Links to StigsWorld and JaysVintageJunk (both done Dragon 32 videos) is in the video description above! Copy and paste seems to have stopped working in comments =/

having watched this and had lots of memories stirred I did a bit of reading up. As you mentioned you can control the cassette using MOTOR ON and MOTOR OFF in BASIC. However, you can also type AUDIO ON and AUDIO OFF to play the cassette through the TV speakers. I used to play music tapes through it when I was a kid. There's also a game called 'Drone Datatank' which used this feature to add effects to the game as you played it - if you can get hold of it, it might be a nice thing to feature.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks! Was aware of MOTORON (I used that to test but forgot to mention in the video), but I wasn't aware of AUDIOON =O Will try that next time I look at the Dragon!

I got my Dragon 32 (bought new by me in 1982 or 1983) out of the attic to play some old games with my son. There are some websites with audio files on them which are recordings of the casettes - I used the headphone socket of my laptop on max volume to play these into the Dragon - this worked a treat and I would recommend this to anyone who does not have access to an old mono casettte player. Then you have to find a television with a tuner but that's another story!

Quality repair! Interesting to see all different power designs of retro computers. The Dragon is quite a odd one with the special transformer and all regulators inside the machine.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D I forgot to show it but the case has brass screw hole mounts too! (I will show that in the next video on the Dragon). Try finding another 80s computer with quality screw mounts like that lol!!!

Love watching you videos over the years. I like how your enthusiasm for each repair. Im kinda like this in my IT job as im a bit of a perfectionist myself. Keep up the good work 👍

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks my friend =D

I've seen many boards where they don't maintain pin-1 alignment. It should be noted though that this is most commonly used when they put more focus on data or address bus alignment.

brilliant as always. I learn so much just by watching

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

Haha, I had a mate with a Dragon back in 1987/88 near Coventry :) Excellent work, as always :)

@JohnYoung77

3 жыл бұрын

Meant to say he was called Trevor also heh

Nice repair Chris, another fine system brought back to life, hat's off sir.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Cheers again mate =D

Super video! Lost over an hour on a bank holiday Monday watching Gadge' Man! Defo worth it. I'm sure I had a version of that controller on a BBC Model B years ago. The button is as you say... but the one on the BBC is the same ref button as you installed on the RRG AR for us.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks mate =D

That was fantastic Chris it's the first time I've seen inside a dragon, very informative and educational can't wait for the follow up vids. It's good picture on composite and the sound is pretty good too.....a great review of this iconic micro.......Kim 😋😋😋

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D Much appreciate as always =D

Beautiful work. Wish we'd got these over in the US!

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

@alhartman66

6 жыл бұрын

They were here for a short time. A company called Tano produced an American NTSC version of the Dragon. A company called California Digital had them for some time. But, has now sold out. You can spot them on eBay every so often.

As you were talking about the problem with the crystal shorting I was cleaning a PCB and happened to be right above a crystal. They put a bit of clear heat shrink over the can I guess to prevent a problem like you were experiencing.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

That's a nice fix!!! =D BTW - I will give you a shout out when I do another Dragon 32 video, either when I do a vid on testing RAM, or converting to a CoCo. I had filmed this video around 2 weeks ago, otherwise I would have mentioned your recent TRS-80 video.

That key mechanism is certainly one of the weirder things I've ever seen. I kinda dig that. Anyway, the computer looks great! Nicely done. :)

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

Another great vid Gadge, nice one. Looking forward to the revisit.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Cheers mate =D

@Neffers_UK

6 жыл бұрын

No probs, I appreciate all of your vids, they keep me entertained, some times even watch them ten to twenty times :p

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

=D

Thanks for showcasing these exotic PCs from the British Isles. It would be impractical to import these to North America, but it's nice to get a feel for them without worrying about shipping, customs duties, voltage and PAL conversions.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Glad its of interest =D I imagine shipping being costly on these as they are quite large and heavy =/

@Luis45ccs

4 жыл бұрын

Find DRAGON TANO ntsc and 110 V

Nice video... :-) So nice to see such a magnificent beast rise to it's former 'glory'!! It was sadly overshadowed by the ZX Spectrum and C64 here in the UK, but it was still a valiant, and good computer back in the early '80s... I used to sell them in a small independent computer store, which also had a Tandy dealership, so we also sold the Tandy TRS-80 Colour Computers too, and most of the game cartridges and accessories from the Tandy worked just fine on the Dragon 32. Both great machines, but by then, the competition was moving way ahead of them with the colour graphics, and sound chip capabilities.... the C64 had the SID chip, the Atari had their own advanced system, and the ZX Spectrum was just about to realise the Yamaha AY sound chip in it's 128k models..... so the Trash-80 (it it was 'affectionately' known!!), and the Dragon both fell far behind.... but for what they were, and seeing this Dragon get it's wings back, was very nostalgic, and satisfying for me! Many thanks for this video! :-)

@GadgetUK164

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D Yes, the poor old Dragon has a lot of competition at the time for sure! This one holds some nostalgia for me as it was what my friend Trevor used to own.

Your -5v is used for biassing the bases of the FETs in the DRAM, each chip only pulls ~200uA, so 16 of them will be 3mA. As you noted the regulator will not heat at all, so its not required to heatsink it. I imagine originally insulated and bolted down just for mechanical stability.

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info there =D

Top work again mate, love your videos. 👍👍

@GadgetUK164

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

I hate how scalpers bought the tano dragons back when there was new old stock of unsold NTSC boxed dragon 64s in a warehouse you could buy them for $50 USD, now they're asking for 300+, now that they sold out

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

I forgot to mention those tano dragons!!!! I went looking for one a few years ago to find they had all sold out, and as you say - re-sellers selling at stupid prices =(

Wonderful and laborious work in this video. Congrats ! . BTW you should use some filtering to record the videos now that you've got that super shiney keyboard ;)

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D LOL, yeah, the keyboard is pretty shiney lol

@FernandoelChachi

6 жыл бұрын

Please don't miss my other post here, the black binding plastic covers, they are so useful...

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

I didn't =D

Interesting about the Tandy similarity, can't say I've heard anyone mention that, good way to pool both communities with mutual love and make them less obscure in the mindshare. Loud colors compared to Tandy. That Playstation cable is light gun related, you can increase the accuracy by running one through the Composite line, that and the back ports changed with PS1 revisions so they had to adapt to that. Analogy bits heh, yeah it all had it's quirks with manual driven remedies. A lot less tape loading in my region but music and VHS needed a little added tension sometimes in my experiences.

@stevesstuff1450

4 жыл бұрын

@unrepeatable raddish : Yeah... You could use a lot of the Tandy cartridges, tapes, and controllers on the Dragon 32 with NO issues at all - there were an odd one or two that didn't work, but most did.... That's what I found when I worked in a small independent retailer that had a Tandy dealership associated with us... so we also had the TRS-80 Colour Computers in store at the same time as the Dragons.... Very inter-compatible!! Good machines both, except of course here in the UK the ZX Spectrum and C64's ruled the gaming landscape at the time - and both of them too being fabulous computers of the day.... the Spectrum being the most popular, and giving many of todays best known producers of games their start, by doing the 'bedroom programming' thing! Companies like EA, Activision, and Rare all started with the ZX Spectrum. But all that said, the Dragon, and TRS-80 'CoCo' were good computers for the time too....

Great video by the way - thanks for posting - some useful techniques there for working with these types of boards. Are there any recommendations for where to source some of the older ICs in the UK - not necessarily just for the dragon 32, but other older machines as well.

@GadgetUK164

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! Often eBay is your best bet! These days its getting harder to find many custom chips though - you may need to find another faulty system for parts.

Great vid. Amazing to learn about a computer made in Wales. ‘Rheolau dreigiau coch’ translates to ‘Rules of the red dragons’ though, If you want ‘Red dragons rule!’ you need something like ‘Deigiau coch am byth!’ 👍

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D "Rules of the Red Dragons" sounds just as good to me lol =D Blame Google Translate!!!

I'd love to find a Dragon for my collection an Archimedes and a Sinclair QL.

