Message-ID: <216@eneevax.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 6-Jan-85 00:58:08 EST
Article-I.D.: eneevax.216
Posted: Sun Jan  6 00:58:08 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Jan-85 03:56:26 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Maryland, EE Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 188

I had a free hour of connect time on compuserve when I bought my
vicmodem about a year ago.  I had never used it, but now seemed
like a good time to find out about the new atari products, so I
pulled this preview from compuserve's online magazine.  The
details still seem sketchy but at least they are official
statements by atari.  I hope you find this useful.

----------------------------------------------------------------

       ANTIC ONLINE NEWS **SPECIAL BULLETIN**

 Permission To Reprint Is Granted ONLY If The Following Credit
Line Appears At Top Of the Article:

 ANTIC SPECIAL BULLETIN, REPRINTED BY PERMISSION OF ANTIC
PUBLISHING INC.

 EXCLUSIVE ANTIC PRE-CES ATARI PREVIEW:

5 NEW '85 COMPUTERS -- PLUS MONITOR
WITH 80-COL CARD, 500K DISK DRIVE, 
PRINTERS, MODEM, MOUSE...

 1/2/85 by NAT FRIEDLAND, ANTIC EDITOR

 Antic Magazine got a look at the 1985 Atari Computer Line-Up
three days before it was due for unveiling at the Consumer
Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

 This Antic Preview was hosted at the Atari Engineering Center
in Sunnyvale by Sig Hartmann, President of Atari's Software
Division, and Sam Tramiel, President of the Atari Corp.

 Prices for many of the new products were not going to be
finalized until 24 hours before CES opens.  Manufacturing of the
new computers won't begin earlier than March, which means they
won't be appearing in the stores until at least May or June.

 Atari will be showing three new 8-bit XL-compatible computers
at CES.  A 128K version, the 130XE, will be priced around $200.
The 65XE, the next-generation 800XL, will cost around $100.

 The keyboards and cases of these machines will be dramatically
changed.  They will be smaller versions (no 10-key pad) of the
spectacular 16-bit computer housing.  Inside the XE computers,
the circuitry has been simplified and chip functions have been
combined.  Sam Tramiel said that this will make the XE a more
reliable machine than the XL while maintaining 100%
compatibility.

 There will also be a luggable 8-bit XE that comes with 128K, a
small video screen and a disk drive, the package selling for
around $400.

 The XE computers will use a new DOS 2.5, which Sam Tramiel said
is very similar to the classic DOS 2.0S.  The new DOS is
necessary so that the XEs can accept the new 500K 3 1/2" disk
drives as well as the current 1050 drive.  The built-in BASIC
has not been changed.

 Hartmann & Tramiel brought up and agreed upon the necessity of
exchanging DOS 2.5 for the DOS 3 packaged in hundreds of
thousands of new 800XLs sold at Xmas.  They were very open to
Antic's suggestion that DOS 2.5 be uploaded onto the CompuServe
Atari SIG and distributed to users' groups as soon as it's
finalized.

 Hartmann also proposed that Antic assemble users questions via
CompuServe each month and turn them in to him.  He promised
prompt answers from Atari's top management through Antic.  Sam
Tramiel was enthusiastic about the arrangement and Antic is
starting it right now!  Upload your questions for Atari on the
Antic Electronic I/O Board and we'll be online with the first
round of answers before the end of January.

 ANTIC WRITE-INS SAVE PARALLEL BUS!!

 Good news that many of us have been waiting for!  The XE 128K
computer will maintain an open parallel bus for plug-in
peripherals.  The PBI will even be improved over the current XL
format -- with improved timing and a built-in +- 5 volt power
amplification.

 The last-minute decision to continue the PBI came at an
engineering meeting called by Sam Tramiel in response to Antic's
write-in campaign on CompuServe's SIG*ATARI.

 As for the two new 16-bit machines, they can be described in
one word -- phenomenal.

