On its release, one of the Dragon32’s major advantages over other early ‘80s UK home computers was that it had a “proper” keyboard. And here it is:

It was a full-size, full-travel keyboard. It didn’t have any a numeric keypad, or any function keys, but it’s certainly possible to touch-type on it. The arrangement of the cursor keys is unusual, but not unique (more on that in a future post).

If you were going to do much typing, you may want to use some form of ear protection since this thing is LOUD. It’s less of a “clicky” keyboard than a “CLACKY” keyboard. It’s not just loud, there’s a hollowness to the sound, perhaps even a barely perceptible echo…

The Dragon32 is big.

Mighty Dragon. teeny Spectrum. A size comparison of the Dragon 32 and a Sinclair ZX Spectrum

It looks like the space behind the keyboard would be a great place to stick a monitor a la Apple ][. This would not be a good idea. the construction is way too flimsy to handle that kind of weight. Even gentle hand pressure will visibly bend the case. It also feels much lighter than it looks. But it would be incorrect to criticize the Dragon32 too much since it was made to match the price of machines like the Spectrum.

If you open the Dragon32 up, it starts to become clear where the “hollow” nature of the key clack comes from.

There’s quite a lot of empty space in that case. Although the bottom surface of the case looks relatively full, there is a vast expanse of emptiness when you consider the height of the Dragon32. You can see from the top-down picture, nothing in the circuit board is really higher than the level of the various ports. Let’s take a look at the side view.

If you look at the height of the ports, it’s clear that at least 2/3 of the height is empty. No wonder the key clack is so “hollow” sounding. Typing on this thing is like bouncing a basketball in an empty gym. So why is all that space there (other than to add a rich reverb to keyboard clacks? Take a look at the innards again.

It looks to me like there’s a honkin’ great heatsink at the top left. Maybe all that space was to deal with a lot of heat. You could say it’s where the Dragon stores its fiery breath. That was a long route to a crappy punchline. Sorry.

Sep 26 A lot of hot air?

Sep 30 Why doesn't every keyboard have one?

Sep 19 Orange is the new beige.