Epic video, I had to watch it in 3 stints. UGH!, what a game. I played it on the C64 and a lot of people look at me blank when I describe it to them.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Hehe - yeah, UGH! is still fun to play! I didn't even know there was a C64 version - I will check that out =D

Great video as usual. I have a Dragon64. You can use a CASDuino to load games, I asked the guys to support Dragon .CAS files as I thought they might be the similar as MSX files and the guys managed to do it. :) Also you can build a Digital-to-Analogue converter for the joystick to use normal 9-Pin Dtypes. They work well, especially as many of the games are Spectrum conversions which were designed for digital joysticks.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D Yeah. the TZXDuino works too - with the right firmware. I will get another with Dragon firmware soon =D

Nice job ! It was always obvious to me that duplicated tapes for home computers were usually done on the cheapest, worst quality tape they could buy! Dubbing a rom to a new tape always seems fine for me. You could put a little square of kapton tape under the crystal.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, re-recording can work well to fix a damaged tape =D The kapton would also work as you suggest there!

@Luis45ccs

4 жыл бұрын

if the tape is damaged it can be recorded on another cassette and then pass the tape to the shells (casing) of the original cassette to keep its original appearance on the outside

Highly entertaining and educational

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

You should get a 3D print pen that can extrude ABS to repair things like that joystick casing and broken screw posts and stuff.

Always great to see these but might I suggest, given the way the words sound, that 'Garbage to Gold' would make more sense? just a suggestion, keep up the good work :)

@HappyCodingZX

6 жыл бұрын

oh, and Junk to Gem... sorry, bit of a wordhead :P

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks - excellent suggestion! I've changed the title =D

Always wanted a Dragon 32.

OMG. I finally finished watching this vid. No fault of yours -- I've been bad lately, watching a lot of videos half-way through. No to finish the Acorn BBC vids.😜

My advice about the missing part of plastic in the joystick and that you've covered with sticky tape: Buy some black soft plastic covers for binding photocopies or papers if you know what I'm talking about. They are made of a soft rugged plastic that you can cut with your scissors and use for a lot of things like this.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, I may revisit that as you suggest =D I am sure it could be better yet!

@FernandoelChachi

6 жыл бұрын

Yep, you'll like it. In this case the tape around the button is a bit of a crappy solution. Using these plastic covers it won't look as original, but it won't atract your attention, it will look nice I guess. Cheers. BTW I'm trying to make a FM radio for the C=64 eab.abime.net/showthread.php?p=1243988#post1243988

That firebutton was hilarious. I guess switches of any kind were hard to come by in Stockton...

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Hahah, yes - totally insane replacement lol =D

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your Patreon support btw - Much appreciated =D

@TheDeeplyCynical

6 жыл бұрын

It looked like a doorbell button

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

LMAO

@loganjorgensen

6 жыл бұрын

Or maybe a fridge light switch, they're that type.

Great video. I love videos like this, but it`s the first time I got to see something from you. I follow Ben Heck, modern vintage gamer, 8-bit guy, curiousMarc, eevBlog, ... for a long time. I should have seen this earlier. Thanks for the great content. subscribers+1

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

Some tape recorders used a DIN socket instead of or as well as the more common audio jack sockets, so that could be the point of the DIN to DIN lead you have.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info =D

yes, the Dragon tape uses a remote signal. You press play on a compatible tape recorder and it won't play until you type 'CLOAD / CLOADM'. One game actually made use of this with a tape that played stuff at certain points as you progressed in a game.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

=D Yeah, I worked out (but forgot to mention) you can use MOTORON and I think MOTOROFF to switch the relay on and off.

@HappyCodingZX

6 жыл бұрын

sounds familiar. I'm not totally certain but I think it might have been possible to get whatever was on the tape to play out of the TV speakers. Can't remember if it was a trick or a command however.

@Luis45ccs

4 жыл бұрын

@@HappyCodingZX Yes, Audio ON/OFF en basic, any ML too

Try soaking really stiff cables in almost boiling water from a kettle and then stretch them out, it really works wonders.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

Very nice keyboard on the Dragon 32!

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Yeah, it's really nice to use =D

@MarkTheMorose

6 жыл бұрын

No pound symbol, though; odd for a UK micro.

I think people seeing those 7905 and bolting them down must happen a lot. I had one in like that, I replaced it with one of the isolated tab versions of the 7905 and bolted it back.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Sorry I re-uploaded and lost your comment =D Thanks for reposting!!! =D

@32:26 I saw that one coming lol.... "!F UGH .K" Great work.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Hehe :o) Thanks!

Nice. I used to have a cartridge that would retoken Coco basic programs. Still have my Dragon but joysticks are long gone. Might knock up an adapter.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info!!! I had no idea there was a cart for that!

