The Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 are 8-bit

home computer Home computers were a class of microcomputers that entered the market in 1977 and became common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a s ...

s that were built in the 1980s. The Dragons are very similar to the

TRS-80 Color Computer The RadioShack TRS-80 Color Computer, later marketed as the Tandy Color Computer, is a series of home computers developed and sold by Tandy Corporation. Despite sharing a name with the earlier TRS-80, the Color Computer is a completely different ...

, and were produced for the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an market by

Dragon Data Dragon Data Ltd. was a Welsh producer of home computers during the early 1980s. These computers, the Dragon 32/64, Dragon 32 and Dragon 64, strongly resembled the Tandy Corporation, Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer ("CoCo")—both followed a standard ...

, Ltd., initially in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, before moving to

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community (Wales), community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which d ...

, Wales (until 1984), and by Eurohard S.A. in Casar de Cáceres,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

(from 1984 to 1987), and for the US market by Tano Corporation of

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. The model numbers reflect the primary difference between the two machines, which have 32 and 64

kilobyte The kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for Computer data storage, digital information. The International System of Units (SI) defines the prefix ''kilo-, kilo'' as a multiplication factor of 1000 (103); therefore, one kilobyte is 1000&nbs ...

s of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

, respectively. Dragon Data introduced the Dragon 32

microcomputer A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (P ...

in August 1982, followed by the Dragon 64 a year later. Despite initial success, the Dragon faced technical limitations in graphics capabilities and hardware-supported text modes, which restricted its appeal in the gaming and educational markets. Dragon Data collapsed in 1984 and was acquired by Spanish company Eurohard S.A. However, Eurohard filed for bankruptcy in 1987. The Dragon computers were built around the

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

MC6809E processor and featured a composite monitor port, allowing connection to (at the time) modern TVs. They used analog joysticks and had a range of peripherals and add-ons available. The Dragon had several high-resolution display modes, but limited graphics capabilities compared to other home computers of the time. The Dragon came with a

Microsoft BASIC Microsoft BASIC is the foundation software product of the Microsoft company and evolved into a line of BASIC interpreters and compiler(s) adapted for many different microcomputers. It first appeared in 1975 as Altair BASIC, which was the first v ...

interpreter in

ROM Rom, or ROM may refer to: Biomechanics and medicine * Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient * Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac * ...

, which allowed instant system start-up. The Dragon 32/64 was capable of running multiple

disk operating system A disk operating system (DOS) is a computer operating system that requires a disk or other direct-access storage device as secondary storage. A DOS provides a file system and a means for loading and running computer program, programs stored on th ...

s, and a range of popular games were ported to the system. Overall, the Dragon computers were initially well-received but faced limitations that hindered their long-term success.

Dragon 32 vs. Dragon 64

Aside from the amount of RAM, the Dragon 64 also has a functional

RS-232 In telecommunications, RS-232 or Recommended Standard 232 is a standard introduced in 1960 for serial communication transmission of data. It formally defines signals connecting between a ''DTE'' (''data terminal equipment'') such as a compu ...

serial port A serial port is a serial communication Interface (computing), interface through which information transfers in or out sequentially one bit at a time. This is in contrast to a parallel port, which communicates multiple bits simultaneously in Pa ...

which was not included on the Dragon 32. A minor difference between the two Dragon models is the outer case colour; the Dragon 32 is

beige Beige ( ) is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither ble ...

and the Dragon 64 is light grey. Besides the case, branding and the Dragon 64's serial port, the two machines look the same. The Dragon 32 is upgradable to Dragon 64. In some cases, buyers of the Dragon 32 found that they actually received a Dragon 64 unit.

Product history

Dragon Data entered the market in August 1982 with the Dragon 32. The Dragon 64 followed a year later. The computers sold well initially and attracted the interest of independent software developers including

Microdeal Microdeal was a British software company which operated during the 1980s and early 1990s from its base at Truro Road in the town of St Austell, Cornwall. The company, founded by John Symes was one of the major producers of games and other softw ...

