ScuzzBlog: Diaries July 2018
Entry 9th July 2018: Post 01: Dragon 32
Dragon 32 - My burning desire
During my ZX81 era I would trundle into Smiths in Walsall after
getting off the 394 from Brownhills. Smiths had a rear entrance
from the bus station and cus they opened early to sell papers was
always available in the early hours as I waited for my next bus
to Birmingham city. And so I would scan over all the latest titles
for the Sinclair and consider whether the images on the cassette
covers would ever be like the contents of the games.
Smiths also had this glass case where they showed off the latest
platforms. I recall with some envy the arrival of the Dragon 32.
It really did knock everything else into a 'cocked hat'. It really
looked the part and was just pulsating with raw energy. And so
I ventured down the stairs to the magazine section of the store
which was dripping with computer publications and bought my latest
copy of Popular Computing Weekly. True enough there was loads of
info on the Dragon. For me it became a serious desire to one day
buy one of these truly splendid machines. I saw it as the pinnacle
of the home computing world... I just had to have one.
Each week I changed buses and each week I would look at the Dragon
and buy the computer magazines. Sadly, as was often the case, by
the time I could actually buy one of the computers they had run
into trouble. The Dragon was made in Wales and by February 1984 was
already reducing its staff at its South Wales plant by 29. It had
already suffered a £2.5m bale out . This followed one of it's major
shareholders Mettoy going into liquidation.
Sadly failure to meet sales targets impacted on their production
numbers. This at a time when the company was in the throws of
releasing their disc drive and punch tape add-on for the 32. In
one breath I was joying at the technical wizardry of the Dragon
and in the next reading worrying news about the financial status
of the company. At a time when technology was very expensive and
also moving at a speedy pace , I could basically discover in but
a few bus rides that my latest dream had vaporised in the turmoil
of the computer struggles that companies experienced.
And so the Dragon never did find a home here. It could have done
had it faired better in the market place. All I needed was a few
more words of encouragement from my computer 'rag' but sadly it
was not to be.
Dragon 32 built by Dragon Data Ltd in the UK 1982
Uses Microsoft Extended BASIC.
Has a QWERTY style 53 key mechanical keyboard.
Runs on the Motorola MC6809EP at 0.9 MHz.
Has a MC-6847 Video Display Generator.
RAM is 32 KB with ROM at 2 x 8K.
This has to be the easiest computer to gain access to. The space
below the main case gives oodles of access area to investigate
and work on the motherboard.
The computer is basically the TRS-80 Color and the keyboard is the
same arrangement and runs the same OS from ROM. All the same a
classic computer. I have the 64 also which is in its original box.
Dragon 32
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