To those wondering if the RF signal _always_ looks that bad, check out the same Dragon BASIC running on a TRS-80 Color Computer through the same setup. Not great by any means, but a lot better than what's seen in the unboxing! The machine just needs a little repair work :) i.imgur.com/zRxqLsf.png

@realcourte

3 жыл бұрын

We all know your doing the best you can :) Very interesting FRESH discovery !

@MrBillmcminn

3 жыл бұрын

Dried out electrolytic capacitors in the video output stage and the RF modulator could also be the culprit causing the poor video quality

@coreybarnett2158

3 жыл бұрын

I half expected a crossover episode with The 8-Bit Guy! This was very enjoyable to watch. Looking forward to the full review!

@vwestlife

3 жыл бұрын

If you get an Atari 800XL monochrome (not color) video cable, it will work perfectly as a video cable for the Dragon -- the pinout matches its audio and color composite video outputs.

@jansenart0

3 жыл бұрын

Dude, could you do me a solid and make like a Blerbs Digest on your main channel every week or so? Just like, a 3 minute video showing the highlights of the more recent videos posted here, but at your main channel, set to the tune of that great Thrifting organ music? I'd enjoy that as crossover promotion! A lot of folks don't know this channel exists and they should! : (

"Like an MRE bag... Nice..." In Steve We Trust. Great unboxing! Sucks that the color didn't work.

@Wikcentral

3 жыл бұрын

I wasn't the only one to catch that Steve homage "nice" ? lol

@tstahlfsu

3 жыл бұрын

So many channels across KZread where Steve gets a shout out lol. I often wonder if he's into any of this or ever sees it hahah

@CathrineMacNiel

3 жыл бұрын

Let's get that Dragon onto a tray, nice mkay.

@invictus0x0

3 жыл бұрын

I am so glad I wasn't the only one to catch that!

@mcchrisownzzz

3 жыл бұрын

I was gonna comment the same thing about the "Nice."

other retro tech enthusiasts: "wow this looks so cool!" LGR: *instinctively sniffs*

@bitwize

3 жыл бұрын

"Mmmmmm..."

On the uk dragon's the channel select switch at the back is the power on/off switch and the power brick does not have a switch on it. Those sticking keys are caused by a misaligned top half of the case. It's a common problem. The keys are actually touching the case at the sides. Take the top of the case off and realign it

@LGRBlerbs

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the tips! Good to know it's not just me and the sticking keys are a known thing.

@rautamiekka

3 жыл бұрын

Ha, the design was rather flawed if THAT's a common, known, thing.

@JohnnyBareToes1

3 жыл бұрын

@@rautamiekka yeah lol, these machines were made on a low budget. Its an easy fix though

@rautamiekka

3 жыл бұрын

@@JohnnyBareToes1 But how shitty could the machine be ? Low-budget computers were nothing unheard of back then.

@Milamberinx

3 жыл бұрын

I thought the channel switch was weird, never seen that on a British computer, we'd have tuned the television to the RF frequency of the computer.

The first time I ever got paid to write a program, a friend of my father owned a small shop that made custom picture frames, and he wanted a point-of-sale system that would print out receipts and save transactions. He'd bought a Tandy Color Computer from the local Radio Shack, but had no clue what to do with it. So in the summer of '82 (I was 12 years old) I wrote him some software and taught him how to use it. Also taught him BASIC so he could maintain it himself, and make changes as needed. Got paid $50 -- I thought I was *rich!* LOL! $50 for a 12-year-old in 1982 was a ton of money, honestly. That was when I first realized I could turn my fascination with computers into a career. :-)

There’s an entire online community for the Dragon computer. There are people who actually develop and sell new games for the system!

"First time it's been touched in like 36 years" one minute later pounding on case. ^_^

@rautamiekka

3 жыл бұрын

But it actually worked. It's a perfectly good method if there's any real chance it could improve or fix something. At least it saved him the trouble of opening the thing, without any further damage.

@CreamAle

3 жыл бұрын

Percussive maintenance.

@Quickened1

3 жыл бұрын

That's a diagnostic procedure.... and it worked!

