out of date. But a major reason I keep it, is that is has ISA slots that I can put the QXL into. Most of the new machines no longer have an ISA slot.
I have bad eyes. So I use a 17 inch monitor which provides a picture 12.4 inches wide. By comparison, the original QL monitor had a picture just over 9 inches wide. Plus some of my preferences are based on the fact that I can not see small fonts. This is a personal thing, but I can’t help but believe that there are aging QLers out there with similar problems. In any case, I have the screen set for 800 by 600 pixels which affects some of the screen sizes mentioned below.
The QXL
My QXL II has 8M ram. It runs quite well in DOS mode. It can also run from a Windows 95 DOS window but more slowly and with some limitations and glitches. The QXL has it’s own CPU. Thus internal processing times are independent of the host PC. However the host is used for I/O and in particular the screen display. So some timings are affected by the host.
The QXL does have NET ports which net well with standard QL’s, SGC’s, etc. However, the QXL NET uses different circuitry so that the current DIY MIDI will not work on it.
A major drawback of the QXL is that it can not access PC files on the hard disk. Instead, special QXL.WIN files are formatted on the hard disk which contain QL type files with their special dataspace headers on executable files. Many of the QL CD ROMs being sold contain a QXL.WIN file so that the QXL can access them via the PC’s CD ROM reader. A major plus for the QXL is that it reads QL and PC floppy disks automatically. One bad quirk is that it will not detect a second PC disk after a PC disk has been read; a QL disk needs to be read in-between to set it straight.
Actually three QXL OS are installed on my hard disk SMSQ, SMSQ/E v2.83, and SMSQ/E v2.98. I rarely use the SMSQ OS which came free with the QXL. Instead I use SMSQ/E which has additional features such as the PE and changing screen sizes on the fly. However, there was a major change between SMSQ/E v2.83 and v2.98; namely enhanced color drivers. This is why I call the QXL two different emulators for comparison below.
For me and my QXL setup, the enhanced color drivers were a step backwards. Through some type of incompatibility, the enhanced colors do not work with my QXL. They do work OK with QPC2 on the same machine!?!? Also the enhanced color drivers slow down screen writing quite a bit as detailed below. Worst for me and my bad eyes, the enhanced color drivers provide the same small font for QL, EGA, VGA, or SVGA screen options.
The 512 QL window is only 7.6 inches wide for v2.98 but 10 inches for v2.83.. Thus I have QXL 2.83 and QXL 2.98 as separate emulators in the comparisons below.
Software Emulators In General
Q-emuLator, QPC2, and QLAYW all act like Windows programs. You start them like a Windows program and can switch back and forth between them and other Window programs merely by clicking the mouse. Q-emuLator and QPC2 allow text saved in the scrap area to be transferred to the paste area of Windows and vice versa. With a little finagling, they can access the Windows files on the hard disk or CD. Each can read QXL.WIN files but only QPC2 can write to a QXL.WIN file.
They all do a good job of running QL programs although they each have some limitations. They each can BEEP through the PC’s speaker and can access the parallel and serial ports, but none have a NET port. They each have a provision for using the PC mouse input. Their speed depends on the host PC. On the newer PC models, it is blazing fast, but each has a way of slowing things down for playing games.
Q-emuLator v 2.1
Daniele Terdina wrote Q-emuLator first as a MAC based emulator. Then a Windows 95 based emulator. It requires a file containing a QL ROM. I use a JSU ROM by permission of Frank Davis who owns the North America copyright. Amstrad which owns the copyright for the rest of the world has given permission for non-commercial use. It also comes with an older Minerva ROM which I understand is freeware. I use TK2 since Tony Tebby has given permission for use in emulators. Q-emuLator can not run SMSQ/E although it handles the PE extensions without any trouble.
Q-emuLator has only an original QL 512 by 256 window. However, it can display the window in two different sizes. One is 7.7 inches wide on my 12 inch wide screen and the other is 10 inches. This additional width is of great importance to me and my eyes. Daniele advises me this would be even wider if I had my PC set to 1024 by 768.
One of the unique features of Q-emuLator is that it you can change win assignments on the fly. For example, WIN1 can be changed from meaning the directory C;QLdocs to meaning floppy drive a: QPC, QLAYW, and the QXL have WIN definitions assigned at startup and can not be changed except by rebooting.
Executable files run OK when copied from QL disks into standard window directories. Daniele has some chicanery here that is beyond me but greatly appreciated. The Q-emuLator Manual is remarkably readable.
Q-emuLator was $60 but recently has been reduced to $40. Also Daniele plans a $22.50 version that only emulates an unexpanded QL. Q-emuLator can be obtained from: http://users.infoconex.com/daniele/q-emulator.html.
QPC2 v3.03 [VER$(1) says 2d99]
Marcel Kilgus wrote QPC2 to run smoothly in the Windows environment. It is a top notch program as the timings below show. Nevertheless it is not without its shortcomings.
The most important limitation to me is in the screens. QL, EGA, VGA, and SVGA are all the same small font size as on the QXL 2.98. This could be a plus for someone who likes to have several small windows open at the same time. For example, running QPC2 with a small QL window to provide answers to put into a small PC window along side it.
QPC2 runs in SMSQ/E only. Most of the time I admire the extra capability of SMSQ/E. But every now and then I wish I could shut it off when there is an incompatibility with older programs. For example, until recently the Turbo compiler would not run on SMSQ/E and even now I can’t get programs Turbo compiled on SMSQ/E to run on other systems. Perhaps George Gwilt has already got this sorted out, and I just haven’t gotten the word. In any case, I still, on occasion, run into incompatibilities.