. A companion magazine, '' Dragon User'', began publication shortly after the microcomputer's launch. Despite this initial success, there were two technical impediments to the Dragon's acceptance. The graphics capabilities trailed behind other computers such as the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

and

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

, a significant shortcoming for the games market. Additionally, as a cost-cutting measure, the hardware-supported text modes only included

upper case Letter case is the distinction between the letters that are in larger uppercase or capitals (more formally ''#Majuscule, majuscule'') and smaller lowercase (more formally ''#Minuscule, minuscule'') in the written representation of certain langua ...

characters; this restricted the system's appeal to the educational market. Dragon Data collapsed in June 1984. It was acquired by the Spanish company Eurohard S.A., which moved the factory from Wales to Cáceres and released the Dragon 200 (a Dragon 64 with a new case that allowed a monitor to be placed on top) and the Dragon 200-E (an enhanced Dragon 200 with both upper and lower case characters and a Spanish keyboard), but ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 1987. The remaining stock from Eurohard was purchased by a Spanish electronics hobbyist magazine and given away to those who paid for a three-year subscription, until 1992. In the United States it was possible to purchase the Tano Dragon new in box until early 2017 from California Digital, a retailer that purchased the remaining stock. File:PIC 0119 Dragon 32-2.jpg, Dragon 32 front view File:Dragon 32 Trasera.jpg, Dragon 32 back view File:Dragon 32 laterales-3.jpg, Dragon 32 side views File:Dragon 64 top view.jpg, Dragon 64 top view File:Dragon 64 trasera.JPG, Dragon 64 back view File:Dragon 64 laterales.jpg, Dragon 64 side views File:Dragon by Tano 64K computer.jpg, Dragon by Tano File:Dragon200Box.jpg, Dragon 200 box File:Dragon200-4.jpg, Dragon 200 top view File:Dragon200-5.jpg, Dragon 200 back view File:Dragon200E Top.jpg, Dragon 200-E top view File:Dragon200E Back.jpg, Dragon 200-E back view File:Dragon200E Left.jpg, Dragon 200-E left side view File:Dragon200E Right.jpg, Dragon 200-E right side view File:MC6847 Dragon200E Charset.png, Dragon 200-E upper and lower case Spanish character set

Reception

BYTE The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable un ...

'' wrote in January 1983 that the Dragon 32 "offers more feature for the money than most of its competitors", but "there's nothing exceptional about it". The review described it as a redesigned, less-expensive Color Computer with 32K RAM and better keyboard.

Technical notes

Hardware and peripherals

The Dragon is built around the Motorola MC6809E processor running at 0.89

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

. It was an advanced

8-bit In computer architecture, 8-bit integers or other data units are those that are 8 bits wide (1 octet). Also, 8-bit central processing unit (CPU) and arithmetic logic unit (ALU) architectures are those that are based on registers or data bu ...

CPU design, with limited

16-bit 16-bit microcomputers are microcomputers that use 16-bit microprocessors. A 16-bit register can store 216 different values. The range of integer values that can be stored in 16 bits depends on the integer representation used. With the two ...

capabilities. It was possible to increase the speed of the computer by using

POKE 
Poke may refer to:
 Arts, entertainment, and media
* Poke (Ender's Game), Poke (''Ender's Game''), a fictional character
* Poke (game), a two-player card game
* Poke, a fictional bar owner in the television series ''Treme (season 2), Treme''
* The  ...
 65495,0

which accelerated the ROM-resident

BASIC interpreter A BASIC interpreter is an Interpreter (computing), interpreter that enables users to enter and run programs in the BASIC programming language, language and was, for the first part of the microcomputer era, the default Application software, applica ...

, but temporarily disabled proper functioning of the cassette/printer ports. Manufacturing variances mean that not all Dragons were able to function at this higher speed, and use of this POKE could cause some units to crash or be unstable, though with no permanent damage. POKE 65494,0 returned the speed to normal. POKE 65497,0 pushed the speed yet higher but the display was lost until a slower speed was restored. The Dragon used the SN74LS783/MC6883 Synchronous Address Multiplexer (SAM) and the

MC6847 The MC6847 is a Video Display Generator (VDG) first introduced by Motorola in 1978 and used in the TRS-80 Color Computer, Dragon 32/64, Laser 200, TRS-80 MC-10/ Matra Alice, NEC PC-6000 series, Acorn Atom, Gakken Compact Vision TV Boy an ...