@alhartman66

6 жыл бұрын

You save the BASIC program as ASCII by appending ,A after the file name on either computer. Then, you can load it on the other system and re-save it normally.

I am going to set up my own retro channel and the restoration videos are going to be called FFtF, or "From F**ked to Fabulous"

We had a Tandy Colour Computer in the family of which the Dragon is a clone. It was a fantastic machine. The Dragon was in some ways better thanks to its better keyboard.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

The Tandy looks cool too though =D

@clangerbasher

6 жыл бұрын

Well one advantage of the chicklet type keyboard was that Tandy included drop on keyboard templates with some packages. Whether that was a feature when they started to design the box or something that occurred to them afterwards I don't know. It was a lot more advance than our other box a Spectrum. The MicroSoft Basic was very powerful. I remember it even included commands to start and stop cassette recorder motor.

@jasejj

6 жыл бұрын

clangerbasher The Dragon wasn't a clone of the Tandy as such. They both were direct implementations of Motorola's reference design.

@clangerbasher

6 жыл бұрын

Oh! Right that's interesting. I happily sit corrected. :)

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, I did wonder about that - it's no coincidence that nearly every chip is a Motorola chip lol =D

I always replace the old disk bypass caps with modern low profile 100nf caps when I rework

There was a program in 1985 that showed the start end and exec addresses of machine code games do you know where I can download it ???? I don’t recall it’s name though thanks lots

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

Sorry I cannot help - not aware of that program =/ If I discover I will let you know!

@funnypotato100

5 жыл бұрын

I think the program you are looking for is called Catalog or similar. I used to use it to memory dump games to tape (using CSAVEM??) - very sketchy on the details though - I was 10 at the time. I'm sure it will be knocking about on some of the archive sites out there.

Another excellent video. The reason the Dragon32 and the TRS80 COCO are so similar is they are both based on the example computer that Motorola published for the 6809 CPU. That button on the joystick is bang on for the original by the way. In all the Dragons I've worked on the -5V reg is just sat upright. The only thing you need to do to get a COCO disk cart to operate in the dragon is swap its ROM with a moded dragon disk cart ROM it's not 100% Dragon compatible even then but if all your doing is loading games it works fine. I was considering getting a COCO but now may do as you mentioned and mod a dragon into one would be cool to be able to which from dragon ROM to COCO ROM I know that can be done with the disk cart too.

@Jayoldstuff1

6 жыл бұрын

Oh and thanks for another mention ;)

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, I did wonder if they had followed the reference design - too coincidental, but also nearly every chip is Motorola - that's not a coincidence lol =D

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

You're welcome =D

@alhartman66

6 жыл бұрын

You can't switch a Coco to a Dragon just by switching the ROM. They keyboard matrix on the two computers are different.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

You can if you modify the ROM keyboard scanning routine! But I was thinking of a different solution rather than a ROM mod for that. A mod also needs to be done to the ROM anyway for the memory detection.

Hello to Gary Proctor

Coco cartridges may work, but if they use the keyboard, they will have problems due to the difference in the matrices.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, that's a good point! I will be playing around with the CoCo stuff on this Dragon at some point when I get time.

My first computer

hello does any1 know about !Lander on the risc os acorn a3010 or a3000 computers???? does any1 recall it had sound or not????

Thanks for this. I have two of these and now I know where to start and how NOT to start!

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

Hehe =D No worries!

Good day bud. I've just found your channel and I too have a dragon 32. I'm not hugely tech minded but I wonder if you could give me a bit of advice. I plugged it in and you can hear a click, the components inside get warm but all I've got is a blank black screen. I tried tuning into another channel(36) and you can sort of see something scrolling up. I'm also plugged into an analogue TV. Any help would be much appreciated 👍

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

I would make up (or buy) a composite lead! I think I mentioned how I made my own in this video! The problem with RF these days is you will find it almost impossible on modern TVs to tune into the crusty analog signal when using RF. It's worth checking the voltages as I showed too - both on the PSU and internally.

@mikekelly9129

5 жыл бұрын

@@GadgetUK164 cheers for your advice mate, I'll get myself a multimeter and test the voltage etc and get myself an up to date lead 👍

A switchable Dragon/Tandy would be super sweet, I want one of those! I'd be really interested in seeing if you could pull this off. :)

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

It can totally be done - I just need to find time and motivation to do it. It's on my list, it might be a month or two yet though as I've got other stuff I want to focus on first.

