scoile@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Steve Coile) (02/28/91)
Seeing how MORONICALLY Atari management is handling itself, a friend and
I got to discussing alternate possibilities to Atari. I, for one, and
a die-hard Atari fan. I think there has always been great potential
with Atari, and when it first came out, the ST was a realization of some
of that potential. Now, however, I think Atari is being led in
completely the wrong direction. I still respect the Atari name, but I
do NOT like much of what is behind it.
Where does the TRUE spirit of Atari lay now? David Small. David Small
has done more for the ST than Atari itself has, and I think most people
are more than willing to admit that Dave is a great, when it comes to
the Atari. What would *I* like to see happen? I would LOVE for Gadgets
to take over Atari (get rid of the Tramiels -- BLECH!!). Of course,
there is NO WAY that is going to happen. So what if Dave decides to
market an ST compatible? Perhaps in the fashion he's done with Spectre
-- a clone that is more compatible than the original!! He's already
done the 68030 board. All he has to do is but it in a box, add his own
OS (HyperWeb still in the works Dave???), and BANG! A Small computer
wipes out a "big" company like Atari! It'd be great!
And just think of the marketing ideas: "Get BIG power...with a Small
computer." "It may be Small, but there's a lot inside!" What a trip!
Dave!! Listen up! You've GOT a market all to yourself here! I want to
stay with the spirit of Atari (Commodore? BLECH! NEVER! PC-clone?
Naww..to standard. Mac-why, when I could have an Atari/Small which can
all that and more?). Whaddaya say people? Would Dave have a market?
*I'd* buy a Small over a comarable Atari any day!
Steve "Stevers!" Coile
scoile@gmuvax[{.BITNET|[2].gmu.edu}]|2211c1@gmuvax2.gmu.edu
"Maturity is knowing when and where to act immature"ant@mks.com (Anthony Howe) (02/28/91)
In article <3658@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> scoile@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Steve Coile) writes: >And just think of the marketing ideas: "Get BIG power...with a Small >computer." "It may be Small, but there's a lot inside!" What a trip! > >Dave!! Listen up! You've GOT a market all to yourself here! I want to >stay with the spirit of Atari (Commodore? BLECH! NEVER! PC-clone? >Naww..to standard. Mac-why, when I could have an Atari/Small which can >all that and more?). Whaddaya say people? Would Dave have a market? >*I'd* buy a Small over a comarable Atari any day! Interesting idea. I like it. Hit two markets with one computer (ST, Mac). Get all the nice goodies that should have benn there in the first place. Put in a nice box WITH a HD (not the gross looking TT/STe style case either). Something plain and simple. Who knows, maybe Small might be NeXT too. - ant -- __ "So many pedestrians _ . .-|- / _\ . . |_ _. _ _ . . So little time." (_\ |\| | |(_/ |\/| |\ _\ o (_ (_) |\/| bumber sticker Mortice Kern Systems Inc. 35 King St. N., Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 6W9
depeche@cs.mcgill.ca (Acme Instant Dehydrated Boulder Kit) (02/28/91)
In article <3658@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> scoile@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Steve Coile) writes: > >Dave!! Listen up! You've GOT a market all to yourself here! I want to >stay with the spirit of Atari (Commodore? BLECH! NEVER! PC-clone? >Naww..to standard. Mac-why, when I could have an Atari/Small which can >all that and more?). Well, ya need more than just a MARKET, y'know - you need a capital... > Whaddaya say people? Would Dave have a market? >*I'd* buy a Small over a comarable Atari any day! I would too, without hesitation. -- |S. Alan Ezust : McGill University School of Computer Science | |depeche@cs.mcgill.ca : Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
vsnyder@jato.jpl.nasa.gov (Van Snyder) (03/01/91)
