1982 - 1984 Dragon Data Ltd - Revision history

Jedie at 14:45, 5 August 2014

2014-08-05T14:45:25Z

Admin: /* November 1981 */

2011-02-08T15:07:23Z

‎November 1981

Admin at 17:59, 26 July 2010

2010-07-26T17:59:19Z

Admin: /* November 1981 */

2010-07-20T22:25:16Z

‎November 1981

Admin: /* October 1981 */

2010-07-20T22:22:52Z

‎October 1981

Alastair at 20:56, 16 July 2010

2010-07-16T20:56:40Z

Admin: /* August 1982 */

2010-07-15T10:12:10Z

‎August 1982

Admin at 08:49, 15 July 2010

2010-07-15T08:49:51Z

Admin at 08:45, 15 July 2010

2010-07-15T08:45:01Z

Admin at 08:44, 15 July 2010

2010-07-15T08:44:01Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:45, 5 August 2014
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	''need to continue''		''need to continue''
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		+	[[Category:Documentation]] [[Category:History]]

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 The 1st Dragon prototype is shown to the [[Mettoy]] board and the PAT Centre, Cambridge is contracted to engineer the production. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - November 1982)''
-A number of (at least 20) 16K prototypes were built manually by [[John Linney]] and used cases made from dental material - these were sent out to reviewers and developers.
+A number of (at least 20) 16K prototypes were built manually and used cases made from dental material - these were sent out to reviewers and developers.
 All of the prototypes "[[Pippin]]" and indeed the initial production run of 10,000 dragons were built as 16K machines as the decision to move to 32K came too late to change the initial production run. As a result, all 10,000 dragons in the 1st production run had to have a 16K "Piggy-Back" board added at the factory to bring them up to 32K. The decision to move from 16K to 32K is reportedly due to Sinclair launching both the 16K and 48K ZX Spectrum in April of 1982.

@@ Line 19: / Line 19: @@
 The 1st Dragon prototype is shown to the [[Mettoy]] board and the PAT Centre, Cambridge is contracted to engineer the production. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - November 1982)''
-At least one of the prototypes "[[Pippin]]" has only 16K of RAM - It is not know if this was the specification of the machine shown to the [[Mettoy]] board and how/when the decision to boost the RAM to 32K was made. It was reported that the move to 32K was in response to Sinclair launching the 48K version of the spectrum.
+A number of (at least 20) 16K prototypes were built manually by [[John Linney]] and used cases made from dental material - these were sent out to reviewers and developers.
 == July 1982 ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:25, 20 July 2010
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	The 1st Dragon prototype is shown to the [[Mettoy]] board and the PAT Centre, Cambridge is contracted to engineer the production. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - November 1982)''		The 1st Dragon prototype is shown to the [[Mettoy]] board and the PAT Centre, Cambridge is contracted to engineer the production. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - November 1982)''
		+
		+	At least one of the prototypes "[[Pippin]]" has only 16K of RAM - It is not know if this was the specification of the machine shown to the [[Mettoy]] board and how/when the decision to boost the RAM to 32K was made. It was reported that the move to 32K was in response to Sinclair launching the 48K version of the spectrum.

	== July 1982 ==		== July 1982 ==

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 == October 1981 ==
-[[Ian Thomson Bell]] at the PAT Centre, Cambridge designs the prototype of the Dragon 32. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - August 1982)''
+[[Ian Thomson Bell]] at the PAT Centre, Cambridge designs the prototype of the Dragon as part of project SAM. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - August 1982)''
 "We chose Microsoft Basic because the timescale dictated an off-the-shelf interpreter. The 6809 chip was selected because it is the best 8-bit processor. As far as the CPU is concerned, the design was relatively straightforward. With the 8-bit, the SAM chip and the 6847 you have virtually a home computer in three chips. The difficult parts of the design were the Microsoft driver and the video conversion."

