HereBeDragons
@heredragons.be
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!
Day 311 - #retrorandom - It's a Radofin pong console that I picked up in 2018. Radofin are an interesting company though - they made the Aquarius you see behind (for Mattel) and the mythical Dragon MSX too. Plus a whole bunch of peripherals as well.
November 10, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Day 311 - #retrorandom - It's a Radofin pong console that I picked up in 2018. Radofin are an interesting company though - they made the Aquarius you see behind (for Mattel) and the mythical Dragon MSX too. Plus a whole bunch of peripherals as well.
Day 310 - #retrorandom - It's 2018 ... and it's the first retro festival I helped organise for @computinghistory.org.uk - gosh didn't we all look so young? :)
November 9, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Day 310 - #retrorandom - It's 2018 ... and it's the first retro festival I helped organise for @computinghistory.org.uk - gosh didn't we all look so young? :)
Day 309 - #retrorandom - Another picture of Newbrain chaos ... surely one must work? Actually, back then in 2019, I think a few did. But do they still? I almost don't want to plug them in to find out ...
November 8, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Day 309 - #retrorandom - Another picture of Newbrain chaos ... surely one must work? Actually, back then in 2019, I think a few did. But do they still? I almost don't want to plug them in to find out ...
Day 308 - #retrorandom - Don't you just love it when you open a computer and find almost nothing inside? I love this super minimal motherboard inside a quite advanced computer - bonus points if you can tell me what it is!
November 7, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Day 308 - #retrorandom - Don't you just love it when you open a computer and find almost nothing inside? I love this super minimal motherboard inside a quite advanced computer - bonus points if you can tell me what it is!
Day 307 - #retrorandom - This photo might date back to 2017, but I'll never get bored of it! Multi-user Unix on a 6809 (albeit with 512K of memory) ...
November 6, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Day 307 - #retrorandom - This photo might date back to 2017, but I'll never get bored of it! Multi-user Unix on a 6809 (albeit with 512K of memory) ...
Day 307 - #retrorandom - Another day, another pile of random computers! This pile dates back to 2019 and the first 'Made in Japan' at @computinghistory.org.uk ... I think it was to make an image to promote the event ...
November 5, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Day 307 - #retrorandom - Another day, another pile of random computers! This pile dates back to 2019 and the first 'Made in Japan' at @computinghistory.org.uk ... I think it was to make an image to promote the event ...
Day 306 - #retrorandom - Thinking about it now, perhaps a Mazda MX5 isn't the best car to transport machines to events in. I may have driven with a computer on my lap too.
November 4, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Day 306 - #retrorandom - Thinking about it now, perhaps a Mazda MX5 isn't the best car to transport machines to events in. I may have driven with a computer on my lap too.
Day 305 - #retrorandom - When preparing for an event, it's always best to have a spare machine or two! This is from the Retro Computer Festival in 2019 and to be honest, I didn't really trust either of the TI99/4a to work reliably with my PEB ...
November 3, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Day 305 - #retrorandom - When preparing for an event, it's always best to have a spare machine or two! This is from the Retro Computer Festival in 2019 and to be honest, I didn't really trust either of the TI99/4a to work reliably with my PEB ...
Day 304 - #retrorandom - Mon Dieu, c'est un énorme tas d'ordinateurs français!
November 2, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Day 304 - #retrorandom - Mon Dieu, c'est un énorme tas d'ordinateurs français!
Day 304 - #retrorandom - My pair of Prologica CP400s from Brazil. These are 100% compatible Tandy Coco clones (baring the inaccessible cartridge port). The original has 16K and a tendency to overheat. The CP400II has 64K and a 'proper' keyboard that's actually much, much worse ...
November 1, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Day 304 - #retrorandom - My pair of Prologica CP400s from Brazil. These are 100% compatible Tandy Coco clones (baring the inaccessible cartridge port). The original has 16K and a tendency to overheat. The CP400II has 64K and a 'proper' keyboard that's actually much, much worse ...
What a line up! You'd be crazy to miss it! :)
It's just two weeks to go! Come meet the developers - meet the people who coded for all our favourite systems back in the day, and many who still do - and can teach us all a trick or two! Let's look at all the platforms ...
November 1, 2025 at 5:45 PM
What a line up! You'd be crazy to miss it! :)
Day 303 - #retrorandom - I can't believe I haven't posted this before! Apparently these wonderful frankenabacalcs are from the early days of pocket calculators where cautious early users in Japan and China liked to be able to double check the results from the calculator the 'proper' way.
October 31, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Day 303 - #retrorandom - I can't believe I haven't posted this before! Apparently these wonderful frankenabacalcs are from the early days of pocket calculators where cautious early users in Japan and China liked to be able to double check the results from the calculator the 'proper' way.
Day 303 - #retrorandom - Oh, I miss Maplin and I miss their awesome catalogues (US readers, think Radio Shack). I'd also forgotten how great their sci-fi inspired artwork was ...
