Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

HereBeDragons

@heredragons.be

1.2K followers 72 following 910 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

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 9h

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

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 1d

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 ...

1 12

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 1d

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 ...

1 1

Reposted by HereBeDragons

Andy Toone @lockfarm.bsky.social · 1d

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.

1 19 7

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 2d

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!

2 21

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 2d

I'm reasonably sure he is!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 3d

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 · 3d

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 · 3d

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?

5 3 35

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 4d

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

1 2 31

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 5d

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 ...

1 20

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 6d

Absolutely!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 6d

I really should have bought shares!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 6d

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 ...

3 1 19

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 6d

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

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 12d

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

1 4

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 7d

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.

4 34

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 7d

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

1 2

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 8d

As you can imagine, the quality was pretty dreadful!

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 8d

Ah, it's barely transmitting - it's just a tiny bit of wire (with a cute ball on the end!) plugged into the RF out. I could move it to the Spectrum if I wanted. AFAIK, early Japanese portable TVs rarely had an RF input, so the idea was that you put this near the built-in aerial on the top.

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 8d

Day 276 - #retrorandom - Just a typical day in the office ...

3 15

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 8d

I'll be bringing ... Dragons! (of course)

The Centre for Computing History @computinghistory.org.uk · 8d

The exhibitors are telling us what they're bringing to the RCF - and, wow, what a line up! PDPs and oscilloscopes from the dawn of gaming to brand new projects for the Sega Mega Drive - and into the future with the Spectrum Next! Tickets are selling fast - www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74558/re...

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 9d

Day 275 - #retrorandom - I took this photo to show that a Casio MX-101 is basically the same size as a Spectrum. However, the dinky aerial with a ball on top makes it win any cuteness competition hands down.

1 3 27

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 9d

Exactly, we need more tech like this! 😄

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 10d

Day 274 - #retrorandom - My random ramblings are back ... and here's a thought ... I miss the days when brown was considered a perfectly sensible colour for an item of technology (in this case a phone and Prestel terminal).

2 21

HereBeDragons @heredragons.be · 11d

But if you look after your Sharp, it'll look after you, and you'll have many happy adventures together!

1 11