jmc@ptsfa.UUCP (Jerry Carlin) (03/04/86)
In the March BYTE, there is an article on the 1040ST which mentions
that at some point there will be a socket in the 1040 motherboard for
a graphics chip followed at some time later with an actual chip to go
into the socket. I don't know about anyone else, but if it will cost
me a lot of money to exchange my motherboard for one with a socket or
if I don't know how much it will cost to upgrade then I'll wait a few
months (or more) to get the real thing.
Will someone at Atari please clarify the availability of the socket
and the availability and capabilities of the forthcoming graphics chip.
--
voice= 415 823-2441
uucp={ihnp4,dual,qantel}!ptsfa!jmcfreed@aum.UUCP (Erik Freed) (03/05/86)
> In the March BYTE, there is an article on the 1040ST which mentions > that at some point there will be a socket in the 1040 motherboard for > a graphics chip followed at some time later with an actual chip to go > into the socket. I don't know about anyone else, but if it will cost > me a lot of money to exchange my motherboard for one with a socket or > if I don't know how much it will cost to upgrade then I'll wait a few > months (or more) to get the real thing. > > Will someone at Atari please clarify the availability of the socket > and the availability and capabilities of the forthcoming graphics chip. I was told by atari that there is no socket in the current 1040's and this chip will not be for a while... I was assured that one could put one in eventually but that it would involve a `kludge' I would not put off buying a 1040 on this one. after all with custom VLSI, schedules are a mystery to even the people intimately involved. They did say that they had first silicon however... They also as an aside told me that on the `Amy' chip, the 16 bit audio chip, they punted on it after difficulty in making the silicon do what they wanted; They sold the design to a third party. Hopefully they are not going to be made in the Phillipines ;-) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Erik James Freed Aurora Systems San Francisco, CA {dual,ptsfa}!aum!freed
neil@atari.UUcp (Neil Harris) (03/06/86)
In article <1198@ptsfa.UUCP>, jmc@ptsfa.UUCP (Jerry Carlin) writes: > In the March BYTE, there is an article on the 1040ST which mentions > that at some point there will be a socket in the 1040 motherboard for > a graphics chip followed at some time later with an actual chip to go > into the socket. I don't know about anyone else, but if it will cost > me a lot of money to exchange my motherboard for one with a socket or > if I don't know how much it will cost to upgrade then I'll wait a few > months (or more) to get the real thing. The 1040ST will NOT have a graphics chip. A chip under development should appear in a more costly computer later this year -- a new model. However, we are also developing an add-on board for the 1040ST to adapt it when the new chip is out. The cost of this add-on is expected to be similar to the differential between the 1040ST and the new model. No word on the adaptability of the 520ST to this chip -- but my guess <unofficially> is that it will be equivalent to adapting a 1040ST. --->Neil @ Atari