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Dragon Data Ltd. was a Welsh producer of
The history of Dragon Data in the period 1982–84 was a checkered one.
The company was originally set up by toy company Mettoy, and after initial good sales looked to have a bright future. At its high point it entered negotiations with Rexnord's Tano Corporation to form a North American branch.
Mettoy then suffered financial difficulties, casting a shadow on the future of Dragon Data before it was spun off as a separate company. However, a number of circumstances (the delay in introducing the 64K model, poor colour support with a maximum of 4 colours displayable in "graphics mode" and only 2 colours in the highest 256 × 192 pixel mode, the late introduction of the external disk unit and of the supporting OS9-based software) caused the company to lose market share.
To combat this, under the control of GEC, Dragon Data worked on the next generation of Dragon computers; the Dragon Alpha (or Professional) and Beta (or 128). These systems only made it to the prototype stage before the business went into receivership and was sold on to the Spanish startup Eurohard in 1984.
Eurohard also suffered financial problems and went into receivership a couple of years later after the release of the Dragon 200 (a rebranded Dragon 64).
In addition to the Dragon 32 and 64, an
A Slayed Beast - History of the Dragon computer
– From The DRAGON Archive
Dedicated DRAGON wiki
Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Wales Home computer hardware companies Computer companies established in 1982 Computer companies disestablished in 1984 1982 establishments in Wales 1984 disestablishments in Wales Defunct manufacturing companies of Wales {{ict-company-stub
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 during the early 1980s. These computers, the Dragon 32 and Dragon 64, strongly resembled the Tandy 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 ...
("CoCo")—both followed a standard Motorola datasheet configuration for the three key components (CPU, SAM and VDG). The machines came in both 32 KB and (later) 64 KB versions.
History
The history of Dragon Data in the period 1982–84 was a checkered one.
The company was originally set up by toy company Mettoy, and after initial good sales looked to have a bright future. At its high point it entered negotiations with Rexnord's Tano Corporation to form a North American branch.
Mettoy then suffered financial difficulties, casting a shadow on the future of Dragon Data before it was spun off as a separate company. However, a number of circumstances (the delay in introducing the 64K model, poor colour support with a maximum of 4 colours displayable in "graphics mode" and only 2 colours in the highest 256 × 192 pixel mode, the late introduction of the external disk unit and of the supporting OS9-based software) caused the company to lose market share.
To combat this, under the control of GEC, Dragon Data worked on the next generation of Dragon computers; the Dragon Alpha (or Professional) and Beta (or 128). These systems only made it to the prototype stage before the business went into receivership and was sold on to the Spanish startup Eurohard in 1984.
Eurohard also suffered financial problems and went into receivership a couple of years later after the release of the Dragon 200 (a rebranded Dragon 64).
In addition to the Dragon 32 and 64, an MSX
MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...
-compatible machine, the Dragon MSX
The Dragon MSX is a MSX compatible home computer, designed in 1985 by Radofin (the creators of the Mattel Aquarius) for Dragon Data/Eurohard, the makers of the Dragon 64 home computer.
Intended for the Spanish market it was never officially ...
reached the prototype stage.
References
External links
A Slayed Beast - History of the Dragon computer
– From The DRAGON Archive
Dedicated DRAGON wiki
Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies of Wales Home computer hardware companies Computer companies established in 1982 Computer companies disestablished in 1984 1982 establishments in Wales 1984 disestablishments in Wales Defunct manufacturing companies of Wales {{ict-company-stub