onlysublime Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Reminiscing on my Atari days because of Jack Tramiel's passing, I was looking up pics and almost forgot how beautiful the Atari ST was. I loved the look of my 1200XL. But my 1040ST was just beautiful. And then remembering how great the Mega ST, the TT, etc. looked. The designer is someone that you could imagine working for modern Apple. I can't imagine it's the same guy that made the ugly C64. While the guts of the Amiga were awesome, the cases were always ugly. The closest to pretty Amiga was the 500. The 1000 was a mess. the 2000 was a PC incarnate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ApolloBoy Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 IIRC it was Ira Velinsky, who actually designed the C64/VIC-20 case! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlysublime Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 OMG! How can that person go from making the C64 to the Atari ST???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 I think I read that someone named Ira Valenski was head of ID for the ST line. The closest to pretty Amiga was the 500. The 1000 was a mess. Even here on AtariAge I doubt you'll find many who think the Amiga 1000 was "a mess" It's near perfect aesthetically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+save2600 Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 The 1000 was a mess. How's it feel to be the only person in the world that has ever made such a comment about the Amiga 1000? Kidding aside, gotta admit... while I absolutely love the aesthetics of the overall A1000 design, that keyboard *is* a little cramped. Oh well.... who does a ton of typing anymore anyway? Point and click baby! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlysublime Posted April 11, 2012 Author Share Posted April 11, 2012 Okay, did a bit of digging (will do more during a later break)... I can see he did the Stacy, the Portfolio and the TT. Not sure about the ST/XE lines... http://scacom.bplaced.net/Collection/max/maxen.php "Ira Velinsky has won several awards for his designs, and later moved to Atari, where he designed the Atari Portfolio, Stacy and TT. For his work he won the IF Design Award." http://www.atarimagazines.com/startv4n3/taveling_computers.html "STACY is, as you can see from the photos accompanying this article, clad in a handsome, sculptured charcoal-gray case designed by Atari's Ira Velinsky." http://www.faqs.org/faqs/atari-8-bit/faq/section-15.html#b This one says he's the designer of the XE system so I would assume that would include the ST as well? Atari Corp. 800XL and XE systems hardware engineers: Jose A. Valdes - (at Atari from October 1979 - August 1989) Ira Velinsky - designer of the XE game system http://www.atariportal.cz/static_st.php This one mentions the TT and Mega STE but not the ST. [translated from Czech] "MEGA STE got a new design, the same as my brother Atari TT030 , who designed the designer Velinsky IRA." Interesting bits of history. Wow, if he made both the ST and C64... O_o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox-1 / mnx Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Even here on AtariAge I doubt you'll find many who think the Amiga 1000 was "a mess"It's near perfect aesthetically. I fail to see the "perfect" aspect. It's just a boring plain rectangle box with a floppy in the front, just like the Apple's, MegaST's and many XT's were back then. I'm not saying it is ugly, it's just plain vanilla. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Allan Posted April 11, 2012 Share Posted April 11, 2012 Didn't he work on a car design? I think it was a Nissen or something. Allan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian1 Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Even here on AtariAge I doubt you'll find many who think the Amiga 1000 was "a mess"It's near perfect aesthetically. I fail to see the "perfect" aspect. It's just a boring plain rectangle box with a floppy in the front, just like the Apple's, MegaST's and many XT's were back then. I'm not saying it is ugly, it's just plain vanilla. I second that. However, the MegaST was not so boring due to its floppy drive, badge, and keyboard matching the 45 degree slanted lines that are the trademark of the bold ST/XE design. These little features set it apart from the other boring rectangle boxes. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I agree that the Mega line was not boring. I think it looked better than the Amiga 1000 in many ways too. I also think the ST sries and the 1200XL are the best looking of the all-in-one console home computers. Particularly the ST units with built-in power supplies. I don't like the look of most console computers, including the Amiga 500, 600, and 1200. That said, it's getting rare to see 500s that look the way they did from the factory. The cases shift to that urine yellow that makes them look really bad. The same goes for the keycaps of the XE and ST ketboards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 It's odd though - I've got a STacy, Mega ST, etc, and none of the machines that I've owned for most of their