QL2ST v3.0, a QL to ST file conversion utility
==============================================
(This manual was thrown together very quickly, please email comments.)

QL2ST currently has two functions:
- Initialise disks in the Sinclair QL format
- Convert files from a QL format disk to a TOS file system

Disk initialization
-------------------
For most people this is probably a rather unnecessary function.
The same thing can of course be done on a QL while QLem, my FreeWare
Sinclair QL emulator, is normally not capable of accessing QL disks.

However, if you're lucky enough to have ROM dump of a QL disk device
driver that's supported by QLem, you'll need this if you want to
format a disk. QLem is not capable of formatting disks.


File conversion
---------------
QL2ST should be able to read files from any QL disk (see README.1ST).
A home-made file selector will appear, allowing you to chose any
number of files to convert. Selected files will be inverted and a
running file/size count will be updated at the top of the dialog.

The arrows to the right of the file names can be used to scroll up
and down if all files are not visible. A single click will scroll
one line (the scroll will continue as long as the mouse button is held
down), while a double click will scroll a whole page at a time.

Several files can be selected/unselected at once by normal 'dragging'.
The extremely simple implementation of this will be improved with an
updated version of QL2ST. I hope you can live with the current one
for the time being.

At the bottom of the dialog there are four buttons:
Select All        -   Selects all files on the disk for conversion
Invert selection  -   All selected files are unselected and vice versa
Convert           -   Do conversion of currently selected files
Cancel            -   Quit file conversion without doing anything

When 'Convert' is pressed, QL2ST starts going through all the selected
files one by one. After each file is loaded, the normal TOS file
selector will appear and you can give the name of under which you wish
the file to be stored. QL2ST will try to suggest a suitable name, but
since QDOS allows 36 charcter names and TOS only 8+3, you may well have
better ideas yourself.

For each file saved, an entry will be added to a file called _QDOS.NME
in the same directory. This entry will contain the full original file
information as well as the TOS name the file was given.
If the _QDOS.NME file is used with QLem v1.40 (see that manual), the
file can be called by it's original name under QDOS. This is very
useful for programs that searches for file under specific names.

The current _QDOS.NME scheme is not really very good and will be
improved in both functionality and handling in the future.


Johan Klockars
Skaragatan 8d
S-415 01 Gothenburg
SWEDEN

tel:     +46(0)31-844481
email:   rand@cd.chalmers.se  or  johan@rand.thn.htu.se
WWW/ftp: http://rand.thn.htu.se