Video Display Generator (VDG). I/O was provided by two MC6821 Peripheral Interface Adapters (PIAs). Many Dragon 32s were upgraded by their owners to 64 KB of memory. A few were further expanded to 128 KB, 256 KB, or 512 KB with home-built memory controllers/

memory management unit A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), is a computer hardware unit that examines all references to computer memory, memory, and translates the memory addresses being referenced, known as virtual mem ...

s (MMUs). A broad range of peripherals exist for the Dragon 32/64, and there are add-ons such as the Dragon's Claw which give the Dragons a port that is hardware-compatible with the

's user port, though separate software drivers for connected devices must be developed. Although neither machine has a built-in disk operating system (

Compact Cassette The Compact Cassette, also commonly called a cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens and his team at the Dutch company ...

s being the standard storage mechanism commonly used for machines of the time), DragonDOS was supplied as part of the disk controller interface from Dragon Data Ltd. The versatile external ports, including the standard

on the 64, also allows hobbyists to attach a diverse range of equipment. The computer featured a composite monitor port as an alternative to the TV RF output which can be used to connect the Dragon 32 to most modern TVs to deliver a much better picture. The Dragon used analogue joysticks, unlike most systems of the time which used simpler and cheaper digital systems. Other uses for the joystick ports included

light pen A light pen is a computer input device in the form of a light-sensitive wand used in conjunction with a computer's cathode-ray tube (CRT) display. It allows the user to point to displayed objects or draw on the screen in a similar way to a to ...

s. Tony Clarke and Richard Wadman established the specifications for the Dragon."The Computer that Roared" by Fernleigh Edmonson. "Microcomputing" magazine 1983 May. The units had a robust

motherboard A motherboard, also called a mainboard, a system board, a logic board, and informally a mobo (see #Nomenclature, "Nomenclature" section), is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expandable systems. It ho ...

in a spacious case, reminiscent of the

, and so were more tolerant of aftermarket modification than some of their contemporaries, which often had their components crammed into the smallest possible space.

Video modes

The Dragon's main display mode is 'black on green' text (the black was, in actuality, a deeper, muddier green). The only graphics possible in this mode are quarter-tile block based. It also has a selection of five high-resolution modes, named PMODEs 0–4, which alternate monochrome and four-colour in successively higher resolutions, culminating in the black-and-white 256×192 PMODE 4. Each mode has two possible colour palettes – these are rather garish and cause the system to fare poorly in visual comparisons with other home computers of the time. It is also impossible to use standard printing commands to print text in the graphical modes, causing software development difficulties. Full-colour,

scanline A scan line (also scanline) is one line, or row, in a raster scanning pattern, such as a line of video on a cathode-ray tube (CRT) display of a television set or computer monitor. On CRT screens the horizontal scan lines are visually discernib ...

-based 64×192 semi-graphics modes are also possible, though their imbalanced resolution and programming difficulty (not being accessible via BASIC) meant they were not often utilised.

Disk systems

First to market was a complete disk operating system produced by Premier Microsystems, located near

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

. The system was sold as the "Delta" disk operating system; there was a proposal for Dragon to market this as an addon. Dragon did not enter into such an agreement and instead produced the DragonDOS system. The two systems were incompatible. Delta's lead in availability ensured that software was released in the format, whilst Dragon's "official" status ensured that it, too, gained software published in its format. This led to confusion and frustration, with customers finding they had either purchased a version incompatible with their setup, or that the software was only available for the competing standard.

System software

The Dragon comes with a

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...

interpreter in 16 KB of

. The BASIC appears to be nearly identical to Tandy Color Computer's Extended Basic with a few changes necessary to interact with the Dragon system. In common with home computers of the time, the entire operating software was included on a ROM chip; therefore, the system starts instantly when powered up. Some software providers also produced

compiler In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primaril ...

s for BASIC and other languages to produce

binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two values (0 and 1) for each digit * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical op ...

(or "machine") code which would run many times faster and make better use of the small system RAM. Towards the end of its life, Dragon Data produced an assembler/

disassembler A disassembler is a computer program that translates machine language into assembly language—the inverse operation to that of an assembler. The output of disassembly is typically formatted for human-readability rather than for input to an asse ...

/editor suite called ''Dream''. In addition to the DragonDOS disk operating system, the Dragon 32/64 is capable of running several others, including FLEX, and even

OS-9 OS-9 is a family of real-time, process-based, multitasking, multi-user operating systems, developed in the 1980s, originally by Microware Systems Corporation for the Motorola 6809 microprocessor. It was purchased by Radisys Corp in 2001, a ...

which brought

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

-like multitasking to the platform. Memory-expanded and MMU-equipped Dragons are able to run OS-9 Level 2.