Note, I am not complaining about the additional capabilities of SMSQ/E which I use all the time; it’s just that I wish QPC2 had a capability to run QDOS when desired.
I have only had QPC2 v3.03 since the Oxon Hill Show. So I haven’t had time to delve into all its added attractions. QPC2 v3.03 is available from J-M-S for EUR 99.90 or QBranch for 65 pounds.
QLAYW 0.9c
Jan Venema wrote QLAYW as a freeware Windows program. There are also QLAY versions for MS-DOS and Linux. Since QLAYW is freeware, I can send it to others who can run my QL programs on their PCs.
For me, the best attribute of QLAYW is that the QL 512 screen fits all the way across my monitor – 12.3 inches. Only with the Aurora on my other system am I able to get such a large easy to see screen. Moreover, the screen can be adjusted to any smaller size by using the mouse. There is no noticeable aliasing of pixels and fonts – this is really quite remarkable. On the other hand, only the original 512 by 256 screen is supported.
QLAYW boots up noticeably quicker than the other two software emulators. So if I just want a QL to make a quick calculation, it’s my choice.
One bug is that the QL pointer occasionally gets separated from the PC mouse pointer which is disconcerting. Since I rarely use the pointer (I do use the PE!) on the QL, this is not a problem for me.
I found the manuals hard to follow mainly because they bounced back and forth between the DOS, Linux, and Windows versions. The Windows quickstart text once I found it, was easy to follow.
The poorest part of QLAYW is the way it handles files. Files must first be read in by an off-line program – QLtools or QLayt – to make a special directory (qlay.dir) which keeps track of header info such as dataspace for executable programs. This is not much different than the QXL.WIN files except that the QXL can handle floppies directly. I had so much trouble understanding how to do this that I wrote my own reminder which I include:
How to make files available to QLAYW
Make sure QLAYW is not running.
Choose a directory to put the QLAYW win files in.
Copy Qltools.exe into this target directory.
Open DOS from Windows and navigate to target directory.
Have files on QL floppy disk in drive a:
Type: QLtools a: -q
Start QLAYW selecting the target directory for a win drive.
The target directory will contain all the files that were on the disk. The first time QLtools is used it makes the file called qlay.dir which has header info for the files. Further uses of QLtools adds files to the directory and updates qlay.dir Additional file manipulation can be done with qltools.exe and qlayt.exe. I haven’t had much experience with QLAYW. Most programs seem to work OK. QD with the PE works OK. Quill works OK. However, Xchange would not run – I guess it had to do with the RAMdisk that Xchange uses.
QLAYW and the other versions (including source!) are available on:
http://www.inter.nl.net/hcc/A.Jaw.Venema
Math Speed
I use a simple double loop to time 1 million math operations. First I run it with just a simple replacement to get the overhead time:
100 b=23:c=49: REMark arbitrary constants
110 StartTime=DATE
120 FOR I=1 TO 1000
130 FOR J=1 TO 1000
140 a=b
150 END FOR J
160 END FOR I
170 OverHead=DATE-StartTimeNext I change line 140 to a=b+c to get addition time after subtracting OverHead. Then change line 140 to a=b*c to get multiplication time after subtracting OverHead. This timer was run with SBasic/SuperBasic and as a Turbo compiled program. Times are in seconds.
SuperBasic/SBasic
OverHead Additions Multiplication
QXL v2.83 14 10 14
QXL v298 13 8 12
Q-emuLator 1142 256 295
QPC2 62 34 33
QLAYW 1200 250 307
Turbo Compiled
QXL v2.83 10 6 12
QXL v298 10 6 11
Q-emuLator 75 46 125
QPC2 52 24 28
QLAYW 70 39 143
The most notable difference is how fast SBasic is compared to SuperBasic.
The QXL times are not a true comparison since they depend solely on the QXL CPU not the host PC. Apparently Marcel has done some fine optimization to get those fast number crunching times.
Scroll Speed
To time screen operations, I used the original QL 512 by 256 MODE 4 screen on all emulators. I scrolled in Quill through the MIDIPlayer manual, a 5382 word, 539 line document. Also I scrolled in ED the MIDIPlayer_bas program of 797 lines. The results in seconds were:
Quill 539 lines ED 797 lines QXL 2.83 17 38 QXL 2.98 43 95 Q-emuLator 28 37 QPC2 37 63 QLAYW 76 145
I think you can see why I prefer the earlier v2.83 on the QXL. I guess the enhanced color drivers are what slow QPC2 down with respect to Q-emuLator. However, it was in MODE 4 and used none of the fancy colors.
Conclusions
All of the emulators are really quite usable. They all have small quirks and limitations. All required about an hour of configuring, tinkering, and reading the manual to get them running. Although QLAYW is not the equal of the other emulators in many categories, it has a smooth feel to it and is easy on my eyes. Moreover, for my intended use for it running QL games on other PCs – it is the best. I can configure it for a particular game and put it on a disk so that a Windows user thinks it is a native PC game.
I still favor the QXL and use it the most. However, QXLs are becoming rare, and so are the PCs with ISA slots to hold them. I am very thankful to the software developers that brought about these emulators to make my fun more interesting and my work easier. I hope this article aids the competitive spirit to make the emulators even better. God bless,
Albert R Boehm
[e-mail address omitted]