I got a Dragon 32!

[Commodore]

Ah! So that is a pretty big difference then. I presume the TRS-80 PSU certainly isn't Dragon compatible then!

[Commodore]

BIG NEWS!

My Dragon 32 arrived back yesterday, and courtesy of Sorchard's repair skills and the diagnostics of Sixxie I now have a fully functioning Dragon 32!

So far I have loaded and had a quick go on Chuckie Egg (a game that I can actually play!) and Airball.
From what I have seen so far I'm very impressed with what was possible on this machine. Airball in particular is a very smart looking game, with some pretty good sound.
Did the Dragon have a dedicated sound chip? How many voices did it have?
I love the Isometric games on the Spectrum, so it was nice to see such a good one on the Dragon.

I also tried Tetras, but at the last moment I got I/O error (probably a volume issue) but I tried typing EXEC anyway and it worked, well sort of, I had no control over the pieces, I assume I was meant to use the arrow keys.

Next job is to hack an old Scart cable apart and attach a 5 pin DIN plug to make myself a SCART lead. I'll be honest though, the modulator in the Dragon must be a bit better than in the Commodore and Sinclair offerings as the picture and sound are pretty good using that. It looks like the same unit though, so maybe I just got lucky.

Anyway many thanks Sorchard especially but also, Sixxie, and Rolo.

[jedie]

btw. you use a TFT as Display? Then please insert it in the List here: http://archive.worldofdragon.org/index. ... e=Monitors

The Dragon didn't have a dedicated sound chip

[Commodore]

Thanks for the info Jedie.

Actually I still use a Sony CRT portable, very 80s!

[zephyr]

Does your Dragon 32 run OK at double speed?

[Commodore]

Not tried that. I'll give it a go and let you know.

I'm assuming it can't damage the hardware in any way.

[zephyr]

Not tried that. I'll give it a go and let you know.

I'm assuming it can't damage the hardware in any way.

Highly improbable. In 30+ years I have never heard of a Dragon computer being damaged by the double speed poke. I have run some of my own Dragons (32 and 64) continually at double speed for several days.

[Commodore]

OK, thanks for the clarification Zephyr.

I thought it unlikely as so far as I am aware none of my other 8 bit machines can be damaged by anything typed in; I do have a vague recollection of a *UNPLUG command that could cause a BBC Master a few problems, if I recall correctly.

[zephyr]

Not tried that. I'll give it a go and let you know.

Did it run OK at double speed (POKE65495,0)?

[Alastair]

I thought it unlikely as so far as I am aware none of my other 8 bit machines can be damaged by anything typed in; I do have a vague recollection of a *UNPLUG command that could cause a BBC Master a few problems, if I recall correctly.

There is a poke that can kill some Commodore PETs so it pays to be wary, but beyond crashing my D32 the double speed poke has never harmed my double speed incapable Dragon.