Dragon survey, what to ask for?

[Vato]

Hi,
I'm interrested to know more about the various Dragon models, what motherboard versions that follows what serial numbers etc.
It could be a nice help for people wanting to buy a certain issue of a model, if they had at least a faint idea of what issue of the motherboard a Dragon would have, based on the serial number.

So I'm thinking of setting up a web form, where people can "register" their Dragons, and a little data about it.

I was thinking a form along these lines:

Dragon model (D32, D64, D200, Finlux, Tano etc.)
Casing (cutout for serial port, colour etc.)
Serial no (the number underneath)
Motherboard serial no (the number on the two stickers on the motherboard)
Motherboard issue no (written on the motherboard, at least the newer issues)
Version of the CPU (Motorola, Hitachi, Thompson, etc.)
A comment field to add other comments.

Do you think I should add more fields like:
-bought in which country?
-etc
-etc

Comments and ideas welcome!

Vato

[munkeyboy]

Hello Vato.

Great idea! I know that the serial numbers did not get issued in one complete sequence, so if enough people submitted this information then it would at least give a better overall picture of how it was done.

Another category to consider would be the place of manufacture, this is on the serial number sticker on the underneath. Early D32's were made in Swansea and then later on in Port Talbot, Tano's in New Orleans, Eurohard machines in Caceres.
I don't know if the Finlux machines were made in the UK or under licence somewhere else?

Gareth

[Vato]

Gareth,
Thanks for the input!

I didn't know the 32's were made both in Swansea and Port Talbot, so that's definately a category to include.


Now we have fields for:
-type of Dragon
-type of casing
-made in
-serial number
-motherboard serial number
-motherboard issue number
-type of CPU


This is just the kind of response I was looking for. If anyone have more suggestions, please speak out!
What about power supplies? Wasn't there a couple of different versions?

Vato

[Vato]

What about this serial? I don't know what the "secondary" board are called? PSU-board?

Should I include that as well?

Vato

[munkeyboy]

The serial number on the board with the voltage regulator and composite video out(I don't know the official title) is well worth including.

One thing that you should consider including is to ask for the history of the machine, when some of them were repaired they have had boards, IC's and cases replaced. So maybe asking if the Dragon's provenance is known. For example, I have a Dragon 64 (from ebay) that was tested by Pulser Software in 1990, so I have no idea what parts may have been changed.

Gareth

[Vato]

I have included the power board serial (I chose to call it "power board" in the survey). I have also added a "Service status" field, where you can choose "Not repaired", "Repaired", or "Unknown", and a comments-field where people could explain what ever they know about what was repaired/changed. I have also added some "pop-up" descriptions for most of the fields, to help participants to find the right data.

If anyone wants to try the survey, you can find it here:

http://tinyurl.com/ksjpxm

Please give me feedback, so I can change it to the better.

Vato

[Alastair]

Another question that could be asked is "does this Dragon accept the double speed poke?"

There also seem to be various box styles, at least for the Dragon 32, see http://dragondata.worldofdragon.org/New ... mar-02.htm (Dragon logos) and http://dragondata.worldofdragon.org/New ... nov-01.htm (House on TV, and Chess on TV). By asking about the box it may help determine whether or not the box style has any bearing on the type of Dragon inside.

Alastair

P.S. As the Dragon is a British computer you should spell "grey" correctly

[Vato]

Another question that could be asked is "does this Dragon accept the double speed poke?"

There also seem to be various box styles, at least for the Dragon 32, see http://dragondata.worldofdragon.org/New ... mar-02.htm (Dragon logos) and http://dragondata.worldofdragon.org/New ... nov-01.htm (House on TV, and Chess on TV). By asking about the box it may help determine whether or not the box style has any bearing on the type of Dragon inside.

Alastair

P.S. As the Dragon is a British computer you should spell "grey" correctly

I've fixed the "grey"

I'll be including the box style with the following options: "Red/white D32 logo box", "D32 picture box with house on TV", "D32 picture box with chess on TV", "White D64 picture box", "US Tano box", "Other" and "Unknown".

Regarding the double speed poke;
Is it a definite yes/no answer to that question, or are there some Dragons that will accept it, but then crash after a while?

Vato

[Alastair]

Regarding the double speed poke;
Is it a definite yes/no answer to that question, or are there some Dragons that will accept it, but then crash after a while?

As far as I know, no Dragon crashes straight away rather that after a few minutes some will crash or hang, that's certainly the case with mine.

Alastair

[Vato]

As far as I know, no Dragon crashes straight away rather that after a few minutes some will crash or hang, that's certainly the case with mine.

Alastair

Ok,
I'll add a field with the answers "Yes", "No" and "Unknown" to the "Double speed poke" question, and add a describtion to let it run a few minutes if anyone wants to test it. BTW. what was that poke again??

Vato