Games

Initially, the Dragon was reasonably well supported by the major UK software companies, with versions of popular games from other systems being ported to the Dragon. Top-selling games available for the Dragon include '' Arcadia'' ( Imagine), '' Chuckie Egg'' (A&F), ''

Manic Miner ''Manic Miner'' is a platform game written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith (games programmer), Matthew Smith. It was published by Bug-Byte in 1983, then later the same year by Software Projects. The first game in the ''Miner Willy'' series ...

'' and sequel ''

Jet Set Willy ''Jet Set Willy'' is a platform video game written by Matthew Smith for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published in 1984 by Software Projects and ported to most home computers of the time. The game is a sequel to '' Manic Miner'' pub ...

'' (

Software Projects Software Projects was a computer game development company which was started by ''Manic Miner'' developer Matthew Smith (games programmer), Matthew Smith, Alan Maton and Colin Roach. After leaving Bug-Byte as a freelance developer, Smith was abl ...

), ''

Hunchback Kyphosis () is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can ...

'' (

Ocean The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...

) and ''

Football Manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

'' ( Addictive). There were also companies that concentrated on the Dragon, such as

. Their character

Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne () ( – 20 March 687) was a saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Hiberno-Scottish mission, Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monastery, monasteries of Melrose Abbey#Histo ...

appeared in several games, with '' Cuthbert Goes Walkabout'' also being converted for

Atari 8-bit The Atari 8-bit computers, formally launched as the Atari Home Computer System, are a series of home computers introduced by Atari, Inc., in 1979 with the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The architecture is designed around the 8-bit MOS Technology 650 ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

systems. Due to the limited graphics modes of the Dragon, converted games had a distinctive appearance, with colour games being usually played on a green or white background (rather than the more common black on other systems) or games with high-definition graphics having to run in black and white. When the system was discontinued, support from software companies also effectively ended. However, Microdeal continued supporting the Dragon until January 1988. Some of their final games developed for the Dragon in 1987 such as ''

Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue and Music festival, festival in the towns of Lenox, Massachusetts, Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony ...

'' and '' Airball'' were also converted for 16-bit machines such as the

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

and

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

Differences from the TRS-80 Color Computer

Both the Dragon and the

are based on a Motorola data sheet design for the MC6883 SAM (MMU) chip for memory management and peripheral control. The systems are sufficiently similar that a significant fraction of the compiled software produced for one machine will run on the other. Software running via the built-in Basic interpreters also has a high level of compatibility, but only after they are re-

tokenize Lexical tokenization is conversion of a text into (semantically or syntactically) meaningful ''lexical tokens'' belonging to categories defined by a "lexer" program. In case of a natural language, those categories include nouns, verbs, adjectives ...

d, which can be achieved fairly easily by transferring via cassette tape with appropriate options. It is possible to permanently convert a Color Computer into a Dragon by swapping the original Color Computer ROM and rewiring the keyboard cable. The Dragon has additional circuitry to make the MC6847 VDG compatible with European 625-line

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a color encoding system for analog television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

television standards, rather than the US 525-line

NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...

standard, and a

Centronics Centronics Data Computer Corporation was an American manufacturer of computer printers, now remembered primarily for the parallel interface that bears its name, the Centronics connector. History Foundations Centronics began as a divisio ...

parallel printer port not present on the TRS-80. Some models were manufactured with NTSC video for the US and Canadian markets.

References

;Notes * Vander Reyden, John (1983). ''Dragon 32 programmer's reference guide''. Beam Software/Melbourne House. . * Smeed, D.; Sommerville, I. (1983). ''Inside the Dragon''. Addison-Wesley.

External links

The Dragon 32/64 Computers
– at website www.6809.org.uk
The Dragon Archive
– An archive of everything related to the Dragon 32/64 and its clones and prototypes
Dragon 32 Universe (Archived since April 25th, 2019)
– A primarily games-based archive of Dragon 32 games, reviews and instructions
A Slayed Beast - History of the Dragon Computer
at dragon-archive-online.co.uk.
The International Dragon Users Group
– The Yahoo! group for Dragon Users
Manuals of Dragon 32, Dragon 64 and DragonDOS (DOS 437 character set)
at www.museo8bits.es
Dragon Update - National Users Group Magazine Library at the Centre for Computing History

The Dragon 32/64 Inlay Artwork and Game Archive
at dragon32.co.uk - Archive of Dragon 32/64 inlay artwork and playable games {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon 32 64 Computer-related introductions in 1982 6809-based home computers Home computers TRS-80 Color Computer Dragon Data Computers designed in the United Kingdom