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 == September 1981 ==
-[[Mettoy]] Director [[Tony Clarke]] commissions the PAT (PA Technology) Center, Cambridge to build a new micro computer and a new division of [[Mettoy]] is formed. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - July 1982)''
+[[Mettoy]] Director [[Tony Clarke]] commissions the PAT (PA Technology) Centre, Cambridge to build a new micro computer and a new division of [[Mettoy]] is formed. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - July 1982)''
 == October 1981 ==
-[[Ian Thomson Bell]] at the PAT Center, Cambridge designs the prototype of the Dragon 32. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - August 1982)''
+[[Ian Thomson Bell]] at the PAT Centre, Cambridge designs the prototype of the Dragon 32. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - August 1982)''
 "We chose Microsoft Basic because the timescale dictated an off-the-shelf interpreter. The 6809 chip was selected because it is the best 8-bit processor. As far as the CPU is concerned, the design was relatively straightforward. With the 8-bit, the SAM chip and the 6847 you have virtually a home computer in three chips. The difficult parts of the design were the Microsoft driver and the video conversion."
@@ Line 81: / Line 81: @@
 Tano's production of the Dragon begins.
-The thought that sales would continue through spring and summer at the level as at Christmas had proved to be a major misjudgment and it came as no surprise to industry analysts when Managing Director [[Tony Clarke]] was asked to resign by the shareholders - of course it was reported to the public that he had "previously indicated to the board that he wished to resign for personal resigns".
+The thought that sales would continue through spring and summer at the level as at Christmas had proved to be a major misjudgement and it came as no surprise to industry analysts when Managing Director [[Tony Clarke]] was asked to resign by the shareholders - of course it was reported to the public that he had "previously indicated to the board that he wished to resign for personal resigns".
 The shareholders asked GEC (the largest electrical company in the UK) to provide a senior executive to become the new chief executive of Dragon Data on "temporary secondment", and they duly obliged with [[Brian Moore]] appointed to the post on September 12th, until a new business plan for the company had been worked out - though Brian could not put a time on this. It was no shock decision to appoint a GEC executive - Prutech who held 42% of Dragon shares were also the major investor in GEC - but he was suitable for the job, moving from a deputy managing directorship post at a GEC subsidiary specializing in microprocessor controlled heating and ventilation systems, together with his experience in general electronic engineering, financial management and business applications for computers.
@@ Line 90: / Line 90: @@
 Tano's production was up to capacity of the 48,000 square foot new plant where the lines were housed.
-First rumors of the Dragon 128 are made - Featuring dual 6809 processors, a numeric keypad, 128K ram and OS9 selectable on power-up it seemed as if both companies had got their act together and times looked rosy.
+First rumours of the Dragon 128 are made - Featuring dual 6809 processors, a numeric keypad, 128K ram and OS9 selectable on power-up it seemed as if both companies had got their act together and times looked rosy.
 ''need to continue''

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 [[Mettoy]] appear to be in financial difficulty.
-PATS Centre works on Dragon 64 and floppy disk interface. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - August 1982)''
+PAT Centre works on Dragon 64 and floppy disk interface. ''(Source: Popular Computing Weekly - August 1982)''
-"Meanwhile, the PATS Centre is continuing to extend the Dragon project. Development is in hand for a mini-floppy disc system for under £250. Next year will also see the launch of an advanced Dragon - with 64K, enhanced graphics and a built-in disc operating system".
+"Meanwhile, the PAT Centre is continuing to extend the Dragon project. Development is in hand for a mini-floppy disc system for under £250. Next year will also see the launch of an advanced Dragon - with 64K, enhanced graphics and a built-in disc operating system".
 == October 1982 ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:45, 15 July 2010
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	Already the company is in financial difficulty and Managing Director, Mr. [[Tony Clarke]], persuades financial institutions into a re-finance of Dragon Data. This left Mettoy with only a 15.5% shareholding after the Welsh Development Agency bought 23% and Pru-tech (the high-tech investment division of Prudential Insurance) the largest holding with 42%. With new money being ploughed in, Dragon Data would be able to contract out work (to Race Electronics who also built BBC's for Acorn), enabling them to build up the production rate to come closer to meeting the high demand for their product.		Already the company is in financial difficulty and Managing Director, Mr. [[Tony Clarke]], persuades financial institutions into a re-finance of Dragon Data. This left Mettoy with only a 15.5% shareholding after the Welsh Development Agency bought 23% and Pru-tech (the high-tech investment division of Prudential Insurance) the largest holding with 42%. With new money being ploughed in, Dragon Data would be able to contract out work (to Race Electronics who also built BBC's for Acorn), enabling them to build up the production rate to come closer to meeting the high demand for their product.

−	~~== October 1982 ==~~
−
−	~~[[Mettoy]] sell the [[Dragon Data Ltd]] division to a group of six investors.~~

	== Late 1982 ==		== Late 1982 ==

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 "We looked at the amount of time spent scanning the keyboard. Of the 2ms spent in each run of the loop, 0.7ms was spent in the keyboard checking that keys such as Break had not been pressed. We tackled it as a logic problem, instead of scanning each key in turn, we designed it to check if any key had been depressed. This speeded up the software considerably - that is why the Dragon is so quick."
 == August 1982 ==
-[[Dragon 32]] is released.
+[[Dragon 32]] is released at a retail price of £199.50 and a production capacity of between 30,000 and 35,000 machines for the rest of this year.
 [[Mettoy]] appear to be in financial difficulty.
@@ Line 24: / Line 32: @@
 "Meanwhile, the PATS Centre is continuing to extend the Dragon project. Development is in hand for a mini-floppy disc system for under £250. Next year will also see the launch of an advanced Dragon - with 64K, enhanced graphics and a built-in disc operating system".
 == October 1982 ==
 Already the company is in financial difficulty and Managing Director, Mr. [[Tony Clarke]], persuades financial institutions into a re-finance of Dragon Data. This left Mettoy with only a 15.5% shareholding after the Welsh Development Agency bought 23% and Pru-tech (the high-tech investment division of Prudential Insurance) the largest holding with 42%. With new money being ploughed in, Dragon Data would be able to contract out work (to Race Electronics who also built BBC's for Acorn), enabling them to build up the production rate to come closer to meeting the high demand for their product.
 == Late 1982 ==