Frequently Asked Questions about DRAGON

What Is DRAGON?
Compatibility
System Requirements
Versions
Pricing

Is DRAGON a video game?
Dragon is a precision tool for scientific research and learning. It is not a game. It is also not a paint program or a desktop publishing program.

Is DRAGON compatible with (program X)?
Compatibility is a difficult question to answer. Dragon strives for compatibility through the use of standard and popular file formats. Also, unlike many software packages, Dragon provides complete documentation about its own internal file formats. Note also that compatibility with other software is one of the significant areas of difference between the different versions. Users who expect to work with many or unusual data formats should consider the Dragon Professional Edition, or should contact us about specific file formats.

What standard and popular image file formats does DRAGON support?
Dragon can import image data from TIFF (including GEOTIFF) and from most of the file formats used by providers of remotely-sensed data such as LAN (Thematic Mapper) files, BIL files, BSQ files, SPOT files, AVHRR AGROCLIMATIC files, etc. In some cases, Dragon can also output data to these file formats.

We are constantly adding new file formats to this list. If you have an unusual need, please contact us.

What standard and popular vector file formats does DRAGON support?
The current version on Dragon can read and write vectors features stored in ESRI Shapefiles. We expect to support additional vector formats in the future.

What kind of computer can be used for DRAGON?
At present, Dragon can run on almost any computer with an Intel/AMD processor, provided the computer is running a compatible operating system. This includes most modern personal computers and laptops except for Macintosh computers. In the near future Dragon will also be able to run on Macintosh and Sun SPARC computers.

What kind of operating system can be used for DRAGON?
At present, Dragon requires one of Microsoft's Windows (tm) operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows XP, or Windows 2000. However, Dragon can NOT be used with Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 95. In the near future Dragon will also be able to run on Linux and Unix operating systems on Intel/AMD, Macintosh, Sun SPARC, and other computers.

What about graphics cards?
For most purposes, Dragon requires at least a 1024 x 768 screen with at least 15-bit color. The standard version of Dragon will exit with an error message if your graphics are weaker than that.

If you have some special display requirement, such as running Dragon on a small screen or in grayscale only, please contact us to discuss a special order. You will have to accept some compromises, but it can be done.

How much memory and disk space are required by DRAGON?
Dragon is a fairly large program and sometimes processes large data sets. Large memory and disk space can be an advantage. However, if your computer has enough memory for your operating system to run reasonably fast, Dragon can probably run also. Generally we recommend at least 512 MByte of RAM. Dragon requires about 250MByte of disk space. However, if you will be working with many images you should allow for several GByte of spare disk space.

If you are using Dragon Professional to process full-scene images, you should probably allow for several dozen GByte for image data.

What if I really need a DOS or Windows 95/98 version.
Dragon Release 4.1 for DOS also works fine with Windows 95 and Windows 98. It probably would work with Windows ME also, but we've never tried to do so. Dragon Release 4.1 for MS-DOS is still available on special order, but is no longer actively supported.

What are the DRAGON licensing restrictions?
A single copy of Dragon can be run on one computer at a time. Customers are free to make backups and to install the software on more than one computer, but they are prohibited from using multiple copies if they have purchased a license for a single seat.

For schools and universities, we offer two different site license options. A fixed seat site license allows a university to run a specified number of copies of Dragon at any one time. The per seat price is considerably less expensive than the single copy price. We also plan to offer an organizational site license which provides the ability to run an unlimited number of copies subject to certain geographic restrictions. Unlike the fixed seat site license, the organizational site license requires payment of an annual license fee.

All users are prohibited from reverse engineering the software as well as from reselling or otherwise distributing the software to third parties, without our knowledge and permission.

What are the differences between the versions?
All versions of Dragon are based on the same software libraries. The different versions provide capabilities which are selected to match different categories of users. Please look over our product summary for details.

Is there a demo or evaluation version?
You can download an evaluation copy of Dragon Academic Edition from the Products->Downloads page on this website. The evaluation version lets you exercise most of the processing operations of Dragon. A few operations, such as image registration and image import, are disabled. The most important limitation is that results of image processing in the evaluation version cannot be saved or exchanged with other software packages.

What languages does Dragon support?
As present, Dragon is distributed with support for the following languages:

• English
• French
• Russian
• Czech
• Brazilian Portuguese
• Thai
• Indonesian

Is there a Linux/Unix/Solaris/Macintosh version?
Not yet. We do expect to support Linux very soon. Other platforms will follow according to demand.

Is the source code available?
Are custom or OEM versions available?
Only on special order.
Please see the description of the Dragon Engine.

How much does DRAGON cost?
We try to keep the price of Dragon as low as possible.
The price list on the Purchase page provides a guide to our current prices.

Page revised on $Date: 2008/08/29 10:28:19 $