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From: mjs@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Marc Sabatella)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: FCC and the Atari
Message-ID: <7340088@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>
Date: 19 Feb 91 23:25:03 GMT
References: <1991Feb11.061309.6487@ns.network.com>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Lines: 16

> Dave... while we have your ear, could you go into a little about why it
> is that Atari seems to be having such problems with FCC type acceptance
> testing..?   The FCC regulations should apply equally to all computer
> manufacturers, but while Apple, IBM, Commodore, and all the little clone
> companies seem to manage to comply without too many delays, it seems that
> every product Atari has designed in the last few years has had to go through
> many cycles of testing and redesign before they can be sold.
>
> Could you comment on what you think may be the reasons for this..?

I'm not Dave; I don't even play him on TV, but I can speculate.

I'll bet a lot of radiation escapes from all those ports Atari puts on all
their machines.  Other companies can probably classify things like MIDI, and
even Centronics and RS-232 ports as optional add ons, and get the FCC
approval without them.