| QL News |
THE QCOM modem system is alive and kicking again in spite of the collapse of OEL, the company responsible for its design and production.
Sinclair Research has always seen the system as an important peripheral for the QL, essential for much business operation.
The demise of OEL was a serious blow to the QL, suffering as it was at the hands of an increasingly sceptical UK market.
Tandata, a company specialising in communications equipment, has now bought the rights to manufacture and sell the system, as well as existing stocks of modems which were never released.
As yet there is no firm news on price or availability, but Tandata is expected to sell QCOM through its own distribution network. QCON will probably be sold for slightly more than the £79.95 originally quoted, whereas QMOD and QCALL will probably remain at the old prices.
Tandata is also likely to change the name of the whole system from QCOM to QLINK. The change is logical given that Tandata created the Homelink system in conjunction with the Nottingham Building Society and the Bank of Scotland, whereby new homes get a built-in computer terminal enabling banking transactions to be carried out from home.
Sinclair Research has played an active part during the negotiations, which have been conducted in the midst of persistent and frequently inaccurate rumours. "We're pretty pleased that QCOM has finally seen the light of day" says a spokesman. "What's that phrase the footballers use? We're over the moon."
Not so happy is Lawrence Cook of OEL, who designed QCOM. "When Prism and Oric went bust they owed us rather a lot of money," he says. According to Cook, had OEL been able to complete the finishing touches to the QCOM package it might have avoided liquidation.
QL USERS looking for efficient ways to contribute to their bank balance will be interested in a new book by Arnold Handley.
Sinclair QL in Business is a racy, irreverent look at the possibilities of the machine.
It concentrates very much on the applications of software, but goes beyond the manual in describing numerous "unofficial" ways of using the Psion programs. It is published by Newnes Microcomputer Books, and costs £9.95.
METACOMCO is about to release its version of Pascal for the QL. The package conforms to the full ISO international standard, according to David Sykes of Metacomco, and will cost £89.95.
"The price reflects the quality of the software" says Sykes. "It is a true single pass compiler which generates 68000 code directly."
That contrasts with the Computer One Pascal. The Metacomco version, if it lives up to the claims made for it, will be considerably superior.
Details can be obtained from Metacomco at Bristol.
FOREIGN language versions of the QL are now coming into production with software packages translated.
The first of the new machines, a Spanish version, has already been launched, and Sinclair Research is to follow that with French, Italian and Danish. Further planned launches include Turkish, Greek, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Arabic.
"Some countries, such as Greece, require completely different keyboards, and others, such as France have different keyboard layouts," says a spokeswoman.
DIGITAL Precision, whose first QL products are reviewed elsewhere in this issue, has already released upgrades of its Super Sprite Generator, Super Backgammon and Super Monitor programs.
The improvements are said to have developed from a questionnaire sent out with mail order copies, in which customers were asked to criticise the programs.
We have not yet had an opportunity to investigate the claims thoroughly, but our review of Super Backgammon does require some modification. Two new playing levels have been added, 'for really strong Backgammon players'.
ENTHUSIASM for the QL in Europe is growing, according to companies involved in supporting the machine.
Cambridge Systems Technology, which produces the Q-disc controller and markets Computamate disc drives, has announced a mutual endorsement deal with software house Computer One, publishers of QL Pascal and Forth programs, with a particular eye on the European market.
"Over 75 per cent of our QL software is sold on the continent," says Paul Ives of Computer One, and with CST the company is developing a package of software and hardware.
Customers in the UK will also be able to benefit from the deal between the two companies, with a planned voucher scheme whereby purchasers of CST hardware will receive money-off vouchers for Computer One software.