Atari didn't attend 1985 CES show but did attend 1985 PCW show (London)

[landondyer]

 

Atari was not even present at the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show. 4/5/2002

 

that is my reference

 

 

if you want to argue, argue with the source of my reference

 

I was there.

 

Jack Tramiel paid for flights for people working the booths; I wasn't chosen to go. I went with three other people from the software team; we rented a god damned big old cadillac and did a road trip to Vegas. Jack *did* pay for the hotel. We hung out at the Atari booth, watched the poor sots sweat through booth duty, had a ton of fun on the strip. I lost $35 in the slot machines.

 

'nuff said.

[Curt Vendel]

The booth was actually the same Atari, Inc booth from the Summer 1984 CES, but it was painted that God aweful brick red --- hated that color scheme and then to make all of the 2600 boxes like that too - yuck! The only thing worse was the XE/ST styling... just didn't fit in with what Atari products had looked like, the XL look was slick and cool, the XE styling looked so bland and utilitarian, it wasn't even a nice looking gray, look at Apple, they dressed up the ][e in platinum and the //GS and then the Mac SE's.... now THAT was a nice looking gray.

 

The other thing too which ALWAYS bothered me --- where the hell was a simple monitor pedestal for the sc1224's and sm124's ?!?!? I mean - how stupid did the ST setup look with the monitor sitting like that behind the ST right on the table and not elevated and easier to see.

 

 

 

Curt

 

 

Atari was not even present at the 1985 Consumer Electronics Show. 4/5/2002

 

that is my reference

 

 

if you want to argue, argue with the source of my reference

 

I was there.

 

Jack Tramiel paid for flights for people working the booths; I wasn't chosen to go. I went with three other people from the software team; we rented a god damned big old cadillac and did a road trip to Vegas. Jack *did* pay for the hotel. We hung out at the Atari booth, watched the poor sots sweat through booth duty, had a ton of fun on the strip. I lost $35 in the slot machines.

 

'nuff said.

[flashjazzcat]

What kind of monitor would they be demonstrating the XE series through??

[+Allan]

What kind of monitor would they be demonstrating the XE series through??

 

Voice from Commodore booth: "Hey look, guys! Jack's got a Commodore monitor hooked up to his whole XE line of computers. Ha ha ha ha!"

 

Allan

[Curt Vendel]

They had samples of the XC1411 monitors - looked just like the SC1224's.

 

 

 

Curt

 

What kind of monitor would they be demonstrating the XE series through??

Edited February 16, 2010 by Curt Vendel

[Tempest]

Interestingly though, the 5200 was still displayed at the January '85 show.

Really? That's interesting, I thought the 5200 was in closeout mode by 85. Was Atari having second thoughts or just had the space and decided to put the 5200 on display?

 

Tempest

[flashjazzcat]

They had samples of the XC1411 monitors - looked just like the SC1224's.

Did Atari ever produce consumer monitors for the XE line? I'm sure there was one, but I can't remember the model number.

[mellis]

They had samples of the XC1411 monitors - looked just like the SC1224's.

Did Atari ever produce consumer monitors for the XE line? I'm sure there was one, but I can't remember the model number.

 

The XC1411 was to be the XE series display offering, but they never actually sold them.

 

IMHO, they should have simply added CHROMA, LUMA, and AUDIO inputs to the SC1224 and let that serve both lines (the same sort of thing they did with the SX212 modem, which had both RS232C and SIO ports).

[Jet-X]

They had samples of the XC1411 monitors - looked just like the SC1224's.

 

 

The newer SC1224 is what the XC1411 looked like - the XC1411 didn't look like the old "E.T." head SC1224 (JVC sourced)

[flashjazzcat]

The XC1411 was to be the XE series display offering, but they never actually sold them.

 

IMHO, they should have simply added CHROMA, LUMA, and AUDIO inputs to the SC1224 and let that serve both lines (the same sort of thing they did with the SX212 modem, which had both RS232C and SIO ports).

It would have made sense. I wonder if - since VBXE outputs an RGB signal - if would be possible to use an SC1224 as a display...

[+remowilliams]

It would have made sense. I wonder if - since VBXE outputs an RGB signal - if would be possible to use an SC1224 as a display...

Shouldn't be an issue.

