The Emulator Page
INTRODUCTION
 All the computers mentioned on this page were based on Motorola's early 6809 cpu, which was probably the most versatile of all the 8-bit chips. Although the Dragon and the Coco were based on much the same architecture, the Coco3 was a further development and the superior computer having the much greater memory and an enhanced (GIME) graphics chip. This means that Dragon programs can be converted to run on the Coco3 comparitively easily, but Coco3 programs which use the higher resolution graphics cannot be reproduced on the Dragon.

DRAGON

The main Dragon Emulator was written several years ago by Paul Burgin when he was still using cassettes, in consequence it was unable to load disks. Although it has since gone through a number of versions, this restriction has remained until recently, when Stewart Orchard wrote a modification to enable it to use 'virtual disks'. Paul has now incorporated this 'mod' into the latest version, which is 2.05. Paul also wrote a faster version of the Dragon Emulator called the T3 Version 1.05. Both these versions are available below in a ZIP file for download.
Stewart Orchard's upgrade for the PCDRAGON emulator allows 4 drives and the use of virtual disks. It includes a program which will allow you to convert normal Dragon disks into virtual disks (VDK) and back again, using your PC, plus a program which allows you to format Dragon disks on your PC. If you only have 5.25 drives on your Dragon, you will need access to a 5.25 drive on a PC to transfer files across - but any size Dragon disks can be converted up to 80 track double sided 3.5 disks. (720k DD disks).

COCO 2

Jeff Vavasour's Coco2 Emulator is also available from many sources and can be downloaded (see below). The Coco2, which is a clone of the Dragon, or vice versa, uses a similar version of the Microsoft extended Basic, although the Basic has been tokenised differently. Numerous programs exist to convert one Basic version to the other. Machine code programs are a different kettle of fish and often require a fairly detailed knowledge of both machines to enable them to run.


There are a number of emulators for the Coco, of which Jeff Vavasours is by far the best, in my opinion, but details of most of the others can be found at -
http://www.whatever the address is

COCO 3

Jeff Vavasour's Coco3 Emulator is an extremely sophisticated program which not only emulates the Coco3 (512k version, if you have the ROM), but also runs OS9 Version 2. This program is NOT in the Public Domain as I write this (Jan 2002), but may soon be. I am sure that when it is, the details will be available on Stuart Wyss-Gallifant's website at www.voicenet.com/~swyss/cfdm.htm (see links)

The Coco 3 incorporates the GIME graphics chip, consequently the graphics are a far higher definition than the Dragon

DOWNLOAD AN EMULATOR

PAUL BURGIN'S T3 EMULATOR
This is the latest version of Paul's T3 emulator in ZIP form. Expand on the PC with PKUNZIP or WINZIP.
PAUL BURGIN'S PCDRAGON II EMULATOR
The latest version of Paul's emulator, including Stewart Orchard's UPGRADE using 'virtual disks'.
JEFF VAVASOUR'S COCO2 & COCO3 EMULATORs
The latest versions of Jeff's emulators, which are now in the public domain.

A CONFESSION
These Web Pages were originally written by Ray Smith on behalf of the NDUG and he freely acknowledge his debt to superior Dragon programmers, such as Jon Bird, Paul Burgin, Ross Hamilton, Graham Kinns and probably a host of others as he has pilfered ideas, graphics and routines from anywhere and everywhere, especially from web pages which he has admired.

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Last Updated: 8 Jan 2002