@ezioauditoredafirenze5453

3 жыл бұрын

@@rautamiekka Aivan. Se on hyväksi havaittu ja todettu konsti... etenkin vanhojen kuvaputkitelevisioiden kanssa. 😂 Nice to see other finnish folks here too. 😄

@rautamiekka

3 жыл бұрын

@@ezioauditoredafirenze5453 Ikr :D

Well, here’s something interesting. The old address of Tano is now a movie soundstage for a small studio in New Orleans.

@samholdsworth3957

3 жыл бұрын

The more you know! 🌠

@backdoorwolf666

3 жыл бұрын

I work a few blocks from there. It’s all warehouses around that area. Never knew.

@KK-bk3dm

3 жыл бұрын

lol yeah that's not interesting

@phoenixzappa7366

3 жыл бұрын

It's a front company for the Chinese Mafia

LGR, Techmoan, 8BitGuy, and Technology Connections all with new stuff today. Awesome.

@figureheaduk

3 жыл бұрын

Today should be a good day, just need new Ashens and Nostalgia Nerd to go with it...

@Feslmogh

3 жыл бұрын

and Adrian's Digital Basement, Retro Recipies,...

@CommodoreFan64

3 жыл бұрын

@@figureheaduk Ashens would be good long as it's not another boring AF Wish buying video.

@son3mendo

3 жыл бұрын

ok, we survived Techmoan singing skills, the kind of bond that forges a community

@CommodoreFan64

3 жыл бұрын

@@son3mendo We were also graced with Gun Jesus from Forgotten Weapons giving us an overview of a great light machine gun from the proud mud people of Elbonia.

At 16:10, my thought was "He's going to make it print FARTS on the screen a bunch of times". I was not disappointed.

"Like an MRE bag... Nice" ----- Now lets get this out on to a tray

@John-mp2kq

3 жыл бұрын

Nice hiss!

@KingKoopa01

3 жыл бұрын

No hiss...lol

@KingKoopa01

3 жыл бұрын

Good ol Steve1989

@CarterGregg25

3 жыл бұрын

Nice mmmmkay

@KingKoopa01

3 жыл бұрын

@@CarterGregg25 😂

The Dragon 32 was the first computer I ever used. One of my teachers at school had one and brought it in to school. Of course, all the cool kids got to use it (or try to use it) first. No one could even get it to load any software so I was left alone with it for an afternoon. It was one of the most memorable days of my life. Happy memories

@BenState

Жыл бұрын

sad

"COURIER PILOT was written in DRAGON BASIC by 14 year-old Tyson Sawyer of Jaffery, New Hampshire." Wonder whatever happened to him, and if he's still upset they misspelled Jaffrey.

Blurbs is UNDERRATED! Always bringing random goodness to my life.

@goeland4585

3 жыл бұрын

I know right?! That Blurb guy just came out of nowhere. He should do a collab with LGR.

@HamishPaulWilson

3 жыл бұрын

@@goeland4585 And maybe that guy who makes sandwiches.

@EclecticWizard6

3 жыл бұрын

Who is underrating it?

@rautamiekka

3 жыл бұрын

Why'd you advertize him here ... ?

“It’s like an mre bag.... nice” Somebody’s been watching steve1989 😂😂

@willm5032

3 жыл бұрын

was gonna comment the same thing

@Michael-im5mq

3 жыл бұрын

same here lol

@KlingonCaptain

3 жыл бұрын

So true! 😆

@dusk_en

3 жыл бұрын

Love him ❤️

7:31 let's get this out onto a tray!

@merlyworm

3 жыл бұрын

Nice!

@montyish

3 жыл бұрын

Nice, mkay

If you'd told me in 1980-something that in 2020 I'd be watching a video on my PC of someone taking near pornographic pleasure in unboxing a Dragon computer I wouldn't have believed you. In fact I barely believe I'm not imagining posting this comment.

@lukey666lukey

3 жыл бұрын

yea this comment makes me feel very old, wonder if there will be videos like this in 30 years time un boxing a switch maybe? lol

@ashkitt7719

3 жыл бұрын

Watching this unboxing of a Dragon with a Bad Dragon

@theannoyedmrfloyd3998

3 жыл бұрын

@@ashkitt7719 Bad dragons are good dragons. Nice dragon! 🐲

@Denvermorgan2000

3 жыл бұрын

He is chasing the dragon like other addicts.

