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 312 - #retrorandom - If you were serious about programming the Dragon back in the day (heck, even now), you had to have this book. Written by Duncan Smeed, who'd also written the Dragon's BIOS, there was no man better qualified to write this bible. And my copy is signed by the man himself!
November 11, 2025 at 5:09 PM
Day 312 - #retrorandom - If you were serious about programming the Dragon back in the day (heck, even now), you had to have this book. Written by Duncan Smeed, who'd also written the Dragon's BIOS, there was no man better qualified to write this bible. And my copy is signed by the man himself!
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? :)
... plus a massive heat sink that gently cooks everything inside. First the caps go, then the transformer for driving that gorgeously retro VFD display. They're maddening to work on, with fragile ribbons always threatening to tear ...
November 8, 2025 at 7:36 PM
... plus a massive heat sink that gently cooks everything inside. First the caps go, then the transformer for driving that gorgeously retro VFD display. They're maddening to work on, with fragile ribbons always threatening to tear ...
Sadly, yes. Passed from one company to another (Sinclair -> Newbury -> Grundy), no one invested in the ULAs that would allow them to fit a single PCB (and originally a battery) in the pretty case (not much bigger than a Spectrum). Instead there's three PCBs stacked in there ...
November 8, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Sadly, yes. Passed from one company to another (Sinclair -> Newbury -> Grundy), no one invested in the ULAs that would allow them to fit a single PCB (and originally a battery) in the pretty case (not much bigger than a Spectrum). Instead there's three PCBs stacked in there ...
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 ...
You win the prize, it is indeed! Not sure what the prize is, mind you ...
November 8, 2025 at 5:09 PM
You win the prize, it is indeed! Not sure what the prize is, mind you ...
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!
Hence my CP400II motherboard currently lives in the original's case. They were designed by award winning Italian industrial designer Luciano Deviá who was possibly presuming that no one in Brazil was likely to see the Timex 2068 that might, err, have inspired his design.
November 1, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Hence my CP400II motherboard currently lives in the original's case. They were designed by award winning Italian industrial designer Luciano Deviá who was possibly presuming that no one in Brazil was likely to see the Timex 2068 that might, err, have inspired his design.
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 ...
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 ...
Definitely very yellowed! Although luckily, since then, I've been fortunate to get a more original one.
October 29, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Definitely very yellowed! Although luckily, since then, I've been fortunate to get a more original one.
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 ...
And hurrah, we've found the fuse and we're working again!
October 27, 2025 at 5:04 PM
And hurrah, we've found the fuse and we're working again!
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 the answer is ... yes it did! The memory board is now tucked away behind the Video Genie in the S100 expansion box, allowing me to play a fun game of Swamp War.
October 24, 2025 at 4:48 PM
And the answer is ... yes it did! The memory board is now tucked away behind the Video Genie in the S100 expansion box, allowing me to play a fun game of Swamp War.