In article <3658@gmuvax2.gmu.edu> scoile@gmuvax2.gmu.edu (Steve Coile) writes: >I got to discussing alternate possibilities to Atari... >Where does the TRUE spirit of Atari lay now? David Small... >... So what if Dave decides to market an ST compatible?... >... Whaddaya say people? Would Dave have a market? My main gripes about Atari are that promised products/upgrades don't show up until they're nearly obsolete, there are artificial limitations in the systems (e.g. the MMU craps on you if you try to go over 4MB, even if you're willing to put in your own addressing H/W), and some perfectly good standards are ignored, apparently just to lock you in to Atari stuff (e.g. ACSI vs SCSI). If Dave Small were to produce a system that didn't have artificial limitations, that went more with standards (including especially graphics S/W standards, such as their sorry state is now), and produced products in a timely way (as he has in the past), I'd probably be interested. Right now, the NeXT looks somewhat attractive to me, because I can get one for ~$3100. But Jobs has gone off in his usual orthogonal-to-the-rest-of-the-world direction (NeXT Step and Display PostScript?). -- vsnyder@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov ames!elroy!jato!vsnyder vsnyder@jato.uucp
tony@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu (Tony Reynolds) (03/01/91)
In article <1991Mar1.014744.22640@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> vsnyder@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Van Snyder) writes: [ Stuff about Dave Deleted in content, but not in spirit!] >up until they're nearly obsolete, there are artificial limitations in the >systems (e.g. the MMU craps on you if you try to go over 4MB, even if you're ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >willing to put in your own addressing H/W), and some perfectly good standards ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >vsnyder@jato.Jpl.Nasa.Gov >ames!elroy!jato!vsnyder >vsnyder@jato.uucp That's a project for Dave! A replacement MMU! Damn! If I had the Ca$h I'd do it now: Through something like the Mosis Service till I get good silicon or maybe a Semi-custom solution through one of the major vendors. You know, Dave could add hardware memory protection, bank switching, additional ROM space, etc, unless he feels he can use the onboard MMU of the '030. Does the TT's OS take advantage of this guy, or does the OS simply pretend its not got an MMU? I dunno. Think about it! Tone !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay-- so your mail is bouncing when you send to 4dsci1.ocis.olemiss.edu--- So I forwarded my mail from tacky.cs.olemiss.edu, and now you can mail to my old address: tony@tacky.cs.olemiss.edu Thanks!
Greg_Roche@mindlink.UUCP (Greg Roche) (03/07/91)
I agree . I would buy an Atari Small computer,sounds like a great idea especially if it has David's new 68030 board in it
entropy@ai.mit.edu (entropy) (03/09/91)
In article <5043@mindlink.UUCP> Greg_Roche@mindlink.UUCP (Greg Roche) writes:
I agree . I would buy an Atari Small computer,sounds like a great idea
especially if it has David's new 68030 board in it
Yeah and wouldn't it be nifty-keen if it could run at 31415965536 Hz
and had a built in Cray emulator and baked choclate chip cookies for
you! And it could also walk the dog and take out the trash and do
your homework for you! And not to mention solving the halting
problem, printing perfect counterfeit money, and how about shipping it
with a 100 Gigabyte hard disk! Come on Dave, aren't you gonna do this
for all your loyal customers???
entropy
p.s. can we get real now?cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Christopher M Mauritz) (03/10/91)
In article <5043@mindlink.UUCP> Greg_Roche@mindlink.UUCP (Greg Roche) writes: >I agree . I would buy an Atari Small computer,sounds like a great idea >especially if it has David's new 68030 board in it I would buy a SmallBox if for no other reason than Dave always provides a sane upgrade path for his products (as opposed to the Atari policy of tossing your old machine and buying thier newer/more pricey box). Also, Dave provides VERY good support. Not long ago, I faxed him a request for his official announcement of the SST and Spectre 3.0. Shortly thereafter, it arrived in the mail. Cheers, Chris ------------------------------+--------------------------- Chris Mauritz |D{r det finns en |l, finns cmm1@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu |det en plan! (c)All rights reserved. | Send flames to /dev/null | ------------------------------+---------------------------