| Abaclav_exe | ABACLAV_EXE, a small 68000 machine-code job for the QL that speeds up data entry in the Abacus spreadsheet: ALT plus a cursor key sends ENTER followed by that cursor key in one step. The article explains how the job sets its priority, prints a welcome message with UT_MTEXT, finds the system variables with MT_INF and scans SV_ARBUF, then gives the full commented assembler source (version .05, January 1989) and a public-domain SuperBASIC loader with DATA statements that writes the executable file. Readers could also order it on microdrive for $6. | Sinclair QL, Type-in program |
| Bigprint_bas | BIGPRINT, a SuperBASIC procedure that draws large letters on the QL screen by reading the character patterns from the system fonts in ROM, a follow-up to the big-letter procedure in the previous issue. It takes seven parameters (message, style, position, letter width and height, colour) and offers four styles: normal, letters built from the character itself, italic and raised relief. A short demo program and the full listing are given. | Sinclair QL, Type-in program |
| New Programs | A roundup of new commercial QL software with UK prices and supplier addresses: PDQL's BASIC C-Port (SuperBASIC to C), Text Tidy (Quill _doc to ASCII) and DiscOVER (reads and writes PC disks); Sector Software's Overdrive, which prints graphics from Quill, Archive and Abacus; Ant Computing's IBM PC emulator; and Digital Precision's Professional Publisher and Digital C Special Edition, with a DP PC emulator said to be coming. | Sinclair QL |
| Page Designer II | A short review of Sector Software's Page Designer II, the desktop publishing program now used to produce QL_DOC. It needs a 256K memory expansion and a disk controller (one 80-track drive is enough), comes with editors for text fonts, high-resolution fonts and graphic patterns, supplies 34 text fonts and 10 high-resolution fonts judged far better than Front Page's, handles up to 9 pages at once and works with QRAM and Taskmaster. Two screen dumps show the main menu and the font reference screen. | Sinclair QL |
| REMark: Switching to Page Designer II | The editorial for the first QL_DOC of 1989 announces that the newsletter has dropped Front Page in favour of Sector Software's Page Designer II, which the editor finds more capable and less buggy. It names the QL topics expected for 1989 (MS-DOS emulation, C, hard disks, TEXT 89) and outlines the issue: a big-letter BASIC procedure, an Abacus data-entry utility, new QL software and a look at Speedscreen. | Sinclair QL |
| Sinclair News | News items: the International QL Day held in Hasselt, Belgium, with over 350 visitors; the Thor XVI QL compatible, now marketed by Dansoft of Denmark with its new ARGOS operating system; Knighted Computers leaving the Sinclair market and Curry Computer dropping Spectrum/2068 imports, while Sharp's bought A+ Computer Response's remaining QL stock; delays at Time Designs and Quantum Levels (which absorbs SyncWare News); a new Z88 magazine, Pipe-Line; and the C.A.T.S. Capitalfest in Maryland, May 1989. | Sinclair QL |
| SpeedScreen | A hands-on look at Creative Codeworks' SPEEDSCREEN, which speeds up the QL's screen output. It describes the configurator for choosing among seven versions, the Fast Spaces, Fat Founts (8x9 fonts, with the QLUDGE font generator), Turbotext and Colour Synthesis options, and the mini-toolkit commands _FOUNT, _SCROLL, _XSTEP, _YSTEP and _SPEED, and closes by mentioning Digital Precision's rival Lightning. Adapted by QL_DOC from an article in the QLCF's Informa. | Sinclair QL |
