JDTAY

Crosspost from another Ataribox thread, since this one seems to be getting all the attention: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelarzt -Responsible for launch of new connected device, wearables and hardware division that will reinvigorate Ataris legacy as a creator and marketer of fun and innovative consumer products. -Oversight of new product development, marketing, OEM & strategic partnerships and associated tasks. -Building Atari Connect to be a premier game, consumer product and pop-culture lifestyle brand for gamers and everyone who loves fun and useful devices and apps. -Actively hunting for, and open to, any new and innovative connected product ideas worthy of the great and beloved Atari name! Looks like Sigfox is what's in the box after all.

Looking through LinkedIn's user agreement, it looks like info can set to public or private. I guess it was just public for a while today. I was afraid I had shared something I wasn't supposed to, but apparently if I did, it was someone else's fault. It was accessible to everyone through the link I posted for a short while.

Speaking of that, there's a registration wall at LinkedIn now that wasn't there earlier. Curious... I'm afraid to register because then I might actually get a job offer. >_>

Does Atari Connect remind anyone else of the E3 2012 Xbox South Park announcement? >_>

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelarzt -Responsible for launch of new connected device, wearables and hardware division that will reinvigorate Atari’s legacy as a creator and marketer of fun and innovative consumer products. -Oversight of new product development, marketing, OEM & strategic partnerships and associated tasks. -Building Atari Connect to be a premier game, consumer product and pop-culture lifestyle brand for gamers and everyone who loves fun and useful devices and apps. -Actively hunting for, and open to, any new and innovative connected product ideas worthy of the great and beloved Atari name!

Just googled, there's a listing on LinkedIn for a guy named Michael Arzt who is Chief Operations Officer of something called Atari Connect. My hype is tingling for no logical reason.

The Atari Troposphere I hope this one doesn't go over people's heads.

Oh hey, nice to see the conversation start up again. Seeing those boxes, they look smaller than a breadbox, so I'm willing to make a conclusion: The Ataribox is not bread. Unless, of course, they used flatbread. Those sly devils!

I dunno, man, it is called Ataribox for some reason... Perhaps it's what's on the outside that counts?

You neglected to mention a juicy bit of pre-info from the Ataribox Facebook: There will be more info within two weeks! This is the best pre-info I've received all week.

I'm wondering, and this might be a simple question, but how did Ultima IV take the player across four disks? Did it require a hard drive? Noticed the 800 didn't ship with one of those included, same as the disk drive. Man, the things we take for granted...

Just noticed that the Atari 800 didn't ship with a disk drive, it cost $600 extra. Ouch. Maybe the eighties weren't so fun after all. I want a $600 Dragonbox Pyra in today's dollars and I'm having trouble acquiring it. Imagine paying that much just for the SD card slot. >_>

Actually have been reading up on my 800 programming the past few hours. Four different processors, three of which aren't found in any other computer line? What fresh madness is this? I admit though, the challenge actually seems a bit enticing now.

Also noting this exchange between moycon and Bill from another thread: moycon: Wonder if it's some sort of box that you can use to create your own simple games. Probably wouldn't be a huge market for it, but it would "definitely have some interest from some people" Bill: Although I'm sure that could be an option by the very nature of the product, I would not think that would be an explicit feature considering what it is. Unless things have changed, I would not consider this an innovative product per se. If the intended price/hardware/performance targets were somehow met, it could be a good relative value, which might ultimately be its most significant market differentiator. So Bill, maybe this is a cheap Raspberry Pi style processor in an Atari case? Some people joked about that, but I wonder...

Hey Bill, I have a new guess. Actually, it's kind of an old guess, but I don't think you ever shot it down. When most people think of Atari, they think of games, but Atari made computers too, and this thing is PC-based. Also noting that Fred Chesnais and my dev response email never used the word game, I'm wondering... Is this thing meant to be a computer rather than a console?

I did study Z80 assembly for a little bit once because I wanted to translate a Japan only GameBoy Color game to English, but nothing came of it other than gaining knowledge of fundamental assembly concepts. I know what registers and flags are, thankfully enough. I probably am capable of doing something in assembly if I had the concentration required. I've been short of it lately, but I've noticed coffee helps for some reason.

I just discovered that page on Atarimania with all the 8-bit family programming books, and seeing all the covers fills me with the same sense of wonder that I get seeing all the old Atari game boxes. Man, half of the fun of these systems was your imagination and using it to fill in the gaps the technology had. And you could even put it to practical use by programming. I guess kids today have Raspberry Pi available for the same type of experience though. I'm almost tempted to start reading and put out something for the 800 or XL, but I don't really like working with hardware constraints. Most of my experience is in C++ using SDL2 to handle all the really technical stuff. 90kb disks on a system with 48kb RAM sounds downright scary, even if it was good enough for Ultima IV.

My buddy on another forum found this job listing that seems to confirm this will run Android, as if the smartphone part didn't give it away. https://www.wonder.com/careers/job?id=ZW5naW5lZXItZnJhbWV3b3Jrcy5lanM=&title=Android%20Frameworks%20&%20Application%20Engineer

Here's a fresh article about it, with more quotes from company head Andy Kleinman. http://www.businessinsider.com/wonder-smartphone-gamers-2017-6

All that means is he's due. Dare you question the law of averages? >_>