October 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Day 303 - #retrorandom - Oh, I miss Maplin and I miss their awesome catalogues (US readers, think Radio Shack). I'd also forgotten how great their sci-fi inspired artwork was ...
Day 302 - #retrorandom - It's another pile of random computers on the living room rug! Again, not sure why I took this photo back in 2021 - I suspect I was moving stuff in and out of storage and wanted a reminder of what was where!
October 29, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Day 302 - #retrorandom - It's another pile of random computers on the living room rug! Again, not sure why I took this photo back in 2021 - I suspect I was moving stuff in and out of storage and wanted a reminder of what was where!
Day 301 - #retrorandom - There's something about Dragons that just lends itself to building towers ...
October 28, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Day 301 - #retrorandom - There's something about Dragons that just lends itself to building towers ...
Day 300 - #retrorandom - Resist the temptation to stick your finger in the middle there to see what happens! :) I do love working on Sharp machines though (this is an MZ-2000) and I've got the top off as I'm in search of the fuse that just blew. Sharp fans will know they love their hidden fuses!
October 27, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Day 300 - #retrorandom - Resist the temptation to stick your finger in the middle there to see what happens! :) I do love working on Sharp machines though (this is an MZ-2000) and I've got the top off as I'm in search of the fuse that just blew. Sharp fans will know they love their hidden fuses!
Day 299 - #retrorandom - OK I'll admit it, I'm cheating. Of course Chuckie Egg on the Dragon has a nice green background. But here I'm using a Pi to emulate the graphics chip and of course the first thing I did was tweak it to give me those graphics modes it never had (but I would have killed for!).
October 26, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Day 299 - #retrorandom - OK I'll admit it, I'm cheating. Of course Chuckie Egg on the Dragon has a nice green background. But here I'm using a Pi to emulate the graphics chip and of course the first thing I did was tweak it to give me those graphics modes it never had (but I would have killed for!).
Day 298 - #retrorandom - Okay, Thomson fans, what makes this machine a bit different? Well, it's an export machine, so it's QWERTY (although I don't think it was ever sold in the UK) and also, there's no funky yellow enter key! Solidish specs - 6809, 32K RAM, 16K VRAM and up to 320x200 resolution.
October 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Day 298 - #retrorandom - Okay, Thomson fans, what makes this machine a bit different? Well, it's an export machine, so it's QWERTY (although I don't think it was ever sold in the UK) and also, there's no funky yellow enter key! Solidish specs - 6809, 32K RAM, 16K VRAM and up to 320x200 resolution.
And Dragons, soooo many Dragons! 😄
It's getting closer and closer. We've got gaming on everything from oscilloscopes to top end 90s Unix workstations, exotic consoles and Japanese train emulators. Oh and LOTs of Chuckie Egg! www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74558/Re... (Sat) and www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74909/re... (Sun).
October 25, 2025 at 8:45 AM
And Dragons, soooo many Dragons! 😄
Day 297 - #retrorandom - So ... it's 2022 and the question you're all asking is "did the new tantalum fix the memory board?" ... 1/2
October 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Day 297 - #retrorandom - So ... it's 2022 and the question you're all asking is "did the new tantalum fix the memory board?" ... 1/2
Day 296 - #retrorandom - Thomson, presumably in a rush to see how many variants of their French 6809 powered machine they could release before the bottom fell out of the 8 bit market, released the MO6 in 1986. It was also released as the Olivetti Prodest PC 128 outside of France ...
October 23, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Day 296 - #retrorandom - Thomson, presumably in a rush to see how many variants of their French 6809 powered machine they could release before the bottom fell out of the 8 bit market, released the MO6 in 1986. It was also released as the Olivetti Prodest PC 128 outside of France ...
Day 295 - #retrorandom - It's another random, if neater, pile of machines today. I suspect the excuse this time is that I was moving house ...
October 22, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Day 295 - #retrorandom - It's another random, if neater, pile of machines today. I suspect the excuse this time is that I was moving house ...
Day 294 - #retrorandom - I have no idea why I took a photo of this particular pile of random machines back in 2019. I can't think of theme that connects them!
October 21, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Day 294 - #retrorandom - I have no idea why I took a photo of this particular pile of random machines back in 2019. I can't think of theme that connects them!
Me! Me! 😄
Who will be joining us @ Centre for #Computing History #Cambridge next month for the #retrogaming edition of the #retrofest 25? 16th / 16th November 25
Tickets: www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74558/Re...
Tickets: www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74558/Re...
October 21, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Me! Me! 😄
Day 293 - #retrorandom - Sometimes I forget that Microsoft was once a little software company in the backstreets of Albuquerque ...
October 20, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Day 293 - #retrorandom - Sometimes I forget that Microsoft was once a little software company in the backstreets of Albuquerque ...