Sinclair QL is 42! - Report from the 3rd International QL User Meeting in Dormagen, Germany, May 2026
A report by Urs König (QLvsJAGUAR/COWO), crafted with the help of modern tools.
The Sinclair QL celebrated its 42nd birthday in 2026, and what better way to mark the occasion than by gathering some of the most knowledgeable and dedicated members of the QL community for a weekend of hardware, software, technical discussions, friendship and plenty of good humour?
From Friday 22 to Sunday 24 May 2026, the International QL User Meeting took place at the Hotel Restaurant Höttche in Dormagen, Germany, near Cologne. What officially carries the modest title of a "User Meeting" has, in reality, become a gathering of developers, hardware designers, software authors, preservationists and long-time enthusiasts who continue to keep the QL platform alive and evolving more than four decades after its introduction.
Building on the momentum created by the QL's 40th anniversary celebrations, the Dormagen meeting has become a regular fixture for the community. The 2026 edition marked the third consecutive annual gathering in Dormagen.
Participants
The international character of the event was once again impressive. Attendees travelled from Belgium, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and even the United States. Participants included:
Peter (Germany) - Q40, Q60, QL-SD, QIMSI, Qzero+QLbase
Ralf (Germany) - software
Stefan "Maskenlos" (Germany) - QIMSI production and marketing
Tobias "tofro" (Germany) - software
Urs "QLvsJAGUAR/COWO" (Switzerland) - QTop, QL/E, THE DISTRIBUTION, sinclairql.net
Wolfgang (France) - SMSQ/E, SMSQmulator
A few regular attendees unfortunately had to cancel, but the gathering still represented a significant part of the active QL community.
One notable absence remained the United Kingdom, the birthplace of Sinclair computers. Despite excellent travel connections between London and Cologne, no British attendees made the journey this year. Perhaps next year?
Friday - Arrival and Reunion
Friday was primarily an arrival day.
Nasta completed an impressive drive from Croatia, while Daniele combined the meeting with a family trip to Europe, visiting relatives in Italy before heading to Germany. The Swiss-Stuttgart group, unfortunately reduced to only three travellers this year, once again shared the journey. Thanks to heavy Pentecost holiday traffic, their expected seven-hour drive stretched into a full nine hours.
By evening, everyone had gathered in the hotel's traditional restaurant. Over dinner and later around the regulars' table, conversations quickly became animated. Topics ranged from family life, work or retirement, hobbies, politics, economics, current affairs and travel experiences to, unsurprisingly, every imaginable aspect of the QL universe where conversations quickly became technical. A seemingly simple question raised by Urs - why the original Sinclair QL uses a 15 MHz crystal instead of a 16 MHz crystal, resulting in a 7.5 MHz rather than 8 MHz CPU clock - evolved into an in-depth discussion led by Nasta and Oli. The debate eventually inspired Oli to present an impromptu "half-baked" teaser presentation entitled "The Sinclair QL's Custom ICs (ULAs)", providing a glimpse of what may become a full presentation at next year's meeting.
More than one beer was consumed, and many discussions continued well into the night.
Saturday - Hardware, Software and Endless Conversations
Saturday began with breakfast in small groups, where conversations from the previous evening seamlessly continued. Day visitors gradually arrived, and from 9:00 a.m. onwards the conference room filled with systems, equipment and enthusiastic participants preparing their workspaces.
Even before the official opening, numerous discussions were already taking place around the tables.
Detlef formally opened the meeting, and at 10:00 a.m. Peter started the presentation programme with a detailed progress report on the QL60 project and other developments including QIMSI and Qzero+QLbase. Particular interest was generated by the continued evolution of QIMSI and the introduction of genuine USB support for the QL, a concept that would have sounded almost science-fiction-like when the original machine was introduced in 1984.
As always, presentations were only one part of the experience. Equally important were the informal discussions around the many systems that participants had brought with them. Few communities offer such direct access to the people who actually design the hardware and write the software.
The remainder of the day combined formal presentations, demonstrations and extensive discussion around the many systems on the tables.
