Curt Vendel Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 This is a memo from Atari in August 1984 with the initial Atari 6500 series production line specification, very bold idea's... Unfortunately all we got in the end was the 65XE and 130XE followed later by the XEGS... Atari Corporation Engineering 6500 Product Family O Family of machines: -"XL": The 64K 800XL with 3.5" FDD support and new DOS. -"XL/Writer": 64K computer with integral 80 column monochrome monitor, 3.5" FDD, letter quality printer, and word processing software. -"XL/CMOS": A portable 64K computer with built-in word processor, 3.5" FDD support, new DOS and 40/80 column optional LCD. -"XL/M": An XL with AMY built-in. (The music machine). -"XL/P": A 128K RAM version of the XL. O Statement of work: - Implement 3.5" floppy disk drive controller. - Upgrade DOS 4.0 to support 3.5" drive. - Eliminate Parallel Bus Interface (PBI). - Revise memory mangement design to support 128K and 80 column. - Develop 65105 memory manager. - Develop AMY hardware interface to 6502 bus. - Develop driver and user software for AMY. O Schedule Goals and Issues: - January 1985 MASS production for XL and XL/Writer. - January 1985 PRE-production for XL/CMOS and XL/M. - What do we build in November-December timeframe? - Housing availability is Dec 84 at earliest. TBB 15-Aug-1984 Atari Corporation Engineering XL/Writer Product Features O Goals - 80 column bit-mapped display to allow bolding, italics, underlining. - Computer capability featuring BASIC programming. - Under $600 retail price. - NO game compatibility with 800XL or XL machines. O Preliminary Analysis: - $30: 3.5" Floppy Drive plus motor control and read/write circuits. - $35: 14" Monochrome NTSC monitor. - $70: Computer PCB. - $ 8: Keyboard. - $ TBB 15-Aug-1984 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 C128 contender possibly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zenassem Posted November 9, 2004 Share Posted November 9, 2004 Unfortunately all we got in the end was the 65XE and 130XE followed later by the XEGS... Hey?? I love my 65XE!!! (so I'm glad we at least got that. Although I always wanted the 130XE) But I know what your saying. There's a lot of sutff on that list that I would have liked to have. PBI, 3.5" built in floppy, AMY, 80 mode... When was the first ST being built? know I have the information somewhere. It would have been the same time that Tramiel try to screw Amiga. The reason I'm asking is because a lot of those ideas went into the ST, and i know the Atari engineers had only a year to design and build it. And they used alot of parts off the shelf to do it. But I'm guessing that it's about 2-3 years later than that document... ~zen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curt Vendel Posted November 10, 2004 Author Share Posted November 10, 2004 Shiraz Shivja had the basic plans for the new ST computer system for Jack laid out in April 84' and in fact was trying to acquire Atari in May but it took till July to complete the deal... all the while James Morgan and his team were kept in the dark as to Warners negotiations... They originally spec'd it out around the NS32032 but it was available in quantities and at the price Jack wanted, so the 68000 was chosen. Curt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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