Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!gatech!hao!ames!amdahl!ptsfa!lll-lcc!well!msudoc!conklin From: conklin@msudoc.UUCP (Terry Conklin) Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.8bit Subject: Re: Is Atari killing the 8bit?. Message-ID: <1448@msudoc.UUCP> Date: Sat, 23-May-87 03:27:08 EDT Article-I.D.: msudoc.1448 Posted: Sat May 23 03:27:08 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 20:57:20 EDT References: <8705230437.AA06240@mitre-bedford.ARPA> Sender: usenet@msudoc.UUCP Reply-To: conklin@msudoc.UUCP (Terry Conklin) Distribution: world Organization: Michigan State Univ., Engineering, E. Lansing Lines: 73 Keywords: Happy to be wrong! Summary: Great! Well, being as everything makes perfect sense, I am more than happy to see my hypothesis wrong, and that indeed, Atari intends to ride the "diverse product line" out in entirety. I didn't manage to get all these responses. Our newsfeed died for the last two week so most of the replies, curtosey of Neil, I got by reading a friend's mail of a digest of the net from his dad. Thus, I didn't see anything regarding three things in particular that seemed particularly important. What about the 1200 baud SIO <> RS232 modem, 80-column board, and 3.5" drive? Some comments were made about the 3.5" drive, but were they intended as "official?" If so, the availability of the 3.5" drive would have several benefits unmentioned. First and foremost, ST compatibility. The 810 and 1050 use IBM compatible controllers (we use a PC and a TRS for Atari backups occasionally.) and the 8 bit could easily directly swap disks with the ST with a program on the ST to recognize 256-byte sectors. Second, a "new" release of old technology creates a mental image of a stopped machine. IBM is forcing 3.5" drives upon the world. A 3.5" release would bring a "new technology" image to the slightly dusty 8 bit line. Lastly of course, higher speed access is an addition the 8bits -always- needed. It would be simple to have an 8bit 3.5" support U.S. Doubler compatibility mode and thus go to 54K baud SIO. That, combined with the fast track-to-track time would do WONDERS for software like Medit, which is a great editor, but was clearly desgined by someone NOT relying on 810s for storage. If Atari perceives the 3.5" XE drive demand to be low, make an arrangement to have it manufactured, small scale, by a third party. With Atari buying power (90% of the parts are already being bought in bulk now. Add a nice CPU to a ST drive and presto!) and 3rd party assembly, it might not be a -really- cheap drive, but then again, ST drives aren't -really- cheap anyhow! Technical enhancements to the 8bit design abound. Many have been sold already. An uprated 8bit would be a fairly simple "patch" engineering job. Still have the 1450XLD design lying around? I know people who were willing to kill their first born for a 1450XLD. How about putting a 256K XE (And make it compatible with the popular 256K XL upgrade. Why reinvent the wheel?,) an XM301 card, and a ST 3.5" drive in a case? All current parts, and you could prototype it in 2 weeks. It's not just a theory. We've BUILT xm301's around here into 256K XLs. It's a 30 minute retrofit. It'd be a 30 second plug in on a line. Perhaps Atari needs to hire some of these long time Atari owners. Having a machine for 5 or 6 years gives you ideas. And not just dreams, but popular patches made with components already in-house. In the wild dream category, we're still working on our 200% speed 65802 XL. Even this isn't just a dream, it's a single-card plug in CPU replacement. Uprating Antic is a dream unless you have the right tools. Forgive me. I don't like to get hopes up, but this is the kind of stuff we -have-, or we can do in our spare time. It's just I think we'd (we referring to the community of Atari dealers, owners, and Usenet people that keep adding to the machine) like to see it on the shelves, so that OTHER people know about it. Every time someone buys an Apple IIc, I shed a tear. Terry Conklin ihnp4!msudoc!conklin Potentially looking for employment, (Can you put a Sun 4 on my desk?) See for yourself @ The Club (517) 372-3131 3/12/24