One challenge I face with the QL is that much of the software is written with the expectation of running on MDv1, which can be problematic if your drive malfunctions or your aging cartridge fails to read properly.
I’ve been creating my own floppy versions of software from the QL archive. Sometimes, it’s straightforward enough to edit the basic loader and get the software running, but when that doesn’t work, I’m left stuck.
As a novice, I really appreciate when something "just works" in an intuitive way. The Pico drive might be exactly that. Last Christmas, I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a pre-made Pico drive, and it’s been incredibly impressive.
Having a FAT32 solution that allows you to transfer virtual microdrive images from your PC to an SD card is a game-changer. There’s no need to worry about losing the header file, which is a huge relief.
There are plenty of MDV images available online, though not all of them are compatible with the Pico. It seems there’s no universally agreed-upon digital MDV format, but the Pico works with about 80% of the files I’ve tried. While it’s a bit of trial and error, an 80% success rate is still pretty good, and it gave me a lot of confidence when using the Pico.
Overall, the Pico drive is an incredibly useful and robust data storage solution, and I imagine it’s relatively inexpensive to produce. If you can get your hands on one, it’s well worth it.
Here is the 3D case I made
This version is for the older PCB style
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