Pentad

Hello all, I was wondering if there were any book on the history of the Atari 8-Bit line? Heck, to be honest, any books on Atari from their 8-bit line through their demise would be great. Apple and IBM would lead you to believe that they were the only players our there but Tandy, Commodore, Atari, and others were there but just not around anymore. I have really enjoyed the books by Brian Bagnall that detail the history of Commodore and was wondering if there were any similar books on Atari? Thanks! -P

Hello all, I was wondering if there were any book on the history of the Atari 8-Bit line? Heck, to be honest, any books on Atari from their 8-bit line through their demise would be great. Apple and IBM would lead you to believe that they were the only players our there but Tandy, Commodore, Atari, and others were there but just not around anymore. I have really enjoyed the books by Brian Bagnall that detail the history of Commodore and was wondering if there were any similar books on Atari? Thanks! -P

Thanks for the info! I guess I should have tried TOS 2.06. Does anybody know if TOS was always developed on the Apple Lisa or did the development tools move to STs/TTs after a few years? I know 'Dad Hacker' mentioned that they used Apple Lisa computers at the start but I wasn't sure if they moved to another platform once the ST launched and the Lisa sort of fell apart. Cheers! -P

Are you sure you are remembering this correct? Let me explain what happened when I did this: In 1990, I swapped the 68k for the 010 in both a 520ST and the later 1040ST and neither computer would work. I believe it had an all white screen. Now I know that Amiga folks -and maybe the Mac folks- were swapping out the 68k for the 010 since they were so cheap and a tiny bit faster. I took the issue up with the local Atari Authorized Dealer and Repair Center and asked them. They too thought it should work and tried the 010 on their ST which produced the same white screen. Thinking it might be the CPU we put the 010 in an Amiga 500 which booted right up to the Workbench screen. So it appeared the 010 was working fine. The Atari Dealer/Repair Center then called Atari and they were told by Atari that TOS is not compatible with anything but the 68k because TOS calls instructions that are not in the 68010, 020, 030, etc... I assumed this was correct because on the Mac and the Amiga, you could purchase accelerator boards that would sit in the 68k socket but the board would contain an 020 or above plus other enhancements depending on the money you wanted to spend. On the Atari, the accelerators were 68000 CPUs running at a faster clock rate...maybe some cache for the CPU, but not a CPU > 68k. Later, I swear I read that with the release of the TT and then the Falcon, TOS was rewritten to support new items including the newer CPUs. -P

I made a mistake in my post. TOS was rewritten for the TT and Falcon to support the new CPUs. I apologize, I meant to convey that in my post but it was late. :-) I was wondering about TOS 1.x and the 68k.

Hello all, I was wondering if anybody knew some answers to some very old questions about TOS and the Atari TT? I was a kid when they came out but now as an adult some of the decisions seem confusing. I teach Computer Science at a university and also do free-lance technology consulting so when I look back I wonder why Atari did what they did. I'm not trying to start a flame war or insult anyone. I'm just trying to understand why Atari made some of their decisions. The first question I had was the design of Atari TOS. I believe that TOS was written on Apple Lisa computers. This would make since given that the Lisa computer was 68k based (not that they couldn't have crossed compiled it). However, does anyone know why TOS uses instructions that are exclusive to the Motorola 68000? I cannot think of a situation where this would have been a great decision since you limit your ability to use future CPUs by the manufacturer (010-060). I know that Motorola would have clearly outlined which instructions were 'legal' and would be supported on revisions of the CPU. Did Atari control the GEM source code in TOS or was that done by Digital and then imported into TOS? With the Atari TT was TOS still developed on another system or was it written on Atari computers by that point? Why did Atari not include a blitter chip with the Atari TT Graphics Workstation? That seemed so counter productive. Does anybody know who the head programmer was for TOS? Maybe a list of the developers of TOS? Thanks! -P

Hello all, I was wondering if anybody had any information about that TT Unix? I have never seen it but it was something that I was always interested in. I had used the Amiga Unix called Amix and being a fan of Unix wondered how Atari's port was? Does anybody have a site with information, screenshots, reviews, or anything else on Atari's Unix? In fact, does anybody have a copy. I always thought it was one of those items that should be archived before it gets lost to history. Cheers! -P

I apologize, I didn't think I had posted here. It was pretty late when I posted and it just slipped by me. Sorry 'bout that.

I am selling a vintage computer collection that I have been working on for almost 10 years. It contains many computers from many different companies that span the late '70s, 80’s, and early '90s. All systems come with original software, manuals, books, magazines, videos, keyboards, monitors, mice, etc... I have also tried to collect very interesting and rare items including an original 1978 Apple II Reference Book from Apple, twin Macintosh 512ks with some fantastic accessories, a complete TRS-80 Pocket II Computer, and many other items. I could not possibly list everything that I have so I created an entire web site (not a page) so you can browse through the pictures, background, statistics, and other information. I have treated these systems with the greatest care and I think you’ll see that when you browse through the gallery. I have been approached by many people to split up the collection but I would rather not. My hope is that this collection will be purchased by another collector (new or established) or a computer museum and added to their history of digital technology. If the winner wants to do shipping then they will be responsible for paying for it, however, it might be better to arrange for the winner to pickup the collection. We can work something out. If you're a fan of Commodore, Apple, Macintosh, Amiga, TRS-80, Timex, etc...you'll at least want to browse my pages for a trip down memory lane. I'm asking: $580.00 OBO If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. You can go to http://www.mmhart.com/Collection.htm for more information, pictures, etc... Thanks!

I am selling a vintage computer collection that I have been working on for almost 10 years. It contains many computers from many different companies that span the late '70s, 80’s, and early '90s. All systems come with original software, manuals, books, magazines, videos, keyboards, monitors, mice, etc... I have also tried to collect very interesting and rare items including an original 1978 Apple II Reference Book from Apple, twin Macintosh 512ks with some fantastic accessories, a complete TRS-80 Pocket II Computer, and many other items. I could not possibly list everything that I have so I created an entire web site (not a page) so you can browse through the pictures, background, statistics, and other information. I have treated these systems with the greatest care and I think you’ll see that when you browse through the gallery. I have been approached by many people to split up the collection but I would rather not. My hope is that this collection will be purchased by another collector (new or established) or a computer museum and added to their history of digital technology. If the buyer wants to do shipping then they will be responsible for paying for it, however, it might be better to arrange for the winner to pickup the collection. We can work something out. If you're a fan of Commodore, Apple, Macintosh, Amiga, TRS-80, Timex, etc...you'll at least want to browse my pages for a trip down memory lane. I'm asking: $575.00 OBO If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. You can go to http://www.mmhart.com/Collection.htm for more information, pictures, etc... Thanks!