EPROM Programming Shopping List

[zephyr]

The awesome GQ-4X programmer arrived early this morning, and it works like a charm (less than 4 seconds to burn and verify 16K on a 27C128). I am now the proud owner of a Dragon 64 with HD63C09E processor and Steve Woolham's Enhanced Dragon 64 ROMs v3.0. I can now verify that the v3.0 ROMs work perfectly under real Dragon 64 hardware, and are a joy to work with. I am now looking forward to experimenting with Steve Woolham's DragonCoCo ROMs.

Thanks Ken!

If anyone is planning of doing the same upgrade, please note that the Dragon64's IC18 is the "32 mode" ROM, and IC17 the "64 mode" ROM. The GQ-4X programmer is very easy to use, and there are several instructional videos available on YouTube. I picked mine up from a source in the UK for just over £70 brand new. I decided to use a 1.5 amp power supply (output set at 9 volts DC) to power my GQ-4X because I was worried that it would draw too much current from the USB port power supply, and over time cause damage my PC's motherboard.

Regards,
Steve

[KenH]

I am now the proud owner of a Dragon 64 with HD63C09E processor and Steve Woolham's Enhanced Dragon 64 ROMs v3.0. I can now verify that the v3.0 ROMs work perfectly under real Dragon 64 hardware, and are a joy to work with. I am now looking forward to experimenting with Steve Woolham's DragonCoCo ROMs.

Thanks Ken!

You will enjoy the dual Dragon-Coco roms even more as they really let you have the best of two worlds.
The thanks goes to you and Steve Woolham for creating and sharing these roms

BTW, the Rainbow magazine featured a column by Marty Goodman's Rainbow about a similar rom (although without the dual boot feature):

"For a while some companies (such as Super Choc in Canada) sold CoCo
ROMs modified for the Dragon, and the Los Angeles Users Group had a
number of members running Dragons with modified CoCo EPROMs in them.
These modifications resulted in a Dragon that thought it was a CoCo,
would print out through the parallel port, but could access the serial
port via a PRINT #-3. Because the Dragon was now pretty nearly a CoCo
from both hardware and software points of view, it could even work fine
with a normal CoCo disk controller plugged in."

Ken

[zephyr]

BTW, the Rainbow magazine featured a column by Marty Goodman's Rainbow about a similar rom (although without the dual boot feature):

"For a while some companies (such as Super Choc in Canada) sold CoCo
ROMs modified for the Dragon, and the Los Angeles Users Group had a
number of members running Dragons with modified CoCo EPROMs in them.
These modifications resulted in a Dragon that thought it was a CoCo,
would print out through the parallel port, but could access the serial
port via a PRINT #-3. Because the Dragon was now pretty nearly a CoCo
from both hardware and software points of view, it could even work fine
with a normal CoCo disk controller plugged in."

Which issues of Rainbow Magazine?

[KenH]

Rainbow March 1987, page 151