Just had a look a some stock photos and regulator is mounted in the same way as you have mounted yours upright.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

That's good to know! It could be mounted as I described (with isolation etc), but its stone cold so doesn't need it I guess.

Microdeal didn't get away with their (licensed from a US firm) clone of Pitfall for long. Activision understandably were displeased, I think Microdeal had to withdraw their Cuthbert game.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

LOL =D I am amazed they didn't take them to court!

@MarkTheMorose

6 жыл бұрын

They almost did: archive.org/stream/popular-computing-weekly-1984-07-26/PopularComputing_Weekly_Issue_1984-07-26#page/n0/mode/2up This news, as the magazine notes, came one week after Microdeal took a pirate to court for selling copies of their games.

I had a think about the test rom. Use beeps not flashes. Probably easier to init sound than video on that thing.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

It might not be that hard - seems to be memory mapped, although sound might be easier as you say! I need to find a Dragon developer document somewhere later I think.

Great, all perfect, Dragon 64 has another ROM and can boot in 32 mode Regarding the Joystick, I would suggest that you put a 2nd button, but it depends on whether you get the cable with the appropriate wires and the co-connector, at least in Coco there is interesting proposal to make the list of coconut cartridges usable in dragon vice versa, or I have almost all coconut and I have a DRAGON Tano ntsc, I will try to make the list +Suscript

9364C is a 65536 bit ROM. 300ns access speed

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info =D

Isn't that label directly over one of the "ouch hot" chips? Might explain why they ripple.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

It may be heat from the board and regulator in general! I can imagine it getting hot in the case!

Good work

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

There are two ROMS because one is the Standard Colour BASIC, and the second one upgrades it to Extended Colour BASIC.

@mikemiller1208

5 жыл бұрын

Not in the Dragon. Microsoft Basic was licensed (and provided by Microsoft) as a single monolithic Extended Color Basic implementation - it just happened to be in 2 x 8k mask ROMs.

@Luis45ccs

4 жыл бұрын

@@mikemiller1208 Is true, Al Hartman say in COCO

the lm1889 is the video ic,same one in the 16 an 48k spectrums

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, yes - doh!!! That will teach me not to just speculate what something is based on a part number! There is an op amp around that area for the tape interface though.

@trojan20112011

6 жыл бұрын

the tape is controlled by one of the 6821's,and relay through a transistor to turn it on and off,from memory motor on command,there is one to turn the audio on like coco's but i cant remember what that is at the mo that would help if you wanted to hear it loading,and yes there is two roms,something like two 2764 in mask form,the machines do use the same schematics laid down by motorola

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

I believe the input and output goes via an op amp though?

@trojan20112011

6 жыл бұрын

yes,indeed it does ,then on to the very same 6821 as its a i/o controller

@trojan20112011

6 жыл бұрын

you can even add the rs232 interface that the 64 has

Who the actual **** put that bedside lamp switch on that stick!!!!!! 😂😂 Butchers!!

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

I know lol - its crazy =D

@Faginrs500

6 жыл бұрын

GadgetUK164 - Retro Gaming Repairs & Mods BTW... the button you have now put on is correct. There are a couple of unbutchered sticks for sale on eBay.

@electronash

6 жыл бұрын

Faginrs500 You'd be surprised how often I saw that kind of "mod" years ago on machines from the classifieds or local tip. lol Most of them were far worse than what you'd find on the average eBay purchase now, especially if the previous owner was an old-skool HAM. The golden rule was to ALWAYS check the mains plug first, and find the usual 13 Amp fuse, or fuses wrapped in foil / replaced with nails. lol Used to see a lot of computer PSUs replaced with one from a Scalextric, and they wondered why there was so much noise on the video output. sigh Mains cables replaced with doorbell wire was always a fun one.

