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Hi

Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:40 pm
by norris
Hello,
I don’t know if you have a new users section but have just joined today.
I have owned a Dragon 32 since the eighties(serial number 305370) and recently hearing of a recreation of a famous black box that everyone else had at school I thought of giving it an airing.
The last time I tried to load any cassette some twenty years ago nothing would load, no idea if it is because the cassette tapes have broken down or the play head on the cassette player has worn out but it would be nice to play the old games that I have (see list).Is there any way of rescuing these original tapes? I have one more game if I can find it (Rommel’s Revenge)
How do I down load games and can I play them on my PC? (As well as on the Dragon)
Can any tape cassette player be used? I do recall it was sensitive to volume control and I have a Cumana external disk drive, not sure why I bought that or if I have any drivers for it.
Thanks
A&F/GSH Screaming Abdabs
A&F Software Chuckie Egg
Algray Galactic Raiders
Blaby Cosmic Crusader
Darts
Golf
Laser Run
MacDougal’s Last Stand
Mutant War
Beyond Up Periscope
Cable Cave Fighters
Fantasy Fight
Computape Zak's Son
Creative Technology Pedro
Design Design Dark Star
Dragon Data Galax Attack
Ghost Attack (cartridge)
Hewson Consultants 3D Luna Attack
3D Spacewars
Imagine Legit
Impsoft Folly Farms Chicken Run
Fruity
Incentive Moon Cresta
J.Morrison Dragon Games Pack 4
Krypton Force Avenger
Mastertronic Bug Driver
Melbourne House Horace Goes Skiing
Software Hungary Horace
Microdeal Alcatraz 2
Android Attack
Cosmic Zap
Crash
Cuthbert In The Jungle
Dragon Invaders
Frogger
Golf
Intergalactic Force
Scarfman
Shock Trooper
Speed Racer
The King
Oasis Software Dragon Chess
Peaksoft Tim Loves Cricket
Quickbeam Software Shadow Master Plus
Salamander Software Dragon Trek
Softek Galatians
Software projects Jet Set Willy
Manic Miner
Tom Mix Software Electron
Wintersoft Return Of The Ring

Re: Hi

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:41 pm
by sorchard
Hi and welcome to the forum!

I'm pretty sure a lot of the games you have are available for download here in the archive so all is not lost even if you can't read the tapes.

You can run Dragon software on your PC using a suitable emulator. I use xroar (from http://www.6809.org.uk) and it works really well. I think that most of the downloadable Dragon software will work fine on an emulator.

You can also plug your Dragon cassette lead into the audio out jack on a Notebook, tablet, MP3 player or other digital playback device and load software that way. It does rely on you being able to create or get hold of a suitable wav file. Not all of the existing files will work on a real Dragon for various reasons, but this is gradually being fixed as we speak.

Re: Hi

Posted: Mon Sep 07, 2015 10:01 pm
by robcfg
Welcome to the Archive!

As Stew pointed out, most games are already preserved in our wiki. There are several utilities to convert .CAS file to .WAV files, and play them in any device.

Personally, I made a cable to connect my PC's audio out to the Dragon tape input, which makes quite easy and reliable to load games. You can find the cable on eBay.

Several games in your list are missing from the archive, and also it would be nice to have pictures from the Cumana drive. I'll take a look at your list, and if you don't mind sending me the tapes for preservation, I'll take care of dumping them and returning them to you.

Tell me if I can help you converting the games for your use.

Rob

Re: Hi

Posted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 11:41 pm
by norris
robcfg wrote:Welcome to the Archive!

As Stew pointed out, most games are already preserved in our wiki. There are several utilities to convert .CAS file to .WAV files, and play them in any device.

Personally, I made a cable to connect my PC's audio out to the Dragon tape input, which makes quite easy and reliable to load games. You can find the cable on eBay.

Several games in your list are missing from the archive, and also it would be nice to have pictures from the Cumana drive. I'll take a look at your list, and if you don't mind sending me the tapes for preservation, I'll take care of dumping them and returning them to you.

Tell me if I can help you converting the games for your use.

Rob
Do you have a link for the lead?
I also need a lead from the Dragon to a vga monitor,I have had look but I can't find a male 5 pin din plug to vga.
I would like the game restored and made available for general public use,so which games?
I need to check my collection against the list as I may have miss one or two?
I've looked at the Cumma 3.5 floppy drive and I think it was for the Amiga not Dragon.
I have a number of Dragon Users and Cuthbert Cronicles also a Boots book on the Dragon.

Re: Hi

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 5:23 am
by dragonmarce
Hello and welcome.
We hope you enjoy the forum !.

Another option so you can play is you get a CoCo SDC. With this you can load games .vdk format on an SD card!

Marcelo

Re: Hi

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 10:16 pm
by norris
dragonmarce wrote:Hello and welcome.
We hope you enjoy the forum !.

Another option so you can play is you get a CoCo SDC. With this you can load games .vdk format on an SD card!

Marcelo
Hi Marcelo,
Please tell me more!
My PC hates zip files and I have a hatred of programmes that unzip them,they cock my computer up!
I can't download and use Xroar or any games listed! :(

Re: Hi

Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2015 11:29 pm
by tormod
norris, if you are on Windows and need a program to unzip that also handles all kind of other formats, and is guaranteed free of adware, spyware and bloatware, try http://www.7-zip.org/

Re: Hi

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 5:40 am
by dragonmarce
norris wrote:
dragonmarce wrote:Hello and welcome.
We hope you enjoy the forum !.

Another option so you can play is you get a CoCo SDC. With this you can load games .vdk format on an SD card!

Marcelo
Hi Marcelo,
Please tell me more!
My PC hates zip files and I have a hatred of programmes that unzip them,they cock my computer up!
I can't download and use Xroar or any games listed! :(
Hello Norris.
CoCo SDC is a card that allows you to run games and programs through an SD memory.
Technical information:

http://cocosdc.blogspot.com.ar/

To buy one, you can contact Ed Snider in the Facebook group of owners dragon 32/64

Regards.
Marcelo

Re: Hi

Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2015 9:21 pm
by Alastair
dragonmarce wrote:To buy one, you can contact Ed Snider in the Facebook group of owners dragon 32/64
Or if you don't care for Facebook you can email Ed "Zippster" Snider for details (as of November 2014 prices were $40 plus $15 international shipping).