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Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Fri Aug 21, 2015 12:11 pm
by ocb
Hi All,

I just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm a 40 something Scot, whose first computer was a Dragon32 - bought in Oct 1982 (from Dixons, Motherwell). It did well, as both my brother and myself cut our programming/tech teeth on it - and both of us are still in that sector.

I'm happily re-discovering the Dragon32, and it's great to see there are still enthusiasts out there.

Unfortunately I lost my collection not long ago (was in an attic...hadn't looked at it for years admittedly). I had all the Dragon User mags going back from almost the first edition right up until nearly the end. I had around 70 cassettes (almost all originals). Joysticks were alas knackered.

I'm looking forward to finding out about the Xroar and MESS emulator, and will definitely be buying a working D32 so my young kids have some experience of early computers.

I've got some catching up to do on this forum and other internet resources - so Ill leave off asking questions until I've done some reading.
Ok, except the obvious...I hope there are ways to avoid loading from cassette! I *do not* miss that!!

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 4:51 am
by dragonmarce
Hello. Welcome to the forum!

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:24 am
by Stig
Welcome mate :)

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 10:48 am
by Bosco
Hi ocb and welcome. :)

When I was a kid I had an early Dragon 32, white+red packaging and boxy joysticks. Regretably I've lost track of it's whereabouts so last year bought another off ebay for around £30. Would love to find my original Dragon though. :D

Btw. You can use a phone/tablet to avoid loading from a cassette.

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:23 pm
by KenH
ocb wrote:Hi All

Ok, except the obvious...I hope there are ways to avoid loading from cassette! I *do not* miss that!!
The Dragon has made a lot of progress in this respect. There are a few great modern storage alternatives which are much faster and more reliable than cassettes...
Check out Tormod's uDw server and DWLOAD rom
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4981

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sat Aug 22, 2015 8:49 pm
by tormod
Hi ocb and dragonmarce, welcome to the forum!

Just today I added more information about DriveWire and DWLOAD to the wiki. There is a lot of information in many forum posts, but I hope the wiki pages can give a better top-bottom introduction to the topic: http://archive.worldofdragon.org/index. ... =DriveWire

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 5:20 am
by dragonmarce
tormod wrote:Hi ocb and dragonmarce, welcome to the forum!

Just today I added more information about DriveWire and DWLOAD to the wiki. There is a lot of information in many forum posts, but I hope the wiki pages can give a better top-bottom introduction to the topic: http://archive.worldofdragon.org/index. ... =DriveWire
Thank you very much for your welcome message Tormod !.

I did not know much about Drivewire. The information in the link is clear and well explained.

It is a great community and I am happy that many people continue to develop programs, games and hardware.

Long live the Dragon!

Best regards,
Marcelo

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 7:31 pm
by ocb
More than happy to do emulation for the kids. No point torturing them with cassette loading that fails just at the end - that's one experience not worth emulating!

Anywhere that sells repro analog Dragon joysticks? It was a superb controller-smooth, good resolution (256x256?) - and I can't imagine playing dragon games without one...

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:03 pm
by Alastair
ocb wrote:More than happy to do emulation for the kids. [...]
Anywhere that sells repro analog Dragon joysticks?
Have a look at the last ten, or so, minutes of "Original Gamer Stevie Strow's" YouTube video on using XRoar. If you can obtain an original Dragon or CoCo joystick (res. 64x64 if I remember correctly) then the mentioned USB adapter may be of interest to you, I can't vouch for it myself - nor give any prices - since I don't own an adapter.

Re: Hello all - ex Dragon owner

Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2017 9:14 pm
by drmarkb
Hello!
I have to admit that I like cassettes, so much so that if I have a cassette that does not work I will actually blank the cassette and re record the wav onto the cassette, or if it is totally knackered a new C15. Very, very sad, I know, but somehow it feels like cheating otherwise. I never had an issue withwasting a couple of minutes even in the 80s' The only problem I do have with cassettes is on the longer loaders like Cashman and Buzzard Bait, both of which are favourites of my 6 year old daughter and are ludicrously long.....