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HereBeDragons

@heredragons.be

1.2K followers 72 following 920 posts

Also known as @herebedragons3 on the other site. Collector of all things Dragon - and much else beyond. Occasional fixer of computers, more commonly a breaker of them. See also https://retrofest.uk/ and @shortcircuit.org.uk for exciting events info!

retrofest.uk

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 9h

Yeah, it's hard to know exactly what Tandy thought they were competing with - was it the Spectrum or was it the ZX81 /TS-1000, and the other dirt cheap systems, like the Vtech VZ-200s?

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 11h

Day 285 - #retrorandom - I'd be lost without my logic analyser. It's a simple 16 channel beastie, but immediately you can see what's going on inside the computer. Seen here helping me repair a Sharp MZ-80A.

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 11h

TRS-80 MC-10 - Tandy's budget Coco to compete with the Spectrum etc. Same green graphics but slightly simpler CPU (6803 rather than 6809) and just 4K of memory.

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 12h

The games will be Lava Hero, Paku Paku and Ghost Rush by Paul Shoemaker and Flagon Bird by Bosco - pshoemaker70.itch.io and worldofdragon.org/index.php?ti... - download them and start practicing!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 12h

These are all dead simple games, all require no more than a button or key push. All are fast and maddeningly addictive. And to make things even more exciting, I'm going to be handing out prizes for the highest scores of the weekend! (think badges rather than money or anything of actual value) .. 2/3

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 12h

I'm having a rethink of my table for @computinghistory.org.uk's Retro Computing Festival - so to keep with their Gaming Edition theme, I'm going for this ... "The Glorious Galaxy of Green Gaming" (working title) to celebrate everyone's favourite primary colour and it's role in Dragon games ... 1/3

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 15h

GO GREEN! GO GREEN! :)

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 1d

Day 284 - #retrorandom - Getting arty with my Dragon 64 ...

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 2d

Day 283 - #retrorandom - I mentioned the 'Crates of Shame' a few days back, the ever growing pile of things that need fixing, and here they are! Well, at least some of them. I note there's a Dragon down there. There's always one Dragon that needs fixing ...

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 2d

I think the Oops board on the Coco is to make an NTSC machine into a PAL one for export. On the Dragon it's to make a Dragon 16 into a Dragon 32 once they'd realised a Dragon 16 might not sell that well ...

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Reposted by HereBeDragons

Andy Toone @lockfarm.bsky.social · 2d

OK BlueSky network, can we do the six degrees of Kevin Bacon thing? Does anyone know Ian Livingstone or someone in similar tech/tabletop gaming/boardgame area? I've got a tech demo that I'd love to take further, or at least show to people who might 'get it'.

Reposts appreciated.

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 3d

Day 282 - #retrorandom - I took this photo to demonstrate that although the Dragon and the Coco were based on the same underlying reference design, there was no similarity in how their motherboards were laid out!

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 3d

I'm reasonably sure he is!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 4d

Yes! I was an exhibitor at the first (or second?) in 2017, but when I asked if there'd be another event in 2018, the museum answered 'sure ... if you organise it!'. The rest is history ...

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 4d

If this picture piques your interest, we have another Retro Computer Festival coming in just over a month - November 15th and 16th to be exact! www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74558/Re...

Retro Computer Festival 2025 (Gaming Edition) - Saturday 15th November - Event Ticket - Computing History

Click here for information on Sunday Were very happy to announce our 2025 Retro Computer Festival and this time with a twist.Click here for information on Sunday We're very happy to announce our 20...

www.computinghistory.org.uk

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 4d

Day 281 - #retrorandom - Setting up for the Retro Computer Festival in 2018 - the calm before the storm! I love @binarydinosaurs.co.uk's wooden machine bottom left. A ZX81 I think?

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 5d

Day 280 - #retrorandom - Just a reminder to everyone as Christmas gets closer that I would really like one of those of my own ...

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 6d

Day 279 - #retrorandom - Getting ready for a show! Do I have everything? Will I arrive in Cambridge to find I'm missing the floppy disk cable / tape lead / unique power cable that I need to make my display work? Quite probably ...

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 7d

Absolutely!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 7d

I really should have bought shares!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 7d

Day 278 - #retrorandom - I miss this old house, the built-in storage was perfect for my computers. This was known as the 'wall of shame', all the lose computers were awaiting repair. Now I have the 'many, many crates of shame' serving the same purpose ...

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 7d

I sooooo want one of there. I rabbited about at length here if anyone's interested - bsky.app/profile/here...

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 13d

Day 272(29) - #sharptember - The month is nearly over, but we can't go without talking about the Latte Caputer, or 'RaTeCaPuter' - radio, television, cassette and, most excitingly, computer! This dates back to 1979, and seems to be based on a similar architecture to their pocket computers ... 1/2

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 8d

Day 277 - #retrorandom - here I'm using a "Dragon for scale" to show how enormous my 'new' Zenith 386 is. I have a soft spot for this beast as, running 386BSD, I used it to develop the software for my first ever business.

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 8d

Cityscape's software was MUCH better, although I might be biased 😄

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HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 9d

As you can imagine, the quality was pretty dreadful!