[oky2000]

If anyone can find it, the PCW show launch was covered by ITV Database with an interview with Jack. Sadly nobody seems to have this show but I remember it being quite a detailed look at the XE and ST range of machines on show.

 

Do you realise this is on YouTube?

 

 

It's one of my favourite videos - especially the ending :-)

 

I've seen that and it's not the show, or part of the show, I was looking for. This footage is not actually of them on site at the PCW show when the ST was launched and the Amiga was shown to them despite not being on display until the next year.

 

Hardly any episodes of Database or 4 computer buffs has been archived in the UK which is a shame as they were true multi-format computer programs without bias (notice how the interviewer is inferring the Mac is overpriced b/w tat which it sure is and for losers only)

[atarian63]

Here is another reference to Atari being at CES 1985..

 

With the firing of the Advanced Technologies Group at Atari, the new engineering staff now under the leadership of the Tramiels attempted to wedge this chip into an Atari 8bit, hence the Atari 65XEM. Shown at the 1985 CES, the 65XEM was touted as having remarkable capabilities for sound/voice synthesis. However without the original designers, getting the chip to function properly became an expensive burden which the Tramiels could not afford. This information contradicts the one from Sam Nicolino (hw designer) who said: 'I worked with them as needed.', while finishing the chip design. Sam left Atari after he gave Amy-B step design to Leonard (I assume Tramiel, ed.).

 

http://www.atarimax.com/jindroush.atari.org/achamy.html

 

Here are few more items including the ST

 

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 65XE computer, with 65xx processor and 64 kB RAM. It is to replace the Atari 800 XL. Price is US$120. [343.14] [357.66] [139.14] [1364.D5]

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 65XEM. It is an Atari 65XE with a built-in eight-voice AMY music synthesizer chip. Price is about US$150. [343.14] [357.66] [139.14]

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 65XEP. It is like the Atari 65XE but portable, with a built-in monitor and 3.5-inch disk drive. [343.14] [357.66]

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 130XE. It is an Atari 65XE with 128 kB RAM. Price is US$140. [357.66] [139.14] [1364.D5]

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 130ST computer. It features 128 kB RAM, 192 kB ROM including Digital Research's GEM operating system, 640x400 monochrome or 320x200 16-color graphics from a palette of 512 colors, 32 kB screen RAM, MIDI interface, and mouse. Price is US$399. [343.14] [357.6] [139.14] [1363.29] [1364.D1]

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 260ST computer. It features 256kB RAM. Price is US$499. [1364.D1]

# At the Winter CES, Atari introduces the Atari 520ST computer. It features 512 kB RAM, 192 kB ROM including Digital Research's GEM operating system, 640x400 monochrome or 320x200 16-color graphics from a palette of 512 colors, 32 kB screen RAM, MIDI interface, and mouse. Price is US$599. [343.14] [357.7] [139.14]

 

http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/comphist/comp1985.htm

[Curt Vendel]

If you look at the 85-86 sales data, Atari was selling a lot of 5200 carts, and look at some of the 5200 joysticks, tv switchboxes and other accessories, many say ©1986 Atari Corp. So Atari was liquidating all of the 5200 inventory and moving it out.

 

 

Curt

 

Interestingly though, the 5200 was still displayed at the January '85 show.

Really? That's interesting, I thought the 5200 was in closeout mode by 85. Was Atari having second thoughts or just had the space and decided to put the 5200 on display?

 

Tempest

[Retro Rogue]

Yah, they even had it at their Summer '85 CES area as well -

 

http://www.atarimagazines.com/creative/v11n9/115_Report_from_CES_with_emp.php

 

I remember being at a flea market down in Florida (Boca area near powerline road) in '90-'91 and seeing a flood of Tramiel era 5200 carts available at a dollar store there. Brand new, mint in box, never used - looked like they had come right off the shelf or from a warehouse.

 

 

 

If you look at the 85-86 sales data, Atari was selling a lot of 5200 carts, and look at some of the 5200 joysticks, tv switchboxes and other accessories, many say ©1986 Atari Corp. So Atari was liquidating all of the 5200 inventory and moving it out.

 

 

Curt

 

Interestingly though, the 5200 was still displayed at the January '85 show.

Really? That's interesting, I thought the 5200 was in closeout mode by 85. Was Atari having second thoughts or just had the space and decided to put the 5200 on display?

 

Tempest