kek@mgweed.UUCP (Kit Kimes) (04/24/85)
According to the April 22, 1985 issue of Electronic Engineering Times, Atari was at the Hannover Fair but they did not show their new 32 bit machine. They did demonstrate production readiness (whatever that means) for the ST series of computers and announced that the 32 bit machine would be based on the National 32000 family of microprocessors. According to the article "Atari's choice of a 32000 family came after it realized that the 32-bit Motorola 68020 processor would not be compatible with a growing catalog of software developed for its 68000 based ST series." There was no mention of when it would be released although if it is true that they won't be at the summer CES, they may still be quite a ways off. Kit Kimes AT&T Consumer Products Montgomery Works Montgomery, Il. 60538-0305 ..!ihnp4!mgweed!kek
jsgray@watmath.UUCP (Jan Gray) (05/01/85)
> ...and announced that the 32 bit machine > would be based on the National 32000 family of microprocessors. According > to the article "Atari's choice of a 32000 family came after it realized > that the 32-bit Motorola 68020 processor would not be compatible with a > growing catalog of software developed for its 68000 based ST series." > > Kit Kimes Huh? The 68020 is *almost* object code compatible with the 68000! Unless Atari did something silly like using the F-line instructions for system calls they should have no problem going to the 68020. I'll bet it has something to do with the high price (or current low availability) of the 68020, although the 32000 family probably isn't that much better. I recently saw the ST, it really exists and works. There wasn't any application software running at the demo however, just the desktop (apparently the floppy was broken)... Does anyone know anything (they are permitted to say) about the Commodore Amiga product? I read somewhere that Atari is suing Commodore for the Amiga VLSIs that Commodore acquired when it bought Amiga, but will this affect the release of the machine? Jan Gray (jsgray@watmath.UUCP) University of Waterloo (519) 885-1211 x3870