31–34 of 34 posts
> And here’s the most modern version of a practice keyboard I know of – itself a small computer. The author should check out the AlphaSmart line of devices made into the early 2000s, especially the early pre-PalmOS devices! I was kind of surprised not to see any on the list. My Neo2 is basically a very simple buffer you can type into and dump into a computer later. It transmits to computer by emulating a USB keyboard…
> And here’s the most modern version of a practice keyboard I know of – itself a small computer. The author should check out the AlphaSmart line of devices made into the early 2000s, especially the early pre-PalmOS devices! I was kind of surprised not to see any on the list. My Neo2 is basically a very simple buffer you can type into and dump into a computer later. It transmits to computer by emulating a USB keyboard…
I envy people that collect things. It seems like a fun hobby. Wish I was that passionate about something.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I have a copy from the kickstarter Me too. But it cost half as much as my ZX Spectrum Next...
I see news about those, mostly from friends doing recreational things with FPGAs. I guess also relevant since they've managed to crowdfund three (substantially upgraded from generation to generation) runs of them.
This makes it one of the more affordable ways to get new QL-compatible hardware, 40 years after the machine launched. It has lots of RAM, 16-bit colour graphics, sound, and more. It runs Aurora, one of the 2 FOSS forks of the QL OS.
Work is underway on enhancing the core further, possibly to a 68030 with 16MB of RAM and true-colour graphics (if I remember rightly!) and to improve integration of the upgraded capabilities with the OS and SuperBASIC.
There is some hope it might be able to run SMSQ/E, the other FOSS fork of the original QDOS OS, and that comes with a choice of desktop GUIs.
It's a deeply idiosyncratic OS (never mind predating Windows, it predates the Apple Macintosh) and I have not yet learned to drive it, but I like the idea that my 21st century Spectrum is now also a rather capable full-16-bit machine with a multitasking OS.
The QL is largely forgotten now except by enthusiasts, but it was arguably the first multitasking home/small-business microcomputer, and there is new QL-compatible hardware still on sale: the Q68 machine, also based on an FPGA.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/16/ql_legacy_at_40/
Neither Aurora nor SMSQ/E is seeing much development now, sadly, but then I believe they're in hand-written 680x0 assembly language, and they only run on a handful of long-obsolete hardware, basically QL clones and the Atari ST.
It's an interesting OS and I wish it had been more successful. I also wish that SuperBASIC had been ported to other OSes, since the source is available. I think I'd quite like SuperBASIC for Linux.