A particularly interesting side activity in the morning involved Paul and Urs exploring the ZX81. Attention focused on a faulty Memotech MEMOPAK 32K RAM expansion and, more importantly, the impressive new OpenSpand expansion module for the ZX81. Paul brought Urs up to date on recent Zeddy developments and refreshed old knowledge, enabling him to continue a long-postponed preservation project: rescuing COWO's original ZX81 programs from compact cassette tapes recorded in the early/mid 1980s and transferring them as .P files to modern SD card storage.
During the lunch break, Urs made a video tour of the meeting room, documenting the many systems on tables and capturing the very special atmosphere at that time when almost no humans were around and Paul's cute dog Emmi guarded the systems.
Outside, summer had already arrived. Temperature reached 30°C, making the conference room a welcome refuge for computer enthusiasts more accustomed to processor temperatures than weather forecasts.
The afternoon featured further presentations "The Sinclair QL's Custom ICs" by Oli and "The QL-SD ROM" by Marcel, followed by an open discussion where topics ranged from practical issues such as the default filename in QL-SD driver(s) for QLWA containers on SD cards, a potential FAT32 SD card driver with and without QL file-header support, to broader community matters including creator crowdfunding and support, user feedback, collaboration opportunities and potential for SMS/Stella on a new 68000 ASIC.
Urs also shot a whole lot of pictures of the event, handing over his iPhone to Wolfgang for the official group picture shot.
A good selection of pictures can be found in the Sinclair QL Picture Gallery (SQPG).
The Real Magic Happens Between the Talks
As valuable as the scheduled presentations were, much of the real magic happened between them.
Throughout the day, numerous spontaneous mini-workshops formed around individual tables. Some involved only two participants, while others quickly attracted small groups of interested observers.
Topics included CPU and FPU detection on QXL systems under SMSQ/E, explored by Diane and Wolfgang; a first glimpse of a port of a very well-known computer game to the QL, presented by Stefan under strict secrecy; Daniele's growing portfolio of QL-related projects; and an investigation into battery-backed real-time clocks in pre-ISS 6 QLs by Urs and Oli.
These informal sessions perfectly illustrated the strength of the QL community: direct access to the people designing hardware, writing software and preserving decades of accumulated knowledge. Another strength of the QL community remains its openness. Discussions were constructive, technically detailed and often surprisingly productive. Ideas were exchanged freely, problems analysed collectively and future projects considered from multiple perspectives.
As the day progressed, some participants began their journeys home, but many remained for the traditional Saturday evening gathering.
Dinner once again provided an opportunity to continue conversations that had started hours earlier. Technical discussions blended with personal stories, memories and plenty of laughter. By the end of the evening, most attendees were probably equally exhausted and inspired before finally retiring to their hotel rooms.
Sunday - Time to Say Goodbye
Sunday morning arrived all too quickly.
After a final shared breakfast, conversations resumed exactly where they had left off the night before. A few participants took one last opportunity to clarify technical details or discuss future plans. Most participants were already discussing next year's meeting before this year's had even officially ended.
Eventually, however, checkout time arrived. Handshakes were exchanged, equipment packed away and goodbyes said until next year.
The Swiss-German travel group enjoyed a much smoother return journey than on Friday. Thanks to lighter traffic, the drive home took between four and seven hours, depending on the final destination.
Summary
The International QL User Meeting in Dormagen demonstrated once again that the QL community remains remarkably active, innovative and welcoming 42 years after the Sinclair QL first appeared.
New hardware continues to be developed. Software projects continue to evolve. Preservation efforts remain strong. Most importantly, the people behind these projects continue to meet, share knowledge and inspire one another.
For many outside observers, that may seem remarkable. For those who spent a weekend in Dormagen, it simply felt normal.
The weekend produced countless ideas, new contacts, technical solutions and future plans. Judging by the conversations on Sunday morning, most participants are already looking forward to returning to Dormagen next year.
For a computer platform introduced in 1984, that is perhaps the most remarkable achievement of all.
As the Sinclair QL celebrates its 42nd birthday in 2026, Douglas Adams enthusiasts may smile knowingly at the number. After three days in Dormagen, however, one thing seems certain: while the Ultimate Question remains unknown, the future of the QL community is in very good hands.
QL forever!
Site produced and copyright (c): 1999-2026, Urs König
Page created: June 14th 2026 | Published: June 14th 2026 | Last Updated: June 14th 2026
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