Ql

2 definitions found

From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:

  QL
       Query Language
       
       

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:



  QL
       
           (Quantum Leap) Sir {Clive Sinclair}'s first
          {Motorola 68008}-based {personal computer}, developed from
          around 1981 and released about 1983.  The QL ran Sinclair's
          {QDOS} {operating system} which was the first {multitasking}
          OS on a home computer, though few programmers used this
          feature.  It had a structured, extended {BASIC} and a suite of
          integrated {application program}s written by {Psion}.  It
          featured innovative "{microdrive}s" which were random access
          tape drives.  It was not a success.
       
          The microdrives were innovative but probably a mistake.
          Though reliable and quite quick, they sounded like they were
          going to jam and explode, releasing a shower of plastic
          shavings and tape into your face.
       
          The QL and QDOS only supported two graphics modes - ominously
          named high res and low res.  High res had four (fixed) colours
          at a resolution of 512 by 256 {pixels}.  Low res had 8 colours
          (black, blue, red, magenta, green, cyan, yellow, white) plus a
          flash mode with 256 by 256 pixels.  The sound was next to
          useless - single channel single oscillator with various
          parameters for fuzz, pitch change.  There was one internal
          {font}, scalable to 2 heights and 3 widths.
       
          Peripherals and enhancements included a {GUI} on a plug-in
          {ROM}, accelerator cards ({Motorola 68020}, 4 MB RAM), {floppy
          disks} and {hard disks}.
       
          In 1996 there is still some interest in the QL, spread by the
          Internet of course.  {Emulation} software, {source code}, "The
          QL Hackers Journal" and similar are still available, and many
          QLs are on the net.
       
          {(http://www.imaginet.fr/~godefroy/english)}.
       
          (1996-08-01)