@WintrBorn

3 жыл бұрын

Honestly. I couldn't imagine back in the day. Think of the monitors consumers had access to back in the day, and imagine watching something like this 😳

7:45 - MD: Proudly gathers family to watch video, "I packed this!!!!" LGR: Turns on computer MD: Weeps silently.

"So weird turning off the power supply" says the man who never spend any time on an Amiga

Clint is the master unboxer, makes you feel like your there with him, love it

Memories right there. Dragon 32 was my first love in 1984. Now I have many lovelies

I freaking LOVE new-old stock videos. Thanks for sharing it!

Gosh, I love that TV. Amazing aesthetic! The knobs and switch sound so satisfying to turn and push.

Fun fact: If you plug that power supply into a Sega Genesis's controller port, you'll get extra blast processing power.

@KiraSlith

3 жыл бұрын

You'll get a blast alright, but no processing! 🤣

@pinakinkale

3 жыл бұрын

Oh you’ll sure get a blast

@tgdm

3 жыл бұрын

So that's how you overclock a Genesis...

@theinternetking1315

3 жыл бұрын

prove it in a VIDEO lol

@MuscarV2

3 жыл бұрын

@@theinternetking1315 uuuuh

Oh yes, I remember in the Spring of 1982 when my boarding school here at Englandshire was donated two brand new Dragon 32s including new Ferguson portable colour TVs & cassette players with grand plans of introducing computer lessons into the curriculum. Straightaway they both took pride in the corner of the classroom to be admired by us starstruck pupils,, but the reality was that no one - not even the teacher - really knew how to use them and they never came with any software, so they sat left untouched most of the time (apart from the one time when someone did type up a simple Pacman game from a magazine). It was only a few months before they were moved to a small side room no bigger than a broom cupboard to be left forgotten and gathering dust. The Dragon 32 never really got anywhere as much love as the Spectrum 48 and Commodore 64, and to be honest wasn't that of a surprise looking back.

Wow, a real blast from the past. One of my favourites. Along with several other makes, sold lots of the Dragon32's when I worked in a little Apple dealership in the UK before starting Uni in '84. Great times.

I had one of these for my tenth birthday in 1984 (had to share it with my brother). I already had a commodore 64 We had endless novelty fun typing gibberish

SteveMRE : *eating old rations* Clint LGR : *sniffing retro cables*

Dragon 64 packed by Mo 30-something years ago. "Hey Mo!"

Awesome to see something from here in Wales! Had never heard of it before, thanks for covering it.

@hjalfi

3 жыл бұрын

The Dragon is Wales' second most famous computer, after the Raspberry Pi.

You really need to upgrade FARTS.BAS with a full line print command: 10 PRINT "**FARTS**"; 20 GOTO 10 The semicolon suppresses the newline.

@DavidWonn

3 жыл бұрын

Or use a , (comma) instead to tabulate the text. I don’t know for certain if it works on this machine, but it does on the Apple ][ and some other 8-bit micros.

@HisVirusness

3 жыл бұрын

Just like "Gob's Program".

@hugovangalen

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, absolutely. Without a newline the scrolling pattern is much more mesmerising. (Well there actually *is* a pattern -- otherwise it's just boring.) And it can be a one-liner too, saves on a few keystrokes. Real programmers are lazy. :)

@w.w.7148

3 жыл бұрын

Smart ass.

@bobblum5973

3 жыл бұрын

@@DavidWonn Ah, someone who knows how to properly spell "Apple ][". My original owner Apple ][+ applauds you!

Whoh nostalgia!!! I'm in the UK. My father owned a Dragon 32 & 64 that he used for RF packet radio. They were my first experience with "PC's" when I was around 6 or 7 years old. I'm an IT engineer now. So many fun memories with these systems. I can't believe how pristine this one is!! You would get a good price for this from a collector!

Possible reason for the power switch: the UK has switches on every socket. Computer like the Acorn Atom and Sinclair Spectrum don't have any kind of power switch because you'd just turn it off at the wall. I imagine the same is true for the dragon, so for the USA they just slapped a button on the external brick.

@linalmeemow

3 жыл бұрын

Modern sockets in the UK have a switch. At the time of launch for the Atom, the Spectrum and the Dragon it certainly wasn't common and there are still many, many houses in the UK where you won't find switched sockets - my parents' house for example, which is modern in almost every other way doesn't have a single switched socket.

