Atari news from Hannover

Thread View: net.micro.atari

4 messages

[T] Back to Threads [V] Tree View [G] Group Articles

4 total messages Started by Kit Kimes Wed, 24 Apr 1985 13:18

#695

Author: Kit Kimes
Date: Wed, 24 Apr 1985 13:18

17 lines
1396 bytes

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

Re: Atari news from Hannover (32000 instead of 68020???)

#713

Author: Jan Gray
Date: Wed, 01 May 1985 05:37

27 lines
1834 bytes

> ...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

Re: Amiga

#728

Author: Doug Pardee
Date: Fri, 03 May 1985 18:17

30 lines
2174 bytes

> 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?

The question is, is there such a thing as an Amiga?

The Amiga Lorraine which Commodore announced some time back has never
been shown in public.  Given that a show-able prototype is usually
produced many months before production units hit the dealers' shelves,
it is a safe bet that the Commodore Lorraine will not be available this
year.  I'm tempted to add, "if ever".

The lawsuit you mentioned stemmed from a contract between the old Amiga
company and the old Atari, which called for Atari to pay Amiga to
design some fancy VLSI sound and video chips.  Just before Amiga sold
out to Commodore and Atari sold out to Tramel Technologies, Amiga
returned Atari's money in full with the explanation that Amiga had
failed in their attempts to produce viable designs.  Tramel Technologies
claims that Amiga sold Atari's chips to Commodore.  Amiga claims that
there *were* no chips.

Now, if there indeed were no chips, that would explain why the Lorraine
has never been shown in public.  And why Commodore doesn't even talk
much about the Lorraine any more.

P.S.   It gives me a really warm feeling inside whenever I pause to
think about Jack Tramiel's name being misspelled in the company's name.
-- 
Doug Pardee -- Terak Corp. -- !{ihnp4,seismo,decvax}!noao!terak!doug

Re: Amiga

#750

Author: Howard C. Simonson
Date: Thu, 16 May 1985 09:18

30 lines
2167 bytes

> > 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?
> 
> The question is, is there such a thing as an Amiga?
> 
> The Amiga Lorraine which Commodore announced some time back has never
> been shown in public.  Given that a show-able prototype is usually
> produced many months before production units hit the dealers' shelves,
> it is a safe bet that the Commodore Lorraine will not be available this
> year.  I'm tempted to add, "if ever".
> 
Sorry to be contradictory, but a good friend who recently came back from
Japan has told me that; 1. He has played around with the Amiga and it is
really swift and COLORful, 2. It is in production via Sanyo, 3. Look for
it this summer.  The guy is straight and a good friend.  No corporate
ax to grind ( guess his employer ).  I am interested to see what these
"Johnny come lately's" can produce.  It might even be better than the
Macintosh ( guess what I'm typing on ) but then given enough time...

All I know is, its been heaven so far ( and it ain't over yet ).

Now if I only had an 8510/a to read all those old 8" floppys on my shelf :-).
-- 
Time for a new catchy phrase in my                           Howard C. Simonson
 .signature, now if I could only     ...{dragon,hplabs,ihnp4,nsc}!amdahl!howard
  think of one...

[ Opinion? What opinion.  I think you have the wrong guy... ]

Thread Navigation

This is a paginated view of messages in the thread with full content displayed inline.

Messages are displayed in chronological order, with the original post highlighted in green.

Use pagination controls to navigate through all messages in large threads.

Back to All Threads