Forum history?

A place to discuss everything Dragon related that doesn't fall into the other categories.
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roganjosh
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2021 3:40 pm
Location: Leeds

Forum history?

Post by roganjosh »

I'm curious about the history of this forum and how it relates to any spinoff. I have heard that there is also a facebook group for the Dragon. I'm wondering whether this (worldofdragon) forum happened first and that subsequently there was a partial exodus from it to facebook or whether the two groups just happened in parallel.

I haven't looked on facebook; I can't, I'm not a member. I take issue with having to hand over my DOB, a photograph and a scan of my passport/driving licence in order to get an account. However, would it be true to say that the facebook group is more active than this one? It would be a shame if so and if there was no sharing of ideas and projects between the groups.

As an example, as a Dragon newbie and after bringing up my 32s to 64K, the next kind of upgrade on my list was some form of RGB interface. That struck me as such an obvious project to do that I was surprised that there was precious little mention of such a thing in the hardware section. I have come across mention of "Phill's RGB board" (prime I assume?) and that Hoglet may have produced another at some stage (or maybe that was only the Atom one). So, for instance, were the details of those ever posted on one group and not the other?

Excuse me in the event that I've inadvertently raked up any sensitive past history.


Alan
bluearcus
Posts: 142
Joined: Wed Sep 07, 2016 4:45 pm

Re: Forum history?

Post by bluearcus »

Facebook and here kinda co-exist, along with the CoCo discord server and the Spanish Retro-wiki forum. Yes... this forum was active before Facebook and there's a lower level of 'chat' here than there used to be, but most projects get posted onto both once they reach a certain level of traction.

If you don't want to Facebook, it's worth considering the CoCoTalk and CoCoCrew vid/podcasts which collect up a lot of stuff, and the CoCo discord server too. Plus of course Retrowiki.es as I said (google translate is a great help over there).

On the RGB front there are starting to be a lot of options now.

* Phil's RGB board is one, but I'm not sure the extent to which that is 'in production'. Messaging him here may give an idea.
* The CoCoVGA is also an excellent option and provides enhancement as well as great crystal clear VGA out. Google it.
* Hoglet's RGB2HDMI boards are very good, but to be frank they do struggle a little with the Dragon's crappy 6847 YPbPr and PAL hacked together output, and they require some internal messing around with your machine and configuring. I personally like the simple HDMI-ness and great video capture options once you've got that signal... and the fact I can use the same solution on my retro bench for the Dragons, CoCo3, FM7 and BBC.
* A new option is the Pi Pico based Atom Pico VGA adapted to the Dragon, which is in the early stages of creation and may start to see serious adoption. Solutions based on this apprach could have some serious expansion capabilities going forwards.

Overall, it's all good. There are lots of options, and you can find out about things without having to FB, if you don't want to (understandable). Ask, and people will usually give good answers! Welcome!

Kind regards,

Mike
roganjosh
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2021 3:40 pm
Location: Leeds

Re: Forum history?

Post by roganjosh »

Thanks Mike for the detailed reply. Much appreciated. I prefer quiet and considered to loud and frequent so it looks like I've joined the right group. People can rest assured that this degree of posting is unusual for me.

Alan
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