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New Atari machines (home UNIX at last?) [message #80397] Mon, 03 June 2013 23:22 Go to previous message
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Message-ID: <3097@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 7-Jan-85 12:14:08 EST
Article-I.D.: ucla-cs.3097
Posted: Mon Jan  7 12:14:08 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Jan-85 23:41:21 EST
Organization: UCLA Computer Club
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Xref: watmath net.micro:9029 net.micro.cbm:1064 net.micro.atari:556




  Here's more speculation with which to fuel the rumor mills:


Infoworld, Jan. 7 & 14, 1985

Reprinted here without permission, natch'.



		     Atari Awash In Product Rumors
	       Several Machines Expected at January Show


  With the Consumer Electronics Show only a week away, the home computer
industry is awash in speculation concerning Atari Corp.'s promised line
of 8-, 16-, and 32-bit machines. But Atari, through marketing manager
Bryan Kerr, will confirm only that the 8-bit computers are a continuation
of the XL series and will be fully compatible with the Atari 800XL, which was
recently reduced in price from $180 to less than $120.
  While Kerr would not comment further, sources close to the Sunnyvale,
California, firm say Atari is preparing an 8-bit, 128K computer, probably to
cost less than $250. To cut costs, Atari will not put a parallel bus on the
new machine. This means that users won't be able to plug in an 80-column
card but will have to settle for a 40-column monitor display. (The Atari
800XL comes with a parallel bus). The new machine will use a Motorola chip
from the 6500 family, probably the 6509, says a software manufacturer. The
800XL uses the 6502.
  Several other 8-bit machines are also being developed. Atari boss Jack
Tramiel may revive the Atari 1450XLD, one of Atari's higher end computers
with a built-in modem, a project killed by former Atari chairman James
Morgan. Sources overseas say that on Tramiel's recent trip to Amsterdam,
Holland, he told developers he was working on a portable computer as well as
a microcomputer with outstanding music capabilities. These machines will sell
for between $100 and $300.
  The greatest interest among industry observers has been concentrated on
the firm's more powerful 16-bit "Jackintosh" computer, a system based on the
Motorola 68000 chip used in Apple's Macintosh. Pundits are calling the Atari
brainchild a "color Macintosh". The computer will feature a version of
Graphics Environment Manager (GEM), Digital Research's newly announced
software operating environment. GEM features icons, pull-down menus, and
overlapping windows. It is not yet known whether the 16-bit system will
include a mouse. Developers at the Pacific Grove, California, software firm
say the operating environment works best with one. Digital Research says it
has also worked on the Atari proprietary operating system.
  The new 16-bit machines, which will have either 128K or 192K of random-
access memory, is expected to be sold in three configurations: the basic
computer for $399; the second unit with a built-in, 3-1/2 inch Sony disk
drive for $599; and the third package, with a disk drive and color monitor,
for $799. By comparison, the 128K IBM PCjr with one disk drive and color
monitor and the 128K Apple IIc with one disk drive and no monitor both sell
for about $900. Atari's computer will feature "full synthesizer sound," says
one East Coast software executive.
  Yet another Atari machine is reportedly in the works. According to one Atari
insider, the firm is planning to license the technology from Mindset, a start-
up company based in Sunnyvale, California. In March, Mindset announced the
Mindset micro, and IBM PC compatible offering superior graphics capabilities
as a result of two custom graphics coprocessors made from VLSI technology.
The machine, however, never made a dent in the market, and Tramiel has been
interested in the Mindset computer since he came to Atari in July. Atari may
show the Mindset micro with an Atari label on it at the Consumer Electronics
Show.
  Atari executives remain tight-lipped about their high-performance, 32-bit
computer scheduled to be unveiled in April at a Hanover, West Germany,
computer show. Some sources say the computer will run on the National
Semiconductor 32032 chip, a chip so powerful that it will make the computer
"functionally equivalent to a DEC VAX." Other sources at Atari insist the
68020 chip will be used.
  Meanwhile, Atari reports that the 800XL sales have been astronomical
since the November price cut. Stores such as Service Merchandise in San Jose,
California, say they have sold out. By the end of 1984, the Atari 800XL will
have sold more than 600,000 units since its introduction more than a year
ago, according to Kenneth Lim of Dataquest, a market research firm in San
Jose.
  "Our top accountants are telling us that the computer is outselling the
Commodore 64," says Atari's Kerr. "We've had to expand our volume shipments
to our distributors."
  Since November, orders for Atari software have been exceptionally strong,
according to Michael Reichmann, director of product development at Batteries
Included, a Toronto software firm. "The demand has been unbelievable,"
Reichmann says. "I think Commodore is really running scared. Tramiel shows
that he is willing to fight tooth and nail with Commodore." Stores that
didn't want to carry Atari software are now placing orders.
  Tom Bennett, head of an Atari users group in San Leandro, California, says
he gets calls daily from owners who bought the 800XL because of the price
and now want to know what can be done with it.


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

  Let's hope Atari makes its new high-end machines open and expandable
(gimme slots! Lots o' slots!), increases the 128K RAM to AT LEAST 512K,
and uses FAST AND RELIABLE disk drives. After all, Atari should have
learned from the complaints about Apple's Mac. Let's hope Commodore pays
attention when it comes out with its new machines, too. We certainly don't
need a repeat of the 1541 disk drive troubles (slow and unreliable).
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