Now is not the time to give up on the Sinclair QL!
A number of people have said that the Sinclair QL is dead–that there is no point in upgrading to the QL or in sticking with it any longer! These nay-sayers cannot be more wrong. Following are just some of the reasons why you should upgrade to the QL or stick with it:
1. The Sinclair QL package is, quite literally, the best value for money of any professional computer.
2. Other Sinclair computers “would not die,” and the QL is no exception–it is still “state of the art.”
3. Second- and third-generation QL software–far more affordable and in many cases better than most big name brands–is now available.
4. Many QL users who use big-name brand minicomputers and personal computers at work much prefer the QL for many reasons.
5. Low-cost and innovative QL firmware and hardware which fully utilizes the QL’s great power is only just now approaching fully developed status.
6. The QL Users and Tinkerers Association (QUANTA) library now provides 20 quad-density floppy disks containing QL software and documentation of all types and descriptions at very low cost to members–contact Tom Bent between 7pm and 10 pm EST at [phone number omitted] for further information on QUANTA, its excellent monthly newsletter, its massive members’ software library.
7. The T/S 2068 is an excellent computer which has given us great service, but it lacks the necessary capacity to run comprehensive database, spreadsheet, desktop-publishing, and integrated (multitasked) programs. The QL with TRUMP CARD uses 896K of RAM!
8. Most QL users are unaware of or do not make full use of the latest QL products which can transform operation of the QL to such an extent that it should be the computer of choice for many at a small fraction of the cost of many less capable systems!
To take fuller advantage of your QL, subscribe to TIME DESIGNS Magazine ($16.95 a year for six big issues) and purchase Dr. Mike de Sosa’s excellent book, TAKING THE QUANTUM LEAP, the most up-to-date book on QL, written in language anyone can understand, which explains many useful things about the QL just not found in its user guide. Both are available from TIME DESIGNS, 29722 Hult Rd., Colton, Oregon; tel. (503) 824-2658; CompuServe ID# 71350,3230. Order both Now!
Buy a QL or two or three of them from your favorite QL dealer while they last!
Prepared using PAGE DESIGNER 2–looks like the Macintosh!
About four years ago I wrote an article for Reader’s Digest (never published) about the new Sinclair QL microcomputer. I entitled the article “The First Lightweight, Low-cost Supermicrocomputer,” and promised that the QL would soon revolutionize the computer world, including the training of computer users, financing, and logistics. And the QL promised to do just that, but a few things went wrong: early models of the QL and early versions of its bundled software were just not ready for release, resulting in some bad reviews; Sir Clive’s marketing strategy left many things to be desired; the U.S. distributor, though personally helpful to me, was poorly organized and refused to advertise–the statement was made, “We don’t need the U.S. market”; the Reagan administration held up FCC clearance for seven months–crucial at the time; computer sales went flat; Sir Clive almost went broke because of his electric tricycle and had to liquidate his QL brainchild; etc.
The Sinclair QL and its bundled software, is now “fully developed” through the efforts of Psion Ltd. and third-party firmware designers, notably Tony Tebby, and its price has dropped from $500 to under $100.
The QL remains the first lightweight, low-cost, supermicrocomputer. Many computer experts–regular users of Apple, IBM, Texas Instrument, and other PCs–have visited me and marvelled at what an intelligently augmented QL can do. (They even like the keyboard and Microdrives–unique to Sinclair–which many have previously knocked.) When I tell them what the computer and its allied software, firmware, and hardware cost, their jaws really drop! For many of the same reasons that the QL was to have revolutionized the computer world in 1984, it remains an extremely versatile, almost obsolescence-proof computer (remember the term transputer–a new device which will, among many other things, permit the emulation [and input/output to] any type of computer, permitting the true universalization of computers–it’s coming soon for the QL.)
What I’m trying to say is that the QL is an excellent machine that, when properly upgraded, will allow you to join the computer revolution and remain “state of the art” for the foreseeable future–and this at the very lowest cost!
Many other reasons for sticking with or upgrading to the QL are listed on the facing page, and I could go on listing them all day, mainly in connection with the many outstanding classic and new software programs now available. Did you hear that Psion Ltd’s QL CHESS, running on the QL, won the World Microcomputer Chess Championship for the third time?
LOW-COST JS ROM NOW AVAILABLE
One problem with U.S. QL’s is that they are furnished with JSU ROM chips rather than JS ROM chips. The former cause certain graphic distortions/relocations with some software, for example GRAPHIQL+, VROOM!, PROJECT PLANNER, DECISION MAKER, etc., thus limiting their use. Replacement JS ROM chips are now available for about $25, and for about $35 you can have the JS ROM plus built-in TOOLKIT II, or ICE, or QfLash RAMDISK & TOOLKIT (no, you must furnish these chips) on EPROM. For another $10, RMG Enterprises, tel. (503) 765-2455, will even install it in your QL or a new QL, but I understand that this is a snap, requiring less than ten minutes work and no soldering. Have it put in a new QL, and buy yourself a spare QL–with JS ROM–today, the price may never be lower. Check with your favorite QL distributor for exact prices, etc.
PAGE DESIGNER 2
PAGE DESIGNER 2 is a radically changed and greatly enhanced commercial version of the QUANTA library’s original PAGE DESIGNER (see Time Designs, Jan/Feb 1988, p. 38). PD2 requires at least 256K of additional RAM (and more is better), and its products are not compatible with the original program.
Like its predecessor, PD2 is simple to understand and easy to use. New features include the ability to store more fonts in memory, to store as many as nine (small) pages, to import QUILL _doc files into multiple automatic or manually defined columns, new column justification options, word or character microspacing by pixel, new text and hires fonts, multi-pass printing and multiple copy options, improved text typing, and many others. CUT & PASTE operations are very fast and versatile. PD2 is available from SHARP’s for under $60.
NEXT TIME: “Upgrading Your QL,” more HOT TIPS, and more exotic wares for your QL.