existence have zero to negligible yellowing. Yet I've seen a few personally, and in pictures that had severe cases of it... I wonder what the difference is? Exposure to sunlight? Other environmental factors. Hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zogging Hell Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Sunlight I would say. My oldest ST sat near a window for most of its teenage years, and is yellowed a bit, but since I've had it in my darkened computer room it has not got worse. A lot of my ST's are still perfect, mainly the later ones, but quite a few of the early ones have turned a bit yellow. Mind you having said that my Amiga turned the colour of urine in a box (it didn't get used for about five years).. Most people blame cigarette smoke on ebay, but I used to smoke in the house, and this made no difference to the case colour (no difference to now I don't). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Even today, ABS plastic is a “recipe” mixed up by a supplier that may or may not be the primary manufacturer of the device. Big variances in color, quality, and how it interacts with UV light and the environment can be seen from vendor to vendor and even from batch to batch. While working in Xbox, we qualify each recipe using artificial aging/exposure techniques to make sure the plastic does what we expect. This is a much more common practice in the industry than it used to be. Along with the climate and UV exposure the plastic has lived through, I think these variations in the ABS recipe account for the wild swing in yellowness from one part to another. I seem to remember someone showing off an old SNES where the interior and exterior of the top half of the unit was yellow, but the interior and exterior of the bottom half was bone white. The only explanation there is that the halves were made at different times using different plastic batches. I think this also explains why the Atari XL and ST can often be seen in the wild with a yellowed case w/white or with a white case w/yellowed keys. If you have any old Atari controllers, check out their cables. Some will be tough and rigid, others will be real flexible. Some may have a grey or even white coating or discoloration – that’s generally zinc leaching out over years of time. Some have an oily sheen – I’m not sure what that is… I’ve read that that lead leeches out of older cables somewhat easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zogging Hell Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Lead? nice, should I be washing my hands when I've been using my Atari then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oky2000 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 There are many well designed aspects to the A1000 that make it elegant. 1. it was probably the first slimline desktop PC case with quiet fan, PCs were huge and sounded like 747s 2. was solidly built 3. played a little tune after system checks were complete 4. the keyboard size is all the fashion now but at the time the fact it stowed underneath was cool. Keyboard out with 1081 monitor on top it looks great IMO The A500 looked like someone had put a Commodore 128 case in the oven for 30 mins to melt it and creaks more than a front door in a horror movie LOL pure dirt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atarian63 Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Reminiscing on my Atari days because of Jack Tramiel's passing, I was looking up pics and almost forgot how beautiful the Atari ST was. I loved the look of my 1200XL. But my 1040ST was just beautiful. And then remembering how great the Mega ST, the TT, etc. looked. The designer is someone that you could imagine working for modern Apple. I can't imagine it's the same guy that made the ugly C64. While the guts of the Amiga were awesome, the cases were always ugly. The closest to pretty Amiga was the 500. The 1000 was a mess. the 2000 was a PC incarnate. yep,a1000 was a mess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I owned an A1000, 2000, and two A1200's. Of them all, I liked the A1000 best. I liked the keyboard, which while smallish, had a good feel (I think the cursor keys are laid out odd). The overall look to me was pleasing, and it had pretty good construction. The recessed keyboard well was a nice touch. Also, I give it a high "coolness" rating because of the signatures on the inner cover (even the dog!). I'm an Atarian through and through mind you, so don't take that the wrong way, but I'd personally never describe the A1000 as a "mess". Of course nothing is as pretty as my SuperSTacy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlysublime Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 I'm an Atarian through and through mind you, so don't take that the wrong way, but I'd personally never describe the A1000 as a "mess". Of course nothing is as pretty as my SuperSTacy... I thought the 1000 was too utilitarian. Like no thought was put toward any design innovation. I also thought the STacy had the same problem. But yeah, I guess compared to laptops of the era, the STacy wasn't too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I'm