Message-ID: <2539@ihuxf.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Jan-85 09:51:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ihuxf.2539
Posted: Thu Jan 17 09:51:00 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Jan-85 02:36:46 EST
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
Lines: 87




 ANTIC ONLINE NEWS - SPECIAL BULLETIN

 Permission to reprint or excerpt is granted only if the following line
appears at the top of the article:

 ANTIC SPECIAL BULLETIN,
 REPRINTED BY PERMISSION.
 COPYRIGHT 1985, ANTIC
 PUBLISHING INC.

 CES-ATARI FINAL WRAP-UP

 by NAT FRIEDLAND, Antic Editor

 LAS VEGAS - The January 1985 CES show looked like the arrival of 
vindication for those who believed in the Atari Computer.  The 
spectacular hardware and software shown at the crowded Atari exhibit 
was clearly superior and dramatically lower priced than anything
brought by Commodore or the Japanese MSX contingent.

 Model numbers - and to some extent, prices - still seem to be in a 
state of flux.  But here is the best information ANTIC has as of now.

 16-BIT COMPUTERS - The 130ST (128K) is $399.  A suddenly announced 
260ST (256K) will be $499.  And the top of the line 520ST (512K) is 
$599.  The ST operating environment, GEM by Digital Research, will 
make it easy for software developers to transport programs originally 
written for the Macintosh and IBM PC environments.

 8-BIT COMPUTERS - The 65XE which replaces the 800XL will continue at
under $120.  The 130XE is "well under $200" - or approaching $150.  
We also had our first look at the 65XEP luggable, under $400, including 
a 3 1/2" disk drive and a very clear 5" green monitor.  These computers 
are all compatible with Atari's earlier 8-bits.  When the polyphonic 
AMIE sound chip is finished around March, it's supposed to go into an 
alternate 64K machine to be called the 65XEM.

 DELIVERY DATES for everything in this story is supposed to fall 
between 30 days and the start of the second quarter.

 PRINTERS - $150 for the slow (12 cps) but true letter-quality daisywheel,
$150 for the 80 cps dot matrix that produces graphics virtually as sharp as
the Apple Imagewriter. $150 for the 50 cps non-impact color printer that 
produces very clear text, and $99 for a black-only 20-cps non-impact 
model.  All of these printers seem much sturdier and more professional 
than any printer that has ever carried the Atari name.  They all
work with both the 8-bit and the 16-bit lines, under different 
interfaces and model numbers. In fact, Atari printers and monitors 
will now be marketed for IBM, Apple and Commodore computers, under 
the Atarisoft name.

 MONITORS - The XC1411 composite color 14" is under $200.  The XM128, about
$150, is the crisp 12" green monitor with built-in 80-column card that 
works with the new Atari software on XE computers.  Specifically for 
the 16-bit ST line is the very impressive 12" RGB analog color monitor, 
SC1224 under $300, that's capable of showing 512 colors onscreen.  
You can also get this model with a built-in 3 1/2" disk drive attachment. 
And there's an extra high resolution monochrome monitor, the SM124, for 
the STs at under $200.  The Atari exhibit area featured a wall of color 
monitors, which often displayed the spectacular graphics demos which 
Atari has been making available to users groups.  Doug Crockford's 
BALL1 has been put on CompuServe by ANTIC.  And Jim St. Louis' & Russ 
Karas' animated high-res robot and rocket ship are starting to
be seen nationwide.

 DISK DRIVES - The 500K SF354 3 1/2" drive is under $200.  And they are now
also talking about a 250K 3 1/2" drive, the SF324, for around $150.  Not 
yet shown was the under-$600 SH317 hard disk with 10MB, and there's also 
some discussion of a 15MB hard disk.  Speed of all these new drives is 
announced as a phenomenal 1.3 megabytes per second for the STs.  For 
the XEs they're hoping to boost the speed to 30,000 from the current 
19,200.  The 1050 disk drive will be gradually replaced for 5 1/4" 
floppies by the compatible XF521, around $150, which has true double 
density and matches the new XE look.  The new compatible Disk Operating 
System 2.5 was developed by Bill Wilkinson of OSS, the father of Atari DOS.

 TELECOMMUNICATIONS - The $49.95 XM301 direct-connect 300-baud modem is
slightly larger than a cigarette pack and comes bundled with software for
uploading and downloading. The long-awaited Learning Phone cartridge
for accessing Plato was featured, in-store availability should begin in
February and the price may be as low as $25.  The Plato cartridge was also
being demonstrated with MPP's new low-cost 1,200-baud modem.