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From: Howard_Chu@UMich-MTS.MAILNET.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro.atari8
Subject: Expansion box for XLs
Message-ID: <1387021@UMich-MTS.Mailnet>
Date: Sat, 12-Jul-86 03:38:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: UMich-MT.1387021
Posted: Sat Jul 12 03:38:12 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jul-86 23:05:05 EDT
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Organization: The ARPA Internet
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I snarfed this message off Compuserve 'cause it looked so
interesting. It's basically untouched, except I reformatted it
at 66 columns instead of 40....

ra
#: 162481 S7/HOT News/Rumors
    11-Jul-86  15:10:06
Sb: #ATARI EXPANSION SYSTEM
Fm: Andrew Karl Heller 72327,3160
To: SYSOP DAVE GROVES (X)
DAVE , I WAS PAGEING THROUGH AN AUGUST 1983 COMPUTE MAGAZINE AND
UNDER THE FALL CES I SAW AN EXPANSON SYSTEM FOR THE XL COMPUTERS.
NOW I KNOW THAT ATARI NEVER PRODUCED SUCH A THI DO YOU THINK IF
ATARI GOT ENOUGH REQUESTS IT WOULD BUILD IT. HERE IT IS WORD FOR
WORD. *ATARI EXPANSION SYSTEM WITH THIS BOX, THE XL SERIES CAN BE
EXPANDED ALMOST WITHOUT LIMIT. IT PLUGS INTO THE REAR EXPANSION
SLOT AND THUS IS COMPATIBLE ONLY WITH THE NEW COMPUTER(XL). IT
ADDS TWO RS-232C SERIAL PORTS, A CENTRON-STANDARD PARALLEL
PORT,AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, EIGHT CARD SLOTS. THE SLOTS COULD
ACCEPT 80-COLUMN CARDS, EXTRA MEMORY(LIKE THE RAMBOXL),RAM-BASED
DISK EMULATORS, COPROCESSORS FOR CP/M OR IBM COMPATIBILITY-ALMOST
ANYTHING. ATARI, HOWEVER,IS EXPECTING THIRD-PARTY COMPANIES TO
SUPPLY MOST OF THESE ADD-ONS.THE ARCHITECTURE IS OPEN TO EVERONE.
(THE BOX IS THE XL SERIES' COUNTERPART OF THE OLD 850 INTERFACE
MODULE, WICH ATARI SAYS IT WILL CONTINUE MANUFACTURING UNTIL
DEMAND DRIES UP.)[MIND YOU THAT IT IS NOT BEING PRODUCED NOW
ANYMORE.] FROM AUGUST 1983. NO NOT A TYPO 1983. MY OPINION WITH
THIS BOX IT WOULD ELVIATE ALOT OF THE ATARI EXPANSION
PROBLEMS.I.E. 80 COLUMN CARDS IN THE JOYSTICK PORT. KARL.
* Reply:
        162519
(UA RE T):

Well, Neil, I *know* you read this mailing list. What can you
say about the expansion? Given enough pleas & cries from the
user community, will it come out? How much demand is "enough"
for such a product?

              Howard Chu
              Howard_Chu%UMich-MTS.Mailnet@MIT-Multics.ARPA
              hyc@umix.cc.umich.edu

              Every rule has an exception - except this one.