This mini forum is intended to provide a simple means of discussion about the Dragon Data Ltd  Dragon 32 computer. If you want to share your own experience or memories, or add relevant information about this system: post a message!

Hi Eddie Lee (Cardiff ), Do you still have your Dragon 32? I know its been a few years but you might still have it. Thanks! Nick

hello i typed in (9/85) dragon user a word processing program (in machine code) however i dont know the start end exec address of it please can some 1 help me out here thanks

First, and only home computer, was a 32 and kept it until 2000. Initially bored from playing Space Invaders non-stop for a week, I started programming. What a world that opened up! BASIC followed by machine code, dabbling in graphics, audio, and hardware interfacing. Luckily my first job used a product line with a 6809 CPU for analog and digital interfacing!

I have a Dragon 32 available to a good home, don''t know if it still breathes fire as I haven''t switched it on for years. If anyone wants it let me know

I got a 32 used, from Thornleys (a pork processing plant in Chorley) in 1986. The system, a tape drive, the dragon floppy drive a a big bag of software. Plus a Juki daisywheel wide-format printer.

It ran the databases for our family business for years, and I used it daily until I moved to the US in 2002, where it was put in storage. In 91+92 i even went to the last Dragon store in Valletta to buy more software. Ah fun times.....

Hi this computer i had for a whole year and a bit - it helped me pass one o level and fail all the rest - i sent it back to the catologue company in a bid to upgrade to the Dragon64 but never did so as my parents would not let me buy a computer ever again due to me failing my exams!!

Ah these beasts helped get me into computing as a youngster!
I have one but it wont seem to work anymore due to some video IC going bust I think :''( brian if yours is still available or anyone else wants to get rid of their old dragon a good home is here and I am dying to try out all my old tapes some of which should contain my own software I programmed over the long nights! (god computing was so much more fun "back in the day" lol)

I am looking for two games by microdeal for the dragon 32.They are Racerball and Galagon. Can anybody help direct me to where I could buy them please ?

i have a as new dragon 32 computer, plus dragon 32 printer...in the original boxes, anybody interested email me...brian

Wow... Dragon 64 was my first computer...it was the gilty I start to interest on computers... 20 yrs later.. I continue working on them!!!

I'keep my Dragon 64 working (with it's infamous orange monitor) after a couple of repairings.

Dragons 32 and 64 were a great success here in Israel from 1983. They successfully competed Atari, Apple, Commodore Sinclair, BBC, Tandy and others and in many cases won on speed, color, sound, size and price. Support was available through UK and local centers. They had plenty of additional materia:. Hardware add-ons (joysticks, single and dual floppy drives, matching displays, cables, cassette drives) Software was avilable in all forms (magazines, listings, cassettes and later floppies too) and we used to have several fan clubs with many both young and experienced programmers who exchanged programs on buletin boards and even on one of the very first "internet" networks that used the old dial up standalone modems. You guys wouldnt believe to what heights we brought that original flight simulator, after groups of veteran pilots added their knowhow to programmers to create a real life simulator.....
I bought my first 32 in 1983 and traded it in for the 64 a year later. It was my first PC and a fabulous machine for learning machine code, basic, pascal, OS9 op system which actually was a subset of unix and more. The dragons followed me from my days as an electronics student, through marriage, several homes, two kids and a long Hi-tec carreer. I gave away the 64 in 1997 in perfect condition with all its manuals and software, after many years serving faithfully my two kids. I naturally switched in the late 80's to PCs of which I had almost every type and size but will never forget those dragons which allowed me to enter the magic world of computers and electronics - and did a faster and better job than all my proffesors put together. Farewell, little dragons - You'll always have a place in my heart.

Sometime in the 80's I was saving all my pocket money to buy one of these machines. One day I finally had the needed fl 900,- (orso), I went to the shop only to discover the price was increase$d with another fl 50. Which I didn't have. In the end I never bought one, snif, snif.

Did you know that some Dragon 32s shipped with 64k boards which had failed
quality control at 64 status but passed as 32s. One could enable the full
64k on some 32s by inputting "&hffd7" at the prompt.
Just an in case you weren't aware of this.
I had a 32k board in mine in 1983 but knew a guy with a 32, potential 64
Dragon and the above did indeed enable 64k access. Stability was another
matter.
If I recall correctly, the modulater needed constant tweeking via a small
screw in the back of the machine. The disk drives cost more than the
machine.

Still got my Dragon up in the loft, never could bring myself to part with it. Got mine in late 1982 (I think) with £199 taken out of my birthday money account. It was a fortune for a (then) school boy to buy. Another peculiarity with the machine was that its video display was not full screen but a window with in. I chose the Dragon over a Sinclair Spectrum as it could display NINE colours over the Spectrum's EIGHT. Oh how things have changed.

The software support was good for the Dragon, with companies like MicroDeal and Salamander offering the best titles. However, in those days programmes had to be loaded from cassette tape and this was a somewhat haphazard process, especially after the tape had been used many times and stretched a bit. I also recall spending a huge amount of time typing in an enormous amount of code for what looked like a very promising (!) flight simulator programme published in a magazine. All I ever got were error codes which was really frustrating after all that effort. I put it on one side and promised myself that I would come back to it and see if I could trace the problem. That cassette is still in the loft, and 21 years later, I have still not done it.

It was a great machine and the early 1980s was such a fantastic time for schoolboys playing with the first home computers. A real adventure.

This was my first computer that I didn't design myself. It combined rubbish (e.g. CPU generated sound) with genius (e.g. the 6809 and coprocessor). I remember winning a copy of Jet Set Willly (on cassette tape) from some English magazine for writing a program in machine code to calculate square roots of arbitrarily large numbers. I didn't have a printer so I wrote it out on paper and posted it to them!
I taped a cartridge game at a shop and wrote a dissasembler and assembler to relocate it into RAM. To debug it, I made a little PCB that plugged in to generate a non-maskable interrupt when unavailable memory was accessed.

Aah, nostalgia isn't what it used to be!!!

I have four Dragon 32's and one Dragon 64.
I collect them.
I am trying to find a copy of pettigrews diary (never did finish that game)!

please help me!! i recently found my dregon32 and all attachments baring a cassete deck how or can i use a conventional player and or do i need a specific lead (tons of quality games to play but cant load)

The Dragon 32 was also my first computer. I recently found it up in my parents loft, but cannot find the power supply. If anyone could help me out here I would be very grateful.
I would love to be able to play those old classic games again.

I've still got 3 Dragon 32's here, and tons of software, was my first ever color computer, and it was made about 5 miles from where I live, happy days back then :)

I used to sell these things back in Dixons in Southampton, England back in the 80's. It was always a toss up for the buyer between this and the Atari - but this was able to draw a circle - machine sold !

I still have mine..just had a lot of stuff shipped over from UK to new home in NC, USA. Bottom of one box... dragon 32, those nasty joysticks and about 100 cassette tapes.

I cut my computing teeth on a Dragon 32.. I loved it, even that green screen. I'll see if it works very soon..anyne for Donkey King?

This was my first computer and I wish I still had mine. The normal screen mode was usually a nasty green, but late in its life, my screen turned a pleasant shade of orange!

The other thing I remember about it was that the high resolution graphics modes could not support text output - you had to "draw" text onto the screen using a logo-like language built into the Microsoft basic intepreter!

It was also ahead of its time in supporting the needs of overclockers! A simple poke to a particular memory address resulted in a 33% speedup!