@benanderson89

3 жыл бұрын

@@linalmeemow Well, TIL! Guess you were just expected to yank the power brick from the wall.

@linalmeemow

3 жыл бұрын

@@benanderson89 If you had a Spectrum you'd pull the lead out of the computer and plug it back in. Eventually you'd get a loose connection in the barrel plug and have to tape it up securely to hold the connection together until it finally died and you had to manually call every computer shop in the Yellow Pages until you found one that sold new PSUs! The one thing I envied my C64 owning friends was a proper power switch on the computer itself!!

@benanderson89

3 жыл бұрын

@@linalmeemow Earliest computer I used was the Amiga so I had a chunky power switch on the giant external brick.

@kevinh96

3 жыл бұрын

UK Dragon 32/64 computers had a power switch on the rear, pretty much where the channel 3/4 switch is on this US model.

I'm looking forward to seeing the repair video. Keep up the good work.

Can't wait for the full review, there's some fun games and decent conversions on the Dragon.

@LGRBlerbs

3 жыл бұрын

That there is, I've been having fun with the different conversions lately! Hope you enjoy the CoCo review coming this week in the meantime :)

@kins749

3 жыл бұрын

@@LGRBlerbs Yay, SepTandy!

oh man! that graphics grid...I TOTALLY remember drawing jets firing lasers and tanks and other SH...tuff on those back in 6th grade so I could program them in BASIC. WOW! Why I love this channel...it's like digging up old memories I didn't even remember I had...lol...great stuff

"Let's get this out on a tray" Nice

Being a Welsh computer I'm curious if they make the L key spring extra robust. How else could you type real welsh words such as Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?

@MrBoyuki

3 жыл бұрын

As a Welshman this makes me so proud 😂

@Petertronic

3 жыл бұрын

I've been there!

@garethfairclough8715

3 жыл бұрын

Plot twist; No one local actually says that place name. At most, they might say "Llanfair-PG". Source - Was such a local for some years.

@MCAlexisYT

3 жыл бұрын

I just realized that there is an english word hidden in this gibberish/jibberish and that is: “fair”

@kryan

3 жыл бұрын

Cllucking under-rated comment.

That box is in good nick for 40 years. I cycled 12 miles home from the shop in the rain with my Dragon bungee strapped to that carrier on the back. With no mud guard the box got soaked.

Bora da! Very exciting to see this here. My grandfather brought one home once after going to their factory in Kenfig Hill, near Bridgend. I had a space invaders cartridge for it and used an old tiny black and white Sharp TV to play it!

Just want to say this was a great food video, Clint. Great job!

I hope you decide to film any repair work or cleaning you do to this thing. I would love to see the inside of it! Love seeing new old stock things like this.

Why is this so exciting to watch!?

Luv this :) Very refreshing discovery... and FRESH!

I had a Dragon 32 and the same joysticks as the one you were using. I later got a Quickshot 1. What a trip down memory lane 🙂

dude orders a 36 years old compute thay say 26 years in a warehouser, keeps it around for 10 years, suffers moves and stuff, box is still good. i order a genesis mini and a pc engine mini from amazon, box comes like someone was playing soccer with it from their warehouse until it reached new york.... WHAT THE HELL ?

@DavidLee-df888

3 жыл бұрын

Was that damage to the Amazon box? Here in the UK, they sometimes cheap out and don't bother with the outer box. Just slap a delivery label straight onto the retail box so everyone can see what you bought🤦 Other retailers use just a polymer postal bag which provides little to no protection but at least keeps all the broken bits together in the bag.

@EpicLebaneseNerd

3 жыл бұрын

@@DavidLee-df888 not the amazon box, the box of the item, both items came inside a bag, just an amazon bag, imagine sending tech in a bag....i wept and wept and wept for days after days, how can they package a collectible piece of tech inside a bag and send it to someone ?

@EpicLebaneseNerd

3 жыл бұрын

@@hunterjayfilm they sent the items to me in an naylon bag, not a box, not even a padded bag....a gray one with amazon logo on it....that is really messed up from them, sending a very nice piece of collectable tech in a bag...

