Difference between revisions of "Project Beta"
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[[File:DragonBeta-1.jpg|right|thumb]] | [[File:DragonBeta-1.jpg|right|thumb]] | ||
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− | Project Beta was something altogether different, and saw [[GEC Dragon]] really wanting to hit the big time. Expecting to retail at £2500-3000, the micro used twin [[MC6809E]] processors, had 256K RAM (expandable to 768K) and offered two internal 3.5" floppy drives with an external hard disc available as an add-on. Together with an on-board power supply the machine also incorporated an 80-column display based on the [[MC6845]] and an RGB monitor connection with the following display resolutions: 320*256*16 colours, 640*512*4, 640*256*4, 320*256*4 and a teletext mode of 160*72 (teletext being 40*24 with each character a 4*3 block). | + | Project Beta/Dragon 128 was something altogether different, and saw [[GEC Dragon]] really wanting to hit the big time. Expecting to retail at £2500-3000, the micro used twin [[MC6809E]] processors, had 256K RAM (expandable to 768K) and offered two internal 3.5" floppy drives with an external hard disc available as an add-on. Together with an on-board power supply the machine also incorporated an 80-column display based on the [[MC6845]] and an RGB monitor connection with the following display resolutions: 320*256*16 colours, 640*512*4, 640*256*4, 320*256*4 and a teletext mode of 160*72 (teletext being 40*24 with each character a 4*3 block). |
[[File:DragonBetaTop.jpg|right|thumb|Dragon Beta Motherboard]] | [[File:DragonBetaTop.jpg|right|thumb|Dragon Beta Motherboard]] |
Revision as of 23:55, 16 July 2013
Project Beta/Dragon 128 was something altogether different, and saw GEC Dragon really wanting to hit the big time. Expecting to retail at £2500-3000, the micro used twin MC6809E processors, had 256K RAM (expandable to 768K) and offered two internal 3.5" floppy drives with an external hard disc available as an add-on. Together with an on-board power supply the machine also incorporated an 80-column display based on the MC6845 and an RGB monitor connection with the following display resolutions: 320*256*16 colours, 640*512*4, 640*256*4, 320*256*4 and a teletext mode of 160*72 (teletext being 40*24 with each character a 4*3 block).
The main CPU unit had a flat-top to support a monitor and the detached keyboard also featured a separate numeric pad. Together with a parallel Centronics, RS232, light-pen and mouse port, a mother-card was supplied providing expansion boards to be fitted. At the time of announcement only three had been fully developed: 1200/75 1200/1200 and 300/300 baud modem, quad serial port for OS-9 allowing multiple terminal access and a networking card allowing one machine to be used as a file-server to the others.
It is not known how many of these prototypes were built, only today one fully assembled Beta is known to exist and one working motherboard.