cc@ucla-cs.UUCP (01/07/85)
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).
calway@ecsvax.UUCP (James Calloway) (01/11/85)
x
The InfoWorld article came pretty close. Here is what Atari's marketing manager, Bryan Kerr, described
during and after the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show:
Atari's new ST line is based on the 68000 chip, running at 8 megahertz.
The 130ST will have 128K and sell for $399. The 520ST will have 512K, $599.
If there is demand, there may be an in-between model, the 260ST.
These machines will use external Sony 3 1/2-inch drives, priced at about $150
each. The computers will have build-in interfaces for floppy disk AND hard disk.
The hard disk is due later in the year, 10 megabytes, $600.
The operating system was developed jointly by Atari and Digital Research and
is stored with DR's Graphics Environment Manager in 192K of ROM.
The new low-end machines are the 65XE, a replacement for the 800XL, the 130XE
with 128K and the 65XEP, a portable with a small CRT screen.
If Atari can deliver the goods, this should be an interesting year.
--
James Calloway
The News and Observer
Box 191
Raleigh, N.C. 27602
(919) 829-4570
{akgua,decvax}!mcnc!ecsvax!calway