@DavidLee-df888

3 жыл бұрын

@@hunterjayfilm That may be the case in the US. Here, the option exists for "no Amazon box". I tried that out in early August for my PC case, and yup it was literally the retail box with an Amazon label on it. Lucky it was a PC case so big and bulky but not too heavy, I think it said 10 kg(22lbs). Not really worth nicking, but still £65🤷

@DavidLee-df888

3 жыл бұрын

@@EpicLebaneseNerd Yup, that's how some retailers send stuff. A poly mailing bag, to hold all the broken pieces in one place, lol. I had a Seasonic PSU sent that way, lucky they're tough.

Love new old stock stuff. Got an 81 5150 a while back new-in-box, unconfigured.

Love the Steve from MRE info quote Nice!!!

"I don't want to ruin the box, kinda tight fit here." Nice double entendre!!

MRE bag.. NICE! Steve and LGR forever.

Now let's get this Dragon out on a tray, nice.

I had one of those in the mid 80's - it was a good 'tinkerers' machine - the tape cable can be controlled in software and the joystick port was easy to hack and build some custom programmable buttons for.

I love videos like this one. I hope to see more of this little computer on your main channel soon.

looking at it still in its protective plastic gave me chills (all of the visual noise on the tv is rly beautiful imo. through the camera at least, seems like an utter pain trying to use it like that lol)

I love those new/old stock unboxing stuff. It's like opening after aeons a Pharaoh's tomb :)

Modern kids wouldn’t have survived computer gaming back in the early 1980s. I remember typing out code and saving it to cassette tape and playing games from the cassette tape that took forever compared to today’s standards. I am so glad DOS became the standard, it made using a computer so much easier.

Awesome ! I always wanted a dragon at the time, but couldn't afford one ! I now live in Wales and it feels even more like i should get one for my collection

Haha I love how you feel about that switcher box thing. I was like 4 or 5 the first time I saw one of those, and the first thought that popped into my head even at that age was "I'm not using this"

Amazing box, so hip it hurts, with the synthwave coloration

Man, I'm still kicking myself for never picking one of these up when the California Digital still had a large stock of these. First became aware of it after Vwestlife made a video on his, and now I wallow in regret for putting that off. Really fascinating machines, and I love their aesthetic especially.

Never heard of Dragon nor Tano here in the west of Europe. So quite a relic. I've been to some PC/Games expo's back in the late 90's early 00's. And have seen some odd stuff, but never this. Love the fact they have the Welsh dragon in the logo as well.

As a welsh man I've been waiting for you to get your hands on one of these.

‘The Welshness of it’ haha! If you ever get chance to visit Wales it’s a beautiful country. Especially the hills of Snowdonia and the castles like Caernarfon and Conwy. Great video - so nice to see old computers like this in such good condition!

Splendid!

as always great video!

Old computer always worth a watch

My second microcomputer, The Dragon 32. Great times.

I hope you'll get the picture fixed, those keys to not get stuck and that new display cable hooked. Waiting for a second video from the Tano Dragon at some point. Thanks Clint once again. 👍😃

I had a Dragon32 back in the early 1980's. The UK version didn't come with a cassette tape, just the cable to connect to one, it don't remember it having an external power supply and it didn't have the box for connecting to the tv, it was plugged straight into the tv with the supplied cable. Great machine with limited graphics, like all computers at that time. The Dragon32 monthly magazine was a great edition to the user experience

It's actually a good video when we get to see what to expect from a 30 yr old computer emerging from hibernation. Look forward to the video of it being fixed >D

I've never had anything this nice in my life. Every time I try to buy anything like this it's either freshly sold out or just out of my price range. I've finally decided to build a Commodore 64 from scratch because the individual components are the only thing I can afford. I figure it will take about a year. Buy the time it's done I imagine that the prices on the ororiginal will be even higher, placing one permanent beyond my reach. I've asked people (relatives and friends) in three states to keep an eye on yard sales for Commodore and Tandy machines in my price range but so far no luck. Back in 2008 when the Tandy Dragon was $40 I was unemployed. Now that I've been to school and am a certified pharmacy technician, the things are $300.

That Panasonic TV is absolutely gorgeous.

19:10 "Dang it the button doesn't work!" I just 2 days ago visited retro computer exhibition in Yandex Museum in Moscow, and played same looking game! And button on their joatik didn't work too!

