ravi@eneevax.UUCP (05/05/84)
In recent byte magazines I have seen advertised the Dragon computer for $139. It supposedly has 64k, a serial port and a centronics parallel port. It also comes with basic, and a data base,spreadsheet,word processing package. The micro it uses is a 6809. Does anybody have any information on this computer, either positive or negative? It looks like it would be a great software development tool for the vectrex as well as a decent standalone computer comparable to the coco or c64. -- ARPA: ravi%eneevax%umcp-cs@CSNet-Relay UUCP: [seismo,allegra]!umcp-cs!eneevax!ravi
dyer@wivax.UUCP (Stephen Dyer) (05/11/84)
As far as I can tell, the Tano Dragon 64 is a CoCo clone, first introduced in G. Britain, and introduced to the US in the past year. Its Microsoft BASIC is compatible with the CoCo's, but ROM locations are not always identical, and it tokenizes BASIC programs differently (a deliberate Microsoft incompatibility, in my mind) so that binary cassette files created on the CoCo are not readable. Unlike the CoCo, it multiplexes the keyboard PIA to provide a parallel printer port, and supplies a real ACIA-based RS232 port, and composite video output, all of which are conspicuously absent on the CoCo, which has only a single serial bit-banger PIA and an RF TV output. The Dragon also allows all 64K to be used without disk--a simple "exec" turns on all 64K RAM, relocates the ROM code, and thus provides 48K usable program space (as opposed to 32K ROM/32K RAM standard.) They had advertised a disk system, but I didn't know much about it. The Nelson Software "VIP" series of software were to be included with it. I am not sure if it can support Radio Shack OS-9 off the shelf (excluding the obvious differences of the parallel and serial ports.) All, in all, it seemed like a very good competitor to the Radio Shack CoCo. Unfortunately, Radio Shack dropped its price of the 64K CoCo to $220, undercutting Tano enormously, to such a point that it simply could not make it in the market. I have heard that Tano is no longer selling the Dragon in the US, so your $139 Dragon may or may not be a good deal, depending on what your needs are. -- /Steve Dyer decvax!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbncca