The source code of the ROMs that powered two legendary personal computers from the 80s have been found. The Dragon 32 and 64 have finally regained their memory.
The 80s rhymed with the advent of pop music and MTV culture. They also rhymed with the emergence of the digital age, and the rise of the personal computer market. New machines were born almost every month and progress accelerated exponentially. In this swarm of innovations were born the Dragon 32 and Dragon 64. They were a great success upon their arrival, but were quickly overtaken by the competition. Recently, the source code of their ROM (read-only memory) was found when it was thought to be misplaced.
Two iconic computers
Both of these devices would pass for toasters today, yet they were quite fashionable in their time. They were created by Dragon Data, Ltd., a company based in Port Talbot in South Wales. Launched on the market at the very beginning of the 80s, they were equipped – as their names indicate – with 32 Kb and 64 Kb of RAM memory.
Very well received on their arrival, however, the competition quickly put a spoke in their wheels. Endowed with graphic capacities clearly inferior to those of their adversaries, their limitation in the display of characters precipitated their oblivion. In front of them stood fiercely the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the BBC Micro, veritable war machines. Despite this, the Dragon 32 and Dragon 64 have always held a warm place in the hearts of developers and computer enthusiasts.
The rediscovery of a computer treasure
Almost 40 years after they left production, a brief burst puts these two computers back in the spotlight. Their source code, reputed to be lost, has therefore been found, one can say, miraculously. A real computer treasure, it is the result of a recovery and a meticulous recomposition of a 340-page paper listing produced in 1983. This listing contained the entire source code of the Dragon 64 ROMs.
This famous code was divided into multiple individual files, classified in subdirectories. All these pages of the listing have been digitized one by one and reorganized to preserve the integrity of these historical documents. This reconstitution of documents will give retro-computing enthusiasts (like this guy for example!) the opportunity to learn more about the Dragon 32 and 64. They will thus be able to learn more about the architectural design of these two machines. of eras, without having to carry around a yellowed directory of 340 pages that can only be consulted in the library!
This rediscovery is a wake-up call: it reminds us of the value of preservation and the importance of technological heritage. Computers, as recent as they are, should be no exception. The generations that will follow necessarily gain from knowing what has been. And it is all the easier to ensure that this is the case today thanks to the range of digital tools at our disposal.
Sources: Github, Wikipedia, Twitter
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