@Michael-im5mq

3 жыл бұрын

haha

Woah! Another Dragon computer! I just saw one of these on Noel's Retro Lab.

I remember seeing a Dragon32 in the UK, in the Boots store, back in the 80s. The overwhelming green screen is my ensuring memory...

Oh wow. I am so jealous of you right now. I would love a Dragon.

Wow! my first computer, popular here in the UK, I used to get Dragon user magazine and my mate and me would take turns to input the basic programs listed. Microdeal was a popular Dragon games software house at the time, with clones of donkey kong, Cuthbert in the jungle (Pitfall) etc. lots of fond childhood memories. Chuckie egg was great on it :)

36 year old/new. oh so amazing. soooo jealous of you getting to open that! :)

That's a nice bag, honestly

That tv man. Love it.

The games actually look better in black and white. The Dragon's color palette was a bit of an acquired taste.

So many people didn't realize that the RF modulator on Coco, Atari, Commodore, etc. computers and game systems was simply a 75 Ohm antenna connection. During the last couple of years of the 8-bit era I ditched the "TV/GAME" or "TV/COMP" slide switch adapters, and simply used an F-to-RCA adapter.

IIRC, in the UK these were sold as the Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 with 32k and 64k RAM respectively. The Dragon 32 case was beige, and the Dragon 64 was light grey.

Only someone like Clint would get fascinated by the bag used in packaging.

new old stock things are so cool

That Panasonic TV is gorgeous.

I'm almost positive we had that same little Panasonic Tv back in the day. Watched tons of old I Love Lucy reruns, Star Trek, and even brought it up to a campground and hooked up an NES to it.

That was my Family's first ever computer, we had the 32 to start and upgraded to the 64 later. Such great memories :D

I live in the town in Wales where this machine was manufactured. In fact my mother lives about half a mile away from where the Dragon factory once stood :D

I used my C64 with my TV via RF interface for years. Hard to believe looking back now.

Awesome! I have that same little Panasonic TV.

Nice, a Dragon 32 was our first home computer. A lot sturdier than our later Spectrum 48k+.

Great unboxing! Maybe a revisit for you, notice the black knurled knob on the 1-12? selector of the Panasonic monitor/television. If you slide that inward, you can fine tune channel 3. That might improve the signal. Things from my childhood. Keep up the awesome work! I am a huge LGR fan. (It's like a safety cap on prescription medicine. It prevents you from spinning it accidentally. So if you push it inward and spin at the same time, it makes contact with a gear within the tuning mechanism.)

Drinking a IPA beer and watching you review a good retro video game console.

One of the RF switches also came with my Sega Master System but with an ariel plug on the side instead of the twin lead prongs

Great vid and the joystick fit in perfectly. :P Cheers.

That was like... a nostalgia shower... Watching this I even smelled the false wood panneling on the walls and faux leather couch of the basement where the NES was plugged... So much brown everywhere.

My first computer was the Dragon 32 and I still have it, remember my family unboxing it back in 1983 so this was an interesting video for me as those early experiences slowly entering 'type ins' from magazines and writing silly Basic programs lead to a career in software including a degree in computer science & AI and a while working as a video game developer followed by 20 years of professional software development. I don't have the power supply anymore though and don't fancy wiring one up, they don't come up often on Ebay :( I recall being a bit jealous of Spectrum/C64 owners though however in retrospect the Dragon/Tandy does have a respectable Motorolla CPU 6809 but wasn't very capable at graphics especially in the UK where our TVs couldn't do the artifact tricks to create more colours.

@daishi5571

3 жыл бұрын

You could do the colour artifacts on some TV's. All you had to do was open up the Dragon, and on the modulator there is a screw buried that is used to tune/detune. I was able to get brown and blue quite easily, however the cost was image quality. In the monochrome games it was ok but in actual colour on on any kind of text it was awful. Needless to say the top of my case stayed off so I could retune the modulator often.

@TheRetroArchive

3 жыл бұрын

@@daishi5571 interesting

A non-disclosure agreement with the warranty! That definitely marks that computer to the olden days (where software isn't yet recognised to have copyright protections).

I like how the left/right arrows are on one side of the keyboard and the up/down arrows on the other. I always thought the ijkm and 4 arrows together always had your fingers in the way.