 The 130ST is a non-expandable 128K computer and the 520ST
carries 512K, that's the only difference between them.  They
both use the Motorola 68000 chip which is also in the Apple
Macintosh.  They both use Digital Research's super-fast
Macintosh-like GEM user interface, which sits on top of DR's
CP/M 68K operating system.

 Each model also has 196K built-in ROM containing GEM and CP/M
68K.  An Atari mouse will be available to run GEM's icon menus.
Both computers will be capable of running the highly-rated DR
version of Logo.  C or Pascal will be the development languages
of choice.

 The state-of-the-art keyboard for the 16-bit machines includes:
full selectric-style key layout, 10-key number pad, cursor pad
with Help and Undo keys, and 10 function keys.  The entire back
of the casing is honeycombed with ports, including:  parallel
and serial interfaces, MIDI musical interface, PBI, etc.

 The one sad note at Antic's preview was that the long-rumored
AMIE 16-voice sound chip was not totally ready for production
yet.  The AMIE, which is said to emulate human speech and
singing with unprecedented accuracy, will be incorporated into
the '85 Atari line later in the spring and will be identified by
adding the letter M to 8-bit and l6-bit models that include it.

 Another '85 breakthrough is Atari's sleek, compact 3 1/2" disk
drive with 500K storage capacity.  Sam Tramiel said this drive
will be in the incredibly low price range of $100.  Tramiel told
Antic that the 500K drive, which uses the same sturdy 3 1/2"
disks as the Macintosh, will be compatible with both the 16-bit
and 8-bit computers.

 "We've had long discussions about the issue of disk
compatibility," said Tramiel.  "But our conclusion is that we're
going to strongly encourage software developers to bring out
their new programs primarily on 3 1/2" format.  At the low price
we'll be selling the new drive for -- frankly 8-bit users would
be foolish not to eventually upgrade to a far superior product
and format."

 However, the current floppy-5 1/4" 1050 disk drive will
continue to be manufactured as long as there is a market for it.

 In yet another new move, Atari will be showing a wide line of
printers and monitors, which will be aggressively marketed for
use with IBM and Apple computers as well as Ataris.  When asked
who was actually manufacturing these new peripherals, Sam
Tramiel laughed and said, "Japan Inc."

 The Atari printers -- all aggressively low-priced -- will
include a 12-cps daisywheel, an 80-cps dot-matrix, and three
$50-100 thermal transfer models, including one that prints in
color.

 The monitors include a 12" monochrome for about $100 -- with a
built-in 80-column card for the XE and XL 8-bit series -- and a
14" color monitor for about $200 which will compete with the
popular Commodore color unit.

 A 640x200 resolution RGB Analog model capable of displaying 512
colors will sell for around $300.  There will also be a $150
high-resolution 640x400 monochrome model for the ST series.

 Atari also plans to show a monitor with a built-in floppy disk
drive, plus a low-cost (around $50) 300-baud modem bundled with
software for uploading and downloading.

 Software president Hartmann described Atari's goal as
"switching from a computer game company to a microcomputer
company."  He said that Atari Software will primarily publish
entertaining and easy-to-use productivity programs.  "We'll be
very selective about games, only publishing games that we
believe have a real chance to become major hits."

 By the day before CES, Hartmann expected to sign the contract
for Atari to bring out an integrated program comparable to Lotus
1-2-3 -- but with code so compacted that it will run on 64K.  If
this deal is finalized in time, Antic Online will upload a
description of the product from CES.

 Also under development is AtariWriter Plus, which will include
integrated mailmerge and spelling checker.  It is to all run on
one disk at 128K.

 Hartmann said he is determined to reach out for user group
feedback in the fast-moving software market.  He specifically
wants major users groups to act as beta testers for new Atari
software.

 As a first step towards this, Hartmann said he will bring top
Atari executives to meet with users' group officers at the
special invitational Worldwide Users Network meeting which Antic
will host at our offices during the West Coast Computer Fair in
March.
-- 
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