keithr@vice.ICO.TEK.COM (U.D.M.) (10/03/89)
Due to requests for more information on the EE Times article here are the parts about the TT: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Atari's TTs: low-cost, 68030 PCs Atari Corp. has previewed a trio of lost-cost computers based on the Motorola 68030 processor - the same chip that powers the Mac IIx, IIcx, and SE/30, along with a handful of workstations. The TT series systems emerged at a recent trade show in West Germany, Atari's strongest market. All sport 16-MHz 68030s and a minimum of 2 Mbytes of system RAM. The accompanying microfloppy drive lets the machines read and write data in IBM PC, Macintosh and Atari disk formats. Standard features include SCSI, parallel and twin serial ports and MIDI musical interface. All three pack 512 kbytes of system ROM - sufficient to bundle most of the Atari operating system software in silicon with enough space left over for Macintosh emulation when Mac Toolbox ROMs are dropped into the motherboard. Much of the time put in on the project, originally pledged at Comdex/Fall 1987, has gone to efforts to make the machines complaint with rival IBM and Macintosh applications software and to writing a version of Unix that sells for less than $300. Low, mid and high The entry-level Atari TT is built along the lines of the low-cost, high-volume Atari ST; its housing contains motherboard, floppy-disk drive and signal ports. The mid-range TT system boasts a 40-Mbyte hard disk and three Eurocard slots for 32-bit VME cards. The high-end TT setup delivers an 80-Mbyte drive, a maximum 8 Mbytes of RAM and eight slots, fed by a 145-W power supply. Product spokespeople for Atari Corp. (U.S.) were unfamiliar with the forthcoming TT machines' specifications and could not comment on any of the 68030 systems. But European sources indicated the machines were assembled in the Far East and rushed to the event in West Germany late last month. The computers are expected to be available for sale in Europe this fall; U.S. delivery is not expected before winter. The low-end machine is said to run $1500, the mid-range unit $3,000 and the premium system $5,000. A bundled CRT display, either color or monochrome is said to be standard on the midrange and high-end machines. Monochrome capability is 1,280 X 1,024 pixels. There are two color modes: 640 X 320 pixels or 640 X 480 pixels. IBM PC emulation software is readily available for the Atari family. Futher, many 68000 ST owners possess third-party hardware adapters that accept Apple Macintosh ROMs. The so-called Spectre 128 package allows Atari 68000-processor systems to execute Macintosh software faster than a standard Mac SE. A $295 version of Unix for the TT series, supporting X Window user interfaces, was promised to West German customers last month and is expected to be available before yearend. ... The rest of the article talks about the indroduction of Stacey and the ATW. Hopes this answers some questions (and raises quite a few). Keith Rast keithr@icogem3.ICO.TEK.COM