an Atarian through and through mind you, so don't take that the wrong way, but I'd personally never describe the A1000 as a "mess". Of course nothing is as pretty as my SuperSTacy... I thought the 1000 was too utilitarian. Like no thought was put toward any design innovation. I also thought the STacy had the same problem. But yeah, I guess compared to laptops of the era, the STacy wasn't too bad. Well, we got you from "a mess" to "utilitarian" in 18 posts, so our work is done here. I don't know what a SuperSTacy is, but I know I want one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+poobah Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Never owned an Amiga, but a friend had an A1000 back in the day, I thought the case was great. It was different that other systems at the time, particularly the underneath keyboard storage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 I don't know what a SuperSTacy is, but I know I want one. Heh. It's an Atari STacy, but mine is slightly modified... Original: 8mhz 68000 CPU, 20 meg internal hard drive (optional), 720k floppy drive Mine: 32mhz 68030 CPU (working on 40+), 68882 FPU, internal Ultrasatan SD card reader (I'm using 1-4gig cards), 1.44 meg floppy drive 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onlysublime Posted April 13, 2012 Author Share Posted April 13, 2012 Well, we got you from "a mess" to "utilitarian" in 18 posts, so our work is done here. I don't know what a SuperSTacy is, but I know I want one. "mess" was just hyperbole. this is a messageboard after all. boring was more appropriate. or utilitarian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 That STacy sounds amazing. Wasn't somebody attempting to swap a STacy screen to an orange-on-black panel? I don't want to hijack this thread, but does anybody have a link to that discussion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FastRobPlus Posted April 13, 2012 Share Posted April 13, 2012 Well, we got you from "a mess" to "utilitarian" in 18 posts, so our work is done here. I don't know what a SuperSTacy is, but I know I want one. "mess" was just hyperbole. this is a messageboard after all. boring was more appropriate. or utilitarian. We'll get you to from "utilitarian" to "friggin' awesome" someday... Kidding aside, the thing I like about the original Amiga is that you can see the intent in the design. In the early 80s most companies opted for white-and-black or beige metal battleships that looked like IBMs or Comaqs assumedly because that’s what the market expected. The Amiga took the minimalist approach in keeping with its attempt at unseating Macintosh as the creative computer of choice. As someone mentioned earlier, it was pure white and almost soundless (except for that echo-chamber of a disk drive!) which was in keeping with current thinking that cues such as low noise, click less keyboards, and monochrome white or grey “get out of the way” and let the user focus on their creatively without being influenced by jagged lines, noise, etc. Interestingly, the OS was a kind of garish blue, orange, and white that flew in the face of this concept. That was apparently a necessary evil as highly contrasting blue and white (or green and white like in the ST) were the optimal colors to maximize readability and minimize bowing if the machine was used with a television. By the time the 2.0 version of the Amiga’s OS came out, they’d taken the design and given it a greyscale scheme look similar to what NeXT used. The 1000 was originaly designed to be a stackable modular system. There’s another thread here somewhere that shows that original design intent. Modular systems never quite seemed to catch on, but the Mega ST is probably one of the best looking executions of this design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted April 14, 2012 Share Posted April 14, 2012 That STacy sounds amazing. Wasn't somebody attempting to swap a STacy screen to an orange-on-black panel? I don't want to hijack this thread, but does anybody have a link to that discussion? Umm, I replaced the El sheet in mine, there is a thread about that but I never tried to swap to orange on black. The STacy glass itself is where you get the "blue" - its stained that way. I guess if a person really wanted to they could swap that out for anything they wanted, including clear... Here are a couple of links that me and my STacy were involved in: http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/191506-first-pak-board-bootup-attempt/ http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/192905-it-does-go-zoom/ http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/158443-internal-ultrasatan-cable-for-mega-stestacy/ http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/188656-stacy-screen-restoration/ http://www.atariage.com/forums/topic/184146-connector-search/ I actually have a very long and detailed thread going on at AtariForum: http://www.atari-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=22327 but you have to have an account and be logged in to see the pictures... HTHs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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