@electronash

6 жыл бұрын

Oh yeah - I'm pretty sure most of the Dragon 32 transformers actually WERE used on Scalextric sets, or model railways. Obviously AC though, hence the large caps and regs in the machine. One thing I recall as a kid from messing with the Dragon 32 is that you would get a nice "tingle" by touching the top pins of the power switch because I think the trafo is 24V. lol

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks - great =D

Search for A09 6809 assembler. It's a free dnld and works great. Runs on a PC. Cheers.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks =D

www.dragondata.co.uk/tech/circuit-diag/D32/OKI/D32-OKI321-CPU.gif IC17 (top right) it's another ROM - as A0-A12 is 8192 addresses it may be that they needed more than 8k and effectively added A13 by using that 74LS138 demuxer with low outputs to pull the chip enable low on either one or the other ROM at a time.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your detailed info there =D It's strange because documentation I found in a few places seemed to suggest the CoCo has 2 x ROM chips and the Dragon has one, when clearly the Dragon has two... Unless one is kernal or something?!?

Will it fly or fry again? Gadget decides the first option.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

LOL!!! That would have been a great title too!!! Loving the ideas that people are coming up with for video titles =D

@104d_3rr0r_vince

6 жыл бұрын

Love ya too mate, keep up the great work.

Isn't the Dragon still being sold. I seem to remember new ones being sold somewhere.

@GadgetUK164

3 жыл бұрын

Yes, there was a company in the US that had loads of stock of these still, but I think they all sold =(

Curse them missing screws 🙂

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Haha :o)

Scart lead for PlayStation piggy back video plug for lightgun

use asm6809 which is totally free - great little compiler you just write your opcodes in a text file and then it builds them into an assembled hex.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, awesome!!! I've been searching high and low and mostly found linux based compilers so far =/ Will give that a go =D

There's a Device called the CocoSDC ( cocosdc.blogspot.com/ ) That will work on the Dragon to store disk images on an SD-Card. CocoSDC in a Dragon: permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.hardware.tandy.coco/93544

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info! Will check that out!! =D

o0 wouldn't a Lager work better than an IPA?

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

:o)

The IC17 (ROM) has been replaced on your Dragon32.. possibly there was a problem with it originally, or it was an upgrade.. see worldofdragon site for more details.. archive.worldofdragon.org/images/3/3e/Dragon32_PCB_Top%28PC10087_Issue6%29.jpg

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info there!!! I've been wondering about that ROM for a few weeks now lol, and you've solved it for me =D

@robbiew73

6 жыл бұрын

I've got a Dragon32 (not that I can recall opening it up though) and I've also got a Tandy Colour Computer 2 with 64k Extended Basic.. so I know most of the quirks of these machines from years ago. There was a bug in the original Dragon ROM, because they essentially cloned it from the Tandy and changed a few minor things - that was the major reason why Dragon Data was sued by Tandy Corp. The DEFUSR(0) command is buggy on the Dragon32 - that's the one give away! Your IC17 could be an attempt to rectify that bug, or the original got fried and it was a spare inserted in its place.

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the info there =D

i'm pretty sure every single game on the Dragon was a RIP off off other systems games. still cool though

@Luis45ccs

4 жыл бұрын

Dragon has many original games

How did you manage to get such nice video output? Mine is super blurry and I can't get around this problem :/ Here is a pic of mine D32 connected via composite. i.imgur.com/8a2qAf8.png

@GadgetUK164

5 жыл бұрын

It might need recapping - it could be that the composite cable you are using is not very well shielded or too long perhaps? Final thing might be the fact I grounded that crystal on the PCB there, but I suspect that relates to RF more than anything.

@retrohaxblog

5 жыл бұрын

@@GadgetUK164 Good points, however, I've already recapped it :( I'll check crystal thing but I suspect LM301 opamp is dodgy. I've just ordered a few of 'em :) Sorry for noob questions but I've never run this machine before so I didn't even know that a video output is crappy until I saw your video lol :D

instant like :)

Don't know if this is of use to you but includes upgrade to 64 archive.worldofdragon.org/index.php?title=Dragon_32_-_64K_Upgrade

@GadgetUK164

4 жыл бұрын

Awesome - thanks!! =D

OMG. I finally finished watching this vid. No fault of yours -- I've been bad lately, watching a lot of videos half-way through. No to finish the Acorn BBC vids.😜

@GadgetUK164

6 жыл бұрын

Haha! Sorry it was so long, and part 2...

@MindFlareRetro

6 жыл бұрын

No need to apologize. It was very interesting; it just took me a long time to sit my butt down and watch.

@MindFlareRetro

6 жыл бұрын

No need to apologize. It was very interesting; it